- 4201 -
GRAPH OF THE
UNIVERSE? What if we put on one
graph all the masses, sizes, and relative densities of all the objects in our
entire Universe, and more. What would it look like? Everything in the Universe fits in this one
graph including you and me!
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--------------------- 4201 - GRAPH OF THE UNIVERSE?
- The Universe has
physical constants, such as the force of gravity that define everything. If
these constants were any different, our Universe would look quite different.
When you consider the types of objects that exist in our Universe from quarks
and bacteria to fleas and superclusters different forces dominate their
existence.
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- This single graph
defines the types of objects that are prohibited by the laws of physics as we
understand them. The graph is designed
to get people to think about all the unanswered questions we have about the
Universe.
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- The graph provides
an overview of the thermal history of the Universe and the sequence of objects
( protons, planets, and galaxies) that condensed out of the background as the
Universe expanded and cooled.
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- The graph shows the
general process that has happened multiple times as the hot dense universe
cooled down as it expanded and condensed into various objects. As the hot dense plasma of quarks and gluons
cooled, it condensed into protons and neutrons. And as the hot dense plasma of
protons and electrons cooled down it condensed into atoms.
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- This general
process of “condensation” seems to be underappreciated as a simple way to
understand what happened as the universe cooled: the hot dense big bang
condensed into objects.
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- The middle strip in
the middle section of the graph marked “BBN” or Big Bang Nucleosynthesis has
atoms and elements, with the atomic densities of things like bacteria, fleas,
humans, whales, the Earth, Sun and stars.
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- As the main
sequence stars, which when they run out of fuel, become white dwarfs, which
eventually collapse into neutron stars, which eventually collapse into black
holes. On this graph the black holes exist on the dark black line.
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- Does that mean the
whole universe is a black hole? This graph seems to imply this might be
true! It’s plausible that what we see
from inside our Universe is simply the result of being inside a black hole that
formed from some parent Universe?
Contrary to common knowledge, black holes are not the densest things in
the universe.
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- The bigger the
black hole, the less dense it is. That
is why the whole universe could be a huge low-density black hole. Another
interesting fact is when you trace the evolution of the whole universe back
along the black hole line, all the way back to the beginning of the universe,
the plot suggests that the initial condition of the universe was the smallest possible black hole. It is an object that instantaneously
evaporates (through Hawking radiation) and explodes at the highest possible
temperature (the Planck temperature: 10^32 K).
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- The area of the
graph that might be most intriguing are two triangular regions that are
‘forbidden. This is where objects cannot
be denser than black holes, or are so small, quantum mechanics blurs the very
nature of what it really means to be a singular object.
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- The boundaries of
the plots and what lies beyond them are also a major mystery, as the triangular
regions forbidden by “general relativity” and “quantum mechanics uncertainty”
and help navigate the relationship between gravity and quantum mechanics.
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- This graph should
help both students and experts talk about some very profound questions that we
don’t know the answers to.
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-
October 28, 2023 GRAPH
OF THE UNIVERSE?
4201
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------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
--------------------- ---
Sunday, October 29, 2023 ---------------------------------
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