R L R H H.

G UT H

THE

IHf lRTIOHRRY
UNIVERSE
T H E QU E S T F O R
A NEW THEORY OF

COSMIC ORIGINS

WITH A FOREWORD BY

ALAN LIGHTMAN
~+ - c .
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are
claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Addison-Wesley was
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Guth, Alan H.
The inflationary universe : the quest for a new theory of cosmic
origins / Alan H. Guth.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-201-14942-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 0-201-32840-2 (paperback)
1. Inflationary universe. l. Title.
QB991.I54G88 1997 96-46117
523 .1 '8-dc2 l CIP

Copyright © 1997 by Alan H. Guth

Foreword copyright © 1997 by Alan Lightman

Al! rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system ,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States
of America.

Addison-Wesley is an imprint of Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc.

Cover design by Suzanne Heiser

Text design by Jean Hammond
Set in 10-point Sabon by Argosy

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9-MA-0201009998
First printing, March 1997
First paperback printing, February 1998

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To my family
 CONTENTS

Foreword ix

Preface xiii

The Ultimate Free Lunch 1

2 The Cosmic Vista from Ithaca, New York 17

3 The Birth of Modern Cosmology 33

4 Echoes of a Scorching Past 57

5 Condensation of the Primordial Soup 85

6 Matters of Matter and Antimatter 105

7 The Particle Physics Revolution of the 1970s 115

8 Grand U nified Theories 131

g Combatting the Magnetic Monopole Menace 14 7

1 O The Inflationary Universe 167

11 The Aftermath of Discovery 189

12 The New Inflationary Universe 201

13 Wrinkles on a Smooth Background 213

v111 eo N T EN T s

14 Observational Clues from Deep Below

and Far Beyond 237

15 The Eternally Existing, Self-Reproducing

Inflationary Universe 245

16 Wormholes and the Creation of Universes

in the Laboratory 25 3

17 A Universe Ex Nihilo 2 71

Epilogue 2 77

A PP¡ HO 1 H A Gravitational Energy 289

A P P ¡ HO 1 H B Newton and the Infinite

Static Universe 295

APP¡ HO 1 H [ Blackbody Radiation 299

A P P¡ HO 1 H O Units and Measures 305

Notes 311

Glossary 325

Credits 345

Index 347
 APPfHOIH B

NEWTON
ANO THE INFINITE
STATIC UNIVERSE

T he notion of a static universe is very appealing, and seems to have been

the dominant belief until the work of Slipher and Hubble in the 1920s.
There is a problem, however, because Newton's law of gravity implies that
everything in the universe would attract everything else, so a static universe
would not remain static. Newton had realized that any finite distribution of
mass would collapse by gravitational attraction . He went on, however, to
erroneously conclude that the collapse would be avoided if the universe
were infinite and filled with matter throughout. In that case, Newton rea-
soned, there would be no center at which the mass might collect. Newton
discussed this issue in a series of letters he wrote to the young theologian,
Richard Bentley, during 1692-93 [l]:
But if the matter was evenly disposed throughout an infinite space, it
could never convene into one mass; but sorne of it wouJd convene into
one mass and sorne into another, so as to make an infinite number of
great masses, scattered at great distances from one to another through-
out ali that infinite space. And thus rnight the sun and fixed stars be
formed , supposing the matter were of a lucid nature. (Cambridge,
December 10, 1692)

(The last phrase, by the way, refers to Newton's belief that the sun and stars
are composed of " lucid" matter, distinct in kind from the matter found on
Earth.)
Newton took this argument so seriously that he completely revised his
view of the cosmos, abandoning his previous belief that the fixed stars
occupy a finite region in an infinite void [2].
296 T HE l N F LAT l O NA R Y UN 1V E RS E

Q
rB = 2 X rA

Volume of B = 8 X (Volume of A)
Mass of B = 8 x (Mass of A)
Force proportional to Mass/ r 2
Force on Q = 2 x (Force on P)

A B

Figure B.1 The gravitational collapse of two spheres. Both spheres have the
same density, but sphere B has twice the radius of sphere A. To compare the
amount of time it will take each sphere to collapse, we can compare the gravita-
tional accelerations of the points P and Q on the surfaces of the two spheres, as
s11own. Since the volume of a sphere is proportional to the cube of its radius,
sphere B has 8 times the volume of sphere A, and therefore 8 times the mass.
On the other hand, the point Q is twice as far away from the center of its
sphere as is the point P. Since the force of gravitation falls off as the square of
the distance, the extra distance of the point Q implies that tbe force is weak-
ened by a factor of 4. Combining the effects of the extra mass and the extra dis-
tance, the force on Q is found to be twice as great as the force on P. It follows
that the acceleration of Q will be twice as large as that of P, so at any given time
the velocity of Q will be twice as large as that of P. Since the distance that Q
must move while collapsing to the center is also twice as large, the conclusion is
that both spheres will collapse in exactly the same amount of time!
 N E W T O N A N D T H E 1 N F 1 N 1T E S TA T 1C U N 1 V E R S E 297

The failure of Newton's reasoning is an illustration of how careful one

has to be in thinking about infinity. From the modern viewpoint, an infinite
distribution of matter under the influence of Newtonian gravity would
unquestionably collapse. One way to correctly understand the situation is to
imagine approaching the infinite distribution of matter by considering a suc-
cession of finite spheres with larger and larger radii. Suppose that two
spheres of mass, A and B, ha ve the same density of matter, but sphere B has
twice the radius of sphere A. Suppose further that each sphere consists of a
distribution of particles, such as stars, that are very small compared to the
distances between them. Since the stars will not start to press against each
other when the spheres begin to contraer, there will be no pressure forces to
resist the contraction. It can then be shown that gravity will cause both
spheres to collapse in exactly the same amount of time! We can imagine
doub ling and redoubling the size of the sphere as many times as we like, but
the time required for the collapse will not change. Since an infinite distribu-
tion of matter can be defined as the limit of a sphere when the radius is
increased indefinitely, it follows that the infinite distribution of matter will
co llapse in the same length of time as any of the finite spheres.
For the benefit of mathematically inclined readers, the mathematical
argument relating the two spheres A and B is shown in Figure B. l. The
argument may seem a bit complex, but remember: If you get through it, you
will have grasped a profound feature of gravity that eluded Isaac Newton
himself!
The discussion here has not yet addressed the question raised directly in
Newton's letter: If the matter is spread evenly throughout an infinite space,
how would it choose a center about which to collapse? The answer is that,
contrary to intuition, the matter can contraer uniformly without choosing a
center. As in the case of uniform expansion discussed in Chapter 3, each
observer will see himself as the center. No matter where the observer might
be in the infinite space, he would see al! the rest of the matter in the universe
collapsing towards him .