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{{Short description|Physical theory}} | |||
] theory, the ] originated in an infinitely ] and ] paradoxical ]. Space has expanded with the passage of time, objects being moved farther away from each other.]] | |||
{{About|the theory|the television series|The Big Bang Theory{{!}}''The Big Bang Theory''||Big Bang (disambiguation)|and|Big Bang Theory (disambiguation)}} | |||
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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} | |||
{{Use American English|date=May 2016}} | |||
], where space, including hypothetical non-observable portions of the universe, is represented at each time by the circular sections. On the left, the dramatic expansion occurs in the ]; and at the center, the expansion ] (artist's concept; neither time nor size are to scale).]] {{Cosmology|cTopic=Key topics}} | |||
The '''Big Bang''' is a ] that describes how the ] from an initial state of high ] and ].<ref name="HTUW">{{cite serial|title=First Second of the Big Bang|url=https://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/how-the-universe-works/full-episodes/first-second|series=]|last=Bridge|first=Mark (Director)|network=]|location=Silver Spring, Maryland|date=30 July 2014}}</ref> The notion of an expanding universe was first scientifically originated by ] ] in 1922 with the mathematical derivation of the ].<ref name="m853">{{cite journal | last=Belenkiy | first=Ari | title=Alexander Friedmann and the origins of modern cosmology | journal=Physics Today | volume=65 | issue=10 | date=October 1, 2012 | issn=0031-9228 | doi=10.1063/PT.3.1750 | pages=38–43| bibcode=2012PhT....65j..38B }}</ref><ref name="z155">{{cite journal | last1=Nemiroff | first1=Robert J. | last2=Patla | first2=Bijunath | title=Adventures in Friedmann cosmology: A detailed expansion of the cosmological Friedmann equations | journal=American Journal of Physics | volume=76 | issue=3 | date=March 1, 2008 | issn=0002-9505 | doi=10.1119/1.2830536 | pages=265–276| arxiv=astro-ph/0703739 | bibcode=2008AmJPh..76..265N }}</ref><ref name="c686">{{cite journal | last1=Carroll | first1=Sean M. | last2=Kaplinghat | first2=Manoj | title=Testing the Friedmann equation: The expansion of the universe during big-bang nucleosynthesis | journal=Physical Review D | volume=65 | issue=6 | date=February 27, 2002 | issn=0556-2821 | doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.65.063507 | page=063507| arxiv=astro-ph/0108002 | bibcode=2002PhRvD..65f3507C }}</ref><ref name="c625">{{cite journal | last=Mörtsell | first=Edvard | title=Cosmological histories from the Friedmann equation: the Universe as a particle | journal=European Journal of Physics | volume=37 | issue=5 | date=September 1, 2016 | issn=0143-0807 | doi=10.1088/0143-0807/37/5/055603 | page=055603| arxiv=1606.09556 | bibcode=2016EJPh...37e5603M }}</ref> The earliest empirical observation of the notion of an expanding universe is known as ], published in work by physicist ] in 1929, which discerned that galaxies are moving away from Earth at a rate that accelerates proportionally with distance. ] of Friedmann's work, and independent of Hubble's observations, physicist ] proposed that the universe emerged from a "primeval ]" in 1931, introducing the modern notion of the Big Bang. | |||
In ], the '''Big Bang''' is the ] that concerns the early development and ] of the ]. The central idea is that the theory of ] can be combined with the observations on the largest scales of ] receding from each other to extrapolate the conditions of the universe back or forward in ]. A natural consequence of the Big Bang is that in the past the universe had a higher ] and a higher ]. The term "Big Bang" is used both in a narrow sense to refer to a point in time when the observed expansion of the universe (]) began, and in a more general sense to refer to the prevailing cosmological ] explaining the origin and evolution of the universe. | |||
Various ] of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the ] from the ] through its subsequent large-scale form.{{sfn|Silk|2009|p=208}}{{sfn|Singh|2004|p=560|ps=. Book limited to 532 pages. Correct source page requested.}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/ |title=Cosmology: The Study of the Universe |author=NASA/WMAP Science Team |date=6 June 2011 |work=Universe 101: Big Bang Theory |publisher=] |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=18 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629050256/https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/ |archive-date=29 June 2011 |url-status=live |quote=The second section discusses the classic tests of the Big Bang theory that make it so compelling as the most likely valid and accurate description of our universe.}}</ref> These models offer a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of observed phenomena, including the abundance of ]s, the ] (CMB) ], and ]. The uniformity of the universe, known as the ], is explained through ]: a sudden and very rapid expansion of space during the earliest moments. | |||
The term "Big Bang" was coined in ] by ] during a ] radio program, ''The Nature of Things''; the text was published in ]. Hoyle did not subscribe to the theory and intended to mock the concept. | |||
Extrapolating this cosmic expansion backward in time using the known ], the models describe an increasingly concentrated cosmos preceded by ] in which ] lose meaning (typically named "the Big Bang singularity").<ref name="books.google.com">{{harvnb|Chow|2008|p=}}</ref> Physics lacks a widely accepted theory of ] that can model the earliest conditions of the Big Bang. In 1964 the CMB was discovered, which convinced many cosmologists that the competing ] of cosmic evolution was ], since the Big Bang models predict a uniform background radiation caused by high temperatures and densities in the distant past.<ref>{{harvnb|Partridge|1995|p=}}</ref> A wide range of empirical evidence strongly favors the Big Bang event, which is now essentially universally accepted.<ref name="Kragh_1996">{{harvnb|Kragh|1996|p=}}: "At the same time that observations tipped the balance definitely in favor of the relativistic big-bang theory, ..."</ref> Detailed measurements of the expansion rate of the ] place the Big Bang singularity at an estimated {{val|13.787|0.020}} ] years ago, which is considered the ].<ref name="esa">{{cite web | url=https://www.mpg.de/7044245/Planck_cmb_universe |title=Planck reveals an almost perfect universe | date=March 21, 2013 | publisher=Max-Planck-Gesellschaft | access-date=2020-11-17 }}</ref> | |||
One consequence of the Big Bang is that the conditions of today's universe are different from the conditions in the past or in the future. From this ], theorists in the ] were able to predict the ] (CMB) that was discovered in the ] and served as a confirmation of the Big Bang theory over its chief rival, the ]. | |||
There remain aspects of the observed universe that are not yet adequately explained by the Big Bang models. After its initial expansion, the universe cooled sufficiently to allow the formation of ]s, and later ]s. The unequal abundances of matter and ] that allowed this to occur is an unexplained effect known as ]. These primordial elements—mostly ], with some ] and ]—later coalesced through ], forming early ]s and galaxies. Astronomers observe the gravitational effects of an unknown ] surrounding galaxies. Most of the ] in the universe seems to be in this form, and the Big Bang models and various observations indicate that this excess gravitational potential is not created by ], such as normal atoms. Measurements of the redshifts of ] indicate that the ], an observation attributed to an unexplained phenomenon known as ].<ref name="peebles">{{cite journal|last1=Peebles|first1=P. J. E.|last2=Ratra|first2=Bharat|author-link2=Bharat Ratra|date=22 April 2003|title=The cosmological constant and dark energy|journal=]|volume=75|issue=2|pages=559–606|arxiv=astro-ph/0207347|bibcode=2003RvMP...75..559P|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.75.559|author-link1=Jim Peebles|s2cid=118961123|issn = 0034-6861}}</ref> | |||
In current physical models, the universe 13.7 billion years ago would have had the form of a ], at which all time and ] measurements become meaningless and ]s and ]s become ]. As there are no models for the regimes on this scale, in particular, the lack of a theory of ], this period of the universe's history remains an ]. | |||
== |
== Features of the models == | ||
The Big Bang models offer a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of observed phenomena, including the abundances of the ]s, the ], ], and ].<ref name=Wright2009>{{cite web |url=http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmology_faq.html#BBevidence |url-status=live |title=Frequently Asked Questions in Cosmology: What is the evidence for the Big Bang? |last=Wright |first=Edward L. |author-link=Edward L. Wright |date=24 May 2013 |website=Ned Wright's Cosmology Tutorial |publisher=Division of Astronomy & Astrophysics, ] |location=Los Angeles |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620105441/http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmology_faq.html |archive-date=20 June 2013 |access-date=25 November 2019}}</ref> The models depend on two major assumptions: the universality of physical laws and the ]. The universality of physical laws is one of the underlying principles of the ]. The cosmological principle states that on large scales the ] is ] and ]—appearing the same in all directions regardless of location.<ref name=Francis2018>{{cite book | |||
| title=Light after Dark I: Structures of the Sky | |||
| first=Charles | last=Francis | |||
| publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd | |||
| date=2018 | isbn=9781785897122 | page=199 | |||
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TVhiDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA199 }}</ref> | |||
These ideas were initially taken as postulates, but later efforts were made to test each of them. For example, the first assumption has been tested by observations showing that the largest possible deviation of the ] over much of the age of the universe is of order 10<sup>−5</sup>.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ivanchik |first1=Alexandre V. |last2=Potekhin |first2=Alexander Y. |last3=Varshalovich |first3=Dmitry A. |date=March 1999 |title=The fine-structure constant: a new observational limit on its cosmological variation and some theoretical consequences |journal=] |volume=343 |issue=2 |pages=439–445 |arxiv=astro-ph/9810166 |bibcode=1999A&A...343..439I}}</ref> Also, ] has passed stringent ] on the scale of the ] and ]s.<ref>{{cite journal | |||
In ], the ] priest ] was the first to propose that the universe began with the "explosion" of a "primeval ]". Earlier, in ], the ] astronomer ] had measured a systematic ] of certain "]e", and called this the ''K-correction''; but he wasn't aware of the cosmological implications, nor that the supposed nebulae were actually galaxies outside our own ]. | |||
| title=Experimental Tests of General Relativity | |||
| last=Turyshev | first=Slava G. | |||
| journal=Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science | |||
| volume=58 | issue=1 | pages=207–248 | date=November 2008 | |||
| arxiv=0806.1731 | bibcode=2008ARNPS..58..207T | |||
| doi=10.1146/annurev.nucl.58.020807.111839 | |||
| s2cid=119199160 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | |||
| title=Testing general relativity in cosmology | |||
| last=Ishak | first=Mustapha | |||
| journal=Living Reviews in Relativity | |||
| volume=22 | issue=1 | id=1 | pages=204 | date=December 2019 | |||
| arxiv=1806.10122 | bibcode=2019LRR....22....1I | |||
| doi=10.1007/s41114-018-0017-4 | |||
| pmid=30613193 | pmc=6299071 }}</ref><ref group="notes">Further information of, and references for, tests of general relativity are given in the article ].</ref> | |||
The large-scale universe appears isotropic as viewed from Earth. If it is indeed isotropic, the cosmological principle can be derived from the simpler ], which states that there is no preferred (or special) observer or vantage point. To this end, the cosmological principle has been confirmed to a level of 10<sup>−5</sup> via observations of the temperature of the CMB. At the scale of the CMB horizon, the universe has been measured to be homogeneous with an upper bound ] 10% inhomogeneity, as of 1995.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Goodman |first=Jeremy |date=15 August 1995 |title=Geocentrism reexamined |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/283096/files/9506068.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=1821–1827 |arxiv=astro-ph/9506068 |bibcode=1995PhRvD..52.1821G |doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.52.1821 |pmid=10019408 |s2cid=37979862 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502001358/https://cds.cern.ch/record/283096/files/9506068.pdf |archive-date=2 May 2019 |access-date=2 December 2019}}</ref> | |||
]'s theory of ], developed during this time, admitted no static solutions (that is to say, the universe had to be either expanding or shrinking), a result that he himself considered wrong, and which he attempted to fix by adding a ]. Applying general relativity to cosmology was done by ] whose equations describe the ] universe. | |||
===Horizons=== | |||
In ], ] found experimental evidence to help justify Lemaître's theory. Hubble had also determined that galaxies were receding back in ]. Again using redshift measurements, Hubble determined that distant galaxies are receding in every direction at speeds (relative to the Earth) directly proportional to their distance, a fact now known as ] (see ''Edwin Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae'' by Edward Christianson). | |||
{{Main|Cosmological horizon}} | |||
An important feature of the Big Bang spacetime is the presence of ]s. Since the universe has a finite age, and ] travels at a finite speed, there may be events in the past whose light has not yet had time to reach earth. This places a limit or a ''past horizon'' on the most distant objects that can be observed. Conversely, because space is expanding, and more distant objects are receding ever more quickly, light emitted by us today may never "catch up" to very distant objects. This defines a ''future horizon'', which limits the events in the future that we will be able to influence. The presence of either type of horizon depends on the details of the ] that describes the expansion of the universe.<ref name="kolb_c3"/> | |||
Our understanding of the universe back to very early times suggests that there is a past horizon, though in practice our view is also limited by the opacity of the universe at early times. So our view cannot extend further backward in time, though the horizon recedes in space. If the expansion of the universe continues to accelerate, there is a future horizon as well.<ref name="kolb_c3">{{harvnb|Kolb|Turner|1988|loc=chpt. 3}}</ref> | |||
Since galaxies were receding, this suggested two possibilities. One, advocated and developed by ], was that the universe began a finite time in the past and has been expanding ever since. The other was ]'s ] in which new matter would be created as the galaxies moved away from each other and that the universe at one point in time would look roughly like any other point in time. For a number of years the support for these two opposing theories was evenly divided. | |||
===Thermalization=== | |||
In the intervening period however, all observational evidence gathered has provided overwhelming support for the Big Bang theory, and since the mid-] it has been regarded as the best available theory of the origin and evolution of the cosmos, and virtually all theoretical work in cosmology involves extensions and refinements to the basic Big Bang theory. Much of the current work in cosmology includes understanding how galaxies form within the context of the Big Bang, understanding what happened at the Big Bang, and reconciling observations with the basic theory. | |||
Some processes in the early universe occurred too slowly, compared to the expansion rate of the universe, to reach approximate ]. Others were fast enough to reach ]. The parameter usually used to find out whether a process in the very early universe has reached thermal equilibrium is the ratio between the rate of the process (usually rate of collisions between particles) and the ]. The larger the ratio, the more time particles had to thermalize before they were too far away from each other.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Enqvist | first1=K. | last2=Sirkka | first2=J. | date=September 1993 | title=Chemical equilibrium in QCD gas in the early universe | journal=Physics Letters B | volume=314 | issue=3–4 | pages=298–302 | doi=10.1016/0370-2693(93)91239-J | arxiv=hep-ph/9304273 | bibcode=1993PhLB..314..298E | s2cid=119406262 }}</ref> | |||
== Timeline == | |||
Huge advances in Big Bang cosmology were made in the late ] and the early ] as a result of major advances in ] technology in combination with large amounts of satellite data such as from ] and ]. These data allowed astronomers to calculate many of the parameters of the Big Bang to a new level of precision and opened up a major unexpected finding that the expansion of the universe appears to be ]. | |||
{{Main|Chronology of the universe}} | |||
{{External Timeline|Graphical timeline of the Big Bang|Graphical timeline of the Big Bang}} | |||
According to the Big Bang models, the universe at the beginning was very hot and very compact, and since then it has been expanding and cooling. | |||
See also: ''']''' | |||
== |
=== Singularity === | ||
{{see also|Gravitational singularity|Initial singularity|Planck units#Cosmology}} | |||
In the absence of a ], extrapolation of the expansion of the universe backwards in time using general relativity yields an ] ] and ] at a finite time in the past.<ref name=Hawking_Ellis_1973>{{harvnb|Hawking|Ellis|1973}}</ref> This irregular behavior, known as the ], indicates that general relativity is not an adequate description of the laws of physics in this regime. Models based on general relativity alone cannot fully extrapolate toward the singularity.<ref name="books.google.com"/> In some proposals, such as the ] models, the singularity is replaced by another cosmological epoch. A different approach identifies the ] as a ] predicted by some models of the Big Bang theory to have existed before the Big Bang event.<ref name="handf-space">{{cite news|url=http://www.space.com/13347-big-bang-origins-universe-birth.html|title=The Big Bang: What Really Happened at Our Universe's Birth?|author=Wall, Mike|date=21 October 2011|work=The History & Future of the Cosmos|accessdate=September 7, 2023|agency=Space.com}}</ref>{{clarify|date=September 2023}} | |||
This primordial singularity is itself sometimes called "the Big Bang",<ref>{{harvnb|Roos|2012|p=216}}: "This singularity is termed the Big Bang."</ref> but the term can also refer to a more generic early hot, dense phase<ref>{{harvnb|Drees|1990|pp=}}</ref>{{refn|There is no consensus about how long the Big Bang phase lasted. For some writers, this denotes only the initial singularity, for others the whole history of the universe. Usually, at least the first few minutes (during which helium is synthesized) are said to occur "during the Big Bang".|group="notes"}} of the universe. In either case, "the Big Bang" as an event is also colloquially referred to as the "birth" of our universe since it represents the point in history where the universe can be verified to have entered into a ] where the laws of physics as we understand them (specifically general relativity and the ] of ]) work. Based on measurements of the expansion using ]e and measurements of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, the time that has passed since that event—known as the "]"—is 13.8 billion years.<ref name="Planck 2015">{{cite journal |author=Planck Collaboration |date=October 2016 |title=''Planck'' 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters |journal=] |volume=594 |page=Article A13 |arxiv=1502.01589 |bibcode=2016A&A...594A..13P |doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201525830 |s2cid=119262962 }} (See Table 4, Age/Gyr, last column.)</ref> | |||
Based on measurements of the expansion of the universe using ]e, measurements of the lumpiness of the ], and measurements of the ] of ], the universe has a measured ] of ]. The fact that these three independent measurements are consistent is considered strong evidence for the so-called ] that describes the detail nature of the contents of the universe. | |||
Despite being extremely dense at this time—far denser than is usually required to form a ]—the universe did not re-collapse into a singularity. Commonly used calculations and limits for explaining ] are usually based upon objects of relatively constant size, such as stars, and do not apply to rapidly expanding space such as the Big Bang. Since the early universe did not immediately collapse into a multitude of black holes, matter at that time must have been very evenly distributed with a negligible ].<ref name=Musser2003>{{cite web | title=Why didn't all this matter immediately collapse into a black hole? | first=George | last=Musser | date=22 September 2003 | publisher=Scientific American | url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/according-to-the-big-bang/ | access-date=22 March 2020 }}</ref> | |||
The early universe was filled homogeneously and isotropically with a very high ] density. Approximately 10<sup>-35</sup> seconds after the ], the universe expanded ] during a period called ]. After inflation stopped, the material components of the universe were in the form of a ] where the constituent particles were all moving ]. By an as yet unknown process, ] occurred producing the observed ] between ] and ]. As the universe grew in size, the temperature dropped, leading to further ] processes that manifested themselves as the known ], ], and later allowed for the formation of the universe's ] and ] ] in a process called ]. As the universe cooled, ] gradually stopped moving ] and its ] ] came to ] dominate over ]. After about 100,000 years the ] ] from the ] and continued through space largely unimpeded. This relic ] is the ]. | |||
=== Inflation and baryogenesis === | |||
Over time, the slightly denser regions of the nearly uniformly distributed matter ] grew into even denser regions, forming gas clouds, ], ], and the other astronomical structures seen today. The details of this process are dependent on the amount and type of ] in the universe. The three possible types are known as ], ], and ]. The best measurements available (from ]) show that the dominant form of matter in the universe is in the form of ]. The other two types of matter make up less than 20% of the matter in the universe. | |||
{{Main|Inflation (cosmology)|Baryogenesis}} | |||
The earliest phases of the Big Bang are subject to much speculation, given the lack of available data. In the most common models the universe was filled homogeneously and isotropically with a very high ] and huge temperatures and ]s, and was very rapidly expanding and cooling. The period up to 10<sup>−43</sup> seconds into the expansion, the ], was a phase in which the four ]s—the ], the ], the ], and the ], were unified as one.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|editor1-last=Unruh |editor1-first=W.G. |editor2-last=Semenoff |editor2-first=G.W.|title=The early universe|date=1988|publisher=Reidel|isbn=90-277-2619-1|oclc=905464231}}</ref> In this stage, the ] of the universe was the ], {{val|1.6|e=-35|u=m}}, and consequently had a temperature of approximately 10<sup>32</sup> degrees Celsius. Even the very concept of a particle breaks down in these conditions. A proper understanding of this period awaits the development of a theory of ].<ref name=Hawley_Holcomb_2005>{{cite book | title=Foundations of Modern Cosmology | first1=John F. | last1=Hawley | first2=Katherine A. | last2=Holcomb | date=July 7, 2005 | publisher=OUP Oxford | isbn=9780198530961 | page=355 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s5MUDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA355 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/BBhistory.html|title=Brief History of the Universe|website=www.astro.ucla.edu|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref> The Planck epoch was succeeded by the ] beginning at 10<sup>−43</sup> seconds, where gravitation separated from the other forces as the universe's temperature fell.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
At approximately 10<sup>−37</sup> seconds into the expansion, a ] caused a ], during which the universe grew ], unconstrained by the ], and temperatures dropped by a factor of 100,000. This concept is motivated by the ], where the ] is very close to the critical density needed to produce a ]. That is, the ] has no overall ] due to gravitational influence. Microscopic ]s that occurred because of ] were "frozen in" by inflation, becoming amplified into the seeds that would later form the large-scale structure of the universe.<ref name="Guth1998">{{harvnb|Guth|1998}}</ref> At a time around 10<sup>−36</sup> seconds, the ] begins when the strong nuclear force separates from the other forces, with only the electromagnetic force and weak nuclear force remaining unified.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Astro/planck.html|title=Big Bang models back to Planck time|website=hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu|access-date=2020-04-28}}</ref> | |||
The universe today appears to be dominated by a mysterious form of energy known as ]. Approximately 70% of the total energy density of today's universe is in this form. This component of the universe's composition has the property of causing the ] to deviate from a linear velocity-distance relationship by causing spacetime to expand faster than expected at very large distances. Dark energy takes the form of a ] term in ] of general relativity, but the details of its ] and relationship with the ] of particle physics continue to be investigated both observationally and theoretically. | |||
Inflation stopped locally at around 10<sup>−33</sup> to 10<sup>−32</sup> seconds, with the observable universe's volume having increased by a factor of at least 10<sup>78</sup>. Reheating followed as the ] decayed, until the universe obtained the temperatures required for the ] of a ] as well as all other ]s.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Schewe |first1=Phillip F. |last2=Stein |first2=Ben P. |date=20 April 2005 |title=An Ocean of Quarks |url=http://www.aip.org/pnu/2005/split/728-1.html |url-status=dead |magazine=Physics News Update |volume=728 |issue=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050423224100/http://www.aip.org/pnu/2005/split/728-1.html |archive-date=23 April 2005 |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Høg|first=Erik|date=2014|title=Astrosociology: Interviews about an infinite universe|journal=Asian Journal of Physics|arxiv=1408.4795|bibcode=2014arXiv1408.4795H}}</ref> Temperatures were so high that the random motions of particles were at ] ], and ] of all kinds were being continuously created and destroyed in collisions.<ref name="HTUW" /> At some point, an unknown reaction called ] violated the conservation of ], leading to a very small excess of ]s and ]s over antiquarks and antileptons—of the order of one part in 30 million. This resulted in the predominance of matter over antimatter in the present universe.<ref name="kolb_c6">{{harvnb|Kolb|Turner|1988|loc=chpt. 6}}</ref> | |||
See also: ''']''' | |||
=== Cooling === | |||
== Theoretical underpinnings == | |||
{{Main|Big Bang nucleosynthesis|Cosmic microwave background}} | |||
] sky reveals the distribution of galaxies beyond the ]. Galaxies are color-coded by ].|alt=A map of the universe, with specks and strands of light of different colors.]] | |||
The universe continued to decrease in density and fall in temperature, hence the typical energy of each particle was decreasing. ] phase transitions put the ]s of physics and the parameters of elementary particles into their present form, with the electromagnetic force and weak nuclear force separating at about 10<sup>−12</sup> seconds.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="kolb_c7">{{harvnb|Kolb|Turner|1988|loc=chpt. 7}}</ref> | |||
After about 10<sup>−11</sup> seconds, the picture becomes less speculative, since particle energies drop to values that can be attained in ]s. At about 10<sup>−6</sup> seconds, ]s and ]s combined to form ]s such as ]s and ]s. The small excess of quarks over antiquarks led to a small excess of baryons over antibaryons. The temperature was no longer high enough to create either new proton–antiproton or neutron–antineutron pairs. A mass ] immediately followed, leaving just one in 10<sup>8</sup> of the original matter particles and none of their ]s.<ref>{{Cite web | last=Weenink | first=Jan | date=February 26, 2009 | title=Baryogenesis | url=https://webspace.science.uu.nl/~proko101/JanGWeenink_bg3.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://webspace.science.uu.nl/~proko101/JanGWeenink_bg3.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live | publisher=Tomislav Prokopec }}</ref> A similar process happened at about 1 second for electrons and positrons. After these annihilations, the remaining protons, neutrons and electrons were no longer moving relativistically and the energy density of the universe was dominated by ]s (with a minor contribution from ]s). | |||
As it stands today, the Big Bang is dependent on three assumptions: | |||
A few minutes into the expansion, when the temperature was about a billion ] and the density of matter in the universe was comparable to the current density of Earth's atmosphere, neutrons combined with protons to form the universe's ] and ] ] in a process called ] (BBN).<ref name="kolb_c4"/> Most protons remained uncombined as hydrogen nuclei.<ref name="peacock_c9"/> | |||
# ] | |||
# ] | |||
# ] | |||
As the universe cooled, the ] density of matter came to gravitationally dominate that of the photon ]. The ] epoch began after about 379,000 years, when the electrons and nuclei combined into ]s (mostly ]), which were able to emit radiation. This relic radiation, which continued through space largely unimpeded, is known as the cosmic microwave background.<ref name="peacock_c9">{{harvnb|Peacock|1999|loc=chpt. 9}}</ref> | |||
When first developed, these ideas were simply taken as postulates, but today there are efforts underway to test each of them. The universality of physical laws has been tested to the level that the largest deviation of ] over the age of the universe can be is of order 10<sup>-5</sup>. The isotropy of the universe that defines the Cosmological Principle has been tested to a level of 10<sup>-5</sup> and the universe has been measured to be homogenous on the largest scales to the 10% level. There are efforts currently underway to test the Copernican Principle by means of looking at the interaction of ] and the ] through the ] to a level of 1% accuracy. | |||
Once these assumptions are in place, the Big Bang theory relies on ] to unambiguously measure ] at any point as the "time since the ]". Measurements in this system rely on ] in which so-called ] and conformal times remove the expansion of the universe from consideration of ] measurements. In such a coordinate system, objects moving with the cosmological flow are always the same ] away and the ] or limit of the universe is set by the conformal time. | |||
=== Structure formation === | |||
The Big Bang is therefore not an explosion of matter moving outward to fill an empty universe; it is spacetime itself that is expanding. It is this expansion that causes the physical distance between any two fixed points in our universe to increase. Objects that are bound together (for example, by ]) do not expand with spacetime's expansion because the physical laws that govern them are assumed to be uniform and independent of the ]. Moreover, the expansion of the universe on today's local scales is so small that any dependence of physical laws on the expansion is unmeasurable by current techniques. | |||
{{Main|Structure formation}} | |||
] ] – ]<ref name="NASA-20140107">{{cite web |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-007 |url-status=live |title=NASA's Hubble and Spitzer Team up to Probe Faraway Galaxies |last1=Clavin |first1=Whitney |last2=Jenkins |first2=Ann |last3=Villard |first3=Ray |date=7 January 2014 |website=] |publisher=] |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903225105/https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-007 |archive-date=3 September 2019 |access-date=8 January 2014}}</ref>]] | |||
After the recombination epoch, the slightly denser regions of the uniformly distributed matter gravitationally attracted nearby matter and thus grew even denser, forming gas clouds, stars, galaxies, and the other astronomical structures observable today.<ref name="HTUW"/> The details of this process depend on the amount and type of matter in the universe. The four possible types of matter are known as ] (CDM), ], ], and ]. The best measurements available, from the ] (WMAP), show that the data is well-fit by a ] in which dark matter is assumed to be cold. (Warm dark matter is ruled out by early ].)<ref name="WMAP2003Spergel">{{cite journal |last1=Spergel |first1=David N. |author1-link=David Spergel |last2=Verde |first2=Licia |author2-link=Licia Verde |last3=Peiris |first3=Hiranya V. |author3-link=Hiranya Peiris |last4=Komatsu |first4=E. |last5=Nolta |first5=M. R. |last6=Bennett |first6=C. L. |last7=Halpern |first7=M. |last8=Hinshaw |first8=G. |last9=Jarosik |first9=N. |last10=Kogut |first10=A. |last11=Limon |first11=M. |last12=Meyer |first12=S. S. |last13=Page |first13=L. |last14=Tucker |first14=G. S. |last15=Weiland |first15=J. L. |last16=Wollack |first16=E. |last17=Wright |first17=E. L. |display-authors=3 |date=September 2003 |title=First-Year ''Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)'' Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters |journal=] |volume=148 |issue=1 |pages=175–194 |arxiv=astro-ph/0302209 |bibcode=2003ApJS..148..175S |doi=10.1086/377226 |s2cid=10794058}}</ref> This CDM is estimated to make up about 23% of the matter/energy of the universe, while baryonic matter makes up about 4.6%.<ref name="wmap7year">{{cite journal |last1=Jarosik |first1=Norman |author1-link=Norman Jarosik |last2=Bennett |first2=Charles L. |author2-link=Charles L. Bennett |last3=Dunkley |first3=Jo |author3-link=Jo Dunkley |last4=Gold |first4=B. |last5=Greason |first5=M. R. |last6=Halpern |first6=M. |last7=Hill |first7=R. S. |last8=Hinshaw |first8=G. |last9=Kogut |first9=A. |last10=Komatsu |first10=E. |last11=Larson |first11=D. |last12=Limon |first12=M. |last13=Meyer |first13=S. S. |last14=Nolta |first14=M. R. |last15=Odegard |first15=N. |last16=Page |first16=L. |last17=Smith |first17=K. M. |last18=Spergel |first18=D. N. |last19=Tucker |first19=G. S. |last20=Weiland |first20=J. L. |last21=Wollack |first21=E. |last22=Wright |first22=E. L. |display-authors=3 |date=February 2011 |title=Seven-Year ''Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)'' Observations: Sky Maps, Systematic Errors, and Basic Results |url=https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/map/dr4/pub_papers/sevenyear/basic_results/wmap_7yr_basic_results.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=192 |issue=2 |page=Article 14 |bibcode=2011ApJS..192...14J |arxiv=1001.4744 |doi=10.1088/0067-0049/192/2/14 |hdl=2152/43001 |s2cid=46171526 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914181522/https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/map/dr4/pub_papers/sevenyear/basic_results/wmap_7yr_basic_results.pdf |archive-date=14 September 2019 |access-date=2 December 2019}} (See Table 8.)</ref> | |||
In an "extended model" which includes hot dark matter in the form of neutrinos,<ref name="NYT-20200415">{{cite news |last=Overbye |first=Dennis |author-link=Dennis Overbye |title=Why The Big Bang Produced Something Rather Than Nothing – How did matter gain the edge over antimatter in the early universe? Maybe, just maybe, neutrinos. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/science/physics-neutrino-antimatter-ichikawa-t2k.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415151520/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/science/physics-neutrino-antimatter-ichikawa-t2k.html |archive-date=2020-04-15 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |date=15 April 2020 |work=] |access-date=16 April 2020 }}</ref> then the "physical baryon density" <math>\Omega _\text{b} h^2</math> is estimated at 0.023. (This is different from the 'baryon density' <math>\Omega _\text{b}</math> expressed as a fraction of the total matter/energy density, which is about 0.046.) The corresponding cold dark matter density <math>\Omega _\text{c} h^2</math> is about 0.11, and the corresponding neutrino density <math>\Omega _\text{v} h^2</math> is estimated to be less than 0.0062.<ref name="wmap7year" /> | |||
==Supporting evidence== | |||
=== Cosmic acceleration === | |||
It is generally stated that there are three observational pillars that support the Big Bang theory of cosmology. These are the ] seen in the ] of ], the detailed measurements of the ], and the ]. Additionally, the observed ] of ] fits well with standard Big Bang theory. | |||
{{Main|Accelerating expansion of the universe}} | |||
Independent lines of evidence from Type Ia supernovae and the CMB imply that the universe today is dominated by a mysterious form of energy known as ], which appears to homogeneously permeate all of space. Observations suggest that 73% of the total energy density of the present day universe is in this form. When the universe was very young it was likely infused with dark energy, but with everything closer together, ] predominated, braking the expansion. Eventually, after billions of years of expansion, the declining density of matter relative to the density of dark energy allowed the expansion of the universe to begin to accelerate.<ref name="peebles" /> | |||
Dark energy in its simplest formulation is modeled by a ] term in ] of general relativity, but its composition and mechanism are unknown. More generally, the details of its equation of state and relationship with the Standard Model of particle physics continue to be investigated both through observation and theory.<ref name="peebles" /> | |||
===Hubble law expansion=== | |||
{{Main|Hubble's law}} | |||
All of this cosmic evolution after the ] can be rigorously described and modeled by the lambda-CDM model of cosmology, which uses the independent frameworks of ] and general relativity. There are no easily testable models that would describe the situation prior to approximately 10<sup>−15</sup> seconds.{{sfn|Manly|2011|loc=chpt. 7: "The Ultimate Free Lunch"{{page needed|date=January 2020}}}} Understanding this earliest of eras in the history of the universe is one of the greatest ]. | |||
Observations of distant ] and ] show that these objects are ], meaning that the ] emitted from them has been proportionately shifted to longer wavelengths. This is seen by taking a ] of the objects and then matching the ] pattern of ] or ] lines corresponding to ]s of the ]s interacting with the radiation. From this analysis, a measured ] can be determined which is explained by a recessional velocity corresponding to a ] for the radiation. When the recessional velocities are plotted against the distances to the objects, a linear relationship, known as the ], is observed: | |||
==Concept history== | |||
''v'' = ''H''<sub>0</sub> ''D'' | |||
{{Main|History of the Big Bang theory}} | |||
{{See also|Timeline of cosmological theories}} | |||
===Etymology=== | |||
where ''v'' is the recessional velocity, ''D'' is the distance to the object and ''H''<sub>0</sub> is the Hubble constant measured to be 71 ± 4 ]/]/] by the ] probe. | |||
] ] ] is credited with coining the term "Big Bang" during a talk for a March 1949 ] broadcast,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=22 August 2001 |title='Big bang' astronomer dies |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1503721.stm |url-status=live |department=Sci/Tech |work=] |location=London |publisher=] |access-date=2 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903152416/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1503721.stm |archive-date=3 September 2019}}</ref> saying: "These theories were based on the hypothesis that all the matter in the universe was created in one big bang at a particular time in the remote past."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/hoyle/exhibition/radio/ |url-status=live |title=Hoyle on the Radio: Creating the 'Big Bang' |author=|website=Fred Hoyle: An Online Exhibition |location=Cambridge |publisher=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140526084945/https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/hoyle/exhibition/radio/ |archive-date=26 May 2014 |access-date=2 December 2019}}</ref><ref name="Kragh2013">{{cite journal |last=Kragh |first=Helge |author-link=Helge Kragh |date=April 2013 |title=Big Bang: the etymology of a name |journal=] |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=2.28–2.30 |doi=10.1093/astrogeo/att035 |bibcode=2013A&G....54b2.28K|doi-access=free }}</ref> However, it did not catch on until the 1970s.<ref name="Kragh2013"/> | |||
It is popularly reported that Hoyle, who favored an alternative "]" cosmological model, intended this to be pejorative,<ref>{{cite web |last=Mattson |first=Barbara (Project Leader) |date=8 December 2017 |title=Hoyle Scoffs at 'Big Bang' Universe Theory |url=https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/educators/programs/cosmictimes/online_edition/1955/hoyle.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310172435/https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/educators/programs/cosmictimes/online_edition/1955/hoyle.html |archive-date=10 March 2018 |access-date=2 December 2019 |website=Cosmic Times (hosted by Imagine the Universe!) |publisher=]: ] |oclc=227004453 |location=Greenbelt, Maryland}} | |||
===Cosmic microwave background radiation === | |||
</ref><ref name="Mathew2013"> | |||
{{Main|Cosmic microwave background radiation}} | |||
{{cite book |last1=Mathew |first1=Santhosh |title=Essays on the Frontiers of Modern Astrophysics and Cosmology |date=2013 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-319-01887-4 |page=13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1--3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13}} | |||
</ref>{{refn|name=Ferris Quote}} but Hoyle explicitly denied this and said it was just a striking image meant to highlight the difference between the two models.<ref name="Croswell1995_chpt9">{{harvnb|Croswell|1995|loc=chapter 9|p=113}}</ref><ref name="Mitton2011_p129">{{harvnb|Mitton|2011|p=}}: "To create a picture in the mind of the listener, Hoyle had likened the explosive theory of the universe's origin to a 'big bang'."</ref>{{refn|Hoyle stated: | |||
"I was constantly striving over the radio – where I had no visual aids, nothing except the spoken word – for visual images. And that seemed to be one way of distinguishing between the steady-state and the explosive big bang. And so that was the language I used."<ref name="Kragh2013"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kragh |first1=Helge |title=Masters of the Universe: Conversations with Cosmologists of the Past |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-103442-8 |page=210n30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZripBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT210}}</ref>}} ] writes that the evidence for the claim that it was meant as a pejorative is "unconvincing", and mentions a number of indications that it was not a pejorative.<ref name="Kragh2013"/> | |||
The term itself has been argued to be a misnomer because it evokes an explosion.<ref name="Kragh2013"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kaler |first1=James B. |title=The Little Book of Stars |date=2013 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-387-21621-8 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l8S9BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA4}}</ref> The argument is that whereas an explosion suggests expansion into a surrounding space, the Big Bang only describes the intrinsic expansion of the contents of the universe.<ref> | |||
] image of the cosmic microwave background radiation]] | |||
{{cite book |last1=Emam |first1=Moataz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wX4fEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA208 |title=Covariant Physics: From Classical Mechanics to General Relativity and Beyond |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-886489-9 |pages=208–246 |quote=The term "Big Bang" is an unfortunate misnomer. It implies an "explosion," and explosions are events that happen ''in'' space. This is incorrect; the term describes the first instant in the expansion ''of'' space itself. Some would even interpret it as the very beginning of the universe, evolving from "nothing." It is hard to imagine exactly what it was, but an explosion it most definitely wasn't.}} | |||
</ref><ref> | |||
{{cite web |last1=Moskowitz |first1=Clara |title=Was the Big Bang Really an Explosion? |url=https://www.livescience.com/32278-was-the-big-bang-really-an-explosion.html |website=Live Science |date=2010}} | |||
</ref> Another issue pointed out by Santhosh Mathew is that bang implies sound, which is not an important feature of the model.<ref name="Mathew2013"/> An attempt to find a more suitable alternative was not successful.<ref name="Kragh2013"/>{{refn|name=Ferris Quote| ] writes: | |||
"The term "big bang" was coined with derisive intent by Fred Hoyle, and its endurance testifies to Sir Fred's creativity and wit. Indeed, the term survived an international competition in which three judges — the television science reporter Hugh Downs, the astronomer Carl Sagan, and myself — sifted through 13,099 entries from 41 countries and concluded that none was apt enough to replace it. No winner was declared, and like it or not, we are stuck with "big bang.""<ref name="Ferris"> | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Ferris |first1=Timothy |title=The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe Report |date=1998 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-83861-8 |page=323n10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qjYbQ7EBAKwC&pg=PA323}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Gaither |first1=Carl C. |last2=Cavazos-Gaither |first2=Alma E. |title=Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations |date=2012 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-1-4614-1114-7 |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zQaCSlEM-OEC&pg=PA272}} (quoting Ferris)</ref>}} | |||
===Development=== | |||
One feature of the Big Bang theory was the prediction of the ] or CMB. As the early universe cooled off due to the expansion, the universe's ] would fall below 3000 K. Above this temperature, electrons and protons are separate, making the universe opaque to light. Below 3000 K, atoms form, allowing light to pass freely through the gas of the universe. This is known as ]. | |||
{{Multiple image |direction=vertical |align=right |width=400|image1=XDF-scale.jpg|image2=The Hubble eXtreme Deep Field.jpg |image3=XDF-separated.jpg|caption1='']'' size compared to the size of the ] (''XDF'' is the small box to the left of, and nearly below, the Moon) – several thousand galaxies, each consisting of billions of stars, are in this small view. |caption2='']'' (2012) view – each light speck is a galaxy – some of these are as old as 13.2 billion years<ref name="Space-20120925">{{cite web |url=https://www.space.com/17755-farthest-universe-view-hubble-space-telescope.html |url-status=live |last=Moskowitz |first=Clara |date=25 September 2012 |title=Hubble Telescope Reveals Farthest View Into Universe Ever |website=] |location=New York |publisher=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012164808/https://www.space.com/17755-farthest-universe-view-hubble-space-telescope.html |archive-date=12 October 2019 |access-date=3 December 2019}}</ref> – the universe is estimated to contain 200 billion galaxies. |caption3='']'' image shows fully mature galaxies in the foreground plane – nearly mature galaxies from 5 to 9 billion years ago – ], blazing with ]s, beyond 9 billion years. |header='']''}} | |||
The Big Bang models developed from observations of the structure of the universe and from theoretical considerations. In 1912, ] measured the first ] of a "]" (spiral nebula is the obsolete term for spiral galaxies), and soon discovered that almost all such nebulae were receding from Earth. He did not grasp the cosmological implications of this fact, and indeed at the time it was ] whether or not these nebulae were "island universes" outside our ].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Slipher |first=Vesto M. |author-link=Vesto Slipher |year=1913 |title=The Radial Velocity of the Andromeda Nebula |journal=] |volume=1 |issue=8 |pages=56–57 |bibcode=1913LowOB...2...56S}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Slipher |first=Vesto M. |author-link=Vesto Slipher |date=January 1915 |title=Spectrographic Observations of Nebulae |journal=] |volume=23 |pages=21–24 |bibcode=1915PA.....23...21S}}</ref> Ten years later, ], a ]n ] and ], derived the ] from the Einstein field equations, showing that the universe might be expanding in contrast to the ] model advocated by ] at that time.<ref name=af1922>{{cite journal |last=Friedman |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Friedmann |date=December 1922 |title=Über die Krümmung des Raumes |journal=] |language=de |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=377–386 |bibcode=1922ZPhy...10..377F |doi=10.1007/BF01332580 |s2cid=125190902 }} | |||
* Translated in: {{cite journal |last=Friedmann |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Friedmann |date=December 1999 |title=On the Curvature of Space |journal=] |volume=31 |issue=12 |pages=1991–2000 |bibcode=1999GReGr..31.1991F |doi=10.1023/A:1026751225741 |s2cid=122950995 }}</ref> | |||
In 1924, ] astronomer ]'s measurement of the great distance to the nearest spiral nebulae showed that these systems were indeed other galaxies. Starting that same year, Hubble painstakingly developed a series of distance indicators, the forerunner of the ], using the {{convert|100|in|m|adj=on}} ] at ]. This allowed him to estimate distances to galaxies whose ]s had already been measured, mostly by Slipher. In 1929, Hubble discovered a correlation between distance and ]—now known as Hubble's law.<ref name="hubble">{{cite journal|last=Hubble|first=Edwin|author-link=Edwin Hubble|date=15 March 1929|title=A Relation Between Distance and Radial Velocity Among Extra-Galactic Nebulae|url=https://apod.nasa.gov/debate/1996/hub_1929.html|url-status=live|journal=]|volume=15|issue=3|pages=168–173|bibcode=1929PNAS...15..168H|doi=10.1073/pnas.15.3.168|pmc=522427|pmid=16577160|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001060258/https://apod.nasa.gov/debate/1996/hub_1929.html|archive-date=1 October 2006|access-date=28 November 2019|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="christianson">{{harvnb|Christianson|1995}}</ref> | |||
The radiation from this region will travel unimpeded for the remainder of the lifetime of the universe, becoming redshifted because of the Hubble expansion. This results in a redshift of the uniformly distributed ] spectrum of the 3000 K to 3 K. It is observed at every point in the universe to come from all directions of space. | |||
Independently deriving Friedmann's equations in 1927, ], a ] ] and ], proposed that the recession of the nebulae was due to the expansion of the universe.<ref name="gl1927">{{cite journal |last=Lemaître |first=Georges |author-link=Georges Lemaître |date=April 1927 |title=Un Univers homogène de masse constante et de rayon croissant rendant compte de la vitesse radiale des nébuleuses extra-galactiques |url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-004-204 |journal=Annales de la Société scientifique de Bruxelles |language=fr |volume=47 |pages=49–59 |bibcode=1927ASSB...47...49L }} | |||
In ], ] and ], while conducting a series of diagnostic observations using a new ] receiver owned by ], discovered the cosmic background radiation. Their discovery provided substantial confirmation of the general CMB predictions, and pitched the balance of opinion in favor of the Big Bang hypothesis. Penzias and Wilson were awarded the ] for their discovery. | |||
* Translated in: {{cite journal |last=Lemaître |first=Georges |author-link=Georges Lemaître |date=March 1931 |journal=] |volume=91 |issue=5 |pages=483–490 |title=A Homogeneous Universe of Constant Mass and Increasing Radius accounting for the Radial Velocity of Extra-galactic Nebulæ |bibcode=1931MNRAS..91..483L |doi=10.1093/mnras/91.5.483 |doi-access= free}}</ref> He inferred the relation that Hubble would later observe, given the cosmological principle.<ref name="peebles" /> In 1931, Lemaître went further and suggested that the evident expansion of the universe, if projected back in time, meant that the further in the past the smaller the universe was, until at some finite time in the past all the mass of the universe was concentrated into a single point, a "primeval atom" where and when the fabric of time and space came into existence.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lemaître |first=Abbé Georges |author-link=Georges Lemaître |date=24 October 1931 |title=Contributions to a British Association Discussion on the Evolution of the Universe |journal=] |volume=128 |issue=3234 |pages=704–706 |bibcode=1931Natur.128..704L |doi=10.1038/128704a0 |s2cid=4028196}}</ref> | |||
In the 1920s and 1930s, almost every major cosmologist preferred an eternal steady-state universe, and several complained that the beginning of time implied by the Big Bang imported religious concepts into physics; this objection was later repeated by supporters of the steady-state theory.<ref>{{harvnb|Kragh|1996}}</ref> This perception was enhanced by the fact that the originator of the Big Bang concept, Lemaître, was a Roman Catholic priest.<ref name="WGBH1927">{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |year=1998 |title=Big bang theory is introduced – 1927 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dp27bi.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990423033457/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dp27bi.html |archive-date=23 April 1999 |access-date=31 July 2014 |website=A Science Odyssey |publisher=] |location=Boston, Massachusetts}}</ref> ] agreed with ] that the universe did not have a beginning in time, ''viz''., that ]. A beginning in time was "repugnant" to him.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Eddington |first=Arthur S. |author-link=Arthur Eddington |date=21 March 1931 |title=The End of the World: from the Standpoint of Mathematical Physics |journal=] |volume=127 |issue=3203 |pages=447–453 |bibcode=1931Natur.127..447E |doi=10.1038/127447a0 |s2cid=4140648}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Appolloni |first=Simon |date=17 June 2011 |title='Repugnant', 'Not Repugnant at All': How the Respective Epistemic Attitudes of Georges Lemaitre and Sir Arthur Eddington Influenced How Each Approached the Idea of a Beginning of the Universe |url=https://journal.ibsu.edu.ge/index.php/ibsusj/article/view/180 |journal=IBSU Scientific Journal |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=19–44}}</ref> Lemaître, however, disagreed: | |||
In ], ] launched the ] (COBE), and the initial findings, released in ], were consistent with the Big Bang theory's predictions regarding CMB, finding a local residual temperature of 2.726 K and determining that the CMB was isotropic to an accuracy of 10<sup>-5</sup>. During the ], CMB data was studied further to see if small anisotropies predicted by the Big Bang theory would be observed. They were found in ] by the ]. | |||
{{blockquote|text=If the world has begun with a single ], the notions of space and time would altogether fail to have any meaning at the beginning; they would only begin to have a sensible meaning when the original quantum had been divided into a sufficient number of quanta. If this suggestion is correct, the beginning of the world happened a little before the beginning of space and time.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lemaître |author-link=Georges Lemaître |first=Georges |date=9 May 1931 |title=The Beginning of the World from the Point of View of Quantum Theory |journal=] |volume=127 |issue=3210 |page=706 |bibcode=1931Natur.127..706L |doi=10.1038/127706b0 |s2cid=4089233 |issn=0028-0836|doi-access=free }}</ref>}} | |||
During the 1930s, other ideas were proposed as ] to explain Hubble's observations, including the ],<ref>{{harvnb|Milne|1935}}</ref> the ] (originally suggested by Friedmann, but advocated by Albert Einstein and ])<ref>{{harvnb|Tolman|1934}}</ref> and ]'s ] hypothesis.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zwicky |first=Fritz |author-link=Fritz Zwicky |date=15 October 1929 |title=On the Red Shift of Spectral Lines through Interstellar Space |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=15 |issue=10 |pages=773–779 |bibcode=1929PNAS...15..773Z |doi=10.1073/pnas.15.10.773 |pmc=522555 |pmid=16577237|doi-access=free }}</ref> | |||
In early ] the results of the ] (WMAP) were analyzed, giving the most accurate cosmological values we have to date. This satellite also disproved several specific ], but the results were consistent with the inflation theory in general. | |||
After ], two distinct possibilities emerged. One was Fred Hoyle's steady-state model, whereby new matter would be created as the universe seemed to expand. In this model the universe is roughly the same at any point in time.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hoyle |first=Fred |author-link=Fred Hoyle |date=October 1948 |title=A New Model for the Expanding Universe |journal=] |volume=108 |issue=5 |pages=372–382 |bibcode=1948MNRAS.108..372H |doi=10.1093/mnras/108.5.372|doi-access=free }}</ref> The other was Lemaître's Big Bang theory, advocated and developed by ], who introduced BBN<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alpher |first1=Ralph A. |author1-link=Ralph Asher Alpher |last2=Bethe |first2=Hans |author2-link=Hans Bethe |last3=Gamow |first3=George |author3-link=George Gamow |date=1 April 1948 |title=The Origin of Chemical Elements |journal=] |volume=73 |issue=7 |pages=803–804 |bibcode=1948PhRv...73..803A |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.73.803 |pmid=18877094|doi-access=free }}</ref> and whose associates, ] and ], predicted the CMB.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alpher |first1=Ralph A. |author1-link=Ralph Asher Alpher |last2=Herman |first2=Robert |author2-link=Robert Herman |date=13 November 1948 |title=Evolution of the Universe |journal=] |volume=162 |issue=4124 |pages=774–775 |bibcode=1948Natur.162..774A |doi=10.1038/162774b0 |s2cid=4113488}}</ref> Ironically, it was Hoyle who coined the phrase that came to be applied to Lemaître's theory, referring to it as "this ''big bang'' idea" during a BBC Radio broadcast in March 1949.<ref name="Mitton2011_p129" /><ref name="Kragh2013" />{{refn|It is commonly reported that Hoyle intended this to be pejorative. However, Hoyle later denied that, saying that it was just a striking image meant to emphasize the difference between the two theories for radio listeners.<ref name="Croswell1995_chpt9" />|group="notes"}} For a while, support was split between these two theories. Eventually, the observational evidence, most notably from radio ], began to favor Big Bang over steady state. The discovery and confirmation of the CMB in 1964 secured the Big Bang as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the universe.<ref name="penzias">{{cite journal |last1=Penzias |first1=Arno A. |author1-link=Arno Allan Penzias |last2=Wilson |first2=R. W. |author2-link=Robert Woodrow Wilson |date=July 1965 |title=A Measurement of Excess Antenna Temperature at 4080 Mc/s |url=https://fermatslibrary.com/s/a-measurement-of-excess-antenna-temperature-at-4080-mc-s |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=142 |pages=419–421 |bibcode=1965ApJ...142..419P |doi=10.1086/148307 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014185903/https://fermatslibrary.com/s/a-measurement-of-excess-antenna-temperature-at-4080-mc-s |archive-date=14 October 2019 |access-date=5 December 2019|doi-access=free }}</ref> | |||
===Abundance of primordial elements=== | |||
{{Main|Big Bang nucleosynthesis}} | |||
In 1968 and 1970, ], ], and ] published papers where they showed that ] were an inevitable initial condition of relativistic models of the Big Bang.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hawking |first1=Stephen W. |author1-link=Stephen Hawking |last2=Ellis |first2=George F. R. |author2-link=George F. R. Ellis |date=April 1968 |title=The Cosmic Black-Body Radiation and the Existence of Singularities in our Universe |journal=] |volume=152 |page=25 |bibcode=1968ApJ...152...25H |doi=10.1086/149520}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hawking |first1=Stephen W. |author1-link=Stephen Hawking |last2=Penrose |first2=Roger |author2-link=Roger Penrose |date=27 January 1970 |title=The Singularities of Gravitational Collapse and Cosmology |volume=314 |issue=1519 |pages=529–548 |journal=] |bibcode=1970RSPSA.314..529H |doi=10.1098/rspa.1970.0021|s2cid=120208756 |doi-access= }}</ref> Then, from the 1970s to the 1990s, cosmologists worked on characterizing the features of the Big Bang universe and resolving outstanding problems. In 1981, ] made a breakthrough in theoretical work on resolving certain outstanding theoretical problems in the Big Bang models with the introduction of an epoch of rapid expansion in the early universe he called "inflation".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Guth |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Guth |date=15 January 1981 |title=Inflationary universe: A possible solution to the horizon and flatness problems |journal=] |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=347–356 |bibcode=1981PhRvD..23..347G |doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.23.347 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Meanwhile, during these decades, two questions in ] that generated much discussion and disagreement were over the precise values of the Hubble Constant<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~dfabricant/huchra/hubble/ |title=The Hubble Constant |last1=Huchra |first1=John P. |volume=256 |issue=5055 |pages=321–5 |author-link=John Huchra |year=2008 |journal=Science |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190930124013/https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~dfabricant/huchra/hubble/ |archive-date=30 September 2019 |access-date=5 December 2019|pmid=17743107 |doi=10.1126/science.256.5055.321 |s2cid=206574821 }}</ref> and the matter-density of the universe (before the discovery of dark energy, thought to be the key predictor for the eventual ]).<ref>{{harvnb|Livio|2000|p=160}}</ref> | |||
Using the Big Bang model it is possible to calculate the concentration of ]-4, helium-3, ] and ]-7 in the universe. All the abundances depend on a single parameter, the ratio of ]s to ]s. The abundances predicted are about 25 percent for <sup>4</sup>He, a <sup>2</sup>H/H ratio of about 10<sup>-3</sup>, a <sup>3</sup>He/H of about 10<sup>-4</sup> and a <sup>7</sup>Li/H abundance of about 10<sup>-9</sup>. | |||
In the mid-1990s, observations of certain ]s appeared to indicate that they were about 15 billion years old, which ] with most then-current estimates of the age of the universe (and indeed with the age measured today). This issue was later resolved when new computer simulations, which included the effects of mass loss due to ]s, indicated a much younger age for globular clusters.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Navabi |first1=Ali Akbar |last2=Riazi |first2=Nematollah |date=March 2003 |title=Is the Age Problem Resolved? |journal=] |volume=24 |issue=1–2 |pages=3–10 |bibcode=2003JApA...24....3N |doi=10.1007/BF03012187 |s2cid=123471347}}</ref> | |||
Measurements of primordial abundances for all four ]s are consistent with a unique value of that parameter and the fact that the measured abundances are in the same range as the predicted ones is considered strong evidence for the Big Bang. There is no obvious reason outside of the Big Bang that, for example, the universe should have more helium than deuterium or more deuterium than <sup>3</sup>He. | |||
Significant progress in Big Bang cosmology has been made since the late 1990s as a result of advances in ] technology as well as the analysis of data from satellites such as the ] (COBE),<ref name=cobe>{{cite journal |last1=Boggess |first1=Nancy W. |author2-last=Mather |author2-first=John C. |author2-link=John C. Mather |author3-last=Weiss |author3-first=Rainer |author3-link=Rainer Weiss |last4=Bennett |first4=C. L. |last5=Cheng |first5=E. S. |last6=Dwek |first6=E. |last7=Gulkis |first7=S. |last8=Hauser |first8=M. G. |last9=Janssen |first9=M. A. |last10=Kelsall |first10=T. |last11=Meyer |first11=S. S. |last12=Moseley |first12=S. H. |last13=Murdock |first13=T. L. |last14=Shafer |first14=R. A. |last15=Silverberg |first15=R. F. |last16=Smoot |first16=G. F. |last17=Wilkinson |first17=D. T. |last18=Wright |first18=E. L. |display-authors=3 |date=1 October 1992 |title=The COBE Mission: Its Design and Performance Two Years after the launch |journal=] |volume=397 |pages=420–429 |bibcode=1992ApJ...397..420B |doi=10.1086/171797|doi-access=free }}</ref> the ] and WMAP.<ref name="wmap1year">{{cite journal |last1=Spergel |first1=David N. |author1-link=David Spergel |last2=Bean |first2=Rachel |author2-link=Rachel Bean |last3=Doré |first3=Olivier |author-link3=Olivier Doré |display-authors=etal |date=June 2007 |title=Three-Year ''Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)'' Observations: Implications for Cosmology |journal=] |volume=170 |issue=2 |pages=377–408 |arxiv=astro-ph/0603449 |bibcode=2007ApJS..170..377S |doi=10.1086/513700 |s2cid=1386346}}</ref> Cosmologists now have fairly precise and accurate measurements of many of the parameters of the Big Bang model, and have made the unexpected discovery that the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reiss |first1=Adam G. |last2=Filippenko |first2=Alexei V. |last3=Challis |first3=Peter |last4=Clocchiatti |first4=Alejandro |last5=Diercks |first5=Alan |last6=Garnavich |first6=Peter M. |last7=Gilliland |first7=Ron L. |last8=Hogan |first8=Craig J. |last9=Jha |first9=Saurabh |last10=Kirshner |first10=Robert P. |last11=Leibundgut |first11=B. |last12=Phillips |first12=M. M. |last13=Reiss |first13=David |last14=Schmidt |first14=Brian P. |last15=Schommer |first15=Robert A. |last16=Smith |first16=R. Chris |last17=Spyromilio |first17=J. |last18=Stubbs |first18=Christopher |last19=Suntzeff |first19=Nicholas B. |last20=Tonry |first20=John |title=Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant |date=1998 |journal=] |volume=116 |issue=3 |pages=1009–1038 |doi=10.1086/300499 |arxiv=astro-ph/9805201|bibcode=1998AJ....116.1009R |s2cid=15640044 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Perlmutter |first1=S. |last2=Aldering |first2=G. |last3=Goldhaber |first3=G. |last4=Knop |first4=R.A. |last5=Nugent |first5=P. |last6=Castro |first6=P.G. |last7=Deustua |first7=S. |last8=Fabbro |first8=S. |last9=Goobar |first9=A. |last10=Groom |first10=D.E. |last11=Hook |first11=I.M. |last12=Kim |first12=A.G. |last13=Kim |first13=M.Y. |last14=Lee |first14=J.C. |last15=Nunes |first15=N.J. |last16=Pain |first16=R. |last17=Pennypacker |first17=C.R. |last18=Quimby |first18=R. |last19=Lidman |first19=C. |last20=Ellis |first20=R.S. |last21=Irwin |first21=M. |last22=McMahon |first22=R.G. |last23=Ruiz-Lapuente |first23=P. |last24=Walton |first24=N. |last25=Schaefer |first25=B. |last26=Boyle |first26=B.J. |last27=Filippenko |first27=A.V. |last28=Matheson |first28=T. |last29=Fruchter |first29=A.S. |last30=Panagia |first30=N. |last31=Newberg |first31=H.J.M. |last32=Couch |first32=W.J.|date=1999 |title=Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae |volume=517 |issue=2 |journal=] |pages=565–586 |arxiv=astro-ph/9812133 |doi=10.1086/307221|bibcode=1999ApJ...517..565P |s2cid=118910636 }}</ref> | |||
===Galactic evolution and quasar distribution=== | |||
==Observational evidence== | |||
The details of the ] are both constraints and confirmations of current theory. The finite age of the universe at earlier times means that ] is closely tied to the cosmology of the universe. The types and distribution of ] appears to change markedly over time, evolving by means of the ] and showing structure formation that can be measured by statistics. Observations reveal a time-dependent relationship of the galaxy and ] distributions, ] histories, and the type and size of the largest-scale structures in the universe (]s). These observations all are explained very well by the Big Bang theory and serve as constraints on model ]s. | |||
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The earliest and most direct observational evidence of the validity of the theory are the expansion of the universe according to Hubble's law (as indicated by the redshifts of galaxies), discovery and measurement of the cosmic microwave background and the relative abundances of light elements produced by ] (BBN). More recent evidence includes observations of ], and the distribution of ].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gladders |first1=Michael D. |last2=Yee |first2=H. K. C. |last3=Majumdar |first3=Subhabrata |last4=Barrientos |first4=L. Felipe |last5=Hoekstra |first5=Henk |last6=Hall |first6=Patrick B. |last7=Infante |first7=Leopoldo |display-authors=3 |date=20 January 2007 |title=Cosmological Constraints from the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey |journal=] |volume=655 |issue=1 |pages=128–134 |arxiv=astro-ph/0603588 |bibcode=2007ApJ...655..128G |doi=10.1086/509909 |s2cid=10855653}}</ref> These are sometimes called the "four pillars" of the Big Bang models.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ctc.cam.ac.uk/outreach/origins/big_bang_four.php |url-status=live |title=The Four Pillars of the Standard Cosmology |editor-last=Shellard |editor-first=Paul |display-editors=etal |year=2012 |website=Outreach |publisher=]; ] |location=Cambridge, UK |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102133646/http://www.ctc.cam.ac.uk/outreach/origins/big_bang_four.php |archive-date=2 November 2013 |access-date=6 December 2019}} | |||
==Standard problems== | |||
* From retired website: {{cite web |url=http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/bb_pillars.html |url-status=dead |title=The Four Pillars of the Standard Cosmology |editor-last=Shellard |editor-first=Paul |display-editors=etal |year=2006 |website=Cambridge Relativity and Cosmology |publisher=University of Cambridge |location=Cambridge, UK |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980128054235/http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/bb_pillars.html |archive-date=28 January 1998 |access-date=6 December 2019}}</ref> | |||
Precise modern models of the Big Bang appeal to various exotic physical phenomena that have not been observed in terrestrial laboratory experiments or incorporated into the Standard Model of particle physics. Of these features, ] is currently the subject of most active laboratory investigations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www8.nationalacademies.org/astro2010/DetailFileDisplay.aspx?id=225 |url-status=live |title=Direct Searches for Dark Matter |last=Sadoulet |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Sadoulet |display-authors=etal |work=] |publisher=] on behalf of the ] of the ] |location=Washington, D.C. |type=white paper |format=PDF |oclc=850950122 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413141208/https://www8.nationalacademies.org/astro2010/DetailFileDisplay.aspx?id=225 |archive-date=13 April 2009 |access-date=8 December 2019}}</ref> Remaining issues include the ]<ref name="Diemand2005" /> and the ]<ref name="Martínez-Delgado" /> of cold dark matter. Dark energy is also an area of intense interest for scientists, but it is not clear whether direct detection of dark energy will be possible.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www8.nationalacademies.org/astro2010/DetailFileDisplay.aspx?id=243 |url-status=live |title=Whitepaper: For a Comprehensive Space-Based Dark Energy Mission |last=Cahn |first=Robert N. |volume=2010 |pages=35 |display-authors=etal |year=2009 |journal=] |publisher=] on behalf of the ] of the ] |location=Washington, D.C. |type=white paper |format=PDF |oclc=850950122 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807103919/http://www8.nationalacademies.org/astro2010/DetailFileDisplay.aspx?id=243 |archive-date=7 August 2011 |access-date=8 December 2019|bibcode=2009astro2010S..35B}}</ref> Inflation and baryogenesis remain more speculative features of current Big Bang models. Viable, quantitative explanations for such phenomena are still being sought. These are unsolved problems in physics. | |||
Historically, a number of problems have arisen within the Big Bang theory. Some of them are today mainly of historical interest, and have been avoided either through modifications to the theory or as the result of better observations. Others issues, such as the ] and the ] of ], are not considered to be fatal as they can be addressed through refinements of the theory. Some detractors of the Big Bang cite these problems as ] modifications and addenda to the theory. Most often attacked are the parts of standard cosmology that include ], ], and ]. These are strongly suggested by observations of the ], ] and ], but remain at the frontiers of inquiry in ]. There is not yet a consensus on the particle physics origin of ], ] and ]. While their gravitational effects are understood observationally and theoretically, they have not yet been incorporated into the standard model of particle physics in an accepted way. | |||
{{anchor|Hubble's law expansion}}<!-- previous header name, so as not to disturb hashlinks if any --> | |||
There are a small number of proponents of ] who believe that there was no Big Bang at all. While some aspects of standard cosmology are inadequately explained in the ], most physicists accept that the close agreement between Big Bang theory and observation have firmly established all the basic parts of the theory. | |||
===Hubble's law and the expansion of the universe=== | |||
What follows is a short list of standard Big Bang "problems" and puzzles: | |||
{{Main|Hubble's law|Expansion of the universe}} | |||
{{See also|Distance measures (cosmology)|Scale factor (cosmology)}} | |||
] | |||
Observations of distant galaxies and ]s show that these objects are redshifted: the light emitted from them has been shifted to longer wavelengths. This can be seen by taking a ] of an object and matching the ] pattern of ]s corresponding to atoms of the chemical elements interacting with the light. These redshifts are ] isotropic, distributed evenly among the observed objects in all directions. If the redshift is interpreted as a Doppler shift, the recessional velocity of the object can be calculated. For some galaxies, it is possible to estimate distances via the ]. When the recessional velocities are plotted against these distances, a linear relationship known as ] is observed:<ref name="hubble" /> | |||
<math>v = H_0D</math> | |||
where | |||
* <math>v</math> is the recessional velocity of the galaxy or other distant object, | |||
* <math>D</math> is the ] to the object, and | |||
* <math>H_0</math> is ], measured to be {{val|70.4|+1.3|-1.4}} ]/]/] by the WMAP.<ref name="wmap7year" /> | |||
Hubble's law implies that the universe is uniformly expanding everywhere. This cosmic expansion was predicted from general relativity by Friedmann in 1922<ref name=af1922 /> and Lemaître in 1927,<ref name=gl1927 /> well before Hubble made his 1929 analysis and observations, and it remains the cornerstone of the Big Bang model as developed by Friedmann, Lemaître, Robertson, and Walker. | |||
===The horizon problem=== | |||
The theory requires the relation <math>v = HD</math> to hold at all times, where <math>D</math> is the proper distance, <math>v</math> is the recessional velocity, and <math>v</math>, <math>H</math>, and <math>D</math> vary as the universe expands (hence we write <math>H_0</math> to denote the present-day Hubble "constant"). For distances much smaller than the size of the ], the Hubble redshift can be thought of as the Doppler shift corresponding to the recession velocity <math>v</math>. For distances comparable to the size of the observable universe, the attribution of the cosmological redshift becomes more ambiguous, although its interpretation as a kinematic Doppler shift remains the most natural one.<ref name="Hogg">{{cite journal |author=Bunn |first1=E. F. |last2=Hogg |first2=D. W. |year=2009 |title=The kinematic origin of the cosmological redshift |journal=American Journal of Physics |volume=77 |issue=8 |pages=688–694 |arxiv=0808.1081 |bibcode=2009AmJPh..77..688B |doi=10.1119/1.3129103 |s2cid=1365918}}</ref> | |||
The ''']''' results from the premise that information cannot travel faster than light, and hence two regions of space which are separated by a greater distance than the speed of light multiplied by the age of the universe cannot be in ] contact. The observed isotropy of the ] is problematic in this regard, because the ] size at that time corresponds to a size that is about 2 degrees on the sky. If the universe has had the same expansion history since the ], there is no mechanism to allow for these regions to have the same temperature. | |||
An unexplained discrepancy with the determination of the Hubble constant is known as ]. Techniques based on observation of the CMB suggest a lower value of this constant compared to the quantity derived from measurements based on the cosmic distance ladder.<ref name="di Valentino 2021 153001">{{cite journal | last1=Di Valentino | first1=Eleonora | last2=Mena | first2=Olga | last3=Pan | first3=Supriya | last4=Visinelli | first4=Luca | last5=Yang | first5=Weiqiang | last6=Melchiorri | first6=Alessandro | last7=Mota | first7=David F. | last8=Riess | first8=Adam G. | last9=Silk | first9=Joseph | year=2021 | title=In the realm of the Hubble tension—a review of solutions | journal=Classical and Quantum Gravity | volume=38 | issue=15 | page=153001 | doi=10.1088/1361-6382/ac086d | arxiv=2103.01183|bibcode=2021CQGra..38o3001D | s2cid=232092525 }}</ref> | |||
This apparent inconsistency is resolved by ] in which a homogeneous and isotropic scalar energy field dominates the universe at a time 10<sup>-35</sup> seconds after the Planck epoch. During inflation, the universe undergoes exponential expansion, and regions in causal contact expand past each other's horizons. ] predicts that there would be ] during the inflationary phase, which would be magnified to cosmic scale. These fluctuations serve as the seeds of all current structure in the universe. After inflation, the universe expands by means of a ], and regions that were out of causal contact come back into the horizon. This explains the observed isotropy of the ]. Inflation predicted that the ] are nearly ] and ] which has been accurately confirmed by measurements of the ]. Despite its great success, ] has yet to make contact with the ] of ] and is somewhat speculative. | |||
===Cosmic microwave background radiation=== | |||
===Flatness=== | |||
{{Main|Cosmic microwave background}} | |||
] spectrum measured by the FIRAS instrument on the ] satellite is the most-precisely measured ] spectrum in nature.<ref name="dpf99">{{cite conference |url=http://www.dpf99.library.ucla.edu/session9/white0910.pdf |url-status=live |title=Anisotropies in the CMB |last=White |first=Martin |year=1999 |conference=Division of Particles and Fields Conference 1999 (DPF '99) |conference-url=http://home.physics.ucla.edu/calendar/conferences/dpf99/ |editor1-last=Arisaka |editor1-first=Katsushi |editor2-last=Bern |editor2-first=Zvi |editor2-link=Zvi Bern |book-title=DPF 99: Proceedings of the Los Angeles Meeting |publisher=] on behalf of the ] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204083018/http://www.dpf99.library.ucla.edu/session9/white0910.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2017 |location=Los Angeles |id=Talk #9–10: The Cosmic Microwave Background |arxiv=astro-ph/9903232 |bibcode=1999dpf..conf.....W |oclc=43669022 |access-date=9 December 2019}}</ref> The ]s and ] on this graph are obscured by the theoretical curve.]] | |||
In 1964, ] and ] serendipitously discovered the cosmic background radiation, an omnidirectional signal in the ] band.<ref name="penzias" /> Their discovery provided substantial confirmation of the big-bang predictions by Alpher, Herman and Gamow around 1950. Through the 1970s, the radiation was found to be approximately consistent with a ] spectrum in all directions; this spectrum has been redshifted by the expansion of the universe, and today corresponds to approximately 2.725 K. This tipped the balance of evidence in favor of the Big Bang model, and Penzias and Wilson were awarded the 1978 ]. | |||
The ''']''' is an observational problem that results from considerations of the ] associated with ] metric. In general, the universe can have three different kinds of geometries: ], ], or ]. Each one of these geometries is tied directly to the ] of the universe, the hyperbolic corresponding to less than the critical density, elliptic corresponding to greater than the critical density, and Euclidean corresponding to exactly equal to the critical density. The universe is measured to be required to be within one part in 10<sup>15</sup> of the critical density in its earliest stages. Any deviation more than that would have caused either a ] or a ] and the universe would not exist as it does today. | |||
The ''surface of last scattering'' corresponding to emission of the CMB occurs shortly after '']'', the epoch when neutral hydrogen becomes stable. Prior to this, the universe comprised a hot dense photon-baryon plasma sea where photons were quickly ] from free charged particles. Peaking at around {{val|372|14|ul=kyr}},<ref name="WMAP2003Spergel" /> the mean free path for a photon becomes long enough to reach the present day and the universe becomes transparent. | |||
The resolution to this problem is again offered by ]. During the inflationary period, spacetime expanded to such an extent that any residual ] associated with it would have been completely smoothed out to a high degree of precision. Thus, the universe is driven to be flat by inflation. | |||
] |bibcode=2013ApJS..208...20B |s2cid=119271232}}</ref><ref name="Space-20121221">{{cite web |url=https://www.space.com/19027-universe-baby-picture-wmap.html |url-status=live |title=New 'Baby Picture' of Universe Unveiled |last=Gannon |first=Megan |date=21 December 2012 |website=] |location=New York |publisher=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029114309/https://www.space.com/19027-universe-baby-picture-wmap.html |archive-date=29 October 2019 |access-date=9 December 2019}}</ref> The radiation is ] to roughly one part in 100,000.<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2004|p=291}}</ref>]] | |||
===Magnetic monopoles=== | |||
The ''']''' problem was an objection that was raised in the late-]. ] predicted ] in space that would manifest as ]s, and the density of these monopoles was much higher than what could be accounted for. This problem is also resolvable by the addition of ] which removes all point defects from the observable universe in the same way that the geometry is driven to flat. | |||
In 1989, ] launched COBE, which made two major advances: in 1990, high-precision spectrum measurements showed that the CMB frequency spectrum is an almost perfect blackbody with no deviations at a level of 1 part in 10<sup>4</sup>, and measured a residual temperature of 2.726 K (more recent measurements have revised this figure down slightly to 2.7255 K); then in 1992, further COBE measurements discovered tiny fluctuations (]ies) in the CMB temperature across the sky, at a level of about one part in 10<sup>5</sup>.<ref name="cobe" /> ] and ] were awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for their leadership in these results. | |||
===Missing matter=== | |||
During the following decade, CMB anisotropies were further investigated by a large number of ground-based and balloon experiments. In 2000–2001, several experiments, most notably ], found the ] to be spatially almost flat by measuring the typical angular size (the size on the sky) of the anisotropies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Melchiorri |first1=Alessandro |last2=Ade |first2=Peter A.R. |last3=de Bernardis |first3=Paolo |display-authors=etal |date=20 June 2000 |title=A Measurement of Ω from the North American Test Flight of Boomerang |journal=] |volume=536 |issue=2 |pages=L63–L66 |arxiv=astro-ph/9911445 |bibcode=2000ApJ...536L..63M |doi=10.1086/312744 |pmid=10859119|s2cid=27518923 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=de Bernardis |first1=Paolo |last2=Ade |first2=Peter A.R. |last3=Bock |first3=James J. |display-authors=etal |date=27 April 2000 |title=A Flat Universe from High-Resolution Maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation |url=https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/60851/2/0004404v1.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=404 |issue=6781 |pages=955–959 |arxiv=astro-ph/0004404 |bibcode=2000Natur.404..955D |doi=10.1038/35010035 |pmid=10801117 |hdl=10044/1/60851 |s2cid=4412370 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502001358/https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/60851/2/0004404v1.pdf |archive-date=2 May 2019 |access-date=10 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Andre D. |last2=Caldwell |first2=Robert H. |last3=Devlin |first3=Mark Joseph |display-authors=etal |date=10 October 1999 |title=A Measurement of the Angular Power Spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background from l = 100 to 400 |journal=] |volume=524 |issue=1 |pages=L1–L4 |arxiv=astro-ph/9906421 |bibcode=1999ApJ...524L...1M |doi=10.1086/312293 |s2cid=1924091 }}</ref> | |||
During the ] and ] various observations (notably of ]) showed that there was not sufficient visible matter in the universe to account for the apparent strength of gravitational forces within and between galaxies. This led to the idea that up to 90% of the matter in the universe is non-] ''']'''. In addition, assuming that the universe was mostly normal matter led to predictions that were strongly inconsistent with observations. In particular, the universe is far less lumpy and contains far less ] than can be accounted for without dark matter. While ] was initially controversial, it is now a widely accepted part of standard cosmology due to observations in the anisotropies in the CMB, ] velocity dispersions, large scale structure distributions, ] studies, and ] measurements from ]. Dark matter particles have only been detected through their gravitational signatures, and have not yet been observed in laboratories. However, there are many ] candidates for ], and several projects to detect them are underway. | |||
In early 2003, the first results of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe were released, yielding what were at the time the most accurate values for some of the cosmological parameters. The results disproved several specific cosmic inflation models, but are consistent with the inflation theory in general.<ref name="wmap1year" /> The '']'' space probe was launched in May 2009. Other ground and balloon-based ] are ongoing. | |||
===Abundance of primordial elements=== | |||
{{Main|Big Bang nucleosynthesis}} | |||
] | |||
Using Big Bang models, it is possible to calculate the expected concentration of the isotopes ] (<sup>4</sup>He), ] (<sup>3</sup>He), deuterium (<sup>2</sup>H), and ] (<sup>7</sup>Li) in the universe as ratios to the amount of ordinary hydrogen.<ref name="kolb_c4"/> The relative abundances depend on a single parameter, the ratio of photons to baryons. This value can be calculated independently from the detailed structure of CMB fluctuations. The ratios predicted (by mass, not by abundance) are about 0.25 for <sup>4</sup>He:H, about 10<sup>−3</sup> for <sup>2</sup>H:H, about 10<sup>−4</sup> for <sup>3</sup>He:H, and about 10<sup>−9</sup> for <sup>7</sup>Li:H.<ref name="kolb_c4">{{harvnb|Kolb|Turner|1988|loc=chpt. 4}}</ref> | |||
The measured abundances all agree at least roughly with those predicted from a single value of the baryon-to-photon ratio. The agreement is excellent for deuterium, close but formally discrepant for <sup>4</sup>He, and off by a factor of two for <sup>7</sup>Li (this anomaly is known as the ]); in the latter two cases, there are substantial ]. Nonetheless, the general consistency with abundances predicted by BBN is strong evidence for the Big Bang, as the theory is the only known explanation for the relative abundances of light elements, and it is virtually impossible to "tune" the Big Bang to produce much more or less than 20–30% helium.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Steigman |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Steigman |date=February 2006 |title=Primordial Nucleosynthesis: Successes And Challenges |journal=] |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1–36 |arxiv=astro-ph/0511534 |bibcode=2006IJMPE..15....1S |doi=10.1142/S0218301306004028 |citeseerx=10.1.1.337.542 |s2cid=12188807}}</ref> Indeed, there is no obvious reason outside of the Big Bang that, for example, the young universe before ], as determined by studying matter supposedly free of ] products, should have more helium than deuterium or more deuterium than <sup>3</sup>He, and in constant ratios, too.<ref name="Ryden2003"/>{{rp|182–185}} | |||
===Galactic evolution and distribution=== | |||
{{Main|Galaxy formation and evolution|Structure formation}} | |||
Detailed observations of the ] and distribution of galaxies and ]s are in agreement with the current Big Bang models. A combination of observations and theory suggest that the first quasars and galaxies formed within a billion years after the Big Bang,<ref>{{cite web | title=Astronomers Grapple with JWST's Discovery of Early Galaxies | first=Jonathan | last=O'Callaghan | date=December 6, 2022 | publisher=Scientific American | url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/astronomers-grapple-with-jwsts-discovery-of-early-galaxies1/ | access-date=2023-02-13 }}</ref> and since then, larger structures have been forming, such as ]s and ]s.<ref name="Bertschinger"/> | |||
Populations of stars have been aging and evolving, so that distant galaxies (which are observed as they were in the early universe) appear very different from nearby galaxies (observed in a more recent state). Moreover, galaxies that formed relatively recently appear markedly different from galaxies formed at similar distances but shortly after the Big Bang. These observations are strong arguments against the steady-state model. Observations of star formation, galaxy and quasar distributions and larger structures, agree well with Big Bang simulations of the formation of structure in the universe, and are helping to complete details of the theory.<ref name="Bertschinger">{{cite arXiv |last=Bertschinger |first=Edmund |author-link=Edmund Bertschinger |title=Cosmological Perturbation Theory and Structure Formation |eprint=astro-ph/0101009|date=2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bertschinger |first=Edmund |author-link=Edmund Bertschinger |date=September 1998 |title=Simulations of Structure Formation in the Universe |journal=] |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=599–654 |bibcode=1998ARA&A..36..599B |doi=10.1146/annurev.astro.36.1.599 |s2cid=29015610|url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ffc4/1045e433c10454ba32e811d25eafd3ac324f.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190309060807/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ffc4/1045e433c10454ba32e811d25eafd3ac324f.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-03-09 }}</ref> | |||
=== Primordial gas clouds === | |||
] of ] under a microscope – used to search for polarization in the CMB<ref name="BICEP2-2014">{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=16 December 2014 |orig-date=Results originally released on 17 March 2014 |title=BICEP2 March 2014 Results and Data Products |url=http://bicepkeck.org/bicep2_2014_release.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318190423/http://bicepkeck.org/ |archive-date=18 March 2014 |access-date=10 December 2019 |website=The BICEP and Keck Array CMB Experiments |publisher=], ] |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}</ref><ref name="NASA-20140317">{{cite web |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-082 |url-status=live |title=NASA Technology Views Birth of the Universe |last=Clavin |first=Whitney |date=17 March 2014 |website=] |publisher=] |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010183450/https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-082 |archive-date=10 October 2019 |access-date=10 December 2019}}</ref><ref name="NYT-20140317">{{cite news |last=Overbye |first=Dennis |author-link=Dennis Overbye |date=17 March 2014 |title=Space Ripples Reveal Big Bang's Smoking Gun |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/science/space/detection-of-waves-in-space-buttresses-landmark-theory-of-big-bang.html |url-status=live |url-access=registration |department=Space & Cosmos |newspaper=] |location=New York |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317154023/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/science/space/detection-of-waves-in-space-buttresses-landmark-theory-of-big-bang.html |archive-date=17 March 2014 |access-date=11 December 2019}} "A version of this article appears in print on March 18, 2014, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Space Ripples Reveal Big Bang's Smoking Gun." The online version of this article was originally titled "Detection of Waves in Space Buttresses Landmark Theory of Big Bang".</ref><ref name="NYT-20140324">{{cite news |last=Overbye |first=Dennis |author-link=Dennis Overbye |date=24 March 2014 |title=Ripples From the Big Bang |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/science/space/ripples-from-the-big-bang.html |url-status=live |url-access=registration |department=Out There |newspaper=] |location=New York |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325015901/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/science/space/ripples-from-the-big-bang.html |archive-date=25 March 2014 |access-date=24 March 2014}} "A version of this article appears in print on March 25, 2014, Section D, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Ripples From the Big Bang."</ref>]] | |||
In 2011, astronomers found what they believe to be pristine clouds of primordial gas by analyzing absorption lines in the spectra of distant quasars. Before this discovery, all other astronomical objects have been observed to contain heavy elements that are formed in stars. Despite being sensitive to carbon, oxygen, and silicon, these three elements were not detected in these two clouds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fumagalli |first1=Michele |last2=O'Meara |first2=John M. |last3=Prochaska |first3=J. Xavier |date=2 December 2011 |title=Detection of Pristine Gas Two Billion Years After the Big Bang |journal=] |volume=334 |issue=6060 |pages=1245–1249 |arxiv=1111.2334 |bibcode=2011Sci...334.1245F |doi=10.1126/science.1213581 |pmid=22075722 |s2cid=2434386}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.ucsc.edu/2011/11/pristine-gas.html |title=Astronomers find clouds of primordial gas from the early universe |last=Stephens |first=Tim |date=10 November 2011 |newspaper=Uc Santa Cruz News |publisher=] |location=Santa Cruz, CA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114140012/https://news.ucsc.edu/2011/11/pristine-gas.html |archive-date=14 November 2011 |access-date=11 December 2019}}</ref> Since the clouds of gas have no detectable levels of heavy elements, they likely formed in the first few minutes after the Big Bang, during BBN. | |||
===Other lines of evidence=== | |||
The age of the universe as estimated from the Hubble expansion and the CMB is now in agreement with other estimates using the ages of the oldest stars, both as measured by applying the theory of ] to globular clusters and through ] of individual ] stars.<ref>{{cite web |last=Perley |first=Daniel |date=21 February 2005 |title=Determination of the Universe's Age, t<sub>o</sub> |url=https://astro.berkeley.edu/~dperley/univage/univage.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060911000604/https://astro.berkeley.edu/~dperley/univage/univage.html |archive-date=11 September 2006 |access-date=11 December 2019 |publisher=Department of Astronomy, ] |language=en-us |location=Berkeley, California}}</ref> It is also in agreement with age estimates based on measurements of the expansion using ]e and measurements of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background.<ref name="Planck 2015"/> The agreement of independent measurements of this age supports the ] (ΛCDM) model, since the model is used to relate some of the measurements to an age estimate, and all estimates turn agree. Still, some observations of objects from the relatively early universe (in particular quasar ]) raise concern as to whether these objects had enough time to form so early in the ΛCDM model.<ref>Yang, R. J., & Zhang, S. N. (2010). The age problem in the ΛCDM model. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 407(3), pp. 1835–1841.</ref><ref>Yu, H., & Wang, F. Y. (2014). Reconciling the cosmic age problem in the $$ R_\mathrm {h}= ct $$ universe. The European Physical Journal C, 74(10), 3090.</ref> | |||
The prediction that the CMB temperature was higher in the past has been experimentally supported by observations of very low temperature absorption lines in gas clouds at high redshift.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Srianand |first1=Raghunathan |author1-link=Raghunathan Srianand |last2=Noterdaeme |first2=Pasquier |last3=Ledoux |first3=Cédric |last4=Petitjean |first4=Patrick |display-authors=3 |date=May 2008 |title=First detection of CO in a high-redshift damped Lyman-α system |journal=] |volume=482 |issue=3 |pages=L39–L42 |bibcode=2008A&A...482L..39S |doi=10.1051/0004-6361:200809727|arxiv=0804.0116 |doi-access=free }}</ref> This prediction also implies that the amplitude of the ] in clusters of galaxies does not depend directly on redshift. Observations have found this to be roughly true, but this effect depends on cluster properties that do change with cosmic time, making precise measurements difficult.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Avgoustidis |first1=Anastasios |last2=Luzzi |first2=Gemma |last3=Martins |first3=Carlos J.A.P. |last4=Monteiro |first4=Ana M.R.V.L. |display-authors=3 |date=14 February 2012 |title=Constraints on the CMB temperature-redshift dependence from SZ and distance measurements |arxiv=1112.1862|doi=10.1088/1475-7516/2012/02/013 |volume=2012 |issue=2 |page=Article 013 |journal=] |bibcode=2012JCAP...02..013A |citeseerx=10.1.1.758.6956 |s2cid=119261969}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Belušević|2008|p=}}</ref> | |||
===Future observations=== | |||
Future ] might be able to detect primordial ]s, relics of the early universe, up to less than a second after the Big Bang.<ref name="Ghosh">{{cite news |last=Ghosh |first=Pallab |author-link=Pallab Ghosh |date=11 February 2016 |title=Einstein's gravitational waves 'seen' from black holes|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35524440 |url-status=live |department=Science & Environment |work=] |location=London |publisher=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160211235836/https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35524440 |archive-date=11 February 2016 |access-date=13 April 2017}}</ref><ref name="Billings">{{cite magazine |last=Billings |first=Lee |date=12 February 2016 |title=The Future of Gravitational Wave Astronomy |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-future-of-gravitational-wave-astronomy/ |url-status=live |magazine=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213012852/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-future-of-gravitational-wave-astronomy/ |archive-date=13 February 2016 |access-date=13 April 2017}}</ref> | |||
=={{anchor|Problems}}Problems and related issues in physics== | |||
{{See also|List of unsolved problems in physics}} | |||
As with any theory, a number of mysteries and problems have arisen as a result of the development of the Big Bang models. Some of these mysteries and problems have been resolved while others are still outstanding. Proposed solutions to some of the problems in the Big Bang model have revealed new mysteries of their own. For example, the ], the ], and the ] are most commonly resolved with inflation theory, but the details of the inflationary universe are still left unresolved and many, including some founders of the theory, say it has been disproven.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Earman |first1=John |author1-link=John Earman |last2=Mosterín |first2=Jesús |author2-link=Jesús Mosterín |date=March 1999 |title=A Critical Look at Inflationary Cosmology |journal=] |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=1–49 |doi=10.1086/392675 |jstor=188736|s2cid=120393154 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hawking|Israel|2010|pp=581–638|loc=chpt. 12: "Singularities and time-asymmetry" by ].}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Penrose|1989}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Steinhardt |first=Paul J. |author-link=Paul Steinhardt |date=April 2011 |title=The Inflation Debate: Is the theory at the heart of modern cosmology deeply flawed? |url=https://physics.princeton.edu/~steinh/0411036.pdf |url-status=live |magazine=] |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0411-36 |volume=304 |issue=4 |pages=36–43 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101165817/https://physics.princeton.edu/~steinh/0411036.pdf |archive-date=1 November 2019 |access-date=23 December 2019}}</ref> What follows are a list of the mysterious aspects of the Big Bang concept still under intense investigation by cosmologists and ]. | |||
===Baryon asymmetry=== | |||
{{Main|Baryon asymmetry}} | |||
It is not yet understood why the universe has more matter than antimatter.<ref name="kolb_c6"/> It is generally assumed that when the universe was young and very hot it was in ] and contained equal numbers of baryons and antibaryons. However, observations suggest that the universe, including its most distant parts, is made almost entirely of normal matter, rather than antimatter. A process called baryogenesis was hypothesized to account for the asymmetry. For baryogenesis to occur, the ] must be satisfied. These require that baryon number is not conserved, that ] and ] are violated and that the universe depart from ].<ref name="sakharov">{{cite journal |last=Sakharov |first=Andrei D. |author-link=Andrei Sakharov |date=10 January 1967 |title=Нарушение ''СР''-инвариантности, ''С''-асимметрия и барионная асимметрия Вселенной |trans-title=Violation of ''CP''-invariance, ''C''-asymmetry and baryon asymmetry of the Universe |url=http://www.jetpletters.ac.ru/ps/808/article_12459.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |language=ru |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=32–35 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728190714/http://www.jetpletters.ac.ru/ps/808/article_12459.pdf |archive-date=28 July 2018}} | |||
* Translated in: {{cite journal |last=Sakharov |first=Andrei D. |author-link=Andrei Sakharov |date=10 January 1967 |title=Violation of CP Invariance, С Asymmetry, and Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe |url=http://www.jetpletters.ac.ru/ps/1643/article_25089.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=24–27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109163819/http://www.jetpletters.ac.ru/ps/1643/article_25089.pdf |archive-date=9 November 2019 |access-date=13 December 2019}} | |||
** Reprinted in: {{harvnb|Kolb|Turner|1988|pp=371–373}}</ref> All these conditions occur in the Standard Model, but the effects are not strong enough to explain the present baryon asymmetry. | |||
===Dark energy=== | ===Dark energy=== | ||
{{Main|Dark energy}} | |||
Measurements of the redshift–] relation for ]e indicate that the expansion of the universe has been accelerating since the universe was about half its present age. To explain this acceleration, general relativity requires that much of the energy in the universe consists of a component with large negative pressure, dubbed "dark energy".<ref name="peebles" /> | |||
Dark energy, though speculative, solves numerous problems. Measurements of the cosmic microwave background indicate that the universe is very nearly spatially flat, and therefore according to general relativity the universe must have almost exactly the ] of mass/energy. But the mass density of the universe can be measured from its gravitational clustering, and is found to have only about 30% of the critical density.<ref name="peebles" /> Since theory suggests that dark energy does not cluster in the usual way it is the best explanation for the "missing" energy density. Dark energy also helps to explain two geometrical measures of the overall curvature of the universe, one using the frequency of ]es,<ref>{{cite journal | title=Constraining dark energy from the abundance of weak gravitational lenses | first1=Nevin N. | last1=Weinberg | first2=Marc | last2=Kamionkowski | journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume=341 | issue=1 | date=May 2003 | pages=251–262 | bibcode=2003MNRAS.341..251W | arxiv=astro-ph/0210134 | doi=10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06421.x | doi-access=free | s2cid=1193946 }}</ref> and the other using the characteristic pattern of the large-scale structure--]--as a cosmic ruler.<ref>{{cite web |last1=White |first1=Martin |title=Baryon acoustic oscillations and dark energy |url=https://w.astro.berkeley.edu/~mwhite/bao/}}</ref><ref> | |||
In the ], detailed measurements of the ] of the universe revealed a value that was 30% that of the ]. For the universe to be flat, as is indicated by measurements of the ], this would have meant that fully 70% of the energy density of the universe was left unaccounted for. Measurements of ] reveal that the universe is undergoing a non-linear ] of the ] expansion of the universe. ] requires that this additional 70% be made up by an energy component with large ]. The nature of the so-called ''']''' remains one of the great mysteries of the Big Bang. Possible candidates include a scalar ] and ]. Observations to help understand this are ongoing. | |||
{{cite journal | title=Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Cosmological implications from two decades of spectroscopic surveys at the Apache Point Observatory | first1=Shadab | last1=Alam | display-authors=etal | journal=Physical Review D | volume=103 | issue=8 | date=April 2021 | page=083533 | bibcode=2021PhRvD.103h3533A | arxiv=2007.08991 | doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.103.083533}}</ref> | |||
Negative pressure is believed to be a property of ], but the exact nature and existence of dark energy remains one of the great mysteries of the Big Bang. Results from the WMAP team in 2008 are in accordance with a universe that consists of 73% dark energy, 23% dark matter, 4.6% regular matter and less than 1% neutrinos.<ref name="wmap7year" /> According to theory, the energy density in matter decreases with the expansion of the universe, but the dark energy density remains constant (or nearly so) as the universe expands. Therefore, matter made up a larger fraction of the total energy of the universe in the past than it does today, but its fractional contribution will fall in the ] as dark energy becomes even more dominant.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} | |||
===Globular cluster age=== | |||
The dark energy component of the universe has been explained by theorists using a variety of competing theories including Einstein's cosmological constant but also extending to more exotic forms of ] or other modified gravity schemes.<ref>{{harvnb|Tanabashi, M.|2018|pp=|loc=chpt. 27: "Dark Energy" (Revised September 2017) by David H. Weinberg and Martin White.}} | |||
A certain set of observations were made in the mid-] involving the ages of ''']s''' that were found to be inconsistent with the Big Bang. Computer simulations of that matched the observations of the ] populations of globular clusters suggested that they were about 15 billion years old, which conflicted with the 13.7 billion year age of the universe. This issue was generally resolved in the late ] with other new computer simulations which included the effects of mass loss due to ] indicated a much younger age for globular clusters. There still remain some questions as to how accurately the ages of the clusters are measured, but it is clear that these objects are some of the oldest in the universe. | |||
* {{harvnb|Olive|2014|pp=|loc=chpt. 26: "Dark Energy" (November 2013) by Michael J. Mortonson, David H. Weinberg, and Martin White.}} {{bibcode|2014arXiv1401.0046M}}</ref> A ], sometimes called the "most embarrassing problem in physics", results from the apparent discrepancy between the measured energy density of dark energy, and the one naively predicted from ].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rugh |first1=Svend E. |last2=Zinkernagel |first2=Henrik |title=The quantum vacuum and the cosmological constant problem |pages=663–705 |volume=33 |issue=4 |date=December 2002 |journal=] |arxiv=hep-th/0012253 |bibcode=2002SHPMP..33..663R |doi=10.1016/S1355-2198(02)00033-3 |s2cid=9007190 }}</ref> | |||
==The future according to the Big Bang theory== | |||
===Dark matter=== | |||
Currently, observations of ] constrain the immediate future of the universe to expand forever. Before the component densities of the universe were as well measured as today, there had been offered scenarios where a universe with a ] above the ] would reach a maximum size and then begin to collapse in a ]. In this scenario, the universe would become denser and hotter again, ending with a state that was similar to that in which it started. | |||
{{Main|Dark matter}} | |||
] shows the proportion of different components of the universe {{spaced ndash}} about 95% is ] and ].]] | |||
During the 1970s and the 1980s, various observations showed that there is not sufficient visible matter in the universe to account for the apparent strength of gravitational forces within and between galaxies. This led to the idea that up to 90% of the matter in the universe is dark matter that does not emit light or interact with normal baryonic matter. In addition, the assumption that the universe is mostly normal matter led to predictions that were strongly inconsistent with observations. In particular, the universe today is far more lumpy and contains far less deuterium than can be accounted for without dark matter. While dark matter has always been controversial, it is inferred by various observations: the anisotropies in the CMB, ] ]s, large-scale structure distributions, ]ing studies, and ] of galaxy clusters.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pages.astronomy.ua.edu/keel/galaxies/darkmatter.html |url-status=live |last=Keel |first=William C. |date=October 2009 |orig-date=Last changes: February 2015 |title=Dark Matter |website=Bill Keel's Lecture Notes – Galaxies and the Universe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503112916/http://pages.astronomy.ua.edu/keel/galaxies/darkmatter.html |archive-date=3 May 2019 |access-date=15 December 2019}}</ref> | |||
Indirect evidence for dark matter comes from its gravitational influence on other matter, as no dark matter particles have been observed in laboratories. Many particle physics candidates for dark matter have been proposed, and several projects to detect them directly are underway.<ref name="pdg">{{harvnb|Tanabashi, M.|2018|pp=|loc=chpt. 26: "Dark Matter" (Revised September 2017) by Manuel Drees and Gilles Gerbier.}} | |||
Alternatively, if the ] in the universe was equal or below the ] and there was no ], the expansion would slow down, but never stop. New star formation would drop off as the universe grew less dense. The average temperature of the Universe would asymptotically approach ], and eventually, all the ], the black holes would evaporate, and the Universe would consist of dispersed radiation. This scenario is also known as '']''. | |||
* {{harvnb|Yao, W.-M.|2006|pp=|loc=chpt. 22: "Dark Matter" (September 2003) by Manuel Drees and Gilles Gerbier.}}</ref> | |||
Additionally, there are outstanding problems associated with the currently favored cold dark matter model which include the ]<ref name="Martínez-Delgado">{{Cite book |arxiv= 1009.4505|last1 = Bullock|first1 = James S.|title = Local Group Cosmology|chapter= Notes on the Missing Satellites Problem |pages = 95–122|year = 2010 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139152303.004|isbn = 9781139152303|s2cid = 119270708|editor1-last = Martinez-Delgado|editor1-first = David|editor2-last = Mediavilla|editor2-first = Evencio}}</ref> and the ].<ref name="Diemand2005">{{cite journal |last1=Diemand |first1=Jürg |last2=Zemp |first2=Marcel |last3=Moore |first3=Ben |last4=Stadel |first4=Joachim |last5=Carollo |first5=C. Marcella |author-link5=C. Marcella Carollo |date=December 2005 |title=Cusps in cold dark matter haloes |journal=] |volume=364 |issue=2 |pages=665–673 |arxiv=astro-ph/0504215 |bibcode=2005MNRAS.364..665D |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09601.x |doi-access=free |s2cid=117769706 }}</ref> Alternative theories have been proposed that do not require a large amount of undetected matter, but instead modify the laws of gravity established by Newton and Einstein; yet no alternative theory has been as successful as the cold dark matter proposal in explaining all extant observations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dodelson |first1=Scott |date=31 December 2011 |title=The Real Problem with MOND |journal=] |arxiv=1112.1320 |doi=10.1142/S0218271811020561 |volume=20 |issue=14 |pages=2749–2753 |bibcode=2011IJMPD..20.2749D |s2cid=119194106 }}</ref> | |||
However, universe is not decelerating but rather ] in expansion. This will cause more and more of the universe that is presently visible to become unobservable as objects pass our ]. Ultimately, ] and eventually ] themselves will be torn apart by the ever increasing expansion in a so-called ]. The only remaining visible objects will be ancient ] which will have their light redshifted to extremely long wavelengths. | |||
===Horizon problem=== | |||
Beyond this, the laws of physics have little to offer. Scenarios have been put forth where new "]" are born out of the unimaginably large expanse of dark energy. Indeed, the ] theory put forth by some seems to demand this be the case. | |||
{{Main|Horizon problem}} | |||
The horizon problem results from the premise that information cannot travel ]. In a universe of finite age this sets a limit—the particle horizon—on the separation of any two regions of space that are in ] contact.<ref name="kolb_c8">{{harvnb|Kolb|Turner|1988|loc=chpt. 8}}</ref> The observed isotropy of the CMB is problematic in this regard: if the universe had been dominated by radiation or matter at all times up to the epoch of last scattering, the particle horizon at that time would correspond to about 2 degrees on the sky. There would then be no mechanism to cause wider regions to have the same temperature.<ref name="Ryden2003">{{harvnb|Ryden|2003}}</ref>{{rp|191–202}} | |||
A resolution to this apparent inconsistency is offered by inflation theory in which a homogeneous and isotropic ] dominates the universe at some very early period (before baryogenesis). During inflation, the universe undergoes ] expansion, and the particle horizon expands much more rapidly than previously assumed, so that regions presently on opposite sides of the observable universe are well inside each other's particle horizon. The observed isotropy of the CMB then follows from the fact that this larger region was in causal contact before the beginning of inflation.<ref name="Guth1998" />{{rp|180–186}} | |||
See also the ''']'''. | |||
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle predicts that during the inflationary phase there would be ], which would be magnified to a cosmic scale. These fluctuations served as the seeds for all the current structures in the universe.<ref name="Ryden2003"/>{{rp|207}} Inflation predicts that the primordial fluctuations are nearly ] and ], which has been confirmed by measurements of the CMB.<ref name="wmap1year" />{{rp|sec 6}} | |||
==Speculative physics beyond the Big Bang== | |||
A related issue to the classic horizon problem arises because in most standard cosmological inflation models, inflation ceases well before ] occurs, so inflation should not be able to prevent large-scale discontinuities in the ] since distant parts of the observable universe were causally separate when the ] ended.<ref>{{harvnb|Penrose|2007}}</ref> | |||
There remains the possibility that a more accurate approximation or generalization than the Big Bang will be developed in the future. It might be the case that there are parts of the universe well beyond what can currently be observed. This is required to be true for the case of ] which holds that the initial conditions before the inflationary epoch are, on the whole, entirely erased from influencing the observable universe and that domains that are completely separate from that which can be observed may, in the materialistic sense, exist. It may be possible to deduce what happened before ] through observational tests yet to be discovered. Extrapolations and speculations about this tend to involve theories ]. | |||
===Magnetic monopoles=== | |||
Some proposed ideas are: | |||
The magnetic monopole objection was raised in the late 1970s. ] (GUTs) predicted ]s in space that would manifest as ]s. These objects would be produced efficiently in the hot early universe, resulting in a density much higher than is consistent with observations, given that no monopoles have been found. This problem is resolved by cosmic inflation, which removes all point defects from the observable universe, in the same way that it drives the geometry to flatness.<ref name="kolb_c8"/> | |||
===Flatness problem=== | |||
* ] | |||
] is determined by whether the ] is less than, equal to or greater than 1. Shown from top to bottom are a ] with positive curvature, a ] with negative curvature and a ] with zero curvature.]] | |||
* ] models (including ] and ] scenarios in which the Big Bang is the result of a collision between branes) | |||
* ] which holds that the universe has an eternal and repetitive quality of repeating big bangs and big crunches | |||
* models including the ] in which the whole of space-time is finite | |||
The flatness problem (also known as the oldness problem) is an observational problem associated with a FLRW.<ref name="kolb_c8"/> The universe may have positive, negative, or zero spatial ] depending on its total energy density. Curvature is negative if its density is less than the critical density; positive if greater; and zero at the critical density, in which case space is said to be ''flat''. Observations indicate the universe is consistent with being flat.<ref name=Filippenko2002>{{cite magazine |last1=Filippenko |first1=Alexei V. |author1-link=Alex Filippenko |last2=Pasachoff |first2=Jay M. |author2-link=Jay Pasachoff |date=March–April 2002 |title=A Universe from Nothing |url=http://www.astrosociety.org/pubs/mercury/31_02/nothing.html |url-status=dead |magazine=] |volume=31 |issue=2 |page=15 |bibcode=2002Mercu..31b..15F |access-date=10 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022135932/http://www.astrosociety.org/pubs/mercury/31_02/nothing.html |archive-date=22 October 2013}}</ref><ref name="Krauss2009">{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo |title='A Universe From Nothing' by Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009 |date=21 October 2009 |medium=Video |language=en-us |publisher=] |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=17 October 2011 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211123/7ImvlS8PLIo |archive-date=2021-11-23 |url-status=live |people=] (Speaker); R. Elisabeth Cornwell (Producer)}}{{cbignore}}</ref> | |||
Some of these scenarios are either qualitatively or quantitatively compatible with one another. Each involves a certain amount of untested physics and/or heuristic hypotheses. | |||
The problem is that any small departure from the critical density grows with time, and yet the universe today remains very close to flat.<ref group="notes">Strictly, dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant drives the universe towards a flat state; however, our universe remained close to flat for several billion years before the dark energy density became significant.</ref> Given that a natural timescale for departure from flatness might be the ], 10<sup>−43</sup> seconds,<ref name="HTUW"/> the fact that the universe has reached neither a ] nor a ] after billions of years requires an explanation. For instance, even at the relatively late age of a few minutes (the time of nucleosynthesis), the density of the universe must have been within one part in 10<sup>14</sup> of its critical value, or it would not exist as it does today.<ref>{{harvnb|Hawking|Israel|2010|pp=504–517|loc=chpt. 9: "The big bang cosmology — enigmas and nostrums" by ] and ].}}</ref> | |||
==Philosophical and religious interpretations== | |||
== Misconceptions == | |||
Philosophically, there are a number of interpretations of the Big Bang theory that are entirely speculative or extra-scientific. Some of these ideas purport to explain the cause of the Big Bang itself (]), and have been criticized by some ] philosophers as being modern ]s. Some people believe that the Big Bang theory lends support to traditional views of creation, for example as given in ], while others believe that all Big Bang theories are inconsistent with such views. | |||
One of the common misconceptions about the Big Bang model is that it fully explains the ]. However, the Big Bang model does not describe how energy, time, and space were caused, but rather it describes the emergence of the present universe from an ultra-dense and high-temperature initial state.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=Brief Answers to Cosmic Questions |url=https://lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/seuforum/faq.htm#m12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413195349/https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/seuforum/faq.htm |archive-date=13 April 2016 |access-date=18 December 2019 |website=Universe Forum |publisher=] |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}} Archival site: "The Universe Forum's role as part of NASA's Education Support Network concluded in September, 2009."</ref> It is misleading to visualize the Big Bang by comparing its size to everyday objects. When the size of the universe at Big Bang is described, it refers to the size of the observable universe, and not the entire universe.<ref name="Davis_Lineweaver2004">{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Tamara M. |author1-link=Tamara Davis |last2=Lineweaver |first2=Charles H. |date=31 March 2004 |title=Expanding Confusion: Common Misconceptions of Cosmological Horizons and the Superluminal Expansion of the Universe |journal=] |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=97–109 |arxiv=astro-ph/0310808 |bibcode=2004PASA...21...97D |doi=10.1071/as03040 |s2cid=13068122 }}</ref> | |||
Another common misconception is that the Big Bang must be understood as the expansion of space and not in terms of the contents of space exploding apart. In fact, either description can be accurate. The expansion of space (implied by the FLRW metric) is only a mathematical convention, corresponding to a choice of ] on spacetime. There is no ] sense in which space expands.<ref name="Peacock">{{cite arXiv |eprint=0809.4573 |class=astro-ph |first=J. A. |last=Peacock |title=A diatribe on expanding space |date=2008}}</ref> | |||
The Big Bang as a ] is not associated with any ]. While certain ] interpretations of religions conflict with the history of the universe as put forth by the Big Bang, there are also more liberal interpretations that do not. | |||
The recession speeds associated with Hubble's law are not velocities in a relativistic sense (for example, they are not related to the spatial components of ]). Therefore, it is not remarkable that according to Hubble's law, galaxies farther than the Hubble distance recede faster than the speed of light. Such recession speeds do not correspond to ] travel. | |||
The following is a list of various religious interpretations of the Big Bang theory: | |||
Many popular accounts attribute the cosmological redshift to the expansion of space. This can be misleading because the expansion of space is only a coordinate choice. The most natural interpretation of the cosmological redshift is that it is a ].<ref name="Hogg"/> | |||
* A number of ] ] and the ] in particular have accepted the Big Bang as a description of the origin of the universe, interpreting it to allow for a philosophical ]. | |||
* Students of ], ] and other non-anthropomorphic faiths concord with the Big Bang theory, notably the theory of "divine retraction" (]), as explained by Jewish Scholar ]. | |||
* Some modern ] scholars believe that the ] parallels the Big Bang in its account of creation, described as follows: "the heavens and the earth were joined together as one unit, before We clove them asunder" (21:30). The Qur'an also appears to describe an expanding universe: "The heavens, We have built them with power. And verily, We are expanding it" (51:47). | |||
* Certain ] branches of ], such as the ]-traditions, conceive of a theory of creation with similarities to the theory of the Big Bang. The Hindu-mythos, narrated for example in the third book of the Bhagavata Purana (primarily, chapters 10 and 26), describes a primordial state which bursts forth as the Great ] glances over it, transforming into the active state of the sum-total of matter ("]"). | |||
*] has a concept of a universe that has no creation event per se. The Big Bang, however, is not seen to be in conflict with this since there are ways to get an eternal universe within the paradigm. A number of popular ] philosophers were intrigued, in particular, by the concept of the ]. | |||
== |
== Implications == | ||
Given current understanding, scientific extrapolations about the future of the universe are only possible for finite durations, albeit for much longer periods than the current age of the universe. Anything beyond that becomes increasingly speculative. Likewise, at present, a proper understanding of the origin of the universe can only be subject to conjecture.<ref name=Starobinsky_2000>{{cite book | chapter=Future and Origin of Our Universe: Modern View | last=Starobinsky | first=Alexei | title=The Future of the Universe and the Future of Our Civilization | series= Proceedings of a symposium held in Budapest-Debrecen, Hungary, 2–6 July 1999 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V7zhUBg1qesC&pg=PA71 | editor1-first=V. | editor1-last=Burdyuzha | editor2-first=G. | editor2-last=Khozin | publication-place=Singapore | publisher=World Scientific Publishing | isbn=9810242646 | page=71 | year=2000 | doi=10.1142/9789812793324_0008 | bibcode=2000fufc.conf...71S | s2cid=37813302 }}</ref> | |||
=== Pre–Big Bang cosmology === | |||
;The future according to Big Bang theory | |||
The Big Bang explains the evolution of the universe from a starting density and temperature that is well beyond humanity's capability to replicate, so extrapolations to the most extreme conditions and earliest times are necessarily more speculative. Lemaître called this initial state the "''primeval atom''" while Gamow called the material "'']''". How the initial state of the universe originated is still an open question, but the Big Bang model does constrain some of its characteristics. For example, if specific ] were to come to existence in a random way, inflation models show, some combinations of these are far more probable,{{sfn|Hawking|1988|p=69}} partly explaining why our Universe is rather stable. Another possible explanation for the stability of the Universe could be a hypothetical multiverse, which assumes every possible universe to exist, and thinking species could only emerge in those stable enough.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kuhn |first=Robert Lawrence |date=2015-12-23 |title=Confronting the Multiverse: What 'Infinite Universes' Would Mean |url=https://www.space.com/31465-is-our-universe-just-one-of-many-in-a-multiverse.html |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=Space.com |language=en}}</ref> A flat universe implies a balance between ] and other energy forms, requiring no additional energy to be created.<ref name=Filippenko2002/><ref name=Krauss2009/> | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
The Big Bang theory, built upon the equations of classical general relativity, indicates a singularity at the origin of cosmic time, and such an infinite energy density may be a physical impossibility. However, the physical theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics as currently realized are not applicable before the Planck epoch, and correcting this will require the development of a correct treatment of quantum gravity.<ref name=Hawking_Ellis_1973 /> Certain quantum gravity treatments, such as the ], imply that time itself could be an ].<ref>{{harvnb|Carroll|n.d.}}</ref> As such, physics may conclude that ] did not exist before the Big Bang.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Beckers |first=Mike |date=16 February 2015 |title=Quantentrick schafft Urknall-Singularität ab |trans-title=Quantum Trick Eliminates the Big Bang Singularity |url=https://www.spektrum.de/news/quantentrick-schafft-urknall-singularitaet-ab/1332377 |url-status=live |department=Cosmology |magazine=] |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721041648/https://www.spektrum.de/news/quantentrick-schafft-urknall-singularitaet-ab/1332377 |archive-date=21 July 2017 |access-date=19 December 2019}} {{Google translation|en|de|www.spektrum.de/news/quantentrick-schafft-urknall-singularitaet-ab/1332377}} | |||
;Cosmology, astrophysics and astronomy | |||
* {{cite journal |last1=Ali |first1=Ahmed Farag |author1-link=Ahmed Farag Ali |last2=Das |first2=Saurya |date=4 February 2015 |title=Cosmology from quantum potential |journal=] |volume=741 |pages=276–279 |arxiv=1404.3093v3 |doi=10.1016/j.physletb.2014.12.057 |bibcode=2015PhLB..741..276F |s2cid=55463396}} | |||
* ] | |||
** {{cite journal |last=Lashin |first=Elsayed I. |date=7 March 2016 |title=On the correctness of cosmology from quantum potential |journal=] |volume=31 |issue=7 |pages=1650044 |arxiv=1505.03070 |bibcode=2016MPLA...3150044L |doi=10.1142/S0217732316500449 |s2cid=119220266}} | |||
* ] | |||
* {{cite journal |last1=Das |first1=Saurya |last2=Rajat K. |first2=Bhaduri |date=21 May 2015 |title=Dark matter and dark energy from a Bose–Einstein condensate |journal=] |volume=32 |issue=10 |pages=105003 |arxiv=1411.0753 |bibcode=2015CQGra..32j5003D |doi=10.1088/0264-9381/32/10/105003 |s2cid=119247745}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hawking.org.uk/the-beginning-of-time.html |url-status=live |title=The Beginning of Time |last=Hawking |first=Stephen W. |author-link=Stephen Hawking |year=1996 |website=Stephen Hawking |publisher=The Stephen Hawking Foundation |location=London |type=Lecture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106162705/http://www.hawking.org.uk/the-beginning-of-time.html |archive-date=6 November 2019 |access-date=26 April 2017}}</ref> | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
While it is not known what could have preceded the hot dense state of the early universe or how and why it originated, or even whether such questions are sensible, speculation abounds on the subject of "]". | |||
;Physics topics | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
Some speculative proposals in this regard, each of which entails untested hypotheses, are: | |||
;Cosmic microwave background radiation | |||
* The simplest models, in which the Big Bang was caused by ]s. That scenario had very little chance of happening, but, according to the ], even the most improbable event will eventually happen. It took place instantly, in our perspective, due to the absence of perceived time before the Big Bang.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.space.com/16281-big-bang-god-intervention-science.html|title=The Big Bang Didn't Need God to Start Universe, Researchers Say|last=Wall|first=Mike|date=24 June 2012|website=Space.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Overbye|first=Dennis|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/22/science/before-the-big-bang-there-was-what.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130227035220/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/22/science/before-the-big-bang-there-was-what.html |archive-date=2013-02-27 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Before the Big Bang, There Was . . . What?|date=22 May 2001|work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=He|first1=Dongshan|last2=Gao|first2=Dongfeng|last3=Cai|first3=Qing-yu|date=3 April 2014|title=Spontaneous creation of the universe from nothing|journal=Physical Review D|volume=89|issue=8|page=083510|doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.89.083510|arxiv=1404.1207|bibcode=2014PhRvD..89h3510H|s2cid=118371273}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lincoln|first1=Maya|last2=Wasser|first2=Avi|date=1 December 2013|title=Spontaneous creation of the Universe Ex Nihilo|journal=Physics of the Dark Universe|volume=2|issue=4|pages=195–199|doi=10.1016/j.dark.2013.11.004|issn=2212-6864|bibcode=2013PDU.....2..195L|doi-access=free}}</ref> | |||
* ] | |||
* ] models, which feature a low-activity past-eternal era before the Big Bang, resembling ancient ideas of a ] and birth of the world out of ]. | |||
* ] | |||
* Models in which the whole of spacetime is finite, including the ]. For these cases, the Big Bang does represent the limit of time but without a singularity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hartle |first1=James H. |author1-link=James Hartle |last2=Hawking |first2=Stephen W. |author2-link=Stephen Hawking |date=15 December 1983 |title=Wave function of the Universe |journal=] |volume=28 |issue=12 |pages=2960–2975 |bibcode=1983PhRvD..28.2960H |doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.28.2960|s2cid=121947045 }}</ref> In such a case, the universe is self-sufficient.{{sfn|Hawking|1988|p=71}} | |||
* ] | |||
* ] models, in which inflation is due to the movement of ]s in ]; the pre-Big Bang model; the ] model, in which the Big Bang is the result of a collision between branes; and the ], a variant of the ekpyrotic model in which collisions occur periodically. In the latter model the Big Bang was preceded by a Big Crunch and the universe cycles from one process to the other.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Langlois |first=David |year=2003 |title=Brane Cosmology |journal=] |volume=148 |pages=181–212 |arxiv=hep-th/0209261 |bibcode=2002PThPS.148..181L |doi=10.1143/PTPS.148.181 |s2cid=9751130}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Gibbons|Shellard|Rankin|2003|pp=801–838|loc=chpt. 43: "Inflationary theory versus the ekpyrotic/cyclic scenario" by ].}} {{Bibcode|2003ftpc.book..801L}}</ref><ref name="rebirth">{{cite web |url=https://www.space.com/2372-recycled-universe-theory-solve-cosmic-mystery.html |url-status=live |title=Recycled Universe: Theory Could Solve Cosmic Mystery |last=Than |first=Ker |date=8 May 2006 |website=] |location=New York |publisher=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906000057/https://www.space.com/2372-recycled-universe-theory-solve-cosmic-mystery.html |archive-date=6 September 2019 |access-date=19 December 2019}}</ref><ref name="rebirth2">{{cite web |url=https://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2007-news/Bojowald6-2007.htm |url-status=live |last=Kennedy |first=Barbara K. |title=What Happened Before the Big Bang? |date=1 July 2007 |website=News and Events |publisher=], ] |location=University Park, PA |access-date=19 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215041942/http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2007-news/Bojowald6-2007.htm/ |archive-date=15 December 2019}} | |||
* ] | |||
* {{cite journal |last=Bojowald |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Bojowald |date=August 2007 |title=What happened before the Big Bang? |journal=] |volume=3 |issue=8 |pages=523–525 |doi=10.1038/nphys654 |bibcode=2007NatPh...3..523B|url=https://zenodo.org/record/896670 |doi-access=free }}</ref> | |||
* ] | |||
* ], in which universal inflation ends locally here and there in a random fashion, each end-point leading to a ''bubble universe'', expanding from its own big bang.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Linde |first=Andrei D. |author-link=Andrei Linde |date=May 1986 |title=Eternal Chaotic Inflation |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/167897 |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=81–85 |bibcode=1986MPLA....1...81L |doi=10.1142/S0217732386000129 |s2cid=123472763 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417211031/https://cds.cern.ch/record/167897/ |archive-date=17 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Linde |first=Andrei D. |author-link=Andrei Linde |date=14 August 1986 |title=Eternally Existing Self-Reproducing Chaotic Inflationary Universe |journal=] |volume=175 |issue=4 |pages=395–400 |bibcode=1986PhLB..175..395L |doi=10.1016/0370-2693(86)90611-8}}</ref> This is sometimes referred to as pre-big bang inflation.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Primordial black holes from pre-big bang inflation | last1=Conzinu | first1=P. | last2=Gasperini | first2=M. | last3=Marozzi | first3=G. | journal=Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics | issue=08 | at=id. 031 | date=August 2020 | doi=10.1088/1475-7516/2020/08/031 | arxiv=2004.08111 | bibcode=2020JCAP...08..031C }}</ref> | |||
* ] | |||
Proposals in the last two categories see the Big Bang as an event in either a much larger and ] or in a ]. | |||
;Observational experiments | |||
* ] | |||
* ] (COBE) | |||
* ] (FUSE) | |||
* ] | |||
* ] (WMAP) | |||
=== Ultimate fate of the universe === | |||
;Atomic chemical elements | |||
{{Main|Ultimate fate of the universe}} | |||
* ] | |||
Before observations of dark energy, cosmologists considered two scenarios for the future of the universe. If the mass density of the universe were greater than the critical density, then the universe would reach a maximum size and then begin to collapse. It would become denser and hotter again, ending with a state similar to that in which it started—a ].<ref name="kolb_c3"/> | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
Alternatively, if the density in the universe were equal to or below the critical density, the expansion would slow down but never stop. Star formation would cease with the consumption of interstellar gas in each galaxy; stars would burn out, leaving ]s, ]s, and black holes. Collisions between these would result in mass accumulating into larger and larger black holes. The average temperature of the universe would very gradually asymptotically approach ]—a ].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_fate.html |title=What is the Ultimate Fate of the Universe? |author=NASA/WMAP Science Team |date=29 June 2015 |work=Universe 101: Big Bang Theory |publisher=] |location=Washington, D.C. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015052245/https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_fate.html |archive-date=15 October 2019 |access-date=18 December 2019}}</ref> Moreover, if protons are ], then baryonic matter would disappear, leaving only radiation and black holes. Eventually, black holes would evaporate by emitting ]. The ] of the universe would increase to the point where no organized form of energy could be extracted from it, a scenario known as heat death.<ref name=dying>{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Fred C. |author1-link=Fred Adams |last2=Laughlin |first2=Gregory |author2-link=Gregory P. Laughlin |date=April 1997 |title=A dying universe: the long-term fate and evolution of astrophysical objects |journal=] |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=337–372 |arxiv=astro-ph/9701131 |bibcode=1997RvMP...69..337A |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.69.337 |s2cid=12173790 }}.</ref> | |||
;Lists | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
Modern observations of accelerating expansion imply that more and more of the currently visible universe will pass beyond our ] and out of contact with us. The eventual result is not known. The ΛCDM model of the universe contains dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant. This theory suggests that only gravitationally bound systems, such as galaxies, will remain together, and they too will be subject to heat death as the universe expands and cools. Other explanations of dark energy, called ] theories, suggest that ultimately galaxy clusters, stars, planets, atoms, nuclei, and matter itself will be torn apart by the ever-increasing expansion in a so-called ].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Caldwell |first1=Robert R. |author1-link=Robert R. Caldwell |last2=Kamionkowski |first2=Marc |author2-link=Marc Kamionkowski |last3=Weinberg |first3=Nevin N. |date=15 August 2003 |title=Phantom Energy: Dark Energy with w<−1 Causes a Cosmic Doomsday |journal=] |volume=91 |issue=7 |page=071301 |arxiv=astro-ph/0302506 |bibcode=2003PhRvL..91g1301C |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.071301 |pmid=12935004|s2cid=119498512 }}</ref> | |||
==External links and references== | |||
===Big Bang overviews=== | |||
===Religious and philosophical interpretations=== | |||
*LaRocco, Chris and Blair Rothstein, "''''". | |||
{{Main|Religious interpretations of the Big Bang theory}} | |||
*]: | |||
<!-- | |||
*].org, "''''" | |||
Please do not add quotes from religious texts in this article, | |||
*"''''". Penny Press Ltd. | |||
the main article treating religious views on the Big Bang is | |||
*Shestople, Paul, "''''". | |||
]. | |||
*Wright, Edward L., "''''". | |||
--> | |||
As a description of the origin of the universe, the Big Bang has significant bearing on religion and philosophy.<ref name="Harris2002">{{harvnb|Harris|2002|p=}}</ref><ref name="Frame2009">{{harvnb|Frame|2009|pp=}}</ref> As a result, it has become one of the liveliest areas in the discourse between ].<ref name="Harrison2010">{{harvnb|Harrison|2010|p=}}</ref> Some believe the Big Bang implies a creator,<ref>{{harvnb|Harris|2002|p=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Craig |first=William Lane |author-link=William Lane Craig |date=December 1999 |title=The Ultimate Question of Origins: God and the Beginning of the Universe |journal=] |type=Lecture |volume=269–270 |issue=1–4 |pages=721–738 |doi=10.1023/A:1017083700096 |bibcode=1999Ap&SS.269..721C |s2cid=117794135}} | |||
* {{harvnb|Block|Puerari|Stockton|Ferreira|2000|pp=723–740}} {{doi|10.1007/978-94-011-4114-7_85}} | |||
* {{cite web |url=https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/scholarly-writings/the-existence-of-god/the-ultimate-question-of-origins-god-and-the-beginning-of-the-universe |url-status=live |title=The Ultimate Question of Origins: God and the Beginning of the Universe |last=Craig |first=William Lane |author-link=William Lane Craig |department=Scholarly Writings: The Existence of God |website=Reasonable Faith |location=Dallas, TX |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229042029/https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/scholarly-writings/the-existence-of-god/the-ultimate-question-of-origins-god-and-the-beginning-of-the-universe |archive-date=29 December 2019 |access-date=21 December 2019 }}</ref> while others argue that Big Bang cosmology makes the notion of a creator superfluous.<ref name="Frame2009"/>{{sfn|Hawking|1988|loc=Introduction: "... a universe with no edge in space, no beginning or end in time, and nothing for a Creator to do." — ]}} | |||
==See also== | |||
* {{annotated link|Anthropic principle}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Big Bounce}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Big Crunch}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Cold Big Bang}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Cosmic Calendar}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Cosmogony}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Eureka: A Prose Poem|''Eureka: A Prose Poem''}}, a Big Bang speculation | |||
* {{annotated link|Future of an expanding universe}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Heat death of the universe}}. Also known as the Big Chill and the Big Freeze | |||
* {{annotated link|Non-standard cosmology}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Shape of the universe}} | |||
* {{annotated link|Steady-state model}}, a discredited theory that denied the Big Bang and posited that the universe always existed | |||
==Notes== | |||
===Beyond the Big Bang=== | |||
{{reflist|group="notes"}} | |||
*] Cosmology, "''''". | |||
*], "''''". | |||
* Whitehouse, David, "''''". ] News. ], ]. | |||
== |
==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | |||
*D'Agnese, Joseph, "''''". Discover, July, ]. | |||
*Felder, Gary, "''''". | |||
*Links to sample text and reviews: | |||
=== |
===Bibliography=== | ||
{{Refbegin|30em}} | |||
These are generally full of technical language, but sometimes with introductions in plain English. | |||
* {{cite book |last=Belušević |first=Radoje |year=2008 |title=Relativity, Astrophysics and Cosmology |volume=1 |location=Weinheim |publisher=] |isbn=978-3-527-40764-4 |oclc=876678499}} | |||
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Block |editor1-first=David L. |editor2-last=Puerari |editor2-first=Ivânio |editor3-last=Stockton |editor3-first=Alan |editor4-last=Ferreira |editor4-first=DeWet |display-editors=3 |year=2000 |title=Toward a New Millennium in Galaxy Morphology: Proceedings of an International Conference 'Toward a New Millennium in Galaxy Morphology: from z=0 to the Lyman Break, held at the Eskom Conference Centre, Midrand, South Africa, September 13–18, 1999 |location=Dordrecht |publisher=] |doi=10.1007/978-94-011-4114-7 |isbn=978-94-010-5801-8 |lccn=00042415 |oclc=851369444}} "Reprinted from '']'' Volumes 269–270, Nos. 1–4, 1999". | |||
* {{cite book |last=Block |first=David L. |year=2012 |chapter=Georges Lemaître and Stigler's Law of Eponymy |editor1-last=Holder |editor1-first=Rodney D. |editor2-last=Mitton |editor2-first=Simon |editor2-link=Simon Mitton |title=A Hubble Eclipse: Lemaitre and Censorship |series=Astrophysics and Space Science Library |volume=395 |pages=89–96 |location=Heidelberg; New York |publisher=] |bibcode=2012ASSL..395...89B |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-32254-9_8 |arxiv=1106.3928v2 |isbn=978-3-642-32253-2 |s2cid=119205665 |lccn=2012956159 |oclc=839779611}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Sean M. |author-link=Sean M. Carroll |date=n.d. |chapter=Why Is There Something, Rather Than Nothing? |title=Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Physics |editor1-last=Knox |editor1-first=Eleanor |editor2-last=Wilson |editor2-first=Alastair |location=London |publisher=] |arxiv=1802.02231v2 |bibcode=2018arXiv180202231C}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Chow |first=Tai L. |year=2008 |title=Gravity, Black Holes, and the Very Early Universe: An Introduction to General Relativity and Cosmology |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-387-73629-7 |lccn=2007936678 |oclc=798281050}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Christianson |first=Gale E. |year=1995 |title=Edwin Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae |url=https://archive.org/details/edwinhubblemarin00chri |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-374-14660-3 |lccn=94045995 |oclc=461940674}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Croswell |first=Ken |author-link=Ken Croswell |year=1995 |title=Alchemy of the Heavens: Searching for Meaning in the Milky Way |others=Illustrations by Philippe Van |url=https://archive.org/details/alchemyofheavens00cros/page/ |url-access=registration |edition=1st Anchor Books |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-385-47213-5 |lccn=94030452 |oclc=1100389944}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=d'Inverno |first=Ray |year=1992 |title=Introducing Einstein's Relativity |url=https://archive.org/details/introducingeinst0000dinv |url-access=registration |location=Oxford, UK; New York |publisher=]; ] |isbn=978-0-19-859686-8 |lccn=91024894 |oclc=554124256}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Drees |first=William B. |author-link=Willem B. Drees |year=1990 |title=Beyond the Big Bang: Quantum Cosmologies and God |location=La Salle, IL |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-8126-9118-4 |lccn=90038498 |oclc=1088758264}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Farrell |first=John |year=2005 |title=The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaître, Einstein, and the Birth of Modern Cosmology |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-56025-660-1 |lccn=2006272995 |oclc=61672162}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Frame |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Frame (bishop) |year=2009 |title=Losing My Religion: Unbelief in Australia |location=Sydney |publisher=UNSW Press |isbn=978-1-921410-19-2 |oclc=782015652}} | |||
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Gibbons |editor1-first=Gary W. |editor1-link=Gary Gibbons |editor2-last=Shellard |editor2-first=E.P.S. |editor3-last=Rankin |editor3-first=Stuart John |year=2003 |title=The Future of Theoretical Physics and Cosmology: Celebrating Stephen Hawking's 60th Birthday |location=Cambridge, UK; New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-521-82081-3 |lccn=2002041704 |oclc=1088190774}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Guth |first=Alan H. |author-link=Alan Guth |year=1998 |orig-date=Originally published 1997 |title=The Inflationary Universe: Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origins |title-link=The Inflationary Universe |others=Foreword by ] |location=London |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-09-995950-2 |lccn=96046117 |oclc=919672203}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Harris |first=James F. |year=2002 |title=Analytic Philosophy of Religion |series=Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion |volume=3 |location=Dordrecht |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-4020-0530-5 |lccn=2002071095 |oclc=237734029}} | |||
* {{cite book |editor-last=Harrison |editor-first=Peter |editor-link=Peter Harrison (historian) |year=2010 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Science and Religion |series=Cambridge Companions to Religion |location=Cambridge, UK; New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-521-71251-4 |lccn=2010016793 |oclc=972341489}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Hawking |first1=Stephen W. |author1-link=Stephen Hawking |last2=Ellis |first2=George F. R. |author2-link=George F. R. Ellis |year=1973 |title=The Large-Scale Structure of Space-Time |url=https://archive.org/details/TheLargeScaleStructureOfSpaceTime |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-521-20016-5 |lccn=72093671 |oclc=1120809270}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Hawking |first=Stephen W. |author-link=Stephen Hawking |year=1988 |title=A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes |title-link=A Brief History of Time |location=New York |others=Introduction by ]; illustrations by Ron Miller |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-553-10953-5 |lccn=87033333 |oclc=39256652}} | |||
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Hawking |editor1-first=Stephen W. |editor1-link=Stephen Hawking |editor2-last=Israel |editor2-first=Werner |editor2-link=Werner Israel |year=2010 |orig-date=Originally published 1979 |title=General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-521-13798-0 |lccn=78062112 |oclc=759923541}} | |||
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Kolb |editor1-first=Edward |editor1-link=Edward Kolb |editor2-last=Turner |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-link=Michael Turner (cosmologist) |year=1988 |title=The Early Universe |series=Frontiers in Physics |volume=70 |location=Redwood City, CA |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-201-11604-5 |lccn=87037440 |oclc=488800074}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Kragh |first=Helge |author-link=Helge Kragh |year=1996 |title=Cosmology and Controversy: The Historical Development of Two Theories of the Universe |url=https://archive.org/details/cosmologycontrov00helg |url-access=registration |location=Princeton, NJ |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-691-02623-7 |lccn=96005612 |oclc=906709898}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Krauss |first=Lawrence M. |author-link=Lawrence M. Krauss |year=2012 |title=A Universe From Nothing: Why there is Something Rather than Nothing |url=https://archive.org/details/universefromnoth0000krau |url-access=registration |others=Afterword by ] |edition=1st Free Press hardcover |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-4516-2445-8 |lccn=2011032519 |oclc=709673181}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Livio |first=Mario |author-link=Mario Livio |year=2000 |title=The Accelerating Universe: Infinite Expansion, the Cosmological Constant, and the Beauty of the Cosmos |url=https://archive.org/details/Mario_Livio-The_Accelerating_Universe-AUDiOBOOK-WEB-2018-PROLOG |type=Audio book performance by Tom Parks, ] |others=Foreword by ] |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-471-32969-5 |lccn=99022278 |oclc=226086793}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Manly |first=Steven L. |year=2011 |title=Visions of the Multiverse |editor-last=Brandon |editor-first=Jodi |location=] |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-60163-720-8 |lccn=2010052741 |oclc=609531953}} | |||
* {{cite book |editor-last=Martínez-Delgado |editor-first=David |year=2013 |title=Local Group Cosmology |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-107-02380-2 |lccn=2013012345 |oclc=875920635}} "Lectures presented at the XX Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics, held in Tenerife, Spain, November 17–18, 2008." | |||
* {{cite book |last=Milne |first=Edward Arthur |author-link=Edward Arthur Milne |year=1935 |title=Relativity, Gravitation and World-Structure |url=https://archive.org/details/RelativityGravitationAndWorldStructure |series=The International Series of Monographs on Physics |location=Oxford, UK; London |publisher=]; ] |lccn=35019093 |oclc=1319934}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Mitton |first=Simon |year=2011 |title=Fred Hoyle: A Life in Science |location=Cambridge, UK; New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-521-18947-7 |lccn=2011293530 |oclc=774201415}} | |||
* {{cite journal |last=Olive | first = K.A. |collaboration=] |year=2014 |title=Review of Particle Physics |url=http://pdg.lbl.gov/2015/download/rpp2014-Chin.Phys.C.38.090001.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=38 |issue=9 |pages=1–708 |doi=10.1088/1674-1137/38/9/090001 |pmid=10020536 |arxiv=1412.1408 |bibcode=2014ChPhC..38i0001O |s2cid=118395784 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130212215/http://pdg.lbl.gov/2015/download/rpp2014-Chin.Phys.C.38.090001.pdf |archive-date=30 January 2017 |access-date=13 December 2019}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Partridge |first=R. Bruce |year=1995 |title=3K: The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation |edition=Illustrated |series=Cambridge Astrophysics Series |volume=25 |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-521-35808-8 |lccn=94014980 |oclc=1123849709}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Peacock |first=John A. |author-link=John A. Peacock |year=1999 |title=Cosmological Physics |url=https://archive.org/details/cosmologicalphys0000peac |url-access=registration |series=Cambridge Astrophysics Series |location=Cambridge, UK; New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-521-42270-3 |lccn=98029460 |oclc=60157380}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Penrose |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Penrose |year=1989 |chapter=Difficulties with Inflationary Cosmology |editor-last=Fenyves |editor-first=Ervin J. |title=Fourteenth Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics |title-link=Ivor Robinson (physicist)#Symposium series |series=] |location=New York |publisher=] |volume=571 |pages=249–264 |bibcode=1989NYASA.571..249P |doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.1989.tb50513.x |isbn=978-0-89766-526-1 |s2cid=122383812 |lccn=89014030 |oclc=318253659 |issn=0077-8923}} "Symposium held in Dallas, Tex., Dec. 11-16, 1988." | |||
* {{cite book |last=Penrose |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Penrose |year=2007 |orig-date=Originally published: London: ], 2004 |title=The Road to Reality |title-link=The Road to Reality |edition=1st Vintage Books |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-679-77631-4 |lccn=2008274126 |oclc=920157277}} The 2004 edition of the book is available from the . Retrieved 20 December 2019. | |||
* {{cite book |last=Roos |first=Matts |year=2012 |orig-date=Chapter originally published 2008 |chapter=Expansion of the Universe – Standard Big Bang Model |editor1-last=Engvold |editor1-first=Oddbjørn |editor1-link=Oddbjørn Engvold |editor2-last=Stabell |editor2-first=Rolf |editor3-last=Czerny |editor3-first=Bozena |editor4-last=Lattanzio |editor4-first=John |title=Astronomy and Astrophysics |chapter-url=http://www.eolss.net/ebooklib/bookinfo/astronomy-astrophysics.aspx |series=] |volume=II |location=Ramsey, Isle of Man |publisher=] in partnership with Eolss Publishers Co. Ltd. |isbn=978-1-84826-823-4 |arxiv=0802.2005 |bibcode=2008arXiv0802.2005R |oclc=691095693}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Ryden |first=Barbara Sue |year=2003 |title=Introduction to Cosmology |location=San Francisco |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-8053-8912-8 |lccn=2002013176 |oclc=1087978842}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Silk |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Silk |year=2009 |title=Horizons of Cosmology: Exploring Worlds Seen and Unseen |series=Templeton Science and Religion Series |location=Conshohocken, PA |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-59947-341-3 |lccn=2009010014 |oclc=818734366}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Singh |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Singh |year=2004 |title=Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe |url=https://archive.org/details/bigbang00simo_0 |url-access=registration |edition=1st U.S. |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-00-716220-8 |lccn=2004056306 |oclc=475508230 |bibcode=2004biba.book.....S}} | |||
* {{cite journal |author=Tanabashi, M. |collaboration=] |year=2018 |title=Review of Particle Physics |journal=] |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=1–708 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.98.030001 |pmid=10020536 |bibcode=2018PhRvD..98c0001T|doi-access=free |hdl=10044/1/68623 |hdl-access=free }} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Tolman |first=Richard C. |author-link=Richard C. Tolman |year=1934 |title=Relativity, Thermodynamics and Cosmology |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.177229/page/n1 |series=The International Series of Monographs on Physics |location=Oxford, UK; London |publisher=]; ] |isbn=978-0-486-65383-9 |lccn=34032023 |oclc=919976}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Woolfson |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Woolfson |year=2013 |title=Time, Space, Stars & Man: The Story of Big Bang |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=] |isbn=978-1-84816-933-3 |lccn=2013371163 |oclc=835115510}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Wright |first=Edward L. |author-link=Edward L. Wright |year=2004 |chapter=Theoretical Overview of Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy |editor-last=Freedman |editor-first=Wendy L. |editor-link=Wendy Freedman |title=Measuring and Modeling the Universe |series=Carnegie Observatories Astrophysics Series |volume=2 |pages=291 |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=] |arxiv=astro-ph/0305591 |bibcode=2004mmu..symp..291W |isbn=978-0-521-75576-4 |lccn=2005277053 |oclc=937330165}} | |||
* {{cite journal |author=Yao, W.-M. |collaboration=] |year=2006 |title=Review of Particle Physics |url=http://pdg.lbl.gov/2006/download/rpp-2006-book.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=1–1232 |bibcode=2006JPhG...33....1Y |doi=10.1088/0954-3899/33/1/001 |s2cid=117958297 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212055045/http://pdg.lbl.gov/2006/download/rpp-2006-book.pdf |archive-date=12 February 2017 |access-date=16 December 2019}} | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
==Further reading== | |||
* | |||
{{for|an annotated list of textbooks and monographs|Physical cosmology#Textbooks}} | |||
* | |||
* {{cite journal |last1=Alpher |first1=Ralph A. |author-link=Ralph Asher Alpher |last2=Herman |first2=Robert |author-link2=Robert Herman |date=August 1988 |title=Reflections on Early Work on 'Big Bang' Cosmology |journal=] |volume=41 |issue=8 |pages=24–34 |bibcode=1988PhT....41h..24A |doi=10.1063/1.881126}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Barrow |first=John D. |author-link=John D. Barrow |year=1994 |title=The Origin of the Universe |series=Science Masters |url=https://archive.org/details/originofuniverse00barr |url-access=registration |location=London |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-297-81497-9 |lccn=94006343 |oclc=490957073}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Davies |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Davies |year=1992 |title=The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World |title-link=The Mind of God |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-671-71069-9 |lccn=91028606 |oclc=59940452}} | |||
* {{cite magazine |last1=Lineweaver |first1=Charles H. |last2=Davis |first2=Tamara M. |author2-link=Tamara Davis |date=March 2005 |title=Misconceptions about the Big Bang |url=https://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~charley/papers/LineweaverDavisSciAm.pdf |url-status=live |magazine=] |volume=292 |issue=3 |pages=36–45 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009072713/https://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~charley/papers/LineweaverDavisSciAm.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2019 |access-date=23 December 2019}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Mather |first1=John C. |author1-link=John C. Mather |last2=Boslough |first2=John |year=1996 |title=The Very First Light: The True Inside Story of the Scientific Journey Back to the Dawn of the Universe |url=https://archive.org/details/veryfirstlight00john |url-access=registration |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-465-01575-7 |lccn=96010781 |oclc=34357391}} | |||
* {{cite magazine|author1-link=Michael Riordan (physicist) |last1=Riordan |first1=Michael |last2=Zajc |first2=William A. |author2-link=William Allen Zajc |date=May 2006 |title=The First Few Microseconds |url=https://rhig.physics.yale.edu/Summer2014/sc%20am%20-%20zjac%20and%20riordan.pdf |url-status=live |magazine=] |volume=294 |issue=5 |pages=34–41 |bibcode=2006SciAm.294e..34R |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0506-34a |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141130184142/http://rhig.physics.yale.edu/M_article_11_2005.pdf |archive-date=30 November 2014}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Simon |title=Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe |title-link=Big Bang (Singh book) |publisher=] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0007162215 |edition=Harper Perennial; illustrated |location=New York, New York |language=en |author-link=Simon Singh |orig-date=First U.S. edition published 2004}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Weinberg |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Weinberg |year=1993 |orig-date=Originally published 1977 |title=The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe |title-link=The First Three Minutes |edition=Updated |location=New York |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-465-02437-7 |lccn=93232406 |oclc=488469247}} 1st edition is available from the . Retrieved 23 December 2019. | |||
==External links== | |||
] | |||
{{Spoken Misplaced Pages|en-BigBang.ogg|date=2011-11-12}} | |||
] | |||
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622230141/https://onceuponauniverse.com/about/in-the-beginning/ |date=22 June 2020 }} – ] funded project explaining the history of the universe in easy-to-understand language | |||
* – ] Science Team | |||
* – ] | |||
* – Big bang model with animated graphics by Johannes Koelman | |||
* – A rash of recent articles illustrates a longstanding confusion over the famous term. by Sabine Hossenfelde | |||
{{Big Bang timeline}} | |||
{{Cosmology topics}} | |||
{{Big History}} | |||
{{subject bar|Physics|Mathematics|Stars|Spaceflight|Outer space|Solar System|Science|World|auto=1}} | |||
{{Authority control}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 06:05, 27 December 2024
Physical theory This article is about the theory. For the television series, see The Big Bang Theory. For other uses, see Big Bang (disambiguation) and Big Bang Theory (disambiguation).
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The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. The notion of an expanding universe was first scientifically originated by physicist Alexander Friedmann in 1922 with the mathematical derivation of the Friedmann equations. The earliest empirical observation of the notion of an expanding universe is known as Hubble's law, published in work by physicist Edwin Hubble in 1929, which discerned that galaxies are moving away from Earth at a rate that accelerates proportionally with distance. Independent of Friedmann's work, and independent of Hubble's observations, physicist Georges Lemaître proposed that the universe emerged from a "primeval atom" in 1931, introducing the modern notion of the Big Bang.
Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale form. These models offer a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of observed phenomena, including the abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, and large-scale structure. The uniformity of the universe, known as the flatness problem, is explained through cosmic inflation: a sudden and very rapid expansion of space during the earliest moments.
Extrapolating this cosmic expansion backward in time using the known laws of physics, the models describe an increasingly concentrated cosmos preceded by a singularity in which space and time lose meaning (typically named "the Big Bang singularity"). Physics lacks a widely accepted theory of quantum gravity that can model the earliest conditions of the Big Bang. In 1964 the CMB was discovered, which convinced many cosmologists that the competing steady-state model of cosmic evolution was falsified, since the Big Bang models predict a uniform background radiation caused by high temperatures and densities in the distant past. A wide range of empirical evidence strongly favors the Big Bang event, which is now essentially universally accepted. Detailed measurements of the expansion rate of the universe place the Big Bang singularity at an estimated 13.787±0.020 billion years ago, which is considered the age of the universe.
There remain aspects of the observed universe that are not yet adequately explained by the Big Bang models. After its initial expansion, the universe cooled sufficiently to allow the formation of subatomic particles, and later atoms. The unequal abundances of matter and antimatter that allowed this to occur is an unexplained effect known as baryon asymmetry. These primordial elements—mostly hydrogen, with some helium and lithium—later coalesced through gravity, forming early stars and galaxies. Astronomers observe the gravitational effects of an unknown dark matter surrounding galaxies. Most of the gravitational potential in the universe seems to be in this form, and the Big Bang models and various observations indicate that this excess gravitational potential is not created by baryonic matter, such as normal atoms. Measurements of the redshifts of supernovae indicate that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, an observation attributed to an unexplained phenomenon known as dark energy.
Features of the models
The Big Bang models offer a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of observed phenomena, including the abundances of the light elements, the CMB, large-scale structure, and Hubble's law. The models depend on two major assumptions: the universality of physical laws and the cosmological principle. The universality of physical laws is one of the underlying principles of the theory of relativity. The cosmological principle states that on large scales the universe is homogeneous and isotropic—appearing the same in all directions regardless of location.
These ideas were initially taken as postulates, but later efforts were made to test each of them. For example, the first assumption has been tested by observations showing that the largest possible deviation of the fine-structure constant over much of the age of the universe is of order 10. Also, general relativity has passed stringent tests on the scale of the Solar System and binary stars.
The large-scale universe appears isotropic as viewed from Earth. If it is indeed isotropic, the cosmological principle can be derived from the simpler Copernican principle, which states that there is no preferred (or special) observer or vantage point. To this end, the cosmological principle has been confirmed to a level of 10 via observations of the temperature of the CMB. At the scale of the CMB horizon, the universe has been measured to be homogeneous with an upper bound on the order of 10% inhomogeneity, as of 1995.
Horizons
Main article: Cosmological horizonAn important feature of the Big Bang spacetime is the presence of particle horizons. Since the universe has a finite age, and light travels at a finite speed, there may be events in the past whose light has not yet had time to reach earth. This places a limit or a past horizon on the most distant objects that can be observed. Conversely, because space is expanding, and more distant objects are receding ever more quickly, light emitted by us today may never "catch up" to very distant objects. This defines a future horizon, which limits the events in the future that we will be able to influence. The presence of either type of horizon depends on the details of the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) metric that describes the expansion of the universe.
Our understanding of the universe back to very early times suggests that there is a past horizon, though in practice our view is also limited by the opacity of the universe at early times. So our view cannot extend further backward in time, though the horizon recedes in space. If the expansion of the universe continues to accelerate, there is a future horizon as well.
Thermalization
Some processes in the early universe occurred too slowly, compared to the expansion rate of the universe, to reach approximate thermodynamic equilibrium. Others were fast enough to reach thermalization. The parameter usually used to find out whether a process in the very early universe has reached thermal equilibrium is the ratio between the rate of the process (usually rate of collisions between particles) and the Hubble parameter. The larger the ratio, the more time particles had to thermalize before they were too far away from each other.
Timeline
Main article: Chronology of the universeA graphical timeline is available at Graphical timeline of the Big Bang |
According to the Big Bang models, the universe at the beginning was very hot and very compact, and since then it has been expanding and cooling.
Singularity
See also: Gravitational singularity, Initial singularity, and Planck units § CosmologyIn the absence of a perfect cosmological principle, extrapolation of the expansion of the universe backwards in time using general relativity yields an infinite density and temperature at a finite time in the past. This irregular behavior, known as the gravitational singularity, indicates that general relativity is not an adequate description of the laws of physics in this regime. Models based on general relativity alone cannot fully extrapolate toward the singularity. In some proposals, such as the emergent Universe models, the singularity is replaced by another cosmological epoch. A different approach identifies the initial singularity as a singularity predicted by some models of the Big Bang theory to have existed before the Big Bang event.
This primordial singularity is itself sometimes called "the Big Bang", but the term can also refer to a more generic early hot, dense phase of the universe. In either case, "the Big Bang" as an event is also colloquially referred to as the "birth" of our universe since it represents the point in history where the universe can be verified to have entered into a regime where the laws of physics as we understand them (specifically general relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics) work. Based on measurements of the expansion using Type Ia supernovae and measurements of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, the time that has passed since that event—known as the "age of the universe"—is 13.8 billion years.
Despite being extremely dense at this time—far denser than is usually required to form a black hole—the universe did not re-collapse into a singularity. Commonly used calculations and limits for explaining gravitational collapse are usually based upon objects of relatively constant size, such as stars, and do not apply to rapidly expanding space such as the Big Bang. Since the early universe did not immediately collapse into a multitude of black holes, matter at that time must have been very evenly distributed with a negligible density gradient.
Inflation and baryogenesis
Main articles: Inflation (cosmology) and BaryogenesisThe earliest phases of the Big Bang are subject to much speculation, given the lack of available data. In the most common models the universe was filled homogeneously and isotropically with a very high energy density and huge temperatures and pressures, and was very rapidly expanding and cooling. The period up to 10 seconds into the expansion, the Planck epoch, was a phase in which the four fundamental forces—the electromagnetic force, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and the gravitational force, were unified as one. In this stage, the characteristic scale length of the universe was the Planck length, 1.6×10 m, and consequently had a temperature of approximately 10 degrees Celsius. Even the very concept of a particle breaks down in these conditions. A proper understanding of this period awaits the development of a theory of quantum gravity. The Planck epoch was succeeded by the grand unification epoch beginning at 10 seconds, where gravitation separated from the other forces as the universe's temperature fell.
At approximately 10 seconds into the expansion, a phase transition caused a cosmic inflation, during which the universe grew exponentially, unconstrained by the light speed invariance, and temperatures dropped by a factor of 100,000. This concept is motivated by the flatness problem, where the density of matter and energy is very close to the critical density needed to produce a flat universe. That is, the shape of the universe has no overall geometric curvature due to gravitational influence. Microscopic quantum fluctuations that occurred because of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle were "frozen in" by inflation, becoming amplified into the seeds that would later form the large-scale structure of the universe. At a time around 10 seconds, the electroweak epoch begins when the strong nuclear force separates from the other forces, with only the electromagnetic force and weak nuclear force remaining unified.
Inflation stopped locally at around 10 to 10 seconds, with the observable universe's volume having increased by a factor of at least 10. Reheating followed as the inflaton field decayed, until the universe obtained the temperatures required for the production of a quark–gluon plasma as well as all other elementary particles. Temperatures were so high that the random motions of particles were at relativistic speeds, and particle–antiparticle pairs of all kinds were being continuously created and destroyed in collisions. At some point, an unknown reaction called baryogenesis violated the conservation of baryon number, leading to a very small excess of quarks and leptons over antiquarks and antileptons—of the order of one part in 30 million. This resulted in the predominance of matter over antimatter in the present universe.
Cooling
Main articles: Big Bang nucleosynthesis and Cosmic microwave backgroundThe universe continued to decrease in density and fall in temperature, hence the typical energy of each particle was decreasing. Symmetry-breaking phase transitions put the fundamental forces of physics and the parameters of elementary particles into their present form, with the electromagnetic force and weak nuclear force separating at about 10 seconds.
After about 10 seconds, the picture becomes less speculative, since particle energies drop to values that can be attained in particle accelerators. At about 10 seconds, quarks and gluons combined to form baryons such as protons and neutrons. The small excess of quarks over antiquarks led to a small excess of baryons over antibaryons. The temperature was no longer high enough to create either new proton–antiproton or neutron–antineutron pairs. A mass annihilation immediately followed, leaving just one in 10 of the original matter particles and none of their antiparticles. A similar process happened at about 1 second for electrons and positrons. After these annihilations, the remaining protons, neutrons and electrons were no longer moving relativistically and the energy density of the universe was dominated by photons (with a minor contribution from neutrinos).
A few minutes into the expansion, when the temperature was about a billion kelvin and the density of matter in the universe was comparable to the current density of Earth's atmosphere, neutrons combined with protons to form the universe's deuterium and helium nuclei in a process called Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). Most protons remained uncombined as hydrogen nuclei.
As the universe cooled, the rest energy density of matter came to gravitationally dominate that of the photon radiation. The recombination epoch began after about 379,000 years, when the electrons and nuclei combined into atoms (mostly hydrogen), which were able to emit radiation. This relic radiation, which continued through space largely unimpeded, is known as the cosmic microwave background.
Structure formation
Main article: Structure formationAfter the recombination epoch, the slightly denser regions of the uniformly distributed matter gravitationally attracted nearby matter and thus grew even denser, forming gas clouds, stars, galaxies, and the other astronomical structures observable today. The details of this process depend on the amount and type of matter in the universe. The four possible types of matter are known as cold dark matter (CDM), warm dark matter, hot dark matter, and baryonic matter. The best measurements available, from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), show that the data is well-fit by a Lambda-CDM model in which dark matter is assumed to be cold. (Warm dark matter is ruled out by early reionization.) This CDM is estimated to make up about 23% of the matter/energy of the universe, while baryonic matter makes up about 4.6%.
In an "extended model" which includes hot dark matter in the form of neutrinos, then the "physical baryon density" is estimated at 0.023. (This is different from the 'baryon density' expressed as a fraction of the total matter/energy density, which is about 0.046.) The corresponding cold dark matter density is about 0.11, and the corresponding neutrino density is estimated to be less than 0.0062.
Cosmic acceleration
Main article: Accelerating expansion of the universeIndependent lines of evidence from Type Ia supernovae and the CMB imply that the universe today is dominated by a mysterious form of energy known as dark energy, which appears to homogeneously permeate all of space. Observations suggest that 73% of the total energy density of the present day universe is in this form. When the universe was very young it was likely infused with dark energy, but with everything closer together, gravity predominated, braking the expansion. Eventually, after billions of years of expansion, the declining density of matter relative to the density of dark energy allowed the expansion of the universe to begin to accelerate.
Dark energy in its simplest formulation is modeled by a cosmological constant term in Einstein field equations of general relativity, but its composition and mechanism are unknown. More generally, the details of its equation of state and relationship with the Standard Model of particle physics continue to be investigated both through observation and theory.
All of this cosmic evolution after the inflationary epoch can be rigorously described and modeled by the lambda-CDM model of cosmology, which uses the independent frameworks of quantum mechanics and general relativity. There are no easily testable models that would describe the situation prior to approximately 10 seconds. Understanding this earliest of eras in the history of the universe is one of the greatest unsolved problems in physics.
Concept history
Main article: History of the Big Bang theory See also: Timeline of cosmological theoriesEtymology
English astronomer Fred Hoyle is credited with coining the term "Big Bang" during a talk for a March 1949 BBC Radio broadcast, saying: "These theories were based on the hypothesis that all the matter in the universe was created in one big bang at a particular time in the remote past." However, it did not catch on until the 1970s.
It is popularly reported that Hoyle, who favored an alternative "steady-state" cosmological model, intended this to be pejorative, but Hoyle explicitly denied this and said it was just a striking image meant to highlight the difference between the two models. Helge Kragh writes that the evidence for the claim that it was meant as a pejorative is "unconvincing", and mentions a number of indications that it was not a pejorative.
The term itself has been argued to be a misnomer because it evokes an explosion. The argument is that whereas an explosion suggests expansion into a surrounding space, the Big Bang only describes the intrinsic expansion of the contents of the universe. Another issue pointed out by Santhosh Mathew is that bang implies sound, which is not an important feature of the model. An attempt to find a more suitable alternative was not successful.
Development
Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF)XDF size compared to the size of the Moon (XDF is the small box to the left of, and nearly below, the Moon) – several thousand galaxies, each consisting of billions of stars, are in this small view.XDF (2012) view – each light speck is a galaxy – some of these are as old as 13.2 billion years – the universe is estimated to contain 200 billion galaxies.XDF image shows fully mature galaxies in the foreground plane – nearly mature galaxies from 5 to 9 billion years ago – protogalaxies, blazing with young stars, beyond 9 billion years.The Big Bang models developed from observations of the structure of the universe and from theoretical considerations. In 1912, Vesto Slipher measured the first Doppler shift of a "spiral nebula" (spiral nebula is the obsolete term for spiral galaxies), and soon discovered that almost all such nebulae were receding from Earth. He did not grasp the cosmological implications of this fact, and indeed at the time it was highly controversial whether or not these nebulae were "island universes" outside our Milky Way. Ten years later, Alexander Friedmann, a Russian cosmologist and mathematician, derived the Friedmann equations from the Einstein field equations, showing that the universe might be expanding in contrast to the static universe model advocated by Albert Einstein at that time.
In 1924, American astronomer Edwin Hubble's measurement of the great distance to the nearest spiral nebulae showed that these systems were indeed other galaxies. Starting that same year, Hubble painstakingly developed a series of distance indicators, the forerunner of the cosmic distance ladder, using the 100-inch (2.5 m) Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory. This allowed him to estimate distances to galaxies whose redshifts had already been measured, mostly by Slipher. In 1929, Hubble discovered a correlation between distance and recessional velocity—now known as Hubble's law.
Independently deriving Friedmann's equations in 1927, Georges Lemaître, a Belgian physicist and Roman Catholic priest, proposed that the recession of the nebulae was due to the expansion of the universe. He inferred the relation that Hubble would later observe, given the cosmological principle. In 1931, Lemaître went further and suggested that the evident expansion of the universe, if projected back in time, meant that the further in the past the smaller the universe was, until at some finite time in the past all the mass of the universe was concentrated into a single point, a "primeval atom" where and when the fabric of time and space came into existence.
In the 1920s and 1930s, almost every major cosmologist preferred an eternal steady-state universe, and several complained that the beginning of time implied by the Big Bang imported religious concepts into physics; this objection was later repeated by supporters of the steady-state theory. This perception was enhanced by the fact that the originator of the Big Bang concept, Lemaître, was a Roman Catholic priest. Arthur Eddington agreed with Aristotle that the universe did not have a beginning in time, viz., that matter is eternal. A beginning in time was "repugnant" to him. Lemaître, however, disagreed:
If the world has begun with a single quantum, the notions of space and time would altogether fail to have any meaning at the beginning; they would only begin to have a sensible meaning when the original quantum had been divided into a sufficient number of quanta. If this suggestion is correct, the beginning of the world happened a little before the beginning of space and time.
During the 1930s, other ideas were proposed as non-standard cosmologies to explain Hubble's observations, including the Milne model, the oscillatory universe (originally suggested by Friedmann, but advocated by Albert Einstein and Richard C. Tolman) and Fritz Zwicky's tired light hypothesis.
After World War II, two distinct possibilities emerged. One was Fred Hoyle's steady-state model, whereby new matter would be created as the universe seemed to expand. In this model the universe is roughly the same at any point in time. The other was Lemaître's Big Bang theory, advocated and developed by George Gamow, who introduced BBN and whose associates, Ralph Alpher and Robert Herman, predicted the CMB. Ironically, it was Hoyle who coined the phrase that came to be applied to Lemaître's theory, referring to it as "this big bang idea" during a BBC Radio broadcast in March 1949. For a while, support was split between these two theories. Eventually, the observational evidence, most notably from radio source counts, began to favor Big Bang over steady state. The discovery and confirmation of the CMB in 1964 secured the Big Bang as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the universe.
In 1968 and 1970, Roger Penrose, Stephen Hawking, and George F. R. Ellis published papers where they showed that mathematical singularities were an inevitable initial condition of relativistic models of the Big Bang. Then, from the 1970s to the 1990s, cosmologists worked on characterizing the features of the Big Bang universe and resolving outstanding problems. In 1981, Alan Guth made a breakthrough in theoretical work on resolving certain outstanding theoretical problems in the Big Bang models with the introduction of an epoch of rapid expansion in the early universe he called "inflation". Meanwhile, during these decades, two questions in observational cosmology that generated much discussion and disagreement were over the precise values of the Hubble Constant and the matter-density of the universe (before the discovery of dark energy, thought to be the key predictor for the eventual fate of the universe).
In the mid-1990s, observations of certain globular clusters appeared to indicate that they were about 15 billion years old, which conflicted with most then-current estimates of the age of the universe (and indeed with the age measured today). This issue was later resolved when new computer simulations, which included the effects of mass loss due to stellar winds, indicated a much younger age for globular clusters.
Significant progress in Big Bang cosmology has been made since the late 1990s as a result of advances in telescope technology as well as the analysis of data from satellites such as the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), the Hubble Space Telescope and WMAP. Cosmologists now have fairly precise and accurate measurements of many of the parameters of the Big Bang model, and have made the unexpected discovery that the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating.
Observational evidence
— Lawrence Krauss" big bang picture is too firmly grounded in data from every area to be proved invalid in its general features."
The earliest and most direct observational evidence of the validity of the theory are the expansion of the universe according to Hubble's law (as indicated by the redshifts of galaxies), discovery and measurement of the cosmic microwave background and the relative abundances of light elements produced by Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). More recent evidence includes observations of galaxy formation and evolution, and the distribution of large-scale cosmic structures. These are sometimes called the "four pillars" of the Big Bang models.
Precise modern models of the Big Bang appeal to various exotic physical phenomena that have not been observed in terrestrial laboratory experiments or incorporated into the Standard Model of particle physics. Of these features, dark matter is currently the subject of most active laboratory investigations. Remaining issues include the cuspy halo problem and the dwarf galaxy problem of cold dark matter. Dark energy is also an area of intense interest for scientists, but it is not clear whether direct detection of dark energy will be possible. Inflation and baryogenesis remain more speculative features of current Big Bang models. Viable, quantitative explanations for such phenomena are still being sought. These are unsolved problems in physics.
Hubble's law and the expansion of the universe
Main articles: Hubble's law and Expansion of the universe See also: Distance measures (cosmology) and Scale factor (cosmology)Observations of distant galaxies and quasars show that these objects are redshifted: the light emitted from them has been shifted to longer wavelengths. This can be seen by taking a frequency spectrum of an object and matching the spectroscopic pattern of emission or absorption lines corresponding to atoms of the chemical elements interacting with the light. These redshifts are uniformly isotropic, distributed evenly among the observed objects in all directions. If the redshift is interpreted as a Doppler shift, the recessional velocity of the object can be calculated. For some galaxies, it is possible to estimate distances via the cosmic distance ladder. When the recessional velocities are plotted against these distances, a linear relationship known as Hubble's law is observed: where
- is the recessional velocity of the galaxy or other distant object,
- is the proper distance to the object, and
- is Hubble's constant, measured to be 70.4+1.3
−1.4 km/s/Mpc by the WMAP.
Hubble's law implies that the universe is uniformly expanding everywhere. This cosmic expansion was predicted from general relativity by Friedmann in 1922 and Lemaître in 1927, well before Hubble made his 1929 analysis and observations, and it remains the cornerstone of the Big Bang model as developed by Friedmann, Lemaître, Robertson, and Walker.
The theory requires the relation to hold at all times, where is the proper distance, is the recessional velocity, and , , and vary as the universe expands (hence we write to denote the present-day Hubble "constant"). For distances much smaller than the size of the observable universe, the Hubble redshift can be thought of as the Doppler shift corresponding to the recession velocity . For distances comparable to the size of the observable universe, the attribution of the cosmological redshift becomes more ambiguous, although its interpretation as a kinematic Doppler shift remains the most natural one.
An unexplained discrepancy with the determination of the Hubble constant is known as Hubble tension. Techniques based on observation of the CMB suggest a lower value of this constant compared to the quantity derived from measurements based on the cosmic distance ladder.
Cosmic microwave background radiation
Main article: Cosmic microwave backgroundIn 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson serendipitously discovered the cosmic background radiation, an omnidirectional signal in the microwave band. Their discovery provided substantial confirmation of the big-bang predictions by Alpher, Herman and Gamow around 1950. Through the 1970s, the radiation was found to be approximately consistent with a blackbody spectrum in all directions; this spectrum has been redshifted by the expansion of the universe, and today corresponds to approximately 2.725 K. This tipped the balance of evidence in favor of the Big Bang model, and Penzias and Wilson were awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The surface of last scattering corresponding to emission of the CMB occurs shortly after recombination, the epoch when neutral hydrogen becomes stable. Prior to this, the universe comprised a hot dense photon-baryon plasma sea where photons were quickly scattered from free charged particles. Peaking at around 372±14 kyr, the mean free path for a photon becomes long enough to reach the present day and the universe becomes transparent.
In 1989, NASA launched COBE, which made two major advances: in 1990, high-precision spectrum measurements showed that the CMB frequency spectrum is an almost perfect blackbody with no deviations at a level of 1 part in 10, and measured a residual temperature of 2.726 K (more recent measurements have revised this figure down slightly to 2.7255 K); then in 1992, further COBE measurements discovered tiny fluctuations (anisotropies) in the CMB temperature across the sky, at a level of about one part in 10. John C. Mather and George Smoot were awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for their leadership in these results.
During the following decade, CMB anisotropies were further investigated by a large number of ground-based and balloon experiments. In 2000–2001, several experiments, most notably BOOMERanG, found the shape of the universe to be spatially almost flat by measuring the typical angular size (the size on the sky) of the anisotropies.
In early 2003, the first results of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe were released, yielding what were at the time the most accurate values for some of the cosmological parameters. The results disproved several specific cosmic inflation models, but are consistent with the inflation theory in general. The Planck space probe was launched in May 2009. Other ground and balloon-based cosmic microwave background experiments are ongoing.
Abundance of primordial elements
Main article: Big Bang nucleosynthesisUsing Big Bang models, it is possible to calculate the expected concentration of the isotopes helium-4 (He), helium-3 (He), deuterium (H), and lithium-7 (Li) in the universe as ratios to the amount of ordinary hydrogen. The relative abundances depend on a single parameter, the ratio of photons to baryons. This value can be calculated independently from the detailed structure of CMB fluctuations. The ratios predicted (by mass, not by abundance) are about 0.25 for He:H, about 10 for H:H, about 10 for He:H, and about 10 for Li:H.
The measured abundances all agree at least roughly with those predicted from a single value of the baryon-to-photon ratio. The agreement is excellent for deuterium, close but formally discrepant for He, and off by a factor of two for Li (this anomaly is known as the cosmological lithium problem); in the latter two cases, there are substantial systematic uncertainties. Nonetheless, the general consistency with abundances predicted by BBN is strong evidence for the Big Bang, as the theory is the only known explanation for the relative abundances of light elements, and it is virtually impossible to "tune" the Big Bang to produce much more or less than 20–30% helium. Indeed, there is no obvious reason outside of the Big Bang that, for example, the young universe before star formation, as determined by studying matter supposedly free of stellar nucleosynthesis products, should have more helium than deuterium or more deuterium than He, and in constant ratios, too.
Galactic evolution and distribution
Main articles: Galaxy formation and evolution and Structure formationDetailed observations of the morphology and distribution of galaxies and quasars are in agreement with the current Big Bang models. A combination of observations and theory suggest that the first quasars and galaxies formed within a billion years after the Big Bang, and since then, larger structures have been forming, such as galaxy clusters and superclusters.
Populations of stars have been aging and evolving, so that distant galaxies (which are observed as they were in the early universe) appear very different from nearby galaxies (observed in a more recent state). Moreover, galaxies that formed relatively recently appear markedly different from galaxies formed at similar distances but shortly after the Big Bang. These observations are strong arguments against the steady-state model. Observations of star formation, galaxy and quasar distributions and larger structures, agree well with Big Bang simulations of the formation of structure in the universe, and are helping to complete details of the theory.
Primordial gas clouds
In 2011, astronomers found what they believe to be pristine clouds of primordial gas by analyzing absorption lines in the spectra of distant quasars. Before this discovery, all other astronomical objects have been observed to contain heavy elements that are formed in stars. Despite being sensitive to carbon, oxygen, and silicon, these three elements were not detected in these two clouds. Since the clouds of gas have no detectable levels of heavy elements, they likely formed in the first few minutes after the Big Bang, during BBN.
Other lines of evidence
The age of the universe as estimated from the Hubble expansion and the CMB is now in agreement with other estimates using the ages of the oldest stars, both as measured by applying the theory of stellar evolution to globular clusters and through radiometric dating of individual Population II stars. It is also in agreement with age estimates based on measurements of the expansion using Type Ia supernovae and measurements of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background. The agreement of independent measurements of this age supports the Lambda-CDM (ΛCDM) model, since the model is used to relate some of the measurements to an age estimate, and all estimates turn agree. Still, some observations of objects from the relatively early universe (in particular quasar APM 08279+5255) raise concern as to whether these objects had enough time to form so early in the ΛCDM model.
The prediction that the CMB temperature was higher in the past has been experimentally supported by observations of very low temperature absorption lines in gas clouds at high redshift. This prediction also implies that the amplitude of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect in clusters of galaxies does not depend directly on redshift. Observations have found this to be roughly true, but this effect depends on cluster properties that do change with cosmic time, making precise measurements difficult.
Future observations
Future gravitational-wave observatories might be able to detect primordial gravitational waves, relics of the early universe, up to less than a second after the Big Bang.
Problems and related issues in physics
See also: List of unsolved problems in physicsAs with any theory, a number of mysteries and problems have arisen as a result of the development of the Big Bang models. Some of these mysteries and problems have been resolved while others are still outstanding. Proposed solutions to some of the problems in the Big Bang model have revealed new mysteries of their own. For example, the horizon problem, the magnetic monopole problem, and the flatness problem are most commonly resolved with inflation theory, but the details of the inflationary universe are still left unresolved and many, including some founders of the theory, say it has been disproven. What follows are a list of the mysterious aspects of the Big Bang concept still under intense investigation by cosmologists and astrophysicists.
Baryon asymmetry
Main article: Baryon asymmetryIt is not yet understood why the universe has more matter than antimatter. It is generally assumed that when the universe was young and very hot it was in statistical equilibrium and contained equal numbers of baryons and antibaryons. However, observations suggest that the universe, including its most distant parts, is made almost entirely of normal matter, rather than antimatter. A process called baryogenesis was hypothesized to account for the asymmetry. For baryogenesis to occur, the Sakharov conditions must be satisfied. These require that baryon number is not conserved, that C-symmetry and CP-symmetry are violated and that the universe depart from thermodynamic equilibrium. All these conditions occur in the Standard Model, but the effects are not strong enough to explain the present baryon asymmetry.
Dark energy
Main article: Dark energyMeasurements of the redshift–magnitude relation for type Ia supernovae indicate that the expansion of the universe has been accelerating since the universe was about half its present age. To explain this acceleration, general relativity requires that much of the energy in the universe consists of a component with large negative pressure, dubbed "dark energy".
Dark energy, though speculative, solves numerous problems. Measurements of the cosmic microwave background indicate that the universe is very nearly spatially flat, and therefore according to general relativity the universe must have almost exactly the critical density of mass/energy. But the mass density of the universe can be measured from its gravitational clustering, and is found to have only about 30% of the critical density. Since theory suggests that dark energy does not cluster in the usual way it is the best explanation for the "missing" energy density. Dark energy also helps to explain two geometrical measures of the overall curvature of the universe, one using the frequency of gravitational lenses, and the other using the characteristic pattern of the large-scale structure--baryon acoustic oscillations--as a cosmic ruler.
Negative pressure is believed to be a property of vacuum energy, but the exact nature and existence of dark energy remains one of the great mysteries of the Big Bang. Results from the WMAP team in 2008 are in accordance with a universe that consists of 73% dark energy, 23% dark matter, 4.6% regular matter and less than 1% neutrinos. According to theory, the energy density in matter decreases with the expansion of the universe, but the dark energy density remains constant (or nearly so) as the universe expands. Therefore, matter made up a larger fraction of the total energy of the universe in the past than it does today, but its fractional contribution will fall in the far future as dark energy becomes even more dominant.
The dark energy component of the universe has been explained by theorists using a variety of competing theories including Einstein's cosmological constant but also extending to more exotic forms of quintessence or other modified gravity schemes. A cosmological constant problem, sometimes called the "most embarrassing problem in physics", results from the apparent discrepancy between the measured energy density of dark energy, and the one naively predicted from Planck units.
Dark matter
Main article: Dark matterDuring the 1970s and the 1980s, various observations showed that there is not sufficient visible matter in the universe to account for the apparent strength of gravitational forces within and between galaxies. This led to the idea that up to 90% of the matter in the universe is dark matter that does not emit light or interact with normal baryonic matter. In addition, the assumption that the universe is mostly normal matter led to predictions that were strongly inconsistent with observations. In particular, the universe today is far more lumpy and contains far less deuterium than can be accounted for without dark matter. While dark matter has always been controversial, it is inferred by various observations: the anisotropies in the CMB, galaxy cluster velocity dispersions, large-scale structure distributions, gravitational lensing studies, and X-ray measurements of galaxy clusters.
Indirect evidence for dark matter comes from its gravitational influence on other matter, as no dark matter particles have been observed in laboratories. Many particle physics candidates for dark matter have been proposed, and several projects to detect them directly are underway.
Additionally, there are outstanding problems associated with the currently favored cold dark matter model which include the dwarf galaxy problem and the cuspy halo problem. Alternative theories have been proposed that do not require a large amount of undetected matter, but instead modify the laws of gravity established by Newton and Einstein; yet no alternative theory has been as successful as the cold dark matter proposal in explaining all extant observations.
Horizon problem
Main article: Horizon problemThe horizon problem results from the premise that information cannot travel faster than light. In a universe of finite age this sets a limit—the particle horizon—on the separation of any two regions of space that are in causal contact. The observed isotropy of the CMB is problematic in this regard: if the universe had been dominated by radiation or matter at all times up to the epoch of last scattering, the particle horizon at that time would correspond to about 2 degrees on the sky. There would then be no mechanism to cause wider regions to have the same temperature.
A resolution to this apparent inconsistency is offered by inflation theory in which a homogeneous and isotropic scalar energy field dominates the universe at some very early period (before baryogenesis). During inflation, the universe undergoes exponential expansion, and the particle horizon expands much more rapidly than previously assumed, so that regions presently on opposite sides of the observable universe are well inside each other's particle horizon. The observed isotropy of the CMB then follows from the fact that this larger region was in causal contact before the beginning of inflation.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle predicts that during the inflationary phase there would be quantum thermal fluctuations, which would be magnified to a cosmic scale. These fluctuations served as the seeds for all the current structures in the universe. Inflation predicts that the primordial fluctuations are nearly scale invariant and Gaussian, which has been confirmed by measurements of the CMB.
A related issue to the classic horizon problem arises because in most standard cosmological inflation models, inflation ceases well before electroweak symmetry breaking occurs, so inflation should not be able to prevent large-scale discontinuities in the electroweak vacuum since distant parts of the observable universe were causally separate when the electroweak epoch ended.
Magnetic monopoles
The magnetic monopole objection was raised in the late 1970s. Grand unified theories (GUTs) predicted topological defects in space that would manifest as magnetic monopoles. These objects would be produced efficiently in the hot early universe, resulting in a density much higher than is consistent with observations, given that no monopoles have been found. This problem is resolved by cosmic inflation, which removes all point defects from the observable universe, in the same way that it drives the geometry to flatness.
Flatness problem
The flatness problem (also known as the oldness problem) is an observational problem associated with a FLRW. The universe may have positive, negative, or zero spatial curvature depending on its total energy density. Curvature is negative if its density is less than the critical density; positive if greater; and zero at the critical density, in which case space is said to be flat. Observations indicate the universe is consistent with being flat.
The problem is that any small departure from the critical density grows with time, and yet the universe today remains very close to flat. Given that a natural timescale for departure from flatness might be the Planck time, 10 seconds, the fact that the universe has reached neither a heat death nor a Big Crunch after billions of years requires an explanation. For instance, even at the relatively late age of a few minutes (the time of nucleosynthesis), the density of the universe must have been within one part in 10 of its critical value, or it would not exist as it does today.
Misconceptions
One of the common misconceptions about the Big Bang model is that it fully explains the origin of the universe. However, the Big Bang model does not describe how energy, time, and space were caused, but rather it describes the emergence of the present universe from an ultra-dense and high-temperature initial state. It is misleading to visualize the Big Bang by comparing its size to everyday objects. When the size of the universe at Big Bang is described, it refers to the size of the observable universe, and not the entire universe.
Another common misconception is that the Big Bang must be understood as the expansion of space and not in terms of the contents of space exploding apart. In fact, either description can be accurate. The expansion of space (implied by the FLRW metric) is only a mathematical convention, corresponding to a choice of coordinates on spacetime. There is no generally covariant sense in which space expands.
The recession speeds associated with Hubble's law are not velocities in a relativistic sense (for example, they are not related to the spatial components of 4-velocities). Therefore, it is not remarkable that according to Hubble's law, galaxies farther than the Hubble distance recede faster than the speed of light. Such recession speeds do not correspond to faster-than-light travel.
Many popular accounts attribute the cosmological redshift to the expansion of space. This can be misleading because the expansion of space is only a coordinate choice. The most natural interpretation of the cosmological redshift is that it is a Doppler shift.
Implications
Given current understanding, scientific extrapolations about the future of the universe are only possible for finite durations, albeit for much longer periods than the current age of the universe. Anything beyond that becomes increasingly speculative. Likewise, at present, a proper understanding of the origin of the universe can only be subject to conjecture.
Pre–Big Bang cosmology
The Big Bang explains the evolution of the universe from a starting density and temperature that is well beyond humanity's capability to replicate, so extrapolations to the most extreme conditions and earliest times are necessarily more speculative. Lemaître called this initial state the "primeval atom" while Gamow called the material "ylem". How the initial state of the universe originated is still an open question, but the Big Bang model does constrain some of its characteristics. For example, if specific laws of nature were to come to existence in a random way, inflation models show, some combinations of these are far more probable, partly explaining why our Universe is rather stable. Another possible explanation for the stability of the Universe could be a hypothetical multiverse, which assumes every possible universe to exist, and thinking species could only emerge in those stable enough. A flat universe implies a balance between gravitational potential energy and other energy forms, requiring no additional energy to be created.
The Big Bang theory, built upon the equations of classical general relativity, indicates a singularity at the origin of cosmic time, and such an infinite energy density may be a physical impossibility. However, the physical theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics as currently realized are not applicable before the Planck epoch, and correcting this will require the development of a correct treatment of quantum gravity. Certain quantum gravity treatments, such as the Wheeler–DeWitt equation, imply that time itself could be an emergent property. As such, physics may conclude that time did not exist before the Big Bang.
While it is not known what could have preceded the hot dense state of the early universe or how and why it originated, or even whether such questions are sensible, speculation abounds on the subject of "cosmogony".
Some speculative proposals in this regard, each of which entails untested hypotheses, are:
- The simplest models, in which the Big Bang was caused by quantum fluctuations. That scenario had very little chance of happening, but, according to the totalitarian principle, even the most improbable event will eventually happen. It took place instantly, in our perspective, due to the absence of perceived time before the Big Bang.
- Emergent Universe models, which feature a low-activity past-eternal era before the Big Bang, resembling ancient ideas of a cosmic egg and birth of the world out of primordial chaos.
- Models in which the whole of spacetime is finite, including the Hartle–Hawking no-boundary condition. For these cases, the Big Bang does represent the limit of time but without a singularity. In such a case, the universe is self-sufficient.
- Brane cosmology models, in which inflation is due to the movement of branes in string theory; the pre-Big Bang model; the ekpyrotic model, in which the Big Bang is the result of a collision between branes; and the cyclic model, a variant of the ekpyrotic model in which collisions occur periodically. In the latter model the Big Bang was preceded by a Big Crunch and the universe cycles from one process to the other.
- Eternal inflation, in which universal inflation ends locally here and there in a random fashion, each end-point leading to a bubble universe, expanding from its own big bang. This is sometimes referred to as pre-big bang inflation.
Proposals in the last two categories see the Big Bang as an event in either a much larger and older universe or in a multiverse.
Ultimate fate of the universe
Main article: Ultimate fate of the universeBefore observations of dark energy, cosmologists considered two scenarios for the future of the universe. If the mass density of the universe were greater than the critical density, then the universe would reach a maximum size and then begin to collapse. It would become denser and hotter again, ending with a state similar to that in which it started—a Big Crunch.
Alternatively, if the density in the universe were equal to or below the critical density, the expansion would slow down but never stop. Star formation would cease with the consumption of interstellar gas in each galaxy; stars would burn out, leaving white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. Collisions between these would result in mass accumulating into larger and larger black holes. The average temperature of the universe would very gradually asymptotically approach absolute zero—a Big Freeze. Moreover, if protons are unstable, then baryonic matter would disappear, leaving only radiation and black holes. Eventually, black holes would evaporate by emitting Hawking radiation. The entropy of the universe would increase to the point where no organized form of energy could be extracted from it, a scenario known as heat death.
Modern observations of accelerating expansion imply that more and more of the currently visible universe will pass beyond our event horizon and out of contact with us. The eventual result is not known. The ΛCDM model of the universe contains dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant. This theory suggests that only gravitationally bound systems, such as galaxies, will remain together, and they too will be subject to heat death as the universe expands and cools. Other explanations of dark energy, called phantom energy theories, suggest that ultimately galaxy clusters, stars, planets, atoms, nuclei, and matter itself will be torn apart by the ever-increasing expansion in a so-called Big Rip.
Religious and philosophical interpretations
Main article: Religious interpretations of the Big Bang theoryAs a description of the origin of the universe, the Big Bang has significant bearing on religion and philosophy. As a result, it has become one of the liveliest areas in the discourse between science and religion. Some believe the Big Bang implies a creator, while others argue that Big Bang cosmology makes the notion of a creator superfluous.
See also
- Anthropic principle – Hypothesis about sapient life and the universe
- Big Bounce – Model for the origin of the universe
- Big Crunch – Hypothetical scenario for the ultimate fate of the universe
- Cold Big Bang – Designation of an absolute zero temperature at the beginning of the Universe
- Cosmic Calendar – Method to visualize the chronology of the universe
- Cosmogony – Theory or model concerning the origin of the universe
- Eureka: A Prose Poem – Lengthy non-fiction work by American author Edgar Allan Poe, a Big Bang speculation
- Future of an expanding universe – Future scenario in which the expansion of the universe continues forever
- Heat death of the universe – Possible fate of the universe. Also known as the Big Chill and the Big Freeze
- Non-standard cosmology – Models of the universe which deviate from then-current scientific consensus
- Shape of the universe – Local and global geometry of the universe
- Steady-state model – Model of the universe – alternative to the Big Bang model, a discredited theory that denied the Big Bang and posited that the universe always existed
Notes
- Further information of, and references for, tests of general relativity are given in the article tests of general relativity.
- There is no consensus about how long the Big Bang phase lasted. For some writers, this denotes only the initial singularity, for others the whole history of the universe. Usually, at least the first few minutes (during which helium is synthesized) are said to occur "during the Big Bang".
- It is commonly reported that Hoyle intended this to be pejorative. However, Hoyle later denied that, saying that it was just a striking image meant to emphasize the difference between the two theories for radio listeners.
- Strictly, dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant drives the universe towards a flat state; however, our universe remained close to flat for several billion years before the dark energy density became significant.
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Further reading
For an annotated list of textbooks and monographs, see Physical cosmology § Textbooks.- Alpher, Ralph A.; Herman, Robert (August 1988). "Reflections on Early Work on 'Big Bang' Cosmology". Physics Today. 41 (8): 24–34. Bibcode:1988PhT....41h..24A. doi:10.1063/1.881126.
- Barrow, John D. (1994). The Origin of the Universe. Science Masters. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-81497-9. LCCN 94006343. OCLC 490957073.
- Davies, Paul (1992). The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-71069-9. LCCN 91028606. OCLC 59940452.
- Lineweaver, Charles H.; Davis, Tamara M. (March 2005). "Misconceptions about the Big Bang" (PDF). Scientific American. Vol. 292, no. 3. pp. 36–45. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- Mather, John C.; Boslough, John (1996). The Very First Light: The True Inside Story of the Scientific Journey Back to the Dawn of the Universe (1st ed.). New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01575-7. LCCN 96010781. OCLC 34357391.
- Riordan, Michael; Zajc, William A. (May 2006). "The First Few Microseconds" (PDF). Scientific American. Vol. 294, no. 5. pp. 34–41. Bibcode:2006SciAm.294e..34R. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0506-34a. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 November 2014.
- Singh, Simon (2005) . Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe (Harper Perennial; illustrated ed.). New York, New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0007162215.
- Weinberg, Steven (1993) . The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe (Updated ed.). New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02437-7. LCCN 93232406. OCLC 488469247. 1st edition is available from the Internet Archive. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
External links
Listen to this article (56 minutes) This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 12 November 2011 (2011-11-12), and does not reflect subsequent edits.(Audio help · More spoken articles)- Once Upon a Universe Archived 22 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine – STFC funded project explaining the history of the universe in easy-to-understand language
- "Big Bang Cosmology" – NASA/WMAP Science Team
- "The Big Bang" – NASA Science
- "Big Bang, Big Bewilderment" – Big bang model with animated graphics by Johannes Koelman
- "The Trouble With "The Big Bang"" – A rash of recent articles illustrates a longstanding confusion over the famous term. by Sabine Hossenfelde
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