Cosmology

Cosmology
Cosmology is the study of the structure and evolution of the Universe
on a large scale.
The Universe contains all matter, energy, space, and time.

The Universe is expanding

Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity predicts that the universe
should be expanding or contracting.
We now today from observations of red shifts, that the universe is
expanding.

The universe isnt only expanding it is accelerating. Everything on a

large scale is moving away from each other faster and faster as time
goes on.

Dark Energy
For the universe to be accelerating apart, there must be some
outward force that is stronger than gravity than wants to bring
everything closer together.
This outward push is caused by some unknown energy that we
currently refer to as dark energy.

The Big Bang

The Big Bang theory, is a theory of how the universe began 13.8
billion years ago.
This theory states that the universe started as a very hot primordial
atom of energy.
This atom of energy exploded, called the big bang. This explosion
created time and space, and eventually lead to the creation of matter.
This spacetime that we live in has been expanding ever since.

Remnants of the Big Bang

The explosion of the big bang gave of gamma radiation, the highest energy
photons.
This initial radiation from the big bang can still be detected today.
But since spacetime is expanding the gamma rays have stretched and today
are now microwaves.
Everywhere in the universe we detect constant amounts of cosmic
microwave background radiation. This is evidence that the big bang
happened.

The Four Physical Forces

Today we know of four physical forces that govern all matter and energy.
Gravity: the weakest force, can act over a infinite distance, and is always
attractive. This causes planets to orbit a star.
Electromagnetism: can act over a infinite distance, and can be repulsive or
attractive. This holds electrons in an atom.
Strong nuclear force: acts only over very small distances. This holds protons
and neutrons together in a atoms nucleus.
Weak nuclear force: acts only over very small distances. Protons and
neutrons are made of smaller particles called quarks. Weak nuclear force is
at work when a quark changes from one type to another.

Minutes following the Big Bang

The few minutes following the big bang things were very different
than today.
At the beginning it is believed that all four forces were one. As the
universe cooled the single initial force split up into the four we see
today.
It took less than a second after the big bang for the initial single force
to separate into the four forces.

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10

seconds after the Big Bang

At the beginning right after the big bang, the universe went through a
huge rate of expansion called inflation.
At 10-32 seconds after the big bang the universe expanded outward
about 1050 times larger.

At this time the universe was about the size of a soccer ball.

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10

seconds after the Big Bang

At the time inflation ended, and all four forces were separate from
each other.
At this time the only matter were the individual building blocks of
protons and neutrons: quarks and antiquarks. And other subatomic
particles: neutrinos, antineutrinos, electrons, and positrons.

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10

seconds after the Big Bang

This time after the big bang was known as confinement.

It was now cool enough for quarks to stick together and form protons,
neutrons, and there anitparticles.

Matter and Antimatter

In the first second of the universe virtually all photons were gamma rays.
It is possible for high energy photons like gamma rays to produce matter
when they collide.
This process is called pair production. Colliding gamma rays can produce a
pair of particles. One of normal matter and one of antimatter.
The opposite is also true. If matter and antimatter collide they will
annihilate each other and become radiation.

Universe full of Matter

The universe today is mostly all matter, there are very few antimatter
particles detected.
But if matter and antimatter is created in pairs we should see equal
amounts of both.

There is a theory that in the first second after the big bang there was
a breaking of the symmetry, leading to more matter being created
than antimatter.

Structure of the Universe

All matter like gas, dust, planets, and stars are not equally distributed
through out the universe.
Instead we see matter clumped together in the form of galaxies. Even
galaxies are not evenly spread out. We also see clusters, and even
super clusters of galaxies.

Structure of the Universe

Why isnt matter equally spread out through the universe?
At early stages of the universe pairs of particles would just randomly
be created like near a black hole. When these virtual particles are
created a sound wave is also created.

These sound wave traveled through the early plasma in the universe
and also became stretched as the universe expanded.

Structure of the Universe

Sound is different light in that sound actually compresses and stretches the
matter it passes through.
Eventually the sound waves created by virtual particles stopped, but they
left there mark on the universe.
The sound waves left parts of the matter in the universe slightly more
dense and hotter than others.
This was enough for matter to get together and form in clumps, and not
evenly distributed.

How far can we see?

The universe is 13.8 billion years old, so we can only see things that are 13.8 billion light
years away.
The light from objects further than that can not be seen because there light hasnt
reached us yet.
This boundary of sight we have is called the cosmic light horizon.
At the horizon we see in essence the beginning of the Universe and galaxies beginning to
form.
As time goes on we will be able to see further objects as there light begins to reach us.

Fate of the Universe

The universe is expanding at a faster and faster rate as time goes on.
Scientists believe that the universe will expand forever.
If this does happen, other galaxies will get further and dimmer.
Eventually you can imagine that all other galaxies will be to dim to see
anymore.
So a very long time in the future the only objects we will be able to
see will only be the objects in our galaxy.