PHYS 190 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Cosmological Constant, Eternal Inflation, Inflaton
6 Apr 2018
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Document Summary
Opposite ends of the universe, have never been in contact (according to bb theory) and yet are extremely close in temperature. Would have to start out with almost identical temperatures (read: incredible fluke) Our universe can have one of three geometries. Flat space - parallel lines stay parallel. 1) calculate expected size of cmb temperature fluctuations at decoupling. 2) view apparent size after cmb crosses expanding universe. Wmap: flat to within very small measurement uncertainty. Geometry of universe unnaturally close to flat. Universe expected to have started w/ random (very curved) geometry. Some process must have flattened geometry, soon after universe came into being. Horizon & flatness problems point to occurrence of an event just after creation of universe, which is missing from bb theory. Inflation was weird phase transition in state of our universe. Which happened in tiny fraction of second after creation, and during which universe expanded by huge factor.
