Delta4Embassy
Gold Member
Evidence spotted for universe's early growth spurt
" The universe was born almost 14 billion years ago, exploding into existence in an event called the Big Bang. Now researchers say they've spotted evidence that a split-second later, the expansion of the cosmos began with a powerful jump-start.
Experts called the discovery a major advance if confirmed by others. Although many scientists already believed that initial, extremely rapid growth spurt happened, finding this evidence has been a key goal in the study of the universe. Researchers reported Monday that they did it by peering into the faint light that remains from the Big Bang.
...
Arizona State's Krauss cautioned that it's possible that the light-wave pattern is not a sign of inflation, although he stressed that it's "extremely likely" that it is. It's "our best hope" for a direct test of whether the rapid growth spurt happened, he said.
Krauss and other experts said the results must be verified by other observations, a standard caveat in science.
Marc Kamionkowski, a theoretical physicist at Johns Hopkins University who didn't participate in the work, called the detection of the light-wave pattern "huge news" for the study of the cosmos."
" The universe was born almost 14 billion years ago, exploding into existence in an event called the Big Bang. Now researchers say they've spotted evidence that a split-second later, the expansion of the cosmos began with a powerful jump-start.
Experts called the discovery a major advance if confirmed by others. Although many scientists already believed that initial, extremely rapid growth spurt happened, finding this evidence has been a key goal in the study of the universe. Researchers reported Monday that they did it by peering into the faint light that remains from the Big Bang.
...
Arizona State's Krauss cautioned that it's possible that the light-wave pattern is not a sign of inflation, although he stressed that it's "extremely likely" that it is. It's "our best hope" for a direct test of whether the rapid growth spurt happened, he said.
Krauss and other experts said the results must be verified by other observations, a standard caveat in science.
Marc Kamionkowski, a theoretical physicist at Johns Hopkins University who didn't participate in the work, called the detection of the light-wave pattern "huge news" for the study of the cosmos."
