The Revolution for the Rest of Us George Musser 6 October 2006

Zooming Out Source: Millennium Simulation (

Zooming Out Source: Millennium Simulation (

The (Very) Big Picture

Our Lineage

Cosmic Lineage

Expansion of Space

Thinning Out

Formation of Coherent Bodies

The “Revolution”

Four Pillars of Big Bang Theory 1.Galaxy recession (expansion of space) 2.Cosmic microwave background radiation 3.Abundance of light chemical elements 4.Arrangement of galaxies

Pillar #1: Expansion Rate Sources: Sandage, ApJ 307:1 (1986); de Vaucouleurs, PNAS 90:4811 (1993) Is It Slow?Or Fast? H 0 =55 km/s/MpcH 0 =86 km/s/Mpc

Source: Freedman et al. (astro-ph/ ) Resolving the Dispute

Source: Freedman et al. (astro-ph/ ) Resolving the Dispute

Past Expansion Rate

Source: Saul Perlmutter, Physics Today, April 2003 Past Expansion Rate

Decelerating

Accelerating

Pillar #2: Afterglow

Source: WMAP Science Team ( COBE resolution Size of observable universe at 400,000 yr

Lots of Spots Source: VentiGrandeTall

Pillar #3: Nucleosynthesis Source: 2006 Particle Data Book (

Pillar #4: Large-Scale Structure Adapted from Gott et al. (astro-ph/ )

Master Power Spectrum Source: Max Tegmark (

Spots Reprise Source: Eisenstein et al., ApJ 633:560 (2005)

Concordance Model How much stuff is there? What kinds of stuff? What is it doing?

How Much Stuff? The Omega Problem Cluster Theorists: Ω = 1Observers: Ω ~ 0.3 Source:

Settling the Omega Dispute Source: Tegmark et al. (astro-ph/ )

What Kinds of Stuff? Source: Ostriker & Steinhardt, Sci Am Jan 2001

Radiation Era and Matter Era

Overall Composition Source: Ostriker & Steinhardt, Sci Am Jan 2001

Dark Matter Is Boring. Good! Time Radiation Era Matter Era Atoms form Dark matter Ordinary matter Adapted from slide by Seb Oliver ( Density contrast 60 kyr400 kyr

Without DM, Galaxies Are Toast Source: Max Tegmark ( 28% dark, 3% ordinary19%, 12% 16%, 16%0%, 30%

Source: Sean Carroll (

Overall Composition Source: Ostriker & Steinhardt, Sci Am Jan 2001

The Dark Energy Era

Cosmic Eras Radiation Era Matter Era Dark Energy Era

Cosmic Eras Inflation Era Radiation Era Matter Era Dark Energy Era

Structure Formation Source: Andrey Kravtsov  Scale: 140 Mlyr

Summary So Far Precision observations Tidy end to old debates Dark energy given a catchy name But Is It Really a “Revolution”? Same model (big bang + inflation) Same theoretical basis (relativity) Same types of observations (pillars)

What’s the Cultural Impact? From Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, 1686 From Annie Hall

Cosmology  Fundamental Physics Large Hadron Collider Mysteries The Great Big Particle Accelerator in the Sky

Cosmology  Fundamental Physics Mysteries The Great Big Particle Accelerator in the Sky The Great Big Microscope in the Sky

The Tree of Physics Simpler

Hierarchy of Scale aka The devil isn’t in the details.

Holographic Principle

Possibility vs. Actuality aka What can be, is. (Or is it?)

The Oddities of an Infinite (or Very Large) Space

What do the laws of physics require, and what do they simply allow? What is mandated, and what is happenstance? What does happenstance mean, anyway? If everything that is possible doesn’t happen, then what makes the choice?

Cosmic Coincidence You are here

The Best May Be Yet to Come! Whole new particle families (Large Hadron Collider) Evidence for extra dimensions (LHC) Signals from before the big bang (Planck satellite, gravitational-wave observatories) Evidence that spacetime is discrete (gamma-ray dispersion, interferometer fluctuations) Detection of dark matter (particle detectors) Tests of multiverse concept (galaxy observations, quantum unitarity experiments)

Bullet Cluster Slides

Bullet Cluster Source: Optical (galaxies)

Bullet Cluster Source: Optical (galaxies) X-Ray (gas)

Bullet Cluster Source: X-Ray (gas)

Bullet Cluster Source: X-Ray (gas) Lensing (mass)

Bullet Cluster Source: X-Ray (gas) Lensing (mass)

Old Expansion Slides

Sources: Freedman et al. (astro-ph/ ) Current expansion rate

Sources: Freedman et al. (astro-ph/ ) Current expansion rate

Sources: Freedman et al. (astro-ph/  Ned Wright ( Past expansion rateCurrent expansion rate Best fit