Questions tagged [big-bang-theory]
Questions regarding the currently prevalent cosmological model for the origin of the universe.
177
questions
1
vote
0
answers
27
views
Does cosmic inflation spawn from empty space, or vice versa?
In the eternal inflation model supported by Sean Carroll and others, the basic premise is that inflation is continuous in places across an infinite cosmos, and that bubble universes (like our own) are ...
- 29
1
vote
2
answers
150
views
Expansion rate of an infinite universe at the Big Bang
If the universe is infinitely large, then any two arbitrarily distant points must have been arbitrarily close together at some earlier point in time. Doesn't that mean that the expansion rate of the ...
- 113
2
votes
1
answer
69
views
Does the Cosmic microwave background (CMB) have an amplitude? Does it vary, like the 'temperature' (wavel./freq.) and the polarization?
Somehow, I have never read about this or thought about, until now...
Does the number of photons from the CMB hitting us from all directions vary at all?
- 3,375
1
vote
1
answer
107
views
Strange plot in Max Tegmark book, Our Mathematical Universe
In Max Tegmark's book, Our Mathematical Universe, we can find (in chapter 5, figure 5.3) the following (horrible and poor quality) plot that is supposed to highlight the extreme sensitivity of the ...
- 21
2
votes
1
answer
101
views
How is it possible that a Big Bang happened instead of becoming trapped as a Kugelblitz? [duplicate]
I was reading about Kugelblitz on Wikipedia, and it says that if enough energy gets concentrated it leads to a black hole (from where nothing can escape - supposedly). So, if during the Big-Bang, when ...
- 123
1
vote
0
answers
59
views
How did cosmic inflation even occur?
I wanted to ask this question that which inflation model shall i believe?
Following below will be MY UNDERSTANDING (MAY NOT BE CORRECT) OF IT:
I read "A Brief History of Time" and in chapter ...
- 191
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Why was the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) released at a blackbody temperature of 3000K rather than 30,000K?
If the ionization (or reionization, or Recombination) energy of atomic hydrogen is 13.6 EV, which corresponds to a black body temperature of 30,000K, why did the CMB not begin to appear then?
Why did ...
- 3,375
9
votes
1
answer
874
views
Why isn't the CMB blurred by the blackbodies emitted in the time after atoms first formed?
I am confused about why the light released from the moment when gas first formed was so dominant in comparison to the light released afterwards. Why isn't the CMB in interference with a series of ...
- 91
1
vote
0
answers
121
views
How did the Universe climb out of its own Big Bang black hole?
The Big Bang started as a singularity. That means small. All the matter in the universe was in a volume smaller than its own Schwarzchild radius. The universe was inside a black hole.
At present, the ...
- 685
1
vote
0
answers
31
views
How can scientists deduce the number of types of neutrinos, or 'effective number', from Planck satellite data?
Is it related to the way they deduce the Hubble constant from Planck data?
Would more types of oscillating and mixing neutrinos mean faster or slower expansion of the universe?
Would a fourth mass ...
- 3,375
1
vote
1
answer
116
views
Because the Universe is expanding, what is it taking up?
It is my understanding that the universe is expanding and that matter takes up space. While the universe only contains small percent of matter, wouldn't expansion indicate that the universe is ...
- 119
1
vote
1
answer
35
views
Can two neighboring galaxies move apart at steady speed?
While I was trying to understand the three models that obey Friedmann's two assumptions of a non-static universe, I came across a line that says and I quote "It (referring to Big Bang) starts at ...
- 11
2
votes
0
answers
64
views
How do we know or predict which particles were present before Big Bang Nucleosynthesis occurred?
I'm reading Carroll and Ostlie's "An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics". In the BBN section, they describe that the universe contains a mixture of photons, electron-positron pairs, and ...
- 1,051
6
votes
0
answers
66
views
What is the history of the average pressure, density, and temperature of the matter in the universe over time?
This question is inspired by this more specific question where Cerelic wanted to know if conditions were suitable for liquid water to exist during an epoch when the characteristic temperature of the ...
- 2,525
4
votes
0
answers
38
views
Expanded element (and molecule) abundance graph?
There is the "classical" nucleosynthesis timeline chart where the $\log ({\rm mass \,fraction})$ is plotted as a function of $\log(t)$ where $t$ is in seconds after the big bang, looking e.g....
- 5,294
30
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Could liquid water have existed in open space 15 million years after the Big Bang?
Around 15 million years after the Big Bang, the ambient temperatures was about $24^\circ {\rm C}$, which is in a range where water could be liquid. Could liquid blobs of water be existent then?
PS: I ...
- 403
1
vote
1
answer
76
views
Shouldn't the estimate of the universe's age be higher, not lower, after the attractive strength of gravity is taken into account?
From 'Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality', by Frank Wilczek :
"Running the movie of cosmic history backward in our minds, we found the galaxies all coming together to meet at a definite time. ...
- 3,375
5
votes
0
answers
56
views
Early (high density) Universe's event horizon [duplicate]
Taking into consideration the big bang theory and the followed expansion of our Universe, was there a time when density of the Universe created an event horizon?
If so, then for how long and how is it ...
1
vote
0
answers
65
views
Math for the "universe in a black hole" hypothesis?
There are various pop-science article entitled Are we living in a Black Hole? or Did A Black Hole Give Birth To Our Universe? which say things like
There’s a lot to like about the idea that there’s a ...
- 5,294
1
vote
0
answers
52
views
Could the duration of some gamma ray bursts be information from outside our universe?
Could we be in a system where a large mass explodes dispersing matter in all directions until gravity pulls it together with matter from other explosions until the maximum mass limit is reached, ...
1
vote
0
answers
60
views
in current models of the Big Bang, what happens to the products of baryon annihilation?
In current thinking about the Big Bang, the baryogenesis phase involves CP/CPT symmetry violation. There is an excess (says Wikipedia) of perhaps 1 in $10^{10}$ baryons over antibaryons, the majority ...
- 944
0
votes
0
answers
82
views
Accuracy of the Inflation theory
In the Inflation theory, it said that the Inflationary epoch has happened $10^{-32} \,\mathrm{s}$ after the Big Bang, and I cannot find anything related to how this number was calculated and how ...
- 1,136
0
votes
1
answer
60
views
Centre of the Universe [duplicate]
Why shouldn't the original singularity of the big bang happen to be the centre of the Universe? Assume that the universe is expanding isotropically with a constant speed.
- 1,136
4
votes
0
answers
94
views
From what distances do the atoms in you come from?
If the atoms of a human come from stars, comets, nebulas and magnetrons, then what is the greatest distance that two atoms of a human can possibly have been away from each other previously? Perhaps ...
- 3,158
2
votes
1
answer
108
views
Question on the singularity theorem
I have just started studying Cosmology and we have been asked to prove that in an expanding FRW Universe which obeys the strong energy condition: $$\rho + 3P >0$$
Then there must exist a Big Bang ...
- 51
2
votes
1
answer
418
views
What is the 'scale factor' equation for a dark-matter dominated universe?
The Friedmann equations can be solved exactly in presence of a perfect fluid with equation of state
$${\displaystyle p=w\rho c^{2}} \qquad p=w\rho c^2$$
where ${\displaystyle p}$ is the pressure, ${\...
- 3,375
0
votes
2
answers
164
views
Why can't we point the centre of the universe from inflation graph we see?
This question is not about whether it makes sense to have a centre of the universe or not instead, it's about the inflation graph we used to see while describing the Big Bang. From the inflation graph ...
2
votes
2
answers
156
views
What powered the Big Bang?
According to the first law of thermodynamics, law of conservation of energy states,
The total energy of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be ...
0
votes
0
answers
64
views
Was universe spawn from nothing? [duplicate]
Was universe spawn from nothing?
Until now, scientists figured out that the Big Bang happened from a tiny particle which was infinitely energy densed and having infinite mass. If that is the case ...
3
votes
1
answer
350
views
What happened before, Big Bang or inflation?
I always thought that the cosmic inflation happened after the big bang (10-36 sec) and lasted for a very tiny fraction of time).
Now, I recently came across a couple of articles (links below) claiming ...
- 71
1
vote
1
answer
516
views
Why is the Cosmic Microwave Background at the same distance no matter the direction we look?
I've read from different sources that:
The CMB is visible at a distance of 13.8 billion light years in all
directions from Earth, leading scientists to determine that this is
the true age of the ...
- 113
4
votes
2
answers
678
views
What is meant by "vastness of space, which now filled a volume of a hundred million light years"?
I am reading the book Cosmic biology: How life could evolve on other worlds (citation below) and do not understand the meaning of the following paragraph from page 4 (emphasis mine):
It took 200,000 ...
- 143
0
votes
1
answer
232
views
How can something infinitely big have expanded from an infinitely small?
Please help me reconcile what I see as contradicting theories:
The universe began with the Big Bang and expanded from an infinitesimally small point.
The universe is infinite.
How can something ...
- 1
13
votes
1
answer
4k
views
At the Big Bang, when everything was close together, why did it not "collide", violating Planck length or Pauli Exclusion Principle?
How could so much matter, or "all" in fact, have been concentrated in a smaller universe without being in the actual same place? Why did this not result in undercutting the Planck Length or ...
- 249
4
votes
0
answers
100
views
Does the cosmological principle apply to the entire universe?
Some cosmological models assume that the universe is isotropic and homogeneous and that is also flat and infinite. If the universe is infinite now it was infinite immediately after the big bang. If ...
- 71
2
votes
1
answer
78
views
Types of Multiverses [closed]
Can anyone recommend me books or other online resources on the concept of the Multiverse, it types, and about higher mathematical dimensions of space-time. I have been interested in such topics for a ...
- 21
-3
votes
1
answer
107
views
Is our universe a singularity?
According to the Big Bang theory our universe used to be a lot smaller in size.
It actually used to be so small that in the beginning it used to be a singularity.
And the universe started to expand ...
- 1
2
votes
0
answers
52
views
How is the big bang a plausible theory? [duplicate]
In the Big Bang Theory, it is said that it started with a small speck of matter, yet we have an unimaginable mass of expanding universe which is assumed as immeasurable. If the theory of "Matter ...
- 21
1
vote
0
answers
34
views
Is there a place where one can see the beginning of the universe? [duplicate]
If the night sky Is dark because we’re seeing the world as it was a long time ago, when there wasn’t much to see, is there a place on the universe where we can see the universe at the beginning of ...
user31880
6
votes
1
answer
207
views
Why is the Cosmic Microwave Background evidence of for a hotter, denser early Universe?
In his book Gravitation and cosmology, Steven Weinberg says that CMB makes it "difficult to doubt that the universe has evolved from a hotter, denser early stage".
In my understanding, the ...
- 325
2
votes
1
answer
117
views
Did Einstein supported Big Bang Theory cosmological model?
Einstein made many predictions, including gravitational waves and the possibility of black holes.
Relativity is taken into consideration for the Big Bang model, so did Einstein agree with it or did ...
- 341
-2
votes
2
answers
312
views
Is Olbers' Paradox Nonsense? [closed]
Ok, this is a bold question, I know. But, let me explain: After first hearing about Olbers' paradox, I found that something seemed 'off' about it, so I looked into the subject as much as my skills (...
0
votes
0
answers
36
views
Must all galaxies in a galaxy cluster have the same expansion rate?
If we observe a distant galaxies cluster where all galaxies travel with the same speed away from us, except for one galaxy whose speed is significantly lower than of the neighboring galaxies. Does ...
- 131
1
vote
1
answer
113
views
What reference frame do age-of-the-universe calculations assume?
I'm thinking, in particular, about general relativity. When we speak, for example, of neutrino decoupling, what do we mean when we say this happened in the first second after the Big Bang? Do we mean ...
- 163
8
votes
2
answers
242
views
Are there only a set number of atoms in the whole universe?
As per the title, are there only a set number of atoms in the universe? Or does the universe make more atoms, and if so, how does it work?
I'm a high school student that just had a question during ...
- 81
7
votes
1
answer
138
views
Understanding The Fluctuations In The CMB Maps
If I'm understanding this correctly the fluctuations in CMB are a result of the "last scatter" of photons when electrons joined together with nuclei that before this formed plasma. CMB is among other ...
- 73
8
votes
1
answer
193
views
How do we know so many details about Big Bang, but we do not know if Universe is finite/infinite?
I understand that this question may be too vague, but I am confused about the following:
On one hand we know a lot of "details" about Big Bang, like really precise details, evolution of universe, age ...
- 181
0
votes
2
answers
699
views
If space is negative energy and matter is positive energy then does that mean the universe is finite?
I was reading a book by Stephen Hawking, it was written that universe is made up of 2 ingredients,i.e., space and energy and space was the negative energy, so they add up to 0. But since space is ...
-1
votes
1
answer
233
views
What does it mean for space to expand?
In this YT video Michelle Thaller says The Big Bang wasn’t an explosion but an expansion and as such there's no empty center where the explosion would've been.
To explain expansion she uses the ...
- 107
25
votes
6
answers
8k
views
Why do galaxies collide?
If the universe is expanding outward, what is the processes for one galaxy to get off track enough to collide with another?
Say, the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way.
- 267