Cosmology

• Finite or infinite Universe?

• Relativity

• Cosmologicam models

• The Big Bang model

• The anthropic principle

 Finite or infinite Universe?

Newton: tries to apply his universal gravitation theory to the Universe

as a whole
• If finite Universe → everything should collapse towards the center
Unless the Universe is rotating – But with respect to what?
• If infinite Universe → different ways to tackle the problem lead to
different solutions
→ Newton turned to something else
Gauss theorem → the only possible infinite and uniform Universe is
an empty Universe
Rem: but pursuing his line of reasoning, Newton might have predicted
the expansion of the Universe!!!
 Finite or infinite Universe? - 2

The Olbers paradox

Why is the sky dark at night?
If the Universe is infinite and homogeneous
→ all lines of sight should encounter the surface of a star
→ the sky should be as bright as the surface
of the Sun
Olbers tried to invoke absorption of light
(by dust)
Conservation of energy
→ Olbers’solution does not work as dust
would heat up until it radiates as much as
the stars Heinrich Olbers (1758-1840)
 Relativity

Maxwell equations and invariance

1864: Maxwell publishes his equations of electromagnetism

→ electromagnetic waves propagating in

vacuum at speed c ≈ 300 000 km/s
Problem: the Maxwell equations are not
invariant under the Galileo transformation
(change of inertial frame):

where vR is the velocity (along the x axis) of

inertial reference frame R′ with respect to
inertial reference frame R
J. C. Maxwell (1831-1879)
 Relativity - 2

Eather and speed of light

In which medium do electromagnetic waves propagate?
Physicists postulated that they propagate thougt eather, a still unknown
medium…
1887: Albert Michelson tries to detect the motion of Earth with respect
to eather by measuring the speed of light in perpendicular directions

vEarth/c ≈ 10–4 → he builds a very

accurate interferometer
→ negative result: c is the same in
all directions
 Relativity - 3

Special relativity
Two problems, a single solution…
1905: Albert Einstein develops a theory
based on the fundamental postulate that:
Whatever the motions of the source and
observer, the latter will always measure the
same value for the speed of light in
vacuum
→ c is a fundamental constant
(c = 299 792 458 m/s)
→ theory of special relativity
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
 Relativity - 4
1) M
Time dilation
Consider an observer M in motion at a h
speed v with respect to another observer
R at rest
The two observers measure the time it
takes for light to travel the same distance
2) R
1)

2)

vΔtR
 Relativity - 5

Equivalence principle
• In vacuum, the acceleration of a test body is independent of its mass
(Galileo)

→ inertial mass MI = gravitational mass MG (Newton)

→ the (local) effects of a gravitational field are equivalent to those of

an acceleration of the observer’s reference frame (Einstein)

→ first step towards the theory of general relativity

 Relativity - 6

General relativity
Gravitation ↔ curvature of 4 dimensional space-time
→ geometric representation of gravitation
• Newton: action at a distance by an unknown mechanism
• Einstein: space-time deformation
Bodies moving under the effect of gravitation follow geodesics of a
curved space-time
• Same results as Newton in weak gravitational fields
• Departures growing with the field intensity
 Relativity - 7

Some predictions of general relativity

• Advance of Mercury’s perihelion
• Curvature of light rays close to massive objects
– eclipse of 1919 – gravitational mirages
• Gravitational waves
– binary pulsars: increase of orbital period – direct detection

• Gravitational time dilation

– measured on Earth + redshift on the surface of compact objects
(Earth: 10–9 – white dwarf: 6% –neutron star: 30%)
 Cosmological models

General relativity allows studying the structure and evolution of the

Universe as a whole → cosmology
Geometry of space
Space can have positive, negative or no curvature

• Positive curvature: finite but

unlimited space
• Negative curvature: infinite space

• No curvature: euclidean infinite

space
 Cosmological models - 2

The cosmological principle

To be able, from observations of our portion of the Universe, to test
models representing the Universe as a whole, we must adopt the
hypothesis that our region is representative of the Universe
→ one assumes that any sufficiently large region of the Universe is
representative of the Universe as a whole
This is the cosmological principle
(it is necessary to make cosmology a science)

N.B. In practice, sufficiently large = larger than 500 millions LY

 Cosmological models - 3

Friedmann-Lemaître equation
• Consequence of the cosmological principle:
The Universe is homogeneous at large scale
• One also assumes it is isotropic at large scale
→ one obtains a simple from of Einstein’s equations of general
relativity:

Friedmann-Lemaître equation

R = scale factor
ρ = density of matter k = curvature parameter
 Cosmological models - 4

Cosmological constant
In 1917, Einstein realizes that his equations have no static solution
The expansion of the Universe had not been discovered yet
→ he modified his equations by adding a terme containing a
cosmological constant Λ:

By choosing an adequate value for Λ, one can obtain a static solution

After the discovery of the expansion of the Universe, Einstein
considered the cosmological constant as the biggest blunder of his
career
 Cosmological models - 5

Critical density
Density parameter:

• Ω0 > 1: spherical universe, closed

• Ω0 = 1: parabolic (flat) universe, open Λ=0
• Ω0 < 1: hyperbolic universe, open

→ matter density determines

the fate of the Universe
Best estimates:
Ωm,0 ≈ 0.3
(m: visible + dark matter)
 Cosmological models - 6

The Big Bang

Universe in continuous expansion → if one goes back in time:
• the scale factor R decreases
• the density ρ increases
→ one reaches a point at which R → 0 and ρ → ∞
→ beginning (of the Universe, of space-time…)
= Big Bang (Fred Hoyle, 1950s)
Beginning → creation ???
→ debate (more philosophical than scientific)

Georges Lemaître
 Cosmological models - 7

The steady state Universe

The idea of a beginning disturbed some scientists
→ steady state theory (Gold, Bondi & Hoyle, 1948)
based on the perfect cosmological principle: the Universe appears the
same in all places and at all times
However, galaxies move away from each other
→ continuous creation of matter to keep a
constant ρ
(~ 1 H atom par m3 per billion years)
Variant: quasi steady state (Hoyle, Burbidge &
Narlikar, 1993): `minibangs´
Fred Hoyle
 Cosmological models - 8

The cosmological microwave background (CMB)

1964: Penzias and Wilson try to measure the radio emission of the
Milky Way → they discover an isotropic and non seasonal radiation
→ cannot come from the atmosphere, nor from the Milky way
They get in touch with cosmologists
Dicke and Peebles
→ interpreted as relic radiation from
the first epochs of the Universe
(CMB)
(existence predicted by Gamov,
black body spectrum by
Dorochkevitch and Novikov)
(success 1) Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias
 Cosmological models - 9

Victory of the Big Bang

The CMB is interpreted as a relic from an earlier stage of the Universe,
much hotter (when matter was ionized, thus opaque), now cooled to 2.7
K due to the expansion of the Universe
→ knock down for steady state
cosmology
Their hypothesis to `save the day´:
stellar radiation scattered by small
`metallic sticks´ present in
interstellar matter
Problem: how to explain such a
perfect isotropy?
CMB spectrum (COBE)
 The Big Bang model

Creation of matter
(t = 10−32 s ; T = 1026 K ; ρ = 1073 kg/m3)
• Emergence of a `soup´ of quarks, electrons, photons, neutrinos
• In principle, creation of particles – antiparticles pairs
• How to explain that we only observe matter in the Universe?
→ one assumes an asymmetry: creation of 1 000 000 001 particles for
1 000 000 000 antiparticles (epicycle 1)
• annihilation of all particle – antiparticle pairs → photons
• the present-day matter is the tiny relic of that gigantic annihilation
 The Big Bang model – 2

Formation of protons and neutrons

(t = 10−4 s ; T = 1012 K ; ρ = 1017 kg/m3)
• Quarks combine into nucleons
• T is so high that transmutations proton → neutron balance
transmutations neutron → proton
→ at start, number of neutrons Nn = number of protons Np
• When T decreases, the energetically most favorable reaction
dominates → the ratio Nn / Np goes down
• When T = 1010 K, 4He becomes stable but still inaccessible since the
intermediate stage 2H remains unstable
→ neutrons stay free and the ratio Nn / Np continues to decrease
 The Big Bang model – 3

Formation of helium
(t = 100 s ; T = 109 K ; ρ = 105 kg/m3)
• 2H becomes stable → neutrons can bind with protons into 2H nuclei
and are finally safe!
• Then, 2H combine into 4He
• At that time, the proportion is 1 neutron for 7 protons
→ 2 neutrons for 14 protons
→ one 4He nucleus for 12 1H nuclei
→ proportion in mass: 4/(4+12) = 25%
→ prediction confirmed by observations (success 2)
 The Big Bang model – 4

End of primordial nucleosynthesis

(t = 12 days ; T = 107 K ; ρ = 10−3 kg/m3)
• Fusions 4He + 1H et 4He + 4He would give nuclei of atomic masses 5
and 8
• However, no stable nuclei have those masses
→ nucleosynthesis ends there (apart from a little 3He and 7Li)
• In stars, that problem is circumvented by the triple α reaction
• That reaction needs higher densities and longer times than available
at that stage of the Big Bang
→ that solution is not available in cosmological nucleosynthesis
 The Big Bang model – 5

Results of primordial nucleosynthesis

• The abundances predicted by
primordial nucleosynthesis models
are sensitive to the baryonic matter
density (protons + neutrons [+ e–])
→ a single value of density must
give rise to the observed
cosmological abundances (success 3)
• Everything fitted well until the
WMAP results, which imply a 7Li
abundance 2 to 3 times higher than
observed in old stars
→ diffusion? (epicycle 2)
 The Big Bang model – 6

The baryonic density

To get the observed primordial abundance for the light elements, we
need a well defined value of the baryonic density:
Ωb,0 ≈ 0.05 – 0.06
This is higher than the value deduced from observations:
Ωb,0(obs) ≈ 0.01 – 0.02
But lower than total mass estimates in galaxy clusters:
Ωm,0 ≈ 0.3
→ part of the dark matter (Ω0 ≈ 0.04) is baryonic (ordinary matter)
But the largest part (Ω0 ≈ 0.24) would correspond to exotic matter
(ex: WIMPs) not discovered yet (epicycle 3)
 The Big Bang model – 7

The cosmological
constant
Observations of high
redshift supernovae
suggest that the
expansion of the
Universe is accelerated
→ return of the
cosmological constant:
Λ0 ≈ 0.7
(interpreted as a kind od
vacuum energy)
(epicycle 4)
 The Big Bang model – 8

Vacuum energy and expansion

Why does the vacuum energy accelerate expansion?
• The expansion rate depends on the mass–energy density
• Expansion of space → the matter density decreases
→ the expansion rate
progressively goes down
• The energy density of vacuum
is constant (does not decrease
with expansion)
→ favors a constant expansion
rate (when it dominates)
→ exponential expansion
 The Big Bang model – 9

The flat Universe

• One would have: Ωm,0 ≈ 0.3 and Λ0 ≈ 0.7 → Ω0 + Λ0 ≈ 1
• Models with Ω + Λ = 1 are flat universes

→ mainly for philosophical reasons,

most cosmologists think that, if
curvature is close to zero, then it must
be exactly zero:
Ω0 + Λ0 ≈ 1 → Ω0 + Λ0 ≡ 1
• It sounds a bit like saying that, since the
planetary orbits are close to circles, they
must be perfect circles
→ is Plato back?…
 The Big Bang model – 10

Inflation
How to explain that the initial conditions select, among an infinity of
models with any curvature, precisely the one with no curvature?
1981: Alan Guth proposes the theory of primordial inflation
• Some theoreticians think that, at very high temperature (1026 K), the
four fundamental forces are unified into a single one
→ there would be only one type of particle
+ a unified vacuum of energy density much larger
than present vacuum
This is this unified vacuum which would be
responsible for the inflation phase (epicycle 5)
Alan Guth
 The Big Bang model – 11

Inflation
• t < 10–33 s: photons dominate
→ fast expansion, progressively slowed down
• t ~ 10–33 s: photon density < density of unified vacuum
→ inflation: very fast expansion, size of the Universe × ~1030 to 1040
• t ~ 10–32 s: temperature goes below the unification value
→ photons dominate again
→ expansion slowed down again
• During inflation, the huge expansion annihilates any pre-existing
curvature
→ after inflation, the Universe is flat
 The Big Bang model – 12

Origin of the cosmic microwave background

• As long as T > 3000 K, matter is mainly ionized
→ its opacity is large (basically opaque)
• When T < 3000 K, electrons and protons combine into hydrogen atoms
→ the opacity suddenly goes down
→ matter becomes transparent
→ photons propagate freely (decoupling)
→ their wavelength increases with the expansion of space
→ λ0 ~ 1000 λdecoupling
→ T0 ~ 1/1000 Tdecoupling ~ 3 K
 The Big Bang model – 13

The age of the Universe

The age of the Universe can be calculated from H0, Ω0 and Λ0

H0 Ω0 Λ0 Age (109 yrs) The age of the oldest stars in our

Galaxy (globular clusters)
72 1.0 0.0 9.0 amounts to ~ 13 billion years
72 0.3 0.0 11.0 → any cosmological model
72 0.3 0.7 13.1 predicting an age of the Universe
< 13 × 109 yrs is in conflict
60 1.0 0.0 10.9 with stellar evolution models

60 0.3 0.0 13.2 → the `new standard model´

(H0 = 72, Ω0 = 0.3, Λ0 = 0.7) is
60 0.3 0.7 15.7 very close to the limit
 The anthropic principle

Anthropic principle (greek anthropos = man)

What consequences on the laws of physics can we deduce from the
mere existence of mankind?
Example: it is not a coincidence that the age of the Universe is a few
billion years
• if the Universe was much younger:
Life and intelligence would not have enough time to develop
→ the Universe must be at least a few billion years old
→ this is the weakest version of the anthropic principle
(`trivial´ version)
 The anthropic principle – 2

Nucleosynthesis of nuclei heavier than helium

• No stable nucleus of mass number 5 or 8
→ primordial nucleosynthesis does not go over 4He
→ only stellar nucleosynthesis (triple α) allows to produce 12C
8 Be highly unstable → generally disintegrates before 4He + 8Be → 12C
But…
That reaction is favored by the presence of an excited state of 12C
whose energy nearly coincides with that of 4He + 8Be (resonance)
The existence of that excited state at 7.68 MeV had been predicted by
Fred Hoyle in 1953 from such considerations
It was discovered soon afterwards by Dunbar, Pixley et al. (1953)
 The anthropic principle – 3

The weak anthropic principle

We exist, we are made of C, O,…
→ stellar nucleosynthesis could proceed further from 4He
→ the triple α reaction actually happens in stars
→ there exists an excited state of 12C
at an energy close to 7.68 MeV

The strong anthropic principle

The constants of physics have been adjusted
to allow the existence of that excited state…
… and, more generally, our existence!
 The anthropic principle – 4

Application of the weak anthropic principle

The characteristic time for development of intelligent life is either:
(1) much shorter than the Sun’s lifetime
(2) of the same order of magnitude
(3) much longer

• If (1) we would probably have developed much earlier

• (2) is an unlikely coincidence between totally unrelated phenomena*
• (3) is thus the most likely hypothesis
→ there must be only few intelligent civilisations in the Galaxy
* Might be the weak part of the argument
 The anthropic principle – 5

Intelligent design
There seems to be a number of coincidences linked to the values of the
fundamental constants
→ this has led some to pretend that:
the constants and laws of nature have been adjusted to allow our
existence…
… and even that the whole biological evolution with the appearance of
complex structures, so well adjusted, could not result from chance…
… but would be guided towards an aim (us, of course!) by some
superior being…
→ intelligent design, pseudo scientific avatar of creationism
 The anthropic principle – 6

Pertinence of intelligent design?

1. This is not a science, as a fundamental condition for any scientific
theory is to be testable, thus refutable
This is not the case of
intelligent design since:
whatever the result of an
experiment, its proponents
can argue that:
`this is the will of the
superior being´
→ belief, not science!
 The anthropic principle – 7

Pertinence of intelligent design?

2. Rather than searching for a rational explanation, one relies on a
superior intelligence… QED…
→ this is just laziness,
resignation of free thought

3. This is a complete lack of

modesty since it is based on
the belief that, if we cannot
explain something now, it
will never be explanable…
Who do we think we are?
 The anthropic principle – 8

Why intelligent design?

• First mankind’s trauma (Copernicus): Earth is no more at the center
of the Universe
• Second trauma (Darwin): man is just an animal among others…
and the (partially) random product of evolution
→ hard to admit for our ego!

«  Two things are infinite: the universe

and human stupidity; and I’m not sure
about the universe!  »
Albert Einstein
The anthropic principle – 9

The
teacher…

THE END