- 4041 - UNIVERSE
- how did it begin? The
Observable part of the Universe is inhabited by 100,000,000,000 galaxies. Each of these galaxies contains on average
100,000,000,000 stars and each of these galaxies contains 100,000,000,000
planets. All, as best we can estimate.
-
------------------- 4041 - UNIVERSE - how did it begin?
- Galaxies themselves
seem to be held together by the gravity of Dark Matter. These galaxies are accelerating away from each
other on a wave of expanding space. This
anti-gravity in space is called Dark Energy.
We do not know what either Dark Matter or Dark Energy is. We just know the two combined occupy 96% of
the total matter - energy that composes the Universe. The matter - energy that we are familiar with
only occupies 4% of the expanding Universe.
-
- Space itself is
expanding and galaxies , stars and planets are just being carried along for the
ride. This expansion has been going on
for 13,725,000,000 years. The rate of
expansion today is measure to be 47,000 miles per hour per million light years
distance. (called the Hubble Constant at
74 kilometers per second per mega parsec.)
-
- Expanding space also
means that light traveling through the space is being stretched to longer
wavelengths. The energy of light is a
direct function of the frequency of the oscillation and indirectly a function
of the wavelength. So, expanding wavelengths
loose energy. The wavelengths are
red-shifted . Consequently the Universe
is cooling as it expands. It is today
about 3 degrees Kelvin.
-
- A light from a distant
galaxy is redshifted, stretched out to a longer wavelength. The amount of redshift tells astronomers how
much the Universe has grown over the intervening years. The greatest redshift astronomers have
measured to date is a redshift of 8.0.
At that time the Universe was a few hundred million years old and 1/9th
its present size.
-
- The measurements
indicate that stars and galaxies first emerged in the Universe when it was
100,000,000 years old. At that time the
Universe composition was 5 parts “Dark Matter” and 1 part hydrogen - helium.
-
- The quantum
fluctuations of particles created slightly uneven density in the plasma at the
very beginning of the expansion. The
quantum fluctuations come from the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle which
states that particles are also waves and their position is determined by a
range of “probabilities”.
-
- The particle’s position
and velocity as a product must be less than Planck’s Constant, a very small
number, 10^-16. Being a product if one
probability increase the other decreases, the better you know velocity the less
you know about position.
-
------------------
Probability of position * Probability of momentum =
< 6.58 * 10^-16 electron volt - seconds. Momentum is mass * velocity.
-
- These quantum
fluctuations created regions of higher density which in turn created regions of
higher gravity. Gravity acted to amplify
these denser variations. Denser regions
expanded more slowly and eventually the gravity in these clumps became large
enough for the matter to collapse. Each
region was about 1,000,000 Solar Mass of material. Dark Matter accounted for a bulk of this
mass.
-
- Because the Dark Matter
could not emit or absorb light it remained in an extended cloud. However, hydrogen and helium particles
emitted light , lost energy, and became concentrated at the center of the
cloud. When the concentrations were
great enough stars were born.
-
- These first stars were
massive, hundreds of “Solar Mass”. Big
stars have short life spans. They go
supernovae after a few million years. Supernovae
explosion create all the heavier elements in the Periodic Table. So, the next stars that are born out of this
new cloud of material will contain the full range of heavier elements. When planets form they have all this
chemistry and biology needed for life.
-
- If we go back as close
to the Big Bang as we can get the redshift is 1,100. This light traveling through the expanding
Universe has redshifted from visible light into the microwaves. We detect this light as Cosmic Microwave
Background radiation, first discovered in 1964.
It is light that left 380,000 years after the Big Bang. It is the period when the first atoms were
formed and the particle plasma became neutrally charged. The temperature of the plasma had cooled to
3,000 Kelvin at this point in the expansion.
-
- In 1992 studies of the
Microwave Background Radiation discovered variations in temperature of
0.001%. This slight lumpiness represents
the seeds for the formation of the galaxies billions of years later.
-
- These studies revealed
that prior to 100,000 years after the Big Bang the energy density or radiation
exceeded that of matter. This initial
radiation kept the matter from clumping and collapsing in the beginning.
-
- Prior to 100,000 years
the composition of the Universe was 25% helium and 75% hydrogen nuclei. There were very small amounts of lithium and
isotopes of deuterium and helium 3. All
the heavier elements formed billions of years later in the stars and supernovae
explosions. All this “ ordinary matter”
comprises only 4.5% of the total Universe matter - energy density.
-
- If we take the
evolution back to less than one microsecond not even protons and electrons
could exist. The plasma was quarks,
leptons, and force carriers photons,
W and Z bosons and gluons.
-
- We know that galaxies are held together by the
Dark Matter that is 23% of the Universe.
Science has not determined what “ Dark Matter” is. Theories include “ Neutralinos” and “axions” but the
answer has yet to be discovered.
-
- The theories also
require there to be equal parts of matter and anti-matter. When matter and anti-matter meet they both
evaporate into a burst of radiation.
However, theories also hold that there was an imbalance of one extra
quark out of every billion anti-quarks that survived to explain the existence
of ordinary matter that exists today.
-
- To explain the general uniformity of the
overall Universe on the largest scale science uses the theory of “Cosmic
Inflation” that occurred 10^-34 seconds after the Big Bang. When Inflation ceased the decaying energy
formed the quarks, anti-quarks, leptons, and other particles. The inflation was faster that the speed of
light. So, what we see today appears
flat in its geometry, and uniform in all directions.
-
- The pattern we see is
in the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation is a giant image of this early
subatomic world.
-
- Going back earlier than
10^-34 seconds is beyond any physics that we understand today. Back to 10^-43 seconds is called “Plank Time”
when space-time were first created.
Theories persist that multiple Universes likely formed, not just the one
we live in. If Cosmic Inflation happened
once it could have happened any number of times. Really, these ideas reside beyond the realm
of science. You have to use your
imagination.
-
- Today, the story above
is what science can say about the Universe we live in. The most amazing part about this Universe is
that we are here thinking about it. An
announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
-
-
June 6, 2023 UNIVERSE
- how did it begin? 1469 4041
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------- Comments
appreciated and Pass it on to whomever is interested. ---
--- Some reviews are
at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email feedback,
corrections, request for copies or Index of all reviews
--- to: ------
jamesdetrick@comcast.net
------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
--------------------- ---
Wednesday, June 7, 2023 ---------------------------------
-
No comments:
Post a Comment