WR150 Cosmology: Exploring Our Micro and Macro World

1. …a review of WR150 Cosmology from the Big Bang ...to the demise of the Universe …exploring our micro and macro world Larry Sulak Boston University

2. …2 theories: crowning achievement of a century of detailed research by physicists, with the best of microscopes, the Standard Theory of Particle Physics by astronomers, with the best of telescopes, a Standard Theory of Cosmology Let’s look at what we know of each, and how we’ve discovered what we know

3. …a couple of slides for an overview of each of the 2 theories…the Standard Theory of the quantum world Fermions (3×4 on the left) • Quarks and leptons… the most fundamental of particles • “Ordinary” matter = up “u” & down “d” quarks and the electron “e-” • heavier quarks and leptons in cosmic rays & particle accelerators (also, each particle has a corresponding antiparticle with all charges opposite, e.g., e+ for the + electron, the positron ) …the baby (building) blocks of the universe FERMILAB

4. The Periodic Chart of Particles (cont’d) Bosons, carriers of force (right column) • Photons (γ) mediate electromagnetism, holding the - electrons to + nucleus • Gluons (g) carry strong force – holding quarks together, e.g. against proton-proton charge repulsion, giving us all the different elements • Z and W weak bosons induce weak (radioactive) interactions allowing the sun to burn slowly speculation: in the earliest epoch, the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) era, one primordial particle, one primitive force FERMILAB

5. …6 kinds of quarks? 6 types of leptons? Why “ordinarily” only see electrons? floating around atomic nuclei up and down quarks? (the constituents of the proton and neutron in the nucleus) Weak interactions, the W and Z, cause massive quarks and leptons to decay into the lightest quarks and leptons of our cold world they were all there in the heat of the Big Bang! PDG LBL

6. she loves me not…she loves me, at the quantum scale Fermions...The Matter Particles     electrons, nucleons...leptons and quarks        subject to Pauli exclusion...only 1 in each state Pauli Exclusion Principle for fermions:      no two identical fermions in the same state in the same place at the same time        must have different spin, color charge, angular momentum vs. Bosons...The Force Particles…want to stick together      photons, gluons, W & Z particles           integer intrinsic spin = 0, 1, 2…spinning little quantum tops want to be as close together as possible …as the photons of light from my laser pointer PDG LBL

7. A picture gallery of the quantum world: people’s pictures…unimaginably insufficient the atom, its nucleus, a proton inside it, and the quarks + gluons inside the proton SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN the proton, on average = ~ 3 point-like quarks with “strong color” charge held together by “colored” gluons of the strong force color = the generalized charge exchanged by gluons, math same as color

8. proton neutron THOMSON – BROOKS/COLE …but, under the best of microscopes, i.e. the highest energy accelerators the up and down quarks are pointlike

9. …anatomy of a proton graphically, again with flaws… SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN …artist’s error: colored quarks and bi-colored gluons are point-like inhabiting a "bag" 10-13 cm across, 1/100,000 as big as the atom

10. Wave/Particle Duality of Quanta …electrons, photons, every fundamental particle “Wave packets”  =   localized quantum waves whose amplitudes decrease from the central location where there is a high probability of finding a particle

11. blow up a helium atom proton to the size of your fist, electron and quarks the size of a hair electron of atom half way to the airport …the atom is utterly empty PDG LBL

12. …3 of the 4 fundamental interactions, as Feynman taught us to calculate with his graphs representing mathematical integrals… Electromagnetic Strong Interaction 2 Weak Interaction Diagrams …very similar to antenna theory…upper left = WBUR SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

13. …successes of the Standard Theory of Particles • predicts all known particles and three of the four forces • all predicted particles found experimentally (except Higgs…2010 Geneva?) • simple, only 6 quarks, 6 leptons 4 force-carrying particles • explains hundreds of particles and all their complex interactions

14. …an example? an experiment I had the pleasure of helping initiate measuring the magnetic “spin” of the muon (the obese brother of the electron) after years of supercomputer time, Standard Theory = 11 659 180 (±5.6) x 10-10 20 year Experiment = 11 659 208 (±6) x 10-10 …theory predictive to 7 digits of accuracy!!! largest, most uniform superconducting magnet, a bottle for muons to spin around it

15. …the failures of the Standard Model? No explanation for • The structure of this "periodic chart" • Origin of masses of particles (next) • Gravity isn’t there • (No Dark matter or dark energy) …enter Grand Unification (and string theory, etc.)

16. The Problem of Mass? look at the masses of elementary particles graphically... Why is the top quark 200 times heavier than the proton? or 1013 more than the neutrino scale??? a Nobel prize awaits your generation What is the origin of mass? Higgs particle, supersymmetry, new force...

17. …the vision of phase transitions for Grand Unified Theories: (by analogy for H2O, from ice, to water, to vapor, to plasma) ADDISON WESLEY

18. …now that we’ve reviewed a bit about the Standard Theory of Elementary Particles… let’s look at the Standard Theory of Cosmology

19. theory of cosmology on a poster

20. …the phase transitions of the universe…as seen by a cosmologist… …same scenario, just the opposite direction THOMSON – BROOKS/COLE

22. Cosmological Redshift

23. GUT Era Lasts from Planck time (~10-43 sec) to end of GUT force (~10-38 sec)

24. Inflation of universe flattens overall geometry like the inflation of a balloon, causing overall density of matter plus energy to be very close to critical density

25. Inflation

26. Electroweak Era Lasts from end of GUT force (~10-38 sec) to end of electroweak force (~10-10 sec)

27. Particle Era Amounts of matter and antimatter nearly equal (Roughly 1 extra proton for every 109 proton-antiproton pairs!)

28. Photons converted into particle-antiparticle pairs and vice-versa E = mc2 Early universe was full of particles and radiation because of its high temperature

29. Era of Nucleo-synthesis Begins when matter annihilates remaining antimatter at ~ 0.001 sec Nuclei begin to fuse

30. Era of Nuclei Helium nuclei form at age ~ 3 minutes Universe has become too cool to blast helium apart

31. From the era of nuclei to the era of atoms: Liberation of the last light of the Big Bang

32. Era of Atoms Atoms form after ~400,000years Big bang light liberated …free flowing til our epoch

33. Era of Galaxies Galaxies form after ~ 1 billion years

34. A Short History of the Universe - I time = 0 Big Bang: gravity unified with other forces? 10-43 to 10-32 sec old Age of quarks and gluons        dense plasma of matter, antimatter        gravity becomes a separate force        gradually more quarks than antiquarks (10-35 sec)   Inflation period of rapid expansion    strong force separates from electroweak 10-32 to 10-6 sec old  Age of Leptons:        leptons become distinct from quarks >10-12 sec,  W and Z bosons mediate weak force

35. A Short History of the Universe - II   10-6 sec to 3 min  Age of Nucleons and Antinucleons:    3 quarks bind together to form p and n    (“color” is flavor, up=red, down=blue)     energy (temperature) < 2 GeV,        cannot make nucleon-antinucleon pairs  3 min to 107 sec:  Age of Nuclei (nucleosynthesis)       temp < 1.3 MeV, deuteron binding energy       eventual mass ratio   74% H, 25% He, 1% light nuclei

36. A Short History of the Universe – III 15 min (103 sec) to 1013 sec Age of Ions:            expanding, cooling plasma of ions             1H+ (proton), 4He++ , e+, e- temp > me = 0.5 MeV,  e+ e-↔γγ equilibrium 1013 sec = 1/3 Myear Age of Atoms:   temp < 13.6 eV,   H atom binding energy   neutral H, then He, atoms form     universe becomes transparent  CMB photons decoupled from e+ e- cooling to 3° radiation filling universe today 

37. A Short History of the Universe - IV   today in big stars   Age of Stars and Galaxies:         thermonuclear fusion in stars makes              p + (p) → p + (n e+e) weak int.         d + p → 3He          → 3He + n →4He   an alpha particle               triple alpha resonance (3Be*) makes carbon               then oxygen, if star big enough              …iron, if star even bigger     Age of Supernova:          big star collapse if > 3msun         shockwave forms nuclei > iron

38. How do we know these facts about our universe? look back to earliest times…seeing light left over from the big bang explosion? Penzias & Wilson with Bell Labs horn antenna see “ television snow” in all directions …scrubbing does not eliminate “noise” AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS

39. looking all directions, with today’s best satellite, see baby picture of our universe… 3º Kelvin light, everywhere we look, with wimpering fluctuations of only 1/100,000 of a degree red hot spots show fluctuations that later “seeded” galaxies cool blue spots became the voids between clusters of galaxies today

40. looking out, in the dark voids, the “last light” of the big bang If universe were 1) infinite 2) unchanging 3) everywhere the same then, stars would cover the night sky Olbers’ Paradox

41. …and the macro universe is utterly empty too Night sky is dark because the universe changes with time As we look out in space, we look back to a time when there were no stars

42. Maps of galaxy positions reveal extremely large structures: superclusters and voids

43. A Supercomputer Model: Evolution of Large-scale structure of the universe from uniform fuzz to clumps and voids of today

44. Time in billions of years 2.2 5.9 8.6 13.7 0.5 35 70 93 140 13 Size of expanding box in millions of lt-yrs Models show that gravity of dark matter pulls mass into denser regions – universe grows lumpier with time

45. using oldest light in the sky, extrapolate from infant universe to today NASA - WILKENSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBE

46. …extrapolating into the future… depends upon the total mass in the universe and any new force

47. accelerating universe: best fit to supernova data

48. …with all scenarios, what is our ultimate fate, the evolution of matter? unification of all forces and all particles: quarks and leptons must ultimately be one in the same, at the highest energies, earliest times in the universe the most likely demise of the proton in GUT theories is p → e+γγ , but in our world, for every proton, there is an electron cf. the hydrogen atom inside H20 the positron (positive electron, antiparticle of the electron) annihilates the electron e- + p→ e- + ( e+ γγ )→ γγγγ ...ashes to ashes, dust to light

49. …but at what rate, this proton decay? what lifetime? Extrapolate to high energy, All three forces unite at unique energy unique force… Giving a lifetime of 10292 years universe is 13.7 ×1010 years …alternative model (supersymmetry) ~ perfect unification of forces For higher energies, a truly Grand Unified Theory of the four forces? SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

50. One Nobel physicist Shelly Glashow: “Supersymmetry...has generated so many thousands of papers it must be correct” …if a proton were to decay, say in water, what would it look like?