Beyond the Big Bang Theory Although the general outline of the classical Big Bang cosmology has served well to provide an understanding of both the present nature of the universe and a large part of its past history (after a time of about 30 seconds), there are several matters that this theory currently cannot explain. One of these issues is the communication problem. The large‐scale uniformity of the properties of the universe requires that every region of the observable universe must once have been able to share information with every other region, a possibility ruled out by the finite speed of light and the nature of expansion in a Big Bang universe. The existence of galaxies is actually also a problem. In the Big Bang theory, density fluctuations in the early universe that left their mark on the temperature fluctuations (1 part in 10 5) of the cosmic background radiation grew into the galaxies of today. But why did these density fluctuations actually exist at the time of decoupling? For the average density at that time, the statistical laws of variability, that is, random chance, require an exceedingly uniform universe, much smoother than observed! Some physical effect stemming from the even earlier universe must be responsible for beginning the rearrangement of matter from an earlier homogeneous density state to the weakly nonuniform state at the time of decoupling. The very existence of normal matter represents a third problem. In the physics of the present day universe, there is a symmetry in the relationship between matter and energy (in the form of electromagnetic radiation). Nature, on the one hand, can create matter (and antimatter) in the reaction and destroy both forms of matter through the reaction The two sides of each equation represent different aspects of what is essentially identical, and both reactions can be summarized in a single expression where the double‐ended arrow indicates that the reaction is permitted to go in both directions: The reaction can go back and forth any number of times, and after an even number of reactions (no matter how large), the physical situation is exactly where it started: Nothing has been changed, lost, or gained. Thus there should be no excess of one type of matter over the other, unless during an early epoch in the history of the universe the physics of the electromagnetic radiation‐matter interaction was different. If the physical rules were different, then leaving behind in the present universe about one nuclear particle for every 10 9 photons. Related to this is the question of the dark matter, or the invisible matter whose existence is postulated by astrophysicists to account for the large amount of observed gravitation that cannot be accounted for by visible matter. The dynamics of normal galaxies suggest that perhaps only 10 percent or less of the gravitating matter in the universe is observable with visible light or some other form of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected on Earth and from which the state of the material that emitted the radiation can be deduced. As every form of known matter, regardless of its temperature of other physical conditions, emits some form of this radiation, this matter must exist in some form not described by the physics of todays universe. To all the other aspects of the universe scientists wish to understand would be the question of why there exist four distinct forces of nature. Gravity is the weakest of the four forces. Electromagnetism is some 10 40 times stronger. The other two forces act at the nuclear level. The weak nuclear force is involved in electron reactions (such as 1H + 1H →2H + e + + ν), and the strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons together in the atomic nuclei. A final problem is that the Big Bang cosmology alone is not able to address why the geometry of the universe is so close to being flat. The Big Bang cosmology allows for a variety of geometries, but makes no specification as to what the geometry should be. Observation suggests the geometry is very close to being flat,
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 13:43:29 +0000