In the first seconds after the Big Bang, the Universe experienced a phase of extremely rapid expansion known as cosmic inflation.. For decades, astrophysicists believed that this expansion of space, when it increased in a few seconds by about 10 to 60 times, was caused by the presence of a hypothetical inflaton field, consisting of a hypothetical inflaton particle. But a new study by physicists, published on the preprint server arXiv, shows that the Universe could have expanded rapidly without the help of the inflaton field that fueled cosmic inflation, writes Space.
U Focus. Technologies has its own Telegram channel. Subscribe so you don't miss the latest and most exciting news from the world of science!
In the 70s of the last century, physicist Alan Guth presented a radically new picture of the first seconds of the life of the Universe.. To solve some of the problems associated with conditions in the very hot and dense extremely early Universe, the physicist created a model in which a new quantum field, called inflaton, enabled an extremely rapid period of accelerated expansion of the cosmos. This model is called inflationary theory.
The presence of cosmic inflation in the first seconds after the Big Bang solves many problems at the same time. First, inflation explains why the universe appears geometrically flat. It is so huge that despite the general curvature, any part of the Universe will appear flat. Secondly, inflation explains why parts of the Universe separated by huge distances look approximately the same, which indicates the homogeneity of space.
Cosmic inflation also explains how large-scale structures were created in the Universe. According to the theory, during inflation, a quantum spacetime foam (a state in which spacetime was unstable and fundamental particles were constantly appearing and disappearing) triggered the expansion of the Universe to a huge size and created the gravitational seeds of what eventually became stars, galaxies and.
But it is still unknown what the inflaton and the inflaton field are, what allowed it to exist and why it disappeared. Also, physicists do not have convincing evidence of the existence of cosmic inflation. The authors of a new study have created a new model of an extremely early Universe in which cosmic inflation occurs but does not need to be fueled by an inflaton field..
According to the model, space initially began to expand with the help of some force, which is similar to dark energy, helping to increase the size of the Universe now. At the same time, quantum foam at the very beginning of the Universe created oscillations in space on a microscopic scale.
Physicists believe these vibrations created gravitational waves, which are ripples in space-time.. Gravitational waves by themselves cannot seed modern large-scale structures because they have the wrong effect on spacetime. But physicists have discovered that under the right conditions, gravitational waves caused by quantum foam can sometimes create the right kind of deformation in space. Thus, it is precisely such gravitational waves that could lead to the creation of stars and galaxies, and the entire large-scale structure of the cosmos.
The new model still suggests that in the very early Universe, it was a powerful unknown force that led to the rapid expansion of the cosmos. On the other hand, the model does not explain the problem of the flatness of the Universe and why it is approximately homogeneous.
The universe did experience a period of very rapid expansion in the first seconds after the Big Bang, but there is still much to be learned about exactly how it happened.. New research is another attempt to explain this process.
As Focus already wrote, astronomers saw for the first time the infrared flash of a black hole in the center of the Milky Way. The Webb Space Telescope has captured the first mid-infrared image of a flash from the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*..
Focus also wrote that physicists have discovered negative consequences for astronauts while traveling at the speed of light.