APOD: Cosmic Microwave Map Swirls Indicate... (2014 Mar 18)

[APOD Robot]

Cosmic Microwave Map Swirls Indicate Inflation

Explanation: Did the universe undergo an early epoch of extremely rapid expansion? Such an inflationary epoch has been postulated to explain several puzzling cosmic attributes such as why our universe looks similar in opposite directions. Yesterday, results were released showing an expected signal of unexpected strength, bolstering a prediction of inflation that specific patterns of polarization should exist in cosmic microwave background radiation -- light emitted 13.8 billion years ago as the universe first became transparent. Called B-mode polarizations, these early swirling patterns can be directly attributed to squeeze and stretch effects that gravitational radiation has on photon-emitting electrons. The surprising results were discovered in data from the Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization 2 (BICEP2) microwave observatory near the South Pole. BICEP2 is the building-mounted dish pictured above on the left. Note how the black polarization vectors appear to swirl around the colored temperature peaks on the inset microwave sky map. Although statistically compelling, the conclusions will likely remain controversial while confirmation attempts are made with independent observations.

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[bystander]

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=33140

[ritwik]

As a direct consequence of inflation, the Universe appears to be the same in all directions (isotropic) and the cosmic microwave background radiation is distributed evenly wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_(cosmology)

anyone care to explain why this exist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huge-LQG

[somebodyshort]

I still contend that c = function ( t )

[Nitpicker]

The Dark Sector Lab is an impressive facility.

[DavidGovett]

The human mind is amazing.
It can peer throughout space-time from its tiny home between our ears.

[geckzilla]

Wouldn't it be fun to work at that facility for a month or two, even just to say you did it? Do they have any janitorial positions open? I could qualify for that.

[Boomer12k]

I looked up Gravitational Waves....but they lost me at the math section. And had been thinking about them for years now, and thinking about Gravity since September of 2007. It took me 9 months to get my head around..."Mass does not attract Mass".

Personally, I have a problem with Gravity Waves...or Gravity Radiation....But I do see the analogy with FRICTION....Two large steel balls, rolling on a trampoline, close to each other, are going to generate a wave on the fabric of the trampoline. The contact with the fabric will eventually slow them down and they will inward spiral. With Spacetime this would be infinitely less tenuous. And even two such Neutron Stars will probably continue their dance for a great many billions of years. I can see that this is much like the Laws of Thermodynamics. Where the effort is bled off as heat...that is an electromagnetic wave, and an emanating radiation.

What is my problem with Gravity Waves, and Gravity Radiation?....Gravity is an "Inward Falling" to a mass body, the body warps the spacetime "lines", toward the mass body. Waves move away from the source....gravity makes things fall towards the source....Radiation moves away from the source. Like light. Gravity makes things fall towards the source....Gravity...does not radiate. Gravity itself is not a outward motion. Gravity does not push...it SUCKS....

If the waves exist....as they are predicted, and this shows they have been detected....then this is not really GRAVITY.....it is SPACE WARPING....it is a SPACE WAVE....a WAVE IN SPACETIME.....not really gravity as SUCH,...as in the sense of Gravity of a Planet. Tossing a rock into a pond...You would not call the Ripple in a pond of water....ROCK RIPPLES.....for example...they are Water Ripples....ripples in the medium.

It is something that is happening to SPACETIME....not a planet.
"Gravity Radiation" would be a BY PRODUCT...like heat from friction. The energy is changed from kinetic to electromagnetic, and radiated off....Space....should be a shade of a touch....warmer....but that is probably too much to ask to be detected...it is minuscule at best...infinitesimal....just like detecting waves from Neutron Stars thousands of light years away. Inverse Square Law. The waves do not go far....just like a ball on the trampoline...the waves or indentation does not necessarily reach or affect the edges of the trampoline. As with the trampoline, there has to be something that the Gravity Bodies are in contact with....well....we are talking outer space....or at least some in system stellar medium...In the case of black holes, maybe that is the Accretion Disc. Detecting any appreciable addition from an unseen source is going to be difficult.

So, I propose we use a more apt term for this phenomena... Spacetime wave...and maybe Space Radiation...which would be a "dump load"....excess energy bleed off....
Gravity, in this case....my opinion....is a misnomer. Gravity points IN...not out...Space may be warped....but not really produce..."GRAVITY". You could "ride" a curve of spacetime, but not fall toward anything, for example.

If you are close to two spinning Neutron Stars...you will have a tendency to fall into their sphere of influence....regardless of any outward motion by a wave...It may also be so tenuous that you cannot really "Ride The Wave".

The Moon is close to the Earth...this SHOULD be going on, on a very small scale...but The Moon is still pulling away from us at about 1.5 inches a year.

But then this will still, either way, increase our knowledge of the Universe, and that is our Quest...

Just my observation about gravity, and opinion.

:---[===] *

[starsurfer]

Wouldn't it be fun to work at that facility for a month or two, even just to say you did it? Do they have any janitorial positions open? I could qualify for that.

I would say you qualify for junior research assistant at least!

[rstevenson]

As a direct consequence of inflation, the Universe appears to be the same in all directions (isotropic) and the cosmic microwave background radiation is distributed evenly wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_(cosmology)
anyone care to explain why this exist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huge-LQG

Compare ketchup to stew. Ketchup is isotropic, and it's smooth. Stew is isotropic, but it's not smooth. So it is with galaxies and larger groupings -- isotropic but not smooth. Yum!

Rob

[BDanielMayfield]

I looked up Gravitational Waves....but they lost me at the math section. And had been thinking about them for years now, and thinking about Gravity since September of 2007. It took me 9 months to get my head around..."Mass does not attract Mass".

Personally, I have a problem with Gravity Waves...or Gravity Radiation...

If the waves exist....as they are predicted, and this shows they have been detected....then this is not really GRAVITY.....it is SPACE WARPING....it is a SPACE WAVE....a WAVE IN SPACETIME.....not really gravity as SUCH,...as in the sense of Gravity of a Planet. Tossing a rock into a pond...You would not call the Ripple in a pond of water....ROCK RIPPLES.....for example...they are Water Ripples....ripples in the medium.

It is something that is happening to SPACETIME...

Impressive comment Boomer. It displays gravitas. I like your main point.

[neufer]

Wouldn't it be fun to work at that facility for a month or two, even just to say you did it?

One of Pat's coworkers who happens to live within biking distance...the crazy guy biked over yesterday not realizing how cold and windy it was and his hands nearly froze off.

I somehow ended up reading this article which describes one aspect of how researchers deal with the cold.

He said he does not personally know how that kind of cold feels, but that he knows researchers to expose themselves to it. To be able to breathe without feeling pain, researchers have to breathe through a snorkel that travels through the arm of their coat. This warms the air and ensures the person does not accidentally inhale the cold air.

In other words, you will damage your tissues on the inside simply breathing in such a place and that's not even in the areas which were measured. You probably wouldn't even want a tiny portion of skin exposed to get that feel.

[neufer]

[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100921.html][size=150]E-modes[/size][/url] [b][color=#0000FF][size=125](left side) look the same when reflected in a mirror.[/size][/color][/b] [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091011.html][size=150]B-modes[/size][/url] [b][color=#0000FF][size=125](right side) do not.[/color][/b] Image Credit: Nathan Miller[/size]

---

<<The inflationary theory of the Big Bang was worked out some 34 years ago to explain several paradoxes in today's universe. The inflation theory solved these problems, and then it succeeded even more spectacularly in a new way. It proved to explain the intractable mystery of the origin of cosmic structure: how today's galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the overall cosmic web could have formed out of the extremely smooth Big Bang. Today's structures turned out to be explained almost perfectly by inflation rapidly expanding to cosmic size the microscopic, random quantum fluctuations that would be present in the dense matter before the first 10^–34 second.

Notes cosmologist Max Tegmark (MIT), "Parallel universes are not a theory — they're predictions of certain theories." And one of those theories, after Monday, may look a big step closer to being testable science that experimenters can get their hands into.>>

• Entropy and the Arrow of Time
  In Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain
  By Harold O. Wilson
  
  <<[Thomas Mann] has conveniently cut his novel The Magic Mountain
  into slices of space and time for us with his chapter headings:
  
  Arrival, [Hans Castorp’s] Room 34, In the Restaurant, etc.>>

[Chris Peterson]

What is my problem with Gravity Waves, and Gravity Radiation?....Gravity is an "Inward Falling" to a mass body, the body warps the spacetime "lines", toward the mass body. Waves move away from the source....gravity makes things fall towards the source....Radiation moves away from the source. Like light. Gravity makes things fall towards the source....Gravity...does not radiate. Gravity itself is not a outward motion. Gravity does not push...it SUCKS....

Your problem seems to be coming from a misconception about gravity. It neither repels nor attracts. Gravity is how we see spacetime distortions manifest themselves. Because we primarily see the effects of static mass on spacetime, which produces an attractive force, we tend to think of gravity as attractive. But gravity isn't really a force at all. Wiggle a mass and you'll propagate spacetime distortions, which is all gravity waves are.

[Chris Peterson]

anyone care to explain why this exist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huge-LQG

The linked article essentially answers the question: the scale of isotropy is not well defined. And it is statistical in nature.

[ritwik]

anyone care to explain why this exist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huge-LQG

The linked article essentially answers the question: the scale of isotropy is not well defined. And it is statistical in nature.

upper limit for the homogeneity scale in the universe is 260/h Mpc

The Sloan Great Wall, discovered in 2003, has a length of 423Mpc

[Chris Peterson]

anyone care to explain why this exist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huge-LQG

The linked article essentially answers the question: the scale of isotropy is not well defined. And it is statistical in nature.

upper limit for the homogeneity scale in the universe is 260/h Mpc

The Sloan Great Wall, discovered in 2003, has a length of 423Mpc

Not well defined means not well defined. That is just one scale, determined by one aspect of theory. And there remains a statistical likelihood of structure above any upper limit. And, we only see one tiny part of the Universe, so we can't be sure that the observable Universe wasn't influenced by other parts of the Universe.

All manner of uncertainties, still. Cosmological theories are still in a stage of refinement.

[ritwik]

just a note

huge LQG spans 1200 Mpc, thats thats many magnitude of difference from the not well defined scale limit for homogenity
, close to HUGE LQG is another LQG and they are close to sloan great wall
all of these structures is in particular part of universe that make up 5% of mass of known universe clumped in one location

thanks.

im not agreeing to universe is isotropic/homogenous hypothesis

[Chris Peterson]

im not agreeing to universe is isotropic/homogenous hypothesis

Note that it is not a hypothesis, but a theory, which is subject to test and verification or rejection... and which has largely held up to observational support.

[Guest]

an expected signal of unexpected strength

What was unexpected about the strength ?

[MargaritaMc]

an expected signal of unexpected strength

What was unexpected about the strength ?

from yesterday's astrobite
http://astrobites.org/2014/03/17/bicep2 ... sor-modes/
...
Inflation takes many forms, but the most plain vanilla version is to have a field or fields (just some amount of energy at every point in space), which might describe particles, losing potential energy and driving exponential expansion. A good analogy is a ball rolling down a hill: as the ball rolls down, it loses height but gains speed. To generate exponential expansion, the ball has to be rolling on a very shallow hill. Otherwise, it would end up at the bottom too quickly and the Universe would fail to inflate enough to solve the problems inflation was proposed to address. Inflationary models where the ball is rolling down a shallow hill are called “slow-roll” inflation.

In slow roll inflation, r has a simple physical interpretation: it measures the slope of the hill the ball is rolling down. The hill is shallow, so the slope is small. That’s why r was expected to be small, and consequently hard to detect.
...
A surprising aspect of the result is that the value of r BICEP2 found is actually above current constraints from other experiments. The Planck mission found that r < 0.11 at 95% confidence, about two BICEP2 error bars below the BICEP2 result.

[Guest]

an expected signal of unexpected strength

What was unexpected about the strength ?

from yesterday's astrobite
http://astrobites.org/2014/03/17/bicep2 ... sor-modes/
...
A surprising aspect of the result is that the value of r BICEP2 found is actually above current constraints from other experiments. The Planck mission found that r < 0.11 at 95% confidence, about two BICEP2 error bars below the BICEP2 result.

Thank you, good link, great info
I am understanding a little bit more now

[Anthony Barreiro]

I looked up Gravitational Waves....but they lost me at the math section. And had been thinking about them for years now, and thinking about Gravity since September of 2007. It took me 9 months to get my head around..."Mass does not attract Mass".

Personally, I have a problem with Gravity Waves...or Gravity Radiation....But I do see the analogy with FRICTION....Two large steel balls, rolling on a trampoline, close to each other, are going to generate a wave on the fabric of the trampoline. The contact with the fabric will eventually slow them down and they will inward spiral. With Spacetime this would be infinitely less tenuous. And even two such Neutron Stars will probably continue their dance for a great many billions of years. I can see that this is much like the Laws of Thermodynamics. Where the effort is bled off as heat...that is an electromagnetic wave, and an emanating radiation.

What is my problem with Gravity Waves, and Gravity Radiation?....Gravity is an "Inward Falling" to a mass body, the body warps the spacetime "lines", toward the mass body. Waves move away from the source....gravity makes things fall towards the source....Radiation moves away from the source. Like light. Gravity makes things fall towards the source....Gravity...does not radiate. Gravity itself is not a outward motion. Gravity does not push...it SUCKS....

If the waves exist....as they are predicted, and this shows they have been detected....then this is not really GRAVITY.....it is SPACE WARPING....it is a SPACE WAVE....a WAVE IN SPACETIME.....not really gravity as SUCH,...as in the sense of Gravity of a Planet. Tossing a rock into a pond...You would not call the Ripple in a pond of water....ROCK RIPPLES.....for example...they are Water Ripples....ripples in the medium.

It is something that is happening to SPACETIME....not a planet.
"Gravity Radiation" would be a BY PRODUCT...like heat from friction. The energy is changed from kinetic to electromagnetic, and radiated off....Space....should be a shade of a touch....warmer....but that is probably too much to ask to be detected...it is minuscule at best...infinitesimal....just like detecting waves from Neutron Stars thousands of light years away. Inverse Square Law. The waves do not go far....just like a ball on the trampoline...the waves or indentation does not necessarily reach or affect the edges of the trampoline. As with the trampoline, there has to be something that the Gravity Bodies are in contact with....well....we are talking outer space....or at least some in system stellar medium...In the case of black holes, maybe that is the Accretion Disc. Detecting any appreciable addition from an unseen source is going to be difficult.

So, I propose we use a more apt term for this phenomena... Spacetime wave...and maybe Space Radiation...which would be a "dump load"....excess energy bleed off....
Gravity, in this case....my opinion....is a misnomer. Gravity points IN...not out...Space may be warped....but not really produce..."GRAVITY". You could "ride" a curve of spacetime, but not fall toward anything, for example.

If you are close to two spinning Neutron Stars...you will have a tendency to fall into their sphere of influence....regardless of any outward motion by a wave...It may also be so tenuous that you cannot really "Ride The Wave".

The Moon is close to the Earth...this SHOULD be going on, on a very small scale...but The Moon is still pulling away from us at about 1.5 inches a year.

But then this will still, either way, increase our knowledge of the Universe, and that is our Quest...

Just my observation about gravity, and opinion.

:---[===] *

Boomer, I admire your persistence in grappling with this difficult concept. I don't follow all of your reasoning, but I don't really have (space)time right now to ponder it deeply. Remembering that during its first few moments the universe was inconceivably dense and hot has been very helpful to me in understanding big bang cosmology -- to the very limited extent I understand it!

[Amyjo]

I just don't understand how that a scientists will say light emitted 13.8 billion years ago....really how in the world did we figure this one out, are you going to tell me it etched in stone somewhere. Can't we just say it something new and we have no idea. Also having more people join the because you actually coming up with new ideas and research that also will help with others. If we keep wasting time will just keep killing are planet. really thought that are scientist and astrologists should be about finding out the why's, how's, when's, what's & whatevers. Its about the here and now, what are we going to do about it?

[Anthony Barreiro]

I found this article by Camille Carlisle on SkyandTelescope.com very helpful in understanding this report. Carlisle points out that, in addition to supporting and constraining inflation, these data are also concrete evidence of quantum gravity, gravity waves, and Hawking radiation -- very important findings in themselves!



Clicking on the above image will show a sky map of all the instruments looking for polarization in the cosmic microwave background radiation. BICEP2 sees a fairly small area of the southern sky, looking through the milky way's "south window." This leads me to wonder -- since COBE, WMAP, and Planck have all found variations in the temperature of the CMB at every angular dimension, is it possible that there may be variations in the polarization of the CMB at larger angular dimensions than BICEP2 is able to see? And if so, what would this tell us?