A Brief, Brief History of Cosmology

David Friedenberg
And
Kevin Pabst
Overview
 What is Cosmology
 The Big Bang and Early Universe
 Inflation
 Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
 Further Resources
 Conclusion
Cosmology
 The scientific study of the large scale
properties of the universe
 Includes the origin of the universe, the
evolution of the universe, and the nature
of the universe
 The most widely accepted Cosmological
model is the Big Bang model of the
universe
The Big Bang Model

 The universe (and therefore time)

started 12-15 billion years ago in a very
hot dense state
 We still do not understand the initial
moments of the Big Bang
 Since then the universe has been
expanding and cooling
The Big Bang Model

 The universe is both homogenous and

isotropic.
 Homogenous means that matter is
distributed evenly on a large enough
scale
 Isotropic means that it looks the same in
every direction
The Big Bang Model

 Simple structure that can be

summarized in 3 numbers
 Hubble’s Constant
 Deceleration Parameter
 Cosmological Constant
Hubble’s Constant

 Rate of expansion of the universe

 Symbolized Ho
 Estimates range between 50-70 km/sec
per megaparsec
 Megaparsec = 3.26 million light years
Deceleration Parameter
 Measures the rate at which expansion is
slowing due to gravity
 If we knew this value we could infer the
distribution of matter in the universe
(currently thought to be about 1 atom
per cubic meter)
 Will determine the fate of the universe in
the long run
Omega
 Directly measures the mass density
 Omega less than 1 means the universe will
expand forever (although energy will
eventually run out)
 Omega greater than 1 means the universe
will eventually collapse into itself, ‘The Big
Crunch’
 Omega = 1 means the universe will
continually expand but the rate of expansion
will approach zero
Omega
 Observations have put estimates of Omega
close to one
 This suggests the universe may be ‘flat’
 There is a philosophical argument that if it is
close to one that it should be exactly one
 Inflation may explain why our observations
are close to one even if the true value is not
one
Cosmological Constant
 Indexes a repellent force
 Would force universe to expand faster
than what we might think, implies
universe may be even larger than
previously thought
 Possibly a remnant of inflation
 Not as well established as the other 2
parameters
Inflation
 A modification to the Big Bang theory has the
universe expanding at a much faster rate then
previously predicted.
 This caused the universe to expand
exponentially for a short period
 Explains why the early dense universe
expanded instead of collapsed
 Afterwards it settled, or is continuing to settle,
to linear expansion
Inflation

 Explains why the universe appears flat

 Inflation suggests the universe is much
larger than previously thought
 What we can observe appears flat just
like the earth appears flat if you stand in
a field
Inflation
 Explains why the observable universe looks
homogeneous and isotropic.
 Objects on opposite sides of the observable
universe should not have been able to
interact, yet their homogeneity suggests
something otherwise.
 Big Bang cannot explain this.
 Inflation can
Inflation

 First Explanation: Expands the

primordial fluid to such an extent that
variations are no longer noticeable.
 Second: The primordial fluid may have
mixed before inflation.
Inflation
 Inflation may explain the existence of galaxies
in an otherwise homogeneous universe.
 Quantum fluctuations are inflated as well
 Fluctuations grew to such an extent that they
caused galaxy formation
 Confirmed by COBE: CMB pattern matched
that of galaxies.
Evidence of the Big Bang

 Clumps of matter formed as the universe

expanded
 Due to gravity these clumps would grow into
the structures we can observe today
(galaxies, clusters, super clusters etc.)
 As the universe went from extremely hot to
cool we know at which point protons and
neutrons could join to form atoms
Evidence of the Big Bang

 We can also predict at what time certain

molecules could have formed
 These predictions based on the Big
Bang Model match up very well with the
distribution of elements we observe
 The Big Bang created light elements
(Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium)
 Heavier elements were created in stars
Evidence of the Big Bang

 Therefore we would expect older

objects to have fewer heavy elements
 This has been confirmed by
observations
Evidence of the Big Bang

 We can use distance to measure time

 If something is one light year away that
means that it takes one year for its light to
reach us
 When we observe an object one light year
away we are seeing what it looked like one
year ago
 In this way, looking at distant objects is like
looking back in time
Evidence of the Big Bang

 The most conclusive evidence is the Cosmic

Microwave Background (CMB)
 CMB is radiation that is isotropic and (nearly)
homogeneously throughout the present day
universe.
 CMB is assumed to come from a universal
event, in this case decoupling, because of the
consistency of the CMB over the universe
Evidence of the Big Bang

 Approx. 500,000 years after the Big

Bang the Universe had expanded to the
point where light could escape. This
event is called photon decoupling
 Photons, the particles constituting light,
were released and most have traveled
outward, unimpeded ever since
Evidence of the Big Bang

 The release of the photons then

provides us with a snapshot of the
universe as it was at the time of
decoupling.
Evidence of the Big Bang

 The CMB photons are now at

approximately 2.7K, having cooled with
the expansion of the universe
 Looking out into space, backward in
time, the CMB becomes opaque
 This is the point in time at which
decoupling occurred.
Evidence of the Big Bang

 Why study CMB?

 It is like looking into the past
 Snapshot of the quantum fluctuations
that caused galaxies to form
 Details the origin and evolution of the
universe
 May help shed light on Dark Matter
Further Resources
 We have compiled a webpage with links
covering these topics more in depth,
which is also the resources we used for
this presentation
 Along with The Whole Shebang by
Timothy Ferris
 Accessible from Dave’s webpage
 http://www.stat.cmu.edu/~dfrieden