--------- #1312 - Cosmic Inflation, a Fine Tuning Problem?
- The basic idea for the birth of our Universe is that it started from “ nothing”. Equal amounts of matter and anti-matter, particles and anti-particles, positive and negative charges, north and south magnetic poles, gravity and anti-gravity (Dark Energy), all separated out of “nothing”. All of this matter / energy would cancel out if brought back together again at a single point. The sum total is nothing again. The single point is called a “ singularity”.
- Somehow this energy and matter in the form or a hot, charged plasma of fundamental particles began to expand. Space was created in the expansion. Time was created with the start of a beginning. Somehow, particles separated and outnumbered anti-particles as the expansion grew. Or, matter particles grew in our region of the universe and anti-matter grew in some other region of the Universe that we have never discovered. ( See review #1311 “ Is our Universe Spinning, or, is just me”)
- This expansion and cooling of the Universe has continued for 13,750,000,000 years. The cooling has brought the average temperature of the Universe down to 2.725 degrees Kelvin. The Universe is nearly uniform at this temperature except for some 1 part in 100,000 small temperature variations. The Universe is homogeneous and isotropic, the same in every direction as far as we know.
- What started it all off was a small quantum fluctuation in the earliest Universe. These quantum fluctuations are what caused the small temperature variations and what grew into gravity peaks and troughs resulting in stars and galaxies that we see today. From nothing the Universe has expanded to everything. It is still expanding and even speeding up as we speak.
- From the instant in the expansion when light first escaped the hot plasma the Universe has grown by a factor of 1,000. In order for light to escape neutral atoms had to form at 3,000 degrees Kelvin. Expanding by 1,000 has cooled the Universe to 3 degrees Kelvin ( actually 2.725 K).
- The slight temperature variations in the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation that we see today is 1 part in 100,000. These slight variations correspond well with quantum fluctuations that occurred in the early Universe. These random quantum fluctuations at the sub-atomic level cause inflation to end at slightly different times in different regions of space. Different spots became hotter or cooler in different regions. The spatial separation of these regions corresponds well to the stars and galaxies that exist today. The slight temperature variations are spread about 1 arc-degree across the sky in a nearly uniform manner today. Very high temperature resolutions are needed to detect these slight variations.
- In order to explain how the Universe appears to be uniform in all directions the Universe must have experience an expansion of space faster than the speed of light. To understand this idea realize that a telescope viewing a galactic region 13 billion lightyears away over one horizon will see the same uniform temperatures and structures viewing a galactic region 13 billion lightyears over the opposite horizon. Those two regions are 26 billion lightyears apart. There is no way the two regions could be the same ambient temperatures unless they were at some point in contact with each other. Light has only been expanding for 13 billion years. It only has had time to reach us, no farther.
- Also, other evidence points to the Universe being geometrically flat. Not spherical or saddle shaped. Not convex or concaved. Parallel light beams remain parallel when traveling across a “flat” Universe. If the “ Observable Universe” was only a small part of the total Universe then it would appear flat. Just like the surface of the Earth from a small vantage point appears flat. The shape at the grandest Universal scale is just not known.
- Both of these observations, uniform space and a flat geometry can be explained if our early Universe went through a rapid expansion faster than the speed of light. This is not matter or energy traveling faster than the speed of light defying the Theory of Relativity, but, space expanding faster than the speed of light. If this happened it could quickly have spread out energy so it was evenly dispersed. It could straighten out curves and warps in space so they appear flat to us. The name for this happening is “ Cosmic Inflation”. The inflation theory has been around in astronomy studies for the last 30 years.
- The math behind the theory is truly amazing. The Cosmic Inflation expansion must have grown by 10^25 in all directions. This is factor of 1 followed by 25 zero’s. The expansion occurred in 10^-30 seconds. This is a fraction of a second with a zero followed by 29 decimal points and a 1) This expansion was no question faster than the speed of light. This also means that the actual Universe is much, much larger than our “ Observable Universe.”.
- Given this extraordinary math to make this work. Given the expansion we see today. Given the slightest temperature variations that come with the expansion, the initial conditions at the beginning would have to be extraordinarily smooth. Variations in the beginning would have to be less than 10^-15. This is 14 decimal points and a 1 variation. If the variations were less, say 12 decimal points and a 1 the Cosmic Inflation model would not work. We would have gotten too much expansion or too little expansion for the conditions we see today. The initial conditions had to be just right to get the Universe we got. This is referred to as the “ Fine Tuning Problem”. Or, sometimes the “ Anthropic Principle” which is that if the initial conditions were any different we would not be here to observe them.
- There is yet another mystery with the Universe expansion. In order to get the model to work the Universe must be 73% composed of anti-gravity, called Dark Energy. The matter in the Universe must be 23% Dark Matter that we can not see. That leaves only 4% of the “Ordinary Matter” that we do see. The mass- energy that is believed to by our Universe is only 4% of the actual Observable Universe which is only a small fraction of the real Universe. This makes us and all our knowledge such a miniscule part of the Whole thing that is out there. Cosmic Inflation, Dark Energy and Dark Matter are only theories developed in out attempt to learn where we are and where we came from. You have to admit it is a small beginning. There is much more to learn. An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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707-536-3272, Friday, October 21, 2011
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