Gravitational waves: have US scientists heard echoes of the big bang?

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From today's Guardian.

Quote:

There is intense speculation among cosmologists that a US team is on the verge of confirming they have detected "primordial gravitational waves" – an echo of the big bang in which the universe came into existence 14bn years ago.

Rumours have been rife in the physics community about an announcement due on Monday from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. If there is evidence for gravitational waves, it would be a landmark discovery that would change the face of cosmology and particle physics.

Gravitational waves are the last untested prediction of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. They are minuscule ripples in the fabric of the universe that carry energy across space, somewhat similar to waves crossing an ocean. Convincing evidence of their discovery would almost certainly lead to a Nobel prize.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/14/gravitational-waves-big-bang-universe-bicep

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@izzythepush,

we must wait to hear what is thir means of evidence and confirmation. However, if its the case, it seems to me that the Newtonian concept of gravity being of an infinite speed will now be limited to "C"?

1 Reply

@farmerman,

When something like this happens I never know whether or not I should be excited.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

as the one guy said
"If they have a robust means of proving it, Ill take next week OFF" (Course, he was a Brit and you guys have more holidays than Hindus)

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@farmerman,

Not compared to most Europeans.

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@izzythepush,

It would be very nice to detect/demonstrate gravity waves, but it would just further solidify General Relativity, of which there really isn't much doubt anyway.

The real trick is finding a way to unify GR and QED. If someone finally figures out how to do that, it'll be the biggest payday in physics ever.

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Now it's made the broadcasters.

Quote:

Scientists say they have extraordinary new evidence to support a Big Bang Theory for the origin of the Universe.

Researchers believe they have found the signal left in the sky by the super-rapid expansion of space that must have occurred just fractions of a second after everything came into being.

It takes the form of a distinctive twist in the oldest light detectable with telescopes.

The work will be scrutinised carefully, but already there is talk of a Nobel.

"This is spectacular," commented Prof Marc Kamionkowski, from Johns Hopkins University.
"I've seen the research; the arguments are persuasive, and the scientists involved are among the most careful and conservative people I know," he told BBC News.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26605974

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@izzythepush,

Ok, I finally read the full article. This discovery isn't so much about proving gravitational waves, they seem to be taking that in stride. It's more about confirming the Grand Unified Theory's version of Inflation. And that would be big.

If GUT Inflation could be confirmed then it would eliminate a whole swath of other theories which were clouding (and pulling intellectual resources away from) GUT study.

They would still have to figure out how Gravity fits into the theory, but this would be one giant step closer.

1 Reply

@rosborne979,

Is it true that in the trillionth of trillionth+ of a second after BB, things may have been moving faster than the speed of light?

When Hadron suggested such a possibility it turned out to be wrong.

If it is true how big would that be?

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@izzythepush,

Cosmological expansion is not related to the speed of light. They are two very different things.

1 Reply

Because it's not objects moving through space, it's space itself expanding.

1 Reply

@rosborne979,

Accepted, but you're saying that it might be possible for expansion to occur faster than the speed of light. If that is true, does it affect what we know about physics.

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@Brandon9000,

Thanks. Sorry to appear a bit slow, I'm not a scientist.

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@Izzythepoop,

Big Bang is a bunch of BS just like evolution and should have been rejected on basic philosophical principles on day one, i.e. having all the mass of the universe collapsed to a point would be the mother of all black holes; nothing would ever "bang" its way out of that.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid......

That's before you even get to Halton Arp and the debunking of the "expanding universe" of course.

http://bigbangneverhappened.org

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

Accepted, but you're saying that it might be possible for expansion to occur faster than the speed of light.

Expansion (there are particular moments of the expansion called "Inflation" which were significantly faster than the gradual expansion) and Inflation in particular did propagate faster than light.

izzythepush wrote:

If that is true, does it affect what we know about physics.

Not really. It does not affect the physics or limitations of Special Relativity or General Relativity because it does not relate to velocity "through" space, but rather the expansion of space itself which is not addressed by SR or GR.

1 Reply

@gungasnake,

gungasnake wrote:

Big Bang is a bunch of BS just like evolution and should have been rejected on basic philosophical principles on day one, i.e. having all the mass of the universe collapsed to a point would be the mother of all black holes; nothing would ever "bang" its way out of that.

That's not the way it works at all. You clearly don't understand any of this.

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@rosborne979,

Thanks.

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@rosborne979,

Gungasnake's a religious fundamentalist moron, it's best not to pay attention to anything he says.

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

Gungasnake's a religious fundamentalist moron, it's best not to pay attention to anything he says.

Actually I think Gunga is more of an Anarchist/Conspiracy theorist with repressed fundamentalist longings. Smile

He tends to reject any mainstream theory out of hand and prefers sci-fi and fantasy themed theories, which are quite entertaining.

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When i was just a little kid, we were stayin' with an aunt, and we went the pool every day. There was this fat kid from down the block, and when he did a cannonball from the diving board . . . man, now that was so serious gravitational waves!

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Gravitational waves: have US scientists heard echoes of the big bang?

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