This field permeates all of space and is responsible for causing space to expand faster than the speed of light. The simplest model of inflation requires that the early universe contained what’s called a scalar field. What did you mean by that?ĮFSTATHIOU: We don’t yet understand the fundamental physics that drove inflation, and we certainly don’t understand the details of how it worked. TKF: You’ve called the theory of cosmic inflation a cartoon of a theory. The mission’s successes include determining that the universe is slightly older than thought mapping the early universe’s subtle fluctuations in temperature and polarization, which eventually gave rise to the structure we see today and confirming that 26 percent of the universe comprises dark matter. The first all-sky map was released in March 2013 and the second, more detailed, map was released in February 2015. During its four-year mission, it observed variations in the cosmic microwave background across the entire sky.
Free larger than light free#
That’s a substantial improvement over what we knew before Planck.Įnjoying EarthSky? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today! The European Space Agency’s Planck space telescope was launched in 2009. So, for example, we now can say that the universe is spatially flat to a precision of about half a percent. What we found is that everything is consistent – with a very high precision – with simple inflationary models. We see no evidence for cosmic strings or other types of cosmic defect. For example, in some models motivated by higher-dimensional theories such as string theory, “cosmic strings” can be produced in the early universe, and these would generate a different type of fluctuation pattern. You see, there are several possibilities. These polarization measurements are really important in telling us what the fabric of space was like in the early universe. With the 2015 release, we improved the precision of those temperature measurements and also added accurate measurements of a twisting pattern in the cosmic microwave background called polarization. With the first Planck data, which we released in 2013, we verified some aspects of this model to pretty high precision by looking at the temperature of the cosmic microwave background across the sky.
For example, the geometry of the universe should be very close to flat, and this should be reflected in fluctuations we see in the cosmic microwave background light. GEORGE EFSTATHIOU: Inflation – the theory that the early universe expanded incredibly rapidly in its first moments – makes a number of generic predictions. Can you elaborate on the latest findings and why they’re important? THE KAVLI FOUNDATION: In 2013 and now this year, Planck provided very strong experimental evidence supporting the theory that the universe went through a mindbogglingly rapid expansion in its very first moments. Love cosmology? Submit a question for the upcoming webcast at or on Twitter use the hashtag #KavliLive. In addition, Kavli will offer a live webcast on Februwith Efstathiou and two other prominent scientists on the subject of cosmic inflation. You’ll find an edited transcript of that interview below. George Efstathiou, director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge and one of the leaders of the Planck mission, to understand Planck’s latest results and their implications for the theory of inflation. Kelen Tuttle of the Kavli Foundation recently spoke with Dr. In early February 2015, Planck released new maps of the cosmic microwave background supporting the theory of cosmic inflation, the idea that, in the moments following the Big Bang, space expanded faster than the speed of light, growing from smaller than a proton to an enormity that defies comprehension. Planck’s observations of this relic radiation shed light on everything from the evolution of the universe to the nature of dark matter. Artist’s illustration of cosmic inflation via įrom its orbit 930,000 miles (1.5 million km) above Earth, the Planck satellite spent more than four years detecting the cosmic microwave background – a fossil from the Big Bang that fills every part of the sky and offers a glimpse of what the universe looked like in its infancy.
0 kommentar(er)
