Do we finally know what followed the Big Bang?

IMonday 17 Mar 2014 f true, Mondays result from a radio teles o!e in the "ntar ti is one of the greatest #reakthroughs in the history of s ien e$ But for the time #eing it remains a !retty #ig if$

%he finding is a kind of !hysi s dou#le whammy$ &irst, it may #e the first e'er onfirmation of ( osmi inflation), the !ro ess that immediately followed Big Bang$ It would also #e the first time s ientists ha'e seen gra'itational wa'es * !redi ted #y Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity$ + ,ee more at- htt!-..#logs$ hannel4$ om.tom+ larke+on+s ien e.!hysi s+dou#le+ whammy+s ientists+dis o'ered+e hoes+#ig+#ang./101sthash$m223Dk45$d!uf

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Because inflation, so the theory goes, gave rise to the very universe we live in today. Its confirmation would be perhaps the most significant discovery in physics. Alan Heavens, a cosmologist at Imperial College London, told Channel 4 News: !n the face of it it loo"s #uite convincing, but I$m sure people will want to loo" at the data and the analysis very carefully. But a #uic" loo" suggests it #uac"s li"e a duc".% Read more: on the worlds biggest scientific breakthroughs here &he result was obtained by a radio telescope at the 'outh (ole called BIC)(*. +esearchers from the arvard !mithsonian Centre for Astro"hysics used it to study the cosmic microwave bac"ground radiation ,C-B. &he C-B is the oldest light in the universe, created /ust 011,111 years after the Big Bang. By studying tiny differences in the polarity of that light the researchers claim to have seen evidence of gravitational waves. &heir presence could only be produced by cosmic inflation. &hat$s what has got the world of physics very e2cited.

&his is huge, as big as it gets,% -arc 3amion"ows"i a cosmologist at 4ohns Hop"ins 5niversity who was not part of the Antarctica team, told the New #ork $imes on -onday. But others are urging a bit more caution. It$s a maybe,% said Carlos 6ren" a cosmologist at the %niversity of &urham told Channel 4 News. 7hen you loo" closely at the detail it seems as if it might have too much of a good thing.% He warns the polari8ation measurement the Harvard team have found is twice as large as e2pected. )ither something is wrong with their measurement or inflation is a lot more complicated than we thin".% Read more: world '( million years older than we thought As" any scientists and they would tell you no one e2periment proves or disproves a theory 9 the results have to be replicated by others first. But when it comes to a theory as fundamental as this, said -r 6ren", it$s important to be even more cautious: &his needs to be verified. And until that happens you can$t ta"e this to the ban".% )ollow *$omClarkeC4 on $witter + ,ee more at- htt!-..#logs$ hannel4$ om.tom+ larke+on+s ien e.!hysi s+dou#le+ whammy+s ientists+dis o'ered+e hoes+#ig+#ang./101sthash$m223Dk45$d!uf