AS102 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Fundamental Interaction, Pair Production, Planck Units
Document Summary
By this point you"re probably wondering what"s really important here; that"s a fair question. Let"s start with that funnel-shaped diagram back a few pages. Much of what"s been discussed above takes place in the very first little part of the left end of the diagram; from the start of the big bang until the part marked afterglow light pattern, 380,000 years . Initially (at t = 0) there was a tremendous amount of energy tied up in a very small volume. The temperature of the singularity was very high, at least 1035 k. for reasons unknown this tiny, tiny bundle of energy started to expand very rapidly and two fundamental things happened. The volume increased and the temperature decreased and this has been happening ever since. It is theorized that initially all four fundamental forces were unified into just one force. When you look closely at that funnel-shaped diagram again you will notice something labeled inflation .
