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Universe
Universe
Q1. Briefly describe the most popular and accepted theory about the origin of the Universe. 2021
Q2. Describe different methods to estimate the age of the Universe 2018
Table of Contents
The Big Bang Theory
o Big Crunch
Doppler-shift or Redshift and Blueshift
Cosmic microwave background (CMD)
Accelerating expansion of the universe
Dark energy
Dark matter
Anti-Matter
Gravitational waves
o Einstein’s theory of general relativity
Gravitational lensing
Importance of gravitational waves
Astronomy: the scientific study of celestial objects (stars, planets, comets, etc.)
and phenomena that originate outside the Earth’s atmosphere (such as the solar
wind, gravitational waves, etc.) ― Sciencedaily.com
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model for the birth of
the universe.
It states that at some moment all of space was contained in a single
point of very high-density and high-temperature state from which the
universe has been expanding in all directions ever since.
Modern measurements place this moment at approximately 13.8 billion
years ago.
After the initial expansion (inflation), the universe cooled sufficiently to
allow the formation of subatomic particles and later simple atoms.
The majority of atoms produced by the Big Bang
were hydrogen and helium along with trace amounts
of lithium and beryllium.
Giant clouds of these primordial elements (hydrogen and helium) later
coalesced through gravity to form stars and galaxies.
According to this theory, the universe, ever since its birth, is expanding in
all directions.
By en:User: Fredrik [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Big Crunch
At some point of times, the universe would reach a maximum size and then
begin to collapse.
It would become denser and hotter again, ending with a state similar to
that in which it started — a Big Crunch, the death of the universe.
Doppler-shift or Redshift and Blueshift
Redshift and Blueshift describe how light changes as objects in space (such
as stars or galaxies) move closer or farther away from us. The concept is key
to charting the universe’s expansion.
With a traditional optical telescope, the space between stars and galaxies is
completely dark.
However, a sensitive radio telescope shows a faint background glow. This
glow is strongest in the microwave region of the radio spectrum, and hence
it is called a cosmic microwave background.
CMB has gone from high energy photons (gamma photons or X-ray
photons) to low microwave photons today due to the redshift from the
expanding Universe.
CMD, also known as relic radiation, is almost the same in all directions
and it is not associated with any star, galaxy, or other objects. It is
the thermal radiation left over from the “Big Bang”.
The CMB is fundamental to observational cosmology because it is
the oldest light in the Universe and can be found in all directions.
As CMB is the radiation left over from an early stage in the development of
the Universe, its discovery is considered a landmark test for the Big Bang
model of the Universe.
It is the observation that the expansion of the universe is such that the
velocity at which a galaxy is moving away from the observer is
continuously increasing with time (Hubble’s law).
It implies that the universe will get increasingly colder as matter spreads
across in space.
The accelerated expansion of the universe is thought to have begun since
the universe entered its dark-energy-dominated era roughly 5 billion years
ago.
The accelerated expansion was discovered in 1998 using distant type Ia
supernovae to measure the acceleration.
A type Ia supernova is a type of supernova that occurs in binary systems (two
stars orbiting one another) in which one of the stars is a white dwarf. The other
star can be anything from a giant star to an even smaller white dwarf.
All Type Ia supernovae are thought to have nearly the same maximum
brightness when they explode.
Such consistency allows them to be used as beacons to measure the rate
of expansion of the universe. The weaker the light, the farther away the star
is (cosmological redshift).
Dark energy
Dark energy is an unknown form of energy which is hypothesised to
permeate (spread throughout) all of space, tending to accelerate the
expansion of the universe.
Dark matter
Anti-Matter
Gravitational waves
Gravitational lensing
The gravitational waves can work as sirens to measure the expansion rate
of the universe and to understand the origin and the future of the
universe.
Hubble’s Law: the farther away galaxies are, the faster they are moving
away from Earth ― accelerating expansion of the universe).
Hubble constant: a unit of measurement that describes the rate at which
the universe is expanding.
Two parameters that are essential to estimating the Hubble constant are
the distance of the stars from Earth and how fast they are moving away from
us (their velocity).
But to date, the most precise efforts have landed on very different values of
the Hubble constant.
Scientists have proposed a more accurate and independent way
to measure the Hubble constant, using gravitational waves.
A flash of light would give an estimate of the system’s velocity (system:
neutron stars or black holes orbiting each other), or how fast it is moving
away from the Earth.
The emitted gravitational waves, if detected on Earth, should provide a
precise measurement of the system’s distance.
By knowing the system’s velocity and distance, a precise calculation of
Hubble constant is possible.
Which of the following is/are cited by the scientists as evidence/evidences for the
continued expansion of universe?