Timeline of the Big Bang
Encyclopedia
This timeline of the Big Bang describes the history of the universe
according to the prevailing scientific theory
of how the universe came into being, using the cosmological
time parameter of comoving coordinates. The instant in which the universe is thought to have begun rapidly expanding from an extremely high energy density
is known as the Big Bang
.
The best available measurements as of 2011 suggest that the initial conditions occurred about 13.7 billion years ago. It is convenient to divide the evolution of the universe since then into three phases. The very early universe was so hot that particles
had energies higher than those currently accessible in particle accelerator
s on Earth.
Following this period, in the early universe, the evolution of the universe proceeded in accordance with the tenets of high-energy physics. This is when the first proton
s, electron
s and neutron
s formed, then nuclei
and finally atom
s. With the formation of neutral hydrogen, the cosmic microwave background was emitted.
Matter then continued to aggregate into the first star
s and ultimately galaxies, quasar
s, clusters of galaxies and supercluster
s formed. There are several theories about the ultimate fate of the universe
.
) are speculative. No accelerator experiments have yet probed energies of sufficient magnitude to provide any experimental insight into the behavior of matter at the energy levels that prevailed during this period. Proposed scenarios differ radically. Some examples are the Hartle–Hawking initial state, string landscape, brane inflation
, string gas cosmology, and the ekpyrotic universe. Some of these are mutually compatible, while others are not.
The Planck epoch is an era in traditional (non-inflationary) big bang cosmology in which the temperature is high enough that the four fundamental forces—electromagnetism
, gravitation
, weak nuclear interaction
, and strong nuclear interaction
—are all unified in one fundamental force. Little is understood about physics at this temperature, and different theories propose different scenarios. Traditional big bang cosmology predicts a gravitational singularity
before this time, but this theory is based on general relativity
and is expected to break down due to quantum effects
. Physicists hope that proposed theories of quantum gravitation
, such as string theory
, loop quantum gravity
, and causal sets
, will eventually lead to a better understanding of this epoch.
In inflationary cosmology, times prior to the end of inflation (roughly 10−32 seconds after the Big Bang) do not follow the traditional big bang timeline. The universe before the end of inflation is a near-vacuum with a very low temperature, and persists for much longer than 10−32 second. Times from the end of inflation are based on the big bang time of the non-inflationary big bang model, not on the actual age of the universe at that time, which cannot be determined in inflationary cosmology. Thus, in inflationary cosmology there is no Planck epoch in the traditional sense, though similar conditions may have prevailed in a pre-inflationary era of the universe.
As the universe expands
and cools, it crosses transition temperatures at which forces separate from each other. These are phase transition
s much like condensation
and freezing
. The grand unification epoch begins when gravitation separates from the other forces of nature, which are collectively known as gauge forces
. The non-gravitational physics in this epoch would be described by a so-called grand unified theory (GUT). The grand unification epoch ends when the GUT forces further separate into the strong and electroweak forces. This transition should produce magnetic monopoles in large quantities, which are not observed. The lack of magnetic monopoles was one problem solved by the introduction of inflation.
In modern inflationary cosmology, the traditional grand unification epoch, like the Planck epoch, does not exist, though similar conditions likely would have existed in the universe prior to inflation.
In traditional big bang cosmology, the Electroweak epoch begins 10–36 seconds after the Big Bang, when the temperature of the universe is low enough (1028 K) to separate the strong force from the electroweak force (the name for the unified forces of electromagnetism
and the weak interaction
). In inflationary cosmology, the electroweak epoch begins when the inflationary epoch ends, at roughly 10–32 seconds.
Cosmic inflation is an era of accelerating expansion produced by a hypothesized field called the inflaton
, which would have properties similar to the Higgs field and dark energy
. While decelerating expansion magnifies deviations from homogeneity
, making the universe more chaotic, accelerating expansion makes the universe more homogeneous. A sufficiently long period of inflationary expansion in our past could explain the high degree of homogeneity that is observed in the universe today at large scales, even if the state of the universe before inflation was highly disordered.
Inflation ends when the inflaton field decays into ordinary particles in a process called "reheating", at which point ordinary Big Bang expansion begins. The time of reheating is usually quoted as a time "after the Big Bang". This refers to the time that would have passed in traditional (non-inflationary) cosmology between the Big Bang singularity and the universe dropping to the same temperature that was produced by reheating, even though, in inflationary cosmology, the traditional Big Bang did not occur.
According to the simplest inflationary models, inflation ended at a temperature corresponding to roughly 10–32 seconds after the Big Bang. As explained above, this does not imply that the inflationary era lasted less than 10–32 seconds. In fact, in order to explain the observed homogeneity of the universe, the duration must be longer than 10–32 seconds, and it can even be infinite (eternal inflation). In inflationary cosmology, the earliest meaningful time "after the Big Bang" is the time of the end of inflation.
s than antibaryons
. A candidate explanation for this phenomenon must allow the Sakharov conditions to be satisfied at some time after the end of cosmological inflation. While particle physics
suggests asymmetries under which these conditions are met, these asymmetries are too small empirically to account for the observed baryon-antibaryon asymmetry of the universe.
is a property of our universe, then it must be broken at an energy that is no lower than 1 TeV
, the electroweak symmetry scale. The masses of particles and their superpartner
s would then no longer be equal, which could explain why no superpartners of known particles have ever been observed.
In electroweak symmetry breaking, at the end of the electroweak epoch, all the fundamental particles are believed to acquire a mass via the Higgs mechanism
in which the Higgs boson
acquires a vacuum expectation value
. The fundamental interactions of gravitation
, electromagnetism
, the strong interaction
and the weak interaction
have now taken their present forms, but the temperature of the universe is still too high to allow quarks to bind together to form hadrons.
The quark-gluon plasma that composes the universe cools until hadron
s, including baryons such as proton
s and neutron
s, can form. At approximately 1 second after the Big Bang neutrino
s decouple
and begin traveling freely through space. This cosmic neutrino background
, while unlikely to ever be observed in detail, is analogous to the cosmic microwave background that was emitted much later. (See above regarding the quark-gluon plasma, under the String Theory epoch)
The majority of hadrons and anti-hadrons annihilate each other at the end of the hadron epoch, leaving lepton
s and anti-leptons dominating the mass of the universe. Approximately 10 seconds after the Big Bang the temperature of the universe falls to the point at which new lepton/anti-lepton pairs are no longer created and most leptons and anti-leptons are eliminated in annihilation
reactions, leaving a small residue of leptons.
After most leptons and anti-leptons are annihilated at the end of the lepton epoch the energy of the universe is dominated by photon
s. These photons are still interacting frequently with charged protons, electrons and (eventually) nuclei
, and continue to do so for the next 380,000 years.
During the photon epoch the temperature of the universe falls to the point where atomic nuclei can begin to form. Protons (hydrogen ions) and neutrons begin to combine into atomic nuclei in the process of nuclear fusion
. Free neutrons combine with protons to form deuterium. Deuterium rapidly fuses into helium-4. Nucleosynthesis only lasts for about seventeen minutes, since the temperature and density of the universe has fallen to the point where nuclear fusion cannot continue. By this time, all neutrons have been incorporated into helium nuclei. This leaves about three times more hydrogen than helium-4 (by mass) and only trace quantities of other nuclei.
, which determines the smallest structures that can form (due to competition between gravitational attraction and pressure effects), begins to fall and perturbations, instead of being wiped out by free-streaming radiation
, can begin to grow in amplitude.
According to ΛCDM, at this stage, cold dark matter
dominates, paving the way for gravitational collapse to amplify the tiny inhomogeneities left by cosmic inflation, making dense regions denser and rarefied regions more rarefied. However, because present theories as to the nature of dark matter are inconclusive, there is as yet no consensus as to its origin at earlier times, as currently exist for baryonic matter.
s begin to form as the density of the universe falls. This is thought to have occurred about 377,000 years after the Big Bang. Hydrogen and helium are at the beginning ionized, i.e., no electrons are bound to the nuclei, which (containing positively charged protons) are therefore electrically charged (+1 and +2 respectively). As the universe cools down, the electrons get captured by the ions, forming electrically neutral atoms. This process is relatively fast (actually faster for the helium than for the hydrogen) and is known as recombination. At the end of recombination, most of the protons in the universe are bound up in neutral atoms. Therefore, the photons can now travel freely (see Thomson scattering
): the universe has become transparent. This cosmic event is usually referred to as decoupling. The photons present at the time of decoupling can now travel undisturbed (the photons' mean free path
becomes effectively infinite) and are the same photons that we see in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, after being greatly cooled by the expansion of the Universe. Therefore the CMB is a picture of the universe at the end of this epoch including the tiny fluctuations generated during inflation (see diagram).
. There is currently an observational effort
underway to detect this faint radiation, as it is in principle an even more powerful tool than the cosmic microwave background for studying the early universe. The Dark Ages are currently thought to have lasted between 150 million to 800 million years after the Big Bang. The recent (October 2010) discovery of UDFy-38135539
, the first observed galaxy to have existed during the following reionization
epoch, gives us a window into these times. There was a report in January 2011 of yet another more than 13 billion years old that existed a mere 480 million years after the Big Bang.
Structure formation in the big bang model proceeds hierarchically, with smaller structures forming before larger ones. The first structures to form are quasar
s, which are thought to be bright, early active galaxies, and population III stars. Before this epoch, the evolution of the universe could be understood through linear cosmological perturbation theory
: that is, all structures could be understood as small deviations from a perfect homogeneous universe. This is computationally relatively easy to study. At this point non-linear structures begin to form, and the computational problem
becomes much more difficult, involving, for example, N-body simulation
s with billions of particles.
.
Johannes Schedler's project has identified a quasar CFHQS 1641+3755 at 12.7 billion light-years away, when the Universe was just 7% of its present age.
On July 11, 2007, using the 10-metre Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea, Richard Ellis of the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena and his team found six star forming galaxies about 13.2 billion light years away and therefore created when the universe was only 500 million years old. Only about 10 of these extremely early objects are currently known.
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field
shows a number of small galaxies merging to form larger ones, at 13 billion light years, when the Universe was only 5% its current age.
Based upon the emerging science of nucleocosmochronology
, the Galactic thin disk of the Milky Way is estimated to have been formed 8.8 ± 1.7 billion years ago.
today as 13.75 ± 0.11 billion years since the big bang. Since the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating, superclusters are likely to be the largest structures that will ever form in the universe. The present accelerated expansion prevents any more inflationary structures entering the horizon and prevents new gravitationally bound structures from forming.
s burn out, stars cease to be created, and the universe goes dark., §IID. Over a much longer time scale in the eras following this, the galaxy evaporates as the stellar remnants comprising it escape into space, and black holes evaporate via Hawking radiation
., §III, §IVG. In some grand unified theories, proton decay
after at least 1034 years will convert the remaining interstellar gas and stellar remnants into leptons (such as positrons and electrons) and photons. Some positrons and electrons will then recombine into photons., §IV, §VF. In this case, the universe has reached a high-entropy
state consisting of a bath of particles and low-energy radiation. It is not known however whether it eventually achieves thermodynamic equilibrium
., §VIB, VID.
were negative or the universe were closed
, then it would be possible that the expansion of the universe would reverse and the universe would contract towards a hot, dense state. This is a required element of oscillatory universe scenarios, such as the cyclic model
, although a Big Crunch does not necessarily imply an oscillatory Universe. Current observations suggest that this model of the universe is unlikely to be correct, and the expansion will continue or even accelerate.
actually increases without limit over time . Such dark energy is called phantom energy
and is unlike any known kind of energy. In this case, the expansion rate of the universe will increase without limit. Gravitationally bound systems, such as clusters of galaxies, galaxies, and ultimately the solar system will be torn apart. Eventually the expansion will be so rapid as to overcome the electromagnetic forces holding molecules and atoms together. Finally even atomic nuclei will be torn apart and the universe as we know it will end in an unusual kind of gravitational singularity
. At the time of this singularity, the expansion rate of the universe will reach infinity, so that any and all forces (no matter how strong) that hold composite objects together (no matter how closely) will be overcome by this expansion, literally tearing everything apart.
, it is possible that a small region of the universe will tunnel into a lower energy state. If this happens, all structures within will be destroyed instantaneously and the region will expand at near light speed, bringing destruction without any forewarning.
(Lord Kelvin) who extrapolated the theory of heat views of mechanical energy loss in nature, as embodied in the first two laws of thermodynamics, to universal operation.
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
according to the prevailing scientific theory
Scientific theory
A scientific theory comprises a collection of concepts, including abstractions of observable phenomena expressed as quantifiable properties, together with rules that express relationships between observations of such concepts...
of how the universe came into being, using the cosmological
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
time parameter of comoving coordinates. The instant in which the universe is thought to have begun rapidly expanding from an extremely high energy density
Energy density
Energy density is a term used for the amount of energy stored in a given system or region of space per unit volume. Often only the useful or extractable energy is quantified, which is to say that chemically inaccessible energy such as rest mass energy is ignored...
is known as the Big Bang
Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
.
The best available measurements as of 2011 suggest that the initial conditions occurred about 13.7 billion years ago. It is convenient to divide the evolution of the universe since then into three phases. The very early universe was so hot that particles
Subatomic particle
In physics or chemistry, subatomic particles are the smaller particles composing nucleons and atoms. There are two types of subatomic particles: elementary particles, which are not made of other particles, and composite particles...
had energies higher than those currently accessible in particle accelerator
Particle accelerator
A particle accelerator is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams. An ordinary CRT television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field accelerators.In...
s on Earth.
Following this period, in the early universe, the evolution of the universe proceeded in accordance with the tenets of high-energy physics. This is when the first proton
Proton
The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
s, electron
Electron
The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
s and neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
s formed, then nuclei
Atomic nucleus
The nucleus is the very dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom. It was discovered in 1911, as a result of Ernest Rutherford's interpretation of the famous 1909 Rutherford experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the direction of Rutherford. The...
and finally atom
Atom
The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
s. With the formation of neutral hydrogen, the cosmic microwave background was emitted.
Matter then continued to aggregate into the first star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s and ultimately galaxies, quasar
Quasar
A quasi-stellar radio source is a very energetic and distant active galactic nucleus. Quasars are extremely luminous and were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than...
s, clusters of galaxies and supercluster
Supercluster
Superclusters are large groups of smaller galaxy groups and clusters and are among the largest known structures of the cosmos. They are so large that they are not gravitationally bound and, consequently, partake in the Hubble expansion.-Existence:...
s formed. There are several theories about the ultimate fate of the universe
Ultimate fate of the universe
The ultimate fate of the universe is a topic in physical cosmology. Many possible fates are predicted by rival scientific theories, including futures of both finite and infinite duration....
.
Very early universe
All ideas concerning the very early universe (cosmogonyCosmogony
Cosmogony, or cosmogeny, is any scientific theory concerning the coming into existence or origin of the universe, or about how reality came to be. The word comes from the Greek κοσμογονία , from κόσμος "cosmos, the world", and the root of γίνομαι / γέγονα "to be born, come about"...
) are speculative. No accelerator experiments have yet probed energies of sufficient magnitude to provide any experimental insight into the behavior of matter at the energy levels that prevailed during this period. Proposed scenarios differ radically. Some examples are the Hartle–Hawking initial state, string landscape, brane inflation
Cosmic inflation
In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation or just inflation is the theorized extremely rapid exponential expansion of the early universe by a factor of at least 1078 in volume, driven by a negative-pressure vacuum energy density. The inflationary epoch comprises the first part...
, string gas cosmology, and the ekpyrotic universe. Some of these are mutually compatible, while others are not.
Planck epoch
- Up to 10–43 seconds after the Big Bang
The Planck epoch is an era in traditional (non-inflationary) big bang cosmology in which the temperature is high enough that the four fundamental forces—electromagnetism
Electromagnetism
Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
, gravitation
Gravitation
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
, weak nuclear interaction
Weak interaction
Weak interaction , is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, alongside the strong nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. It is responsible for the radioactive decay of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as hydrogen fusion in stars...
, and strong nuclear interaction
Strong interaction
In particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
—are all unified in one fundamental force. Little is understood about physics at this temperature, and different theories propose different scenarios. Traditional big bang cosmology predicts a gravitational singularity
Gravitational singularity
A gravitational singularity or spacetime singularity is a location where the quantities that are used to measure the gravitational field become infinite in a way that does not depend on the coordinate system...
before this time, but this theory is based on general relativity
General relativity
General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...
and is expected to break down due to quantum effects
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
. Physicists hope that proposed theories of quantum gravitation
Quantum gravity
Quantum gravity is the field of theoretical physics which attempts to develop scientific models that unify quantum mechanics with general relativity...
, such as string theory
String theory
String theory is an active research framework in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. It is a contender for a theory of everything , a manner of describing the known fundamental forces and matter in a mathematically complete system...
, loop quantum gravity
Loop quantum gravity
Loop quantum gravity , also known as loop gravity and quantum geometry, is a proposed quantum theory of spacetime which attempts to reconcile the theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity...
, and causal sets
Causal sets
The causal sets programme is an approach to quantum gravity. Its founding principle is that spacetime is fundamentally discrete and that the spacetime events are related by a partial order...
, will eventually lead to a better understanding of this epoch.
In inflationary cosmology, times prior to the end of inflation (roughly 10−32 seconds after the Big Bang) do not follow the traditional big bang timeline. The universe before the end of inflation is a near-vacuum with a very low temperature, and persists for much longer than 10−32 second. Times from the end of inflation are based on the big bang time of the non-inflationary big bang model, not on the actual age of the universe at that time, which cannot be determined in inflationary cosmology. Thus, in inflationary cosmology there is no Planck epoch in the traditional sense, though similar conditions may have prevailed in a pre-inflationary era of the universe.
Grand unification epoch
- Between 10–43 seconds and 10–36 seconds after the Big Bang
As the universe expands
Metric expansion of space
The metric expansion of space is the increase of distance between distant parts of the universe with time. It is an intrinsic expansion—that is, it is defined by the relative separation of parts of the universe and not by motion "outward" into preexisting space...
and cools, it crosses transition temperatures at which forces separate from each other. These are phase transition
Phase transition
A phase transition is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from one phase or state of matter to another.A phase of a thermodynamic system and the states of matter have uniform physical properties....
s much like condensation
Condensation
Condensation is the change of the physical state of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. When the transition happens from the gaseous phase into the solid phase directly, the change is called deposition....
and freezing
Freezing
Freezing or solidification is a phase change in which a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. The reverse process is melting....
. The grand unification epoch begins when gravitation separates from the other forces of nature, which are collectively known as gauge forces
Gauge theory
In physics, gauge invariance is the property of a field theory in which different configurations of the underlying fundamental but unobservable fields result in identical observable quantities. A theory with such a property is called a gauge theory...
. The non-gravitational physics in this epoch would be described by a so-called grand unified theory (GUT). The grand unification epoch ends when the GUT forces further separate into the strong and electroweak forces. This transition should produce magnetic monopoles in large quantities, which are not observed. The lack of magnetic monopoles was one problem solved by the introduction of inflation.
In modern inflationary cosmology, the traditional grand unification epoch, like the Planck epoch, does not exist, though similar conditions likely would have existed in the universe prior to inflation.
Electroweak epoch
- Between 10–36 seconds (or the end of inflation) and 10–12 seconds after the Big Bang
In traditional big bang cosmology, the Electroweak epoch begins 10–36 seconds after the Big Bang, when the temperature of the universe is low enough (1028 K) to separate the strong force from the electroweak force (the name for the unified forces of electromagnetism
Electromagnetism
Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
and the weak interaction
Weak interaction
Weak interaction , is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, alongside the strong nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. It is responsible for the radioactive decay of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as hydrogen fusion in stars...
). In inflationary cosmology, the electroweak epoch begins when the inflationary epoch ends, at roughly 10–32 seconds.
Inflationary epoch
- Unknown duration, ending 10–32(?) seconds after the Big Bang
Cosmic inflation is an era of accelerating expansion produced by a hypothesized field called the inflaton
Inflaton
The inflaton is the generic name of the hypothetical and hitherto unidentified scalar field that may be responsible for the hypothetical inflation in the very early universe...
, which would have properties similar to the Higgs field and dark energy
Dark energy
In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding...
. While decelerating expansion magnifies deviations from homogeneity
Homogeneity
Homogeneity, homogeneous, or homogenization may refer to:-Science:* Homogeneity , translational invariance or compatibility of units in equations* Homogeneous , a property of a mixture showing no variation in properties...
, making the universe more chaotic, accelerating expansion makes the universe more homogeneous. A sufficiently long period of inflationary expansion in our past could explain the high degree of homogeneity that is observed in the universe today at large scales, even if the state of the universe before inflation was highly disordered.
Inflation ends when the inflaton field decays into ordinary particles in a process called "reheating", at which point ordinary Big Bang expansion begins. The time of reheating is usually quoted as a time "after the Big Bang". This refers to the time that would have passed in traditional (non-inflationary) cosmology between the Big Bang singularity and the universe dropping to the same temperature that was produced by reheating, even though, in inflationary cosmology, the traditional Big Bang did not occur.
According to the simplest inflationary models, inflation ended at a temperature corresponding to roughly 10–32 seconds after the Big Bang. As explained above, this does not imply that the inflationary era lasted less than 10–32 seconds. In fact, in order to explain the observed homogeneity of the universe, the duration must be longer than 10–32 seconds, and it can even be infinite (eternal inflation). In inflationary cosmology, the earliest meaningful time "after the Big Bang" is the time of the end of inflation.
Baryogenesis
There is currently insufficient observational evidence to explain why the universe contains far more baryonBaryon
A baryon is a composite particle made up of three quarks . Baryons and mesons belong to the hadron family, which are the quark-based particles...
s than antibaryons
Antimatter
In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...
. A candidate explanation for this phenomenon must allow the Sakharov conditions to be satisfied at some time after the end of cosmological inflation. While particle physics
Particle physics
Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...
suggests asymmetries under which these conditions are met, these asymmetries are too small empirically to account for the observed baryon-antibaryon asymmetry of the universe.
Early universe
After cosmic inflation ends, the universe is filled with a quark–gluon plasma. From this point onwards the physics of the early universe is better understood, and less speculative.Supersymmetry breaking
If supersymmetrySupersymmetry
In particle physics, supersymmetry is a symmetry that relates elementary particles of one spin to other particles that differ by half a unit of spin and are known as superpartners...
is a property of our universe, then it must be broken at an energy that is no lower than 1 TeV
TEV
TEV may refer to:* TeV, or teraelectronvolt, a measure of energy* Total Enterprise Value, a financial measure* Total Economic Value, an economic measure* Tobacco etch virus, a plant pathogenic virus of the family Potyviridae....
, the electroweak symmetry scale. The masses of particles and their superpartner
Superpartner
In particle physics, a superpartner is a hypothetical elementary particle. Supersymmetry is one of the synergistic theories in current high-energy physics which predicts the existence of these "shadow" particles....
s would then no longer be equal, which could explain why no superpartners of known particles have ever been observed.
Quark epoch
- Between 10–12 seconds and 10–6 seconds after the Big Bang
In electroweak symmetry breaking, at the end of the electroweak epoch, all the fundamental particles are believed to acquire a mass via the Higgs mechanism
Higgs mechanism
In particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is the process in which gauge bosons in a gauge theory can acquire non-vanishing masses through absorption of Nambu-Goldstone bosons arising in spontaneous symmetry breaking....
in which the Higgs boson
Higgs boson
The Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. Its existence is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in the Standard Model...
acquires a vacuum expectation value
Vacuum expectation value
In quantum field theory the vacuum expectation value of an operator is its average, expected value in the vacuum. The vacuum expectation value of an operator O is usually denoted by \langle O\rangle...
. The fundamental interactions of gravitation
Gravitation
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
, electromagnetism
Electromagnetism
Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The other three are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and gravitation...
, the strong interaction
Strong interaction
In particle physics, the strong interaction is one of the four fundamental interactions of nature, the others being electromagnetism, the weak interaction and gravitation. As with the other fundamental interactions, it is a non-contact force...
and the weak interaction
Weak interaction
Weak interaction , is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, alongside the strong nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. It is responsible for the radioactive decay of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as hydrogen fusion in stars...
have now taken their present forms, but the temperature of the universe is still too high to allow quarks to bind together to form hadrons.
Hadron epoch
- Between 10–6 seconds and 1 second after the Big Bang
The quark-gluon plasma that composes the universe cools until hadron
Hadron
In particle physics, a hadron is a composite particle made of quarks held together by the strong force...
s, including baryons such as proton
Proton
The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
s and neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
s, can form. At approximately 1 second after the Big Bang neutrino
Neutrino
A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...
s decouple
Neutrino decoupling
In Big Bang cosmology, neutrino decoupling refers to the epoch at which neutrinos ceased interacting with baryonic matter, and thereby ceased influencing the dynamics of the universe at early times. Prior to decoupling, neutrinos were in thermal equilibrium with protons, neutrons, and electrons,...
and begin traveling freely through space. This cosmic neutrino background
Cosmic neutrino background
The cosmic neutrino background is the universe's background particle radiation composed of neutrinos.Like the cosmic microwave background radiation , the CνB is a relic of the big bang, and while the CMB dates from when the universe was 379,000 years old, the CνB decoupled from matter when the...
, while unlikely to ever be observed in detail, is analogous to the cosmic microwave background that was emitted much later. (See above regarding the quark-gluon plasma, under the String Theory epoch)
Lepton epoch
- Between 1 second and 10 seconds after the Big Bang
The majority of hadrons and anti-hadrons annihilate each other at the end of the hadron epoch, leaving lepton
Lepton
A lepton is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. The best known of all leptons is the electron which governs nearly all of chemistry as it is found in atoms and is directly tied to all chemical properties. Two main classes of leptons exist: charged leptons , and neutral...
s and anti-leptons dominating the mass of the universe. Approximately 10 seconds after the Big Bang the temperature of the universe falls to the point at which new lepton/anti-lepton pairs are no longer created and most leptons and anti-leptons are eliminated in annihilation
Annihilation
Annihilation is defined as "total destruction" or "complete obliteration" of an object; having its root in the Latin nihil . A literal translation is "to make into nothing"....
reactions, leaving a small residue of leptons.
Photon epoch
- Between 10 seconds and 380,000 years after the Big Bang
After most leptons and anti-leptons are annihilated at the end of the lepton epoch the energy of the universe is dominated by photon
Photon
In physics, a photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic interaction and the basic unit of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation. It is also the force carrier for the electromagnetic force...
s. These photons are still interacting frequently with charged protons, electrons and (eventually) nuclei
Atomic nucleus
The nucleus is the very dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom. It was discovered in 1911, as a result of Ernest Rutherford's interpretation of the famous 1909 Rutherford experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the direction of Rutherford. The...
, and continue to do so for the next 380,000 years.
Nucleosynthesis
- Between 3 minutes and 20 minutes after the Big Bang
During the photon epoch the temperature of the universe falls to the point where atomic nuclei can begin to form. Protons (hydrogen ions) and neutrons begin to combine into atomic nuclei in the process of nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
. Free neutrons combine with protons to form deuterium. Deuterium rapidly fuses into helium-4. Nucleosynthesis only lasts for about seventeen minutes, since the temperature and density of the universe has fallen to the point where nuclear fusion cannot continue. By this time, all neutrons have been incorporated into helium nuclei. This leaves about three times more hydrogen than helium-4 (by mass) and only trace quantities of other nuclei.
Matter domination: 70,000 years
At this time, the densities of non-relativistic matter (atomic nuclei) and relativistic radiation (photons) are equal. The Jeans lengthJeans length
Jeans' length is the critical radius of a cloud where thermal energy, which causes the cloud to expand, is counteracted by gravity, which causes the cloud to collapse...
, which determines the smallest structures that can form (due to competition between gravitational attraction and pressure effects), begins to fall and perturbations, instead of being wiped out by free-streaming radiation
Radiation
In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
, can begin to grow in amplitude.
According to ΛCDM, at this stage, cold dark matter
Cold dark matter
Cold dark matter is the improvement of the big bang theory that contains the additional assumption that most of the matter in the Universe consists of material that cannot be observed by its electromagnetic radiation and whose constituent particles move slowly...
dominates, paving the way for gravitational collapse to amplify the tiny inhomogeneities left by cosmic inflation, making dense regions denser and rarefied regions more rarefied. However, because present theories as to the nature of dark matter are inconclusive, there is as yet no consensus as to its origin at earlier times, as currently exist for baryonic matter.
Recombination: ca 377,000 years
Hydrogen and helium atomAtom
The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
s begin to form as the density of the universe falls. This is thought to have occurred about 377,000 years after the Big Bang. Hydrogen and helium are at the beginning ionized, i.e., no electrons are bound to the nuclei, which (containing positively charged protons) are therefore electrically charged (+1 and +2 respectively). As the universe cools down, the electrons get captured by the ions, forming electrically neutral atoms. This process is relatively fast (actually faster for the helium than for the hydrogen) and is known as recombination. At the end of recombination, most of the protons in the universe are bound up in neutral atoms. Therefore, the photons can now travel freely (see Thomson scattering
Thomson scattering
Thomson scattering is the elastic scattering of electromagnetic radiation by a free charged particle, as described by classical electromagnetism. It is just the low-energy limit of Compton scattering: the particle kinetic energy and photon frequency are the same before and after the scattering...
): the universe has become transparent. This cosmic event is usually referred to as decoupling. The photons present at the time of decoupling can now travel undisturbed (the photons' mean free path
Mean free path
In physics, the mean free path is the average distance covered by a moving particle between successive impacts which modify its direction or energy or other particle properties.-Derivation:...
becomes effectively infinite) and are the same photons that we see in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, after being greatly cooled by the expansion of the Universe. Therefore the CMB is a picture of the universe at the end of this epoch including the tiny fluctuations generated during inflation (see diagram).
Dark ages
Before decoupling occurs most of the photons in the universe are interacting with electrons and protons in the photon–baryon fluid. The universe is opaque or "foggy" as a result. There is light but not light we could observe through telescopes. The baryonic matter in the universe consisted of ionized plasma, and it only became neutral when it gained free electrons during "recombination," thereby releasing the photons creating the CMB. When the photons were released (or decoupled) the universe became transparent. At this point the only radiation emitted is the 21 cm spin line of neutral hydrogenHydrogen line
The hydrogen line, 21 centimeter line or HI line refers to the electromagnetic radiation spectral line that is created by a change in the energy state of neutral hydrogen atoms. This electromagnetic radiation is at the precise frequency of 1420.40575177 MHz, which is equivalent to the vacuum...
. There is currently an observational effort
LOFAR
LOFAR is the Low Frequency Array for radio astronomy, built by the Netherlands astronomical foundation ASTRON and operated by ASTRON's radio observatory....
underway to detect this faint radiation, as it is in principle an even more powerful tool than the cosmic microwave background for studying the early universe. The Dark Ages are currently thought to have lasted between 150 million to 800 million years after the Big Bang. The recent (October 2010) discovery of UDFy-38135539
UDFy-38135539
UDFy-38135539 is the Hubble Ultra Deep Field identifier for a galaxy which has been calculated to have a light travel time of 13.1 billion years with a present comoving distance of around 30 billion light-years...
, the first observed galaxy to have existed during the following reionization
Reionization
In Big Bang cosmology, reionization is the process that reionized the matter in the universe after the "dark ages," and is the second of two major phase changes of gas in the universe. As the majority of baryonic matter is in the form of hydrogen, reionization usually refers to the reionization of...
epoch, gives us a window into these times. There was a report in January 2011 of yet another more than 13 billion years old that existed a mere 480 million years after the Big Bang.
Structure formation
Quasar
A quasi-stellar radio source is a very energetic and distant active galactic nucleus. Quasars are extremely luminous and were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than...
s, which are thought to be bright, early active galaxies, and population III stars. Before this epoch, the evolution of the universe could be understood through linear cosmological perturbation theory
Perturbation theory
Perturbation theory comprises mathematical methods that are used to find an approximate solution to a problem which cannot be solved exactly, by starting from the exact solution of a related problem...
: that is, all structures could be understood as small deviations from a perfect homogeneous universe. This is computationally relatively easy to study. At this point non-linear structures begin to form, and the computational problem
Computational problem
In theoretical computer science, a computational problem is a mathematical object representing a collection of questions that computers might want to solve. For example, the problem of factoring...
becomes much more difficult, involving, for example, N-body simulation
N-body simulation
An N-body simulation is a simulation of a dynamical system of particles, usually under the influence of physical forces, such as gravity . In cosmology, they are used to study processes of non-linear structure formation such as the process of forming galaxy filaments and galaxy halos from dark...
s with billions of particles.
Reionization: 150 million to 1 billion years
The first stars and quasars form from gravitational collapse. The intense radiation they emit reionizes the surrounding universe. From this point on, most of the universe is composed of plasmaPlasma (physics)
In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms , thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions...
.
Formation of stars
The first stars, most likely Population III stars, form and start the process of turning the light elements that were formed in the Big Bang (hydrogen, helium and lithium) into heavier elements. However, as of yet there have been no observed Population III stars, and understanding of them is currently based on computational models of their formation and evolution.Formation of galaxies
Large volumes of matter collapse to form a galaxy. Population II stars are formed early on in this process, with Population I stars formed later.Johannes Schedler's project has identified a quasar CFHQS 1641+3755 at 12.7 billion light-years away, when the Universe was just 7% of its present age.
On July 11, 2007, using the 10-metre Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea, Richard Ellis of the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena and his team found six star forming galaxies about 13.2 billion light years away and therefore created when the universe was only 500 million years old. Only about 10 of these extremely early objects are currently known.
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field
Hubble Ultra Deep Field
The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field is an image of a small region of space in the constellation Fornax, composited from Hubble Space Telescope data accumulated over a period from September 24, 2003, through to January 16, 2004...
shows a number of small galaxies merging to form larger ones, at 13 billion light years, when the Universe was only 5% its current age.
Based upon the emerging science of nucleocosmochronology
Nucleocosmochronology
Nucleocosmochronology, also known as cosmochronology, is a relatively new technique used to determine timescales for astrophysical objects and events...
, the Galactic thin disk of the Milky Way is estimated to have been formed 8.8 ± 1.7 billion years ago.
Formation of groups, clusters and superclusters
Gravitational attraction pulls galaxies towards each other to form groups, clusters and superclusters.Formation of our solar system: 8 billion years
Finally, objects on the scale of our solar system form. Our sun is a late-generation star, incorporating the debris from several generations of earlier stars, and formed about 4.56 billion years ago, or roughly 8 to 9 billion years after the big bang.Today: 13.7 billion years
The best current data estimate the age of the universeAge of the universe
The age of the universe is the time elapsed since the Big Bang posited by the most widely accepted scientific model of cosmology. The best current estimate of the age of the universe is 13.75 ± 0.13 billion years within the Lambda-CDM concordance model...
today as 13.75 ± 0.11 billion years since the big bang. Since the expansion of the universe appears to be accelerating, superclusters are likely to be the largest structures that will ever form in the universe. The present accelerated expansion prevents any more inflationary structures entering the horizon and prevents new gravitationally bound structures from forming.
Ultimate fate of the universe
As with interpretations of what happened in the very early universe, advances in fundamental physics are required before it will be possible to know the ultimate fate of the universe with any certainty. Below are some of the main possibilities.Big freeze: 1014 years and beyond
This scenario is generally considered to be the most likely , as it occurs if the universe continues expanding as it has been. Over a time scale on the order of 1014 years or less, existing starStar
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s burn out, stars cease to be created, and the universe goes dark., §IID. Over a much longer time scale in the eras following this, the galaxy evaporates as the stellar remnants comprising it escape into space, and black holes evaporate via Hawking radiation
Hawking radiation
Hawking radiation is a thermal radiation with a black body spectrum predicted to be emitted by black holes due to quantum effects. It is named after the physicist Stephen Hawking, who provided a theoretical argument for its existence in 1974, and sometimes also after the physicist Jacob Bekenstein...
., §III, §IVG. In some grand unified theories, proton decay
Proton decay
In particle physics, proton decay is a hypothetical form of radioactive decay in which the proton decays into lighter subatomic particles, such as a neutral pion and a positron...
after at least 1034 years will convert the remaining interstellar gas and stellar remnants into leptons (such as positrons and electrons) and photons. Some positrons and electrons will then recombine into photons., §IV, §VF. In this case, the universe has reached a high-entropy
Entropy
Entropy is a thermodynamic property that can be used to determine the energy available for useful work in a thermodynamic process, such as in energy conversion devices, engines, or machines. Such devices can only be driven by convertible energy, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency when...
state consisting of a bath of particles and low-energy radiation. It is not known however whether it eventually achieves thermodynamic equilibrium
Thermodynamic equilibrium
In thermodynamics, a thermodynamic system is said to be in thermodynamic equilibrium when it is in thermal equilibrium, mechanical equilibrium, radiative equilibrium, and chemical equilibrium. The word equilibrium means a state of balance...
., §VIB, VID.
Big Crunch: 100+ billion years from now
If the energy density of dark energyDark energy
In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding...
were negative or the universe were closed
Shape of the Universe
The shape of the universe is a matter of debate in physical cosmology over the local and global geometry of the universe which considers both curvature and topology, though, strictly speaking, it goes beyond both...
, then it would be possible that the expansion of the universe would reverse and the universe would contract towards a hot, dense state. This is a required element of oscillatory universe scenarios, such as the cyclic model
Cyclic model
A cyclic model is any of several cosmological models in which the universe follows infinite, self-sustaining cycles. For example, the oscillating universe theory briefly considered by Albert Einstein in 1930 theorized a universe following an eternal series of oscillations, each beginning with a...
, although a Big Crunch does not necessarily imply an oscillatory Universe. Current observations suggest that this model of the universe is unlikely to be correct, and the expansion will continue or even accelerate.
Big Rip: 20+ billion years from now
This scenario is possible only if the energy density of dark energyDark energy
In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding...
actually increases without limit over time . Such dark energy is called phantom energy
Phantom energy
Phantom energy is a hypothetical form of dark energy with equation of state \! w Phantom energy is a hypothetical form of dark energy with equation of state...
and is unlike any known kind of energy. In this case, the expansion rate of the universe will increase without limit. Gravitationally bound systems, such as clusters of galaxies, galaxies, and ultimately the solar system will be torn apart. Eventually the expansion will be so rapid as to overcome the electromagnetic forces holding molecules and atoms together. Finally even atomic nuclei will be torn apart and the universe as we know it will end in an unusual kind of gravitational singularity
Gravitational singularity
A gravitational singularity or spacetime singularity is a location where the quantities that are used to measure the gravitational field become infinite in a way that does not depend on the coordinate system...
. At the time of this singularity, the expansion rate of the universe will reach infinity, so that any and all forces (no matter how strong) that hold composite objects together (no matter how closely) will be overcome by this expansion, literally tearing everything apart.
Vacuum metastability event
If our universe is in a very long-lived false vacuumFalse vacuum
In quantum field theory, a false vacuum is a metastable sector of space that appears to be a perturbative vacuum, but is unstable due to instanton effects that may tunnel to a lower energy state. This tunneling can be caused by quantum fluctuations or the creation of high-energy particles...
, it is possible that a small region of the universe will tunnel into a lower energy state. If this happens, all structures within will be destroyed instantaneously and the region will expand at near light speed, bringing destruction without any forewarning.
Heat death: 10150+ years from now
The heat death is a possible final state of the universe, estimated at after 10150 years, in which it has "run down" to a state of no thermodynamic free energy to sustain motion or life. In physical terms, it has reached maximum entropy (because of this, the term "entropy" has often been confused with Heat Death, to the point of entropy being labelled as the "force killing the universe"). The hypothesis of a universal heat death stems from the 1850s ideas of William ThomsonWilliam Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin OM, GCVO, PC, PRS, PRSE, was a mathematical physicist and engineer. At the University of Glasgow he did important work in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and did much to unify the emerging...
(Lord Kelvin) who extrapolated the theory of heat views of mechanical energy loss in nature, as embodied in the first two laws of thermodynamics, to universal operation.
External links
- PBS Online (2000). From the Big Bang to the End of the Universe – The Mysteries of Deep Space Timeline. Retrieved March 24, 2005.
- Schulman, EricEric SchulmanEric Schulman is an American astronomer and science humorist. Schulman received his bachelor's degree from UCLA and his PhD from the University of Michigan. He is the author of A Briefer History of Time: From the Big Bang to the Big Mac and has been a member of the editorial board of the Annals of...
(1997). The History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less. Retrieved March 24, 2005. - Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach (2005). Home of the Hubble Space Telescope. Retrieved March 24, 2005.
- Fermilab graphics (see "Energy time line from the Big Bang to the present" and "History of the Universe Poster")
- Exploring Time from Planck timePlanck timeIn physics, the Planck time, , is the unit of time in the system of natural units known as Planck units. It is the time required for light to travel, in a vacuum, a distance of 1 Planck length...
to the lifespan of the universe - Astronomers' first detailed hint of what was going on less than a trillionth of a second after time began
- The Universe Adventure
- Cosmology FAQ, Professor Edward L. Wright, UCLA
- Sean Carroll on the arrow of time (Part 1), The origin of the universe and the arrow of time, Sean Carroll, video, CHAST 2009, Templeton, Faculty of science, University of Sydney, November 2009, TED.com
- A Universe From Nothing, video, Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009, YouTube.com