Cosmic Microwave
1) Who discovered the cosmic microwave background
radiation, and how was it detected?
Ans: Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered cosmic microwave
background (CMB) radiation in 1964 while working at Bell Telephone
Laboratories in New Jersey.
Penzias and Wilson were using a large horn-shaped antenna to study
microwave radio emissions from space. They noticed a low-level
background static that was consistent no matter where they pointed
the antenna or when. The static was actually CMB radiation, a radio-
frequency glow from the sky that provided evidence for the Big
Bang theory. The Big Bang theory suggests that the universe was
once very hot and emitted bright light, and that the radiation we
detect today is from that early expansion. Penzias and Wilson
shared half of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for their
discovery. They also went on to detect radio waves that helped
identify molecules in interstellar clouds.
2) What was the initial noise problem encountered by Penzias
and Wilson, and how did it lead to the discovery of CMBR?
Ans: Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered the cosmic
microwave background (CMB) radiation in 1965 after encountering a
mysterious background noise while using a radio receiver to study
radio emissions from the Milky Way. The noise was a uniform signal
in the microwave range that seemed to come from all directions. It
was 100 times more intense than expected and was present day
and night.
Penzias and Wilson ruled out several sources of the noise, including:
Urban interference
Radiation from our galaxy
Extraterrestrial radio sources
Pigeon droppings
Penzias and Wilson realized that the noise was cosmic radiation that
had survived from the early days of the universe. They had
stumbled upon the CMB radiation, which had been predicted by
cosmologists Ralph Alpher and Robert Herman in the late 1940s.
3) Define the concept of a singularity in the context of the Big
Bang theory.
Ans: In the Big Bang theory, a singularity is the idea that the
universe began as a single point of infinite density and gravity,
where space and time did not exist. The Big Bang theory suggests
that this occurred around 13.7 billion years ago. A singularity is a
point where the laws of physics break down and the concept of
space-time no longer applies. It's a location where the quantities
used to measure the gravitational field become infinite.
4) What is cosmic inflation, and why was it proposed as an
extension to the big bang theory?
Ans: Cosmic inflation is a theory that describes the early universe's
rapid expansion. The theory suggests that the universe expanded
exponentially for a fraction of a second, faster than the speed of
light, around 13.8 billion years ago. It's thought to explain many
aspects of the universe, including its flatness and the formation of
large-scale structures. The theory was developed in the 1970s and
1980s by theoretical physicists like Alan Guth, Andrei Linde, and
Alexei Starobinsky. If gravitational waves generated by inflation are
detected, it would be a strong confirmation of the theory. However,
so far, no such signal has been observed.
The Cosmic Inflation Theory was proposed as an extension of the
Big Bang Theory to explain several problems with the Big Bang
Theory, including:
Horizon problem: The Big Bang Theory could not explain how two
photons released at the same time could be causally disconnected.
Initial conditions: The Big Bang Theory required the universe to start
from very specific initial conditions to look like it does today.
Lack of magnetic monopoles: The Big Bang Theory could not explain
why magnetic monopoles are not observed today.
5) Explain the process of cooling in the universe after the big
bang.
Ans: The universe cooled after the Big Bang through a process of
expansion and the loss of energy by light particles. The universe has
been expanding since the Big Bang. As the universe expands, the
photons within it dilute, and the wavelengths of the photons stretch.
The light particles (photons) in the universe lose energy as the
universe cools.
Here are some key events in the universe's cooling process:
Recombination: Around 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the
universe cooled enough for atomic nuclei to capture electrons,
forming neutral atoms. This period is called the epoch of
recombination.
Cosmic microwave background: The formation of the first atoms
produced light, which is still detectable today as the cosmic
microwave background. This is the oldest light we can observe in
the universe.
Cosmic dark ages: After the recombination era, the universe
entered a period of darkness because no stars or other bright
objects had formed yet.
Reionization: About 400 million years after the Big Bang, the
universe began to emerge from the cosmic dark ages. During this
time, clumps of gas collapsed to form the first stars and galaxies.
