16-Feb-2006 05:58:51 UT

Cosmic Vision 2015 - 2025: The Universe

14 Feb 2006
Theme 4 - How did the Universe originate and what is it made of?
Since antiquity, the Earth's inhabitants have observed the sky with curiosity and perspicacity,
taking advantage of technological progress to help understand what the Universe is made of.
Our present knowledge is the result of centuries of continuous cross-fertilisation between
astronomical observations and theoretical constructions.
Successive steps have taken mankind closer and closer to comprehending the complexity, origin and
evolution of the Universe: by recognising that we live in a planetary system and that the Earth is orbiting
the Sun; by establishing that the Sun is embedded in a spiral galaxy, far from its centre; by demonstrating
that the Universe is expanding and later discovering that this expansion is accelerating; and realising from
dynamic evidence that most of the matter in the Universe is in an unknown form, called dark matter.

Astronomers have found strong evidence that the Universe underwent

a period of very strongly accelerated expansion a splitsecond after the
Big Bang, known as inflation. But probably the biggest surprise to
astronomers in the past decade has been the discovery that the
current Universe has entered another period of acceleration, albeit at a
much slower pace. The gravitational effect that would normally attract
galaxies to each other is being overwhelmed by an apparent repulsion
driving galaxies apart faster and faster.
Goals
1.
2.
3.

Investigate the nature and origin of the Dark Energy that is

accelerating the expansion of the Universe
Investigate the physical processes that led to a phase of
drastic expansion in the early Universe
Directly detect gravitational waves from the first moments of
the Big Bang (This means operating in a new frequency
window: 0.1-1.0 Hz)

Concepts
1.
2.

Gravitational lensing by cosmic large-scale structures, and the

luminosity-redshift relation of distant supernovae are the clues
to the nature of the Dark Energy
Gravitational waves from the Big Bang should leave imprints of
inflation in polarisation of the cosmic microwave background

Mission Scenarios
1.
2.

Wide-field optical-infrared imager

All-sky mapper for polarisation of cosmic microwave
background

3.

Gravitational wave cosmic surveyor

Tracing cosmic history back to the time when the first luminous sources
ignited, thus ending the dark ages of the Universe, has just begun. At
that epoch the intergalactic medium was reionised, while large-scale
structures increased in complexity, leading to galaxies and their
supermassive black holes.
Goals
1.

2.

Find the very first gravitationally-bound structures that were

assembled in the Universe precursors to today's galaxies,
groups and clusters of galaxies and trace the subsequent coevolution of galaxies and super-massive black holes
Resolve the far-infrared background into discrete sources, and
the star-formation activity hidden by dust absorption

Mission Scenarios
1.

Large-aperture X-ray observatory

2.

Far-infrared observatory

Nature offers astrophysicists the possibility of observing objects under

much more extreme conditions, in terms of gravity, density and
temperature, than anything feasible on Earth. On the one hand, black
holes and neutron stars are unique laboratories where the laws of
physics can be probed under these extreme conditions. On the other
hand, the same objects were the driving engines of the birth and
evolution of galaxies, of the creation of heavy elements such as iron,
and more generally, of the transformation of the primordial hydrogen
and helium from which stars and galaxies were first being formed.
Goals
1.

2.

3.

Trace the formation and evolution of the super-massive black

holes at galactic centres in relation to galaxy and star
formation and trace the life cycles of chemical elements
through cosmic history
Examine the accretion process of matter falling into black
holes by the spectral and time variability of X-rays and
gamma-rays, and look for clues to the processes at work in
gamma-ray bursts
Understand in detail the history of supernovae in our Galaxy
and in the Local Group of galaxies

Mission Scenarios
1.

Large-aperture X-ray observatory

2.

Gamma-ray imaging observatory