ASTR 1210 Chapter Notes - Chapter 23: Cosmic Microwave Background, Electroweak Interaction, Grand Unified Theory
18 Feb 2016
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The universe was so hot during the first few seconds that photons could transform themselves into matter, and vice versa. When 3 photons collide w/ a total energy greater than twice the mass energy of an electron (electron"s mass * c^2), they can create 2 new particles: electron and antielectron. Opposite: when an electron and antielectron meet, they annihilate each other totally, transforming all their mass-energy back into photon energy. At the very beginning, temps were extremely high: fundamental forces. Everything that happens in the universe today is governed by 4 distinct forces: gravity, electromagnetism, strong force, weak force. We believe that the 4 forces are actually just diff. What were conditions like in the early universe: particle creation and annihilation aspects of a smaller number of more fundamental forces, prob 1 or 2 (even though they act differently) Electromagnetic and weak forces lose their separate identities under very high temp or energy and merge together into: electroweak force.
