'Ancient light' takes Nobel Prize (BBC)

[Eugene]

Last Updated: Tuesday, 3 October 2006, 09:59 GMT 10:59 UK

'Ancient light' takes Nobel Prize

Two US scientists, John C Mather and George F Smoot, have won
the 2006 Nobel Physics Prize.

They have been honoured "for their discovery of the blackbody
form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation
(CMB)".

The CMB is the "oldest light" in the Universe - it is all around
us and comes from a time just 380,000 years after the Big Bang.

Scientists say features in the CMB tell them about the evolution
of the cosmos.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5401972.stm

[Lerkfish]

1. forgive my ignorance, didnt a recent discovery contradict the

big bang theory?

[Nikolas]

2. Big Bang Still Banging

No, the Big Bang is still the most supported cosmological theory.

The cosmic microwave background radiation studies (some of which earned this Nobel Prize) support the Big Bang & the currently popular "inflation" version thereof.

[TheMadMonk]

3. Accelerating expansion of the Universe?

And Einstein's biggest blunder, maybe not being a blunder after all? (Cosmological Constant/Quintescence/??)

Observations suggesting the first are best explained by the reinstating of the second, a tiny all pervading repulsive force which is overwhelamed by gravity over short distances, but itself overwhealms gravity over much larger distances. (Roughly 20% of the "diameter" of the universe and larger. IIRC) The result of this is for the expansion of the universe to be slightly happening faster than pure unadjusted Einsteiniean physics predicts if certain assumptions about a special type of supernova are correct.

Then there are the slight anomalies in the observations that suggest that Quintescence isn't constant and is increasing with time. Ultimately the repulsive force will be so strong that first galactic clusters, then galaxies, globular clusters and star systems will be ripped apart as gravity is overwhealmed. Eventually Quintescence will be strong enough to overcome electro-static forces and planets, people and pebbles will be torn into their constituent atoms. When Electromagnetism is overcome electrons fly away from atoms. Penultimately the nucleus itself comes apart. And finally the neucleons themselves disolve into quarks. Cold quarks flying away from each other at velocities greater than the speed of light. Legally. :p





I also just had a bit of a brain fart. If Quintescence is not constant, might this somehow be related to Hawking radiation? Observations show that the geometry of the Universe is pretty dammed flat, with some interesting anomalies. Now IIRC my Asimov a black hole with the calculated mass of the Universe has a Schwatzchild Radius equal to that same Universe's observable radius.

Hawking says black holes evaporate. Could Quintescece, an interesting anomally, be a manifestation of our Universal Black Hole's Hawking Radiation? Is neutrino mass somehow involved? Are the two related?

As the Evaporating Universe ages and loses mass, it's event horizon will creep slowly inwards. As quintescence increases, the radius of the Observable Universe decreases at an accelerating rate. Something which Hawking black holes also do.

Can a releationship between Quintescence and Hawking Eadiation be established which strengthens the case for these theorems?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Not really.

There was a recent discovery that seems to contradict some of the findings of the Big Bang. But one study doesn't overthrow something like the Big Bang.