Big Bang 1

Big Bang
For other uses, see Big Bang (disambiguation) and Big Bang Theory (disambiguation).
The Big Bang was an event which led to the formation of the universe,
according to the prevailing cosmological theory of the universe's early
development (known as the Big Bang theory or Big Bang model).
According to the Big Bang model, the universe, originally in an
extremely hot and dense state that expanded rapidly, has since cooled
by expanding to the present diluted state, and continues to expand
today. Based on the best available measurements as of 2010, the
original state of the universe existed around 13.7 billion years ago,[1]
[2]
which is often referred to as the time when the Big Bang
occurred.[3] [4] The theory is the most comprehensive and accurate
explanation supported by scientific evidence and observations.[5] [6] According to the Big Bang model, the universe
expanded from an extremely dense and hot state
Georges Lemaître proposed what became known as the Big Bang and continues to expand today. A common
theory of the origin of the universe, although he called it his analogy explains that space itself is expanding,
"hypothesis of the primeval atom". The framework for the model relies carrying galaxies with it, like raisins in a rising
loaf of bread. The graphic scheme above is an
on Albert Einstein's general relativity and on simplifying assumptions
artist's concept illustrating the expansion of a
(such as homogeneity and isotropy of space). The governing equations portion of a flat universe.
had been formulated by Alexander Friedmann. After Edwin Hubble
discovered in 1929 that the distances to far away galaxies were generally proportional to their redshifts, as suggested
by Lemaître in 1927, this observation was taken to indicate that all very distant galaxies and clusters have an
apparent velocity directly away from our vantage point: the farther away, the higher the apparent velocity.[7] If the
distance between galaxy clusters is increasing today, everything must have been closer together in the past. This idea
has been considered in detail back in time to extreme densities and temperatures,[8] [9] [10] and large particle
accelerators have been built to experiment on and test such conditions, resulting in significant confirmation of the
theory, but these accelerators have limited capabilities to probe into such high energy regimes. Without any evidence
associated with the earliest instant of the expansion, the Big Bang theory cannot and does not provide any
explanation for such an initial condition; rather, it describes and explains the general evolution of the universe since
that instant. The observed abundances of the light elements throughout the cosmos closely match the calculated
predictions for the formation of these elements from nuclear processes in the rapidly expanding and cooling first
minutes of the universe, as logically and quantitatively detailed according to Big Bang nucleosynthesis.

Fred Hoyle is credited with coining the term Big Bang during a 1949 radio broadcast. It is popularly reported that
Hoyle, who favored an alternative "steady state" cosmological model, intended this to be pejorative, but Hoyle
explicitly denied this and said it was just a striking image meant to highlight the difference between the two
models.[11] [12] [13] Hoyle later helped considerably in the effort to understand stellar nucleosynthesis, the nuclear
pathway for building certain heavier elements from lighter ones. After the discovery of the cosmic microwave
background radiation in 1964, and especially when its spectrum (i.e., the amount of radiation measured at each
wavelength) was found to match that of thermal radiation from a black body, most scientists were fairly convinced
by the evidence that some version of the Big Bang scenario must have occurred.
Big Bang 2

Motivation and development

The Big Bang theory developed from observations of the structure of the Universe and from theoretical
considerations. In 1912 Vesto Slipher measured the first Doppler shift of a "spiral nebula" (spiral nebula is the
obsolete term for spiral galaxies), and soon discovered that almost all such nebulae were receding from Earth. He did
not grasp the cosmological implications of this fact, and indeed at the time it was highly controversial whether or not
these nebulae were "island universes" outside our Milky Way.[14] [15] Ten years later, Alexander Friedmann, a
Russian cosmologist and mathematician, derived the Friedmann equations from Albert Einstein's equations of
general relativity, showing that the Universe might be expanding in contrast to the static Universe model advocated
by Einstein at that time.[16] In 1924, Edwin Hubble's measurement of the great distance to the nearest spiral nebulae
showed that these systems were indeed other galaxies. Independently deriving Friedmann's equations in 1927,
Georges Lemaître, a Belgian physicist and Roman Catholic priest, proposed that the inferred recession of the nebulae
was due to the expansion of the Universe.[17]
In 1931 Lemaître went further and suggested that the evident expansion in forward time required that the Universe
contracted backwards in time, and would continue to do so until it could contract no further, bringing all the mass of
the Universe into a single point, a "primeval atom" where and when the fabric of time and space comes into
existence.[18]
Starting in 1924, Hubble painstakingly developed a series of distance indicators, the forerunner of the cosmic
distance ladder, using the 100-inch (2500 mm) Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory. This allowed him to
estimate distances to galaxies whose redshifts had already been measured, mostly by Slipher. In 1929, Hubble
discovered a correlation between distance and recession velocity—now known as Hubble's law.[7] [19] Lemaître had
already shown that this was expected, given the Cosmological Principle.[20]
During the 1930s other ideas were proposed as non-standard
cosmologies to explain Hubble's observations, including the Milne
model,[21] the oscillatory Universe (originally suggested by Friedmann,
but advocated by Albert Einstein and Richard Tolman)[22] and Fritz
Zwicky's tired light hypothesis.[23]
After World War II, two distinct possibilities emerged. One was Fred
Hoyle's steady state model, whereby new matter would be created as
the Universe seemed to expand. In this model, the Universe is roughly
Artist's depiction of the WMAP satellite
gathering data to help scientists understand the the same at any point in time.[24] The other was Lemaître's Big Bang
Big Bang theory,[25] advocated and developed by George Gamow, who
introduced big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN)[26] and whose associates,
Ralph Alpher and Robert Herman, predicted the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB).[27] Ironically, it
was Hoyle who coined the phrase that came to be applied to Lemaître's theory, referring to it as "this big bang idea"
during a BBC Radio broadcast in March 1949.[28] [29] For a while, support was split between these two theories.
Eventually, the observational evidence, most notably from radio source counts, began to favor the latter. The
discovery and confirmation of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964[30] secured the Big Bang as the
best theory of the origin and evolution of the cosmos. Much of the current work in cosmology includes
understanding how galaxies form in the context of the Big Bang, understanding the physics of the Universe at earlier
and earlier times, and reconciling observations with the basic theory.

Huge strides in Big Bang cosmology have been made since the late 1990s as a result of major advances in telescope
technology as well as the analysis of copious data from satellites such as COBE,[31] the Hubble Space Telescope and
WMAP.[32] Cosmologists now have fairly precise and accurate measurements of many of the parameters of the Big
Bang model, and have made the unexpected discovery that the expansion of the Universe appears to be accelerating.
Big Bang 3

Overview

Timeline of the Big Bang

Extrapolation of the expansion of the Universe backwards in time using general relativity yields an infinite density
and temperature at a finite time in the past.[33] This singularity signals the breakdown of general relativity. How
closely we can extrapolate towards the singularity is debated—certainly not earlier than the Planck epoch. The early
hot, dense phase is itself referred to as "the Big Bang",[34] and is considered the "birth" of our Universe. Based on
measurements of the expansion using Type Ia supernovae, measurements of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic
microwave background, and measurements of the correlation function of galaxies, the Universe has a calculated age
of 13.73 ± 0.12 billion years.[35] The agreement of these three independent measurements strongly supports the
ΛCDM model that describes in detail the contents of the Universe.
The earliest phases of the Big Bang are subject to much speculation. In the most common models, the Universe was
filled homogeneously and isotropically with an incredibly high energy density, huge temperatures and pressures, and
was very rapidly expanding and cooling. Approximately 10−37 seconds into the expansion, a phase transition caused
a cosmic inflation, during which the Universe grew exponentially.[36] After inflation stopped, the Universe consisted
of a quark–gluon plasma, as well as all other elementary particles.[37] Temperatures were so high that the random
motions of particles were at relativistic speeds, and particle–antiparticle pairs of all kinds were being continuously
created and destroyed in collisions. At some point an unknown reaction called baryogenesis violated the
conservation of baryon number, leading to a very small excess of quarks and leptons over antiquarks and
antileptons—of the order of one part in 30 million. This resulted in the predominance of matter over antimatter in the
present Universe.[38]
The Universe continued to grow in size and fall in temperature, hence the typical energy of each particle was
decreasing. Symmetry breaking phase transitions put the fundamental forces of physics and the parameters of
elementary particles into their present form.[39] After about 10−11 seconds, the picture becomes less speculative,
since particle energies drop to values that can be attained in particle physics experiments. At about 10−6 seconds,
quarks and gluons combined to form baryons such as protons and neutrons. The small excess of quarks over
antiquarks led to a small excess of baryons over antibaryons. The temperature was now no longer high enough to
create new proton–antiproton pairs (similarly for neutrons–antineutrons), so a mass annihilation immediately
followed, leaving just one in 1010 of the original protons and neutrons, and none of their antiparticles. A similar
process happened at about 1 second for electrons and positrons. After these annihilations, the remaining protons,
neutrons and electrons were no longer moving relativistically and the energy density of the Universe was dominated
by photons (with a minor contribution from neutrinos).
A few minutes into the expansion, when the temperature was about a billion (one thousand million; 109; SI prefix
giga-) kelvins and the density was about that of air, neutrons combined with protons to form the Universe's
deuterium and helium nuclei in a process called Big Bang nucleosynthesis.[40] Most protons remained uncombined
as hydrogen nuclei. As the Universe cooled, the rest mass energy density of matter came to gravitationally dominate
that of the photon radiation. After about 379,000 years the electrons and nuclei combined into atoms (mostly
hydrogen); hence the radiation decoupled from matter and continued through space largely unimpeded. This relic
radiation is known as the cosmic microwave background radiation.[41]
Big Bang 4

Over a long period of time, the slightly denser regions of the nearly
uniformly distributed matter gravitationally attracted nearby matter and
thus grew even denser, forming gas clouds, stars, galaxies, and the
other astronomical structures observable today. The details of this
process depend on the amount and type of matter in the Universe. The
three possible types of matter are known as cold dark matter, hot dark
matter and baryonic matter. The best measurements available (from
WMAP) show that the dominant form of matter in the Universe is cold
dark matter. The other two types of matter make up less than 18% of
the matter in the Universe.[35]

Independent lines of evidence from Type Ia supernovae and the CMB

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field showcases galaxiesimply that the Universe today is dominated by a mysterious form of
from an ancient era when the Universe was
energy known as dark energy, which apparently permeates all of space.
younger, denser, and warmer according to the Big
Bang theory. The observations suggest 72% of the total energy density of today's
Universe is in this form. When the Universe was very young, it was
likely infused with dark energy, but with less space and everything closer together, gravity had the upper hand, and it
was slowly braking the expansion. But eventually, after numerous billion years of expansion, the growing abundance
of dark energy caused the expansion of the Universe to slowly begin to accelerate. Dark energy in its simplest
formulation takes the form of the cosmological constant term in Einstein's field equations of general relativity, but its
composition and mechanism are unknown and, more generally, the details of its equation of state and relationship
with the Standard Model of particle physics continue to be investigated both observationally and theoretically.[20]

All of this cosmic evolution after the inflationary epoch can be rigorously described and modeled by the ΛCDM
model of cosmology, which uses the independent frameworks of quantum mechanics and Einstein's General
Relativity. As noted above, there is no well-supported model describing the action prior to 10−15 seconds or so.
Apparently a new unified theory of quantum gravitation is needed to break this barrier. Understanding this earliest of
eras in the history of the Universe is currently one of the greatest unsolved problems in physics.

Underlying assumptions
The Big Bang theory depends on two major assumptions: the universality of physical laws, and the Cosmological
Principle. The cosmological principle states that on large scales the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic.
These ideas were initially taken as postulates, but today there are efforts to test each of them. For example, the first
assumption has been tested by observations showing that largest possible deviation of the fine structure constant over
much of the age of the Universe is of order 10−5.[42] Also, General Relativity has passed stringent tests on the scale
of the solar system and binary stars while extrapolation to cosmological scales has been validated by the empirical
successes of various aspects of the Big Bang theory.[43]
If the large-scale Universe appears isotropic as viewed from Earth, the cosmological principle can be derived from
the simpler Copernican Principle, which states that there is no preferred (or special) observer or vantage point. To
this end, the cosmological principle has been confirmed to a level of 10−5 via observations of the CMB.[44] The
Universe has been measured to be homogeneous on the largest scales at the 10% level.[45]
Big Bang 5

FLRW metric
General relativity describes spacetime by a metric, which determines the distances that separate nearby points. The
points, which can be galaxies, stars, or other objects, themselves are specified using a coordinate chart or "grid" that
is laid down over all spacetime. The cosmological principle implies that the metric should be homogeneous and
isotropic on large scales, which uniquely singles out the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric (FLRW
metric). This metric contains a scale factor, which describes how the size of the Universe changes with time. This
enables a convenient choice of a coordinate system to be made, called comoving coordinates. In this coordinate
system, the grid expands along with the Universe, and objects that are moving only due to the expansion of the
Universe remain at fixed points on the grid. While their coordinate distance (comoving distance) remains constant,
the physical distance between two such comoving points expands proportionally with the scale factor of the
Universe.[46]
The Big Bang is not an explosion of matter moving outward to fill an empty universe. Instead, space itself expands
with time everywhere and increases the physical distance between two comoving points. Because the FLRW metric
assumes a uniform distribution of mass and energy, it applies to our Universe only on large scales—local
concentrations of matter such as our galaxy are gravitationally bound and as such do not experience the large-scale
expansion of space.

Horizons
An important feature of the Big Bang spacetime is the presence of horizons. Since the Universe has a finite age, and
light travels at a finite speed, there may be events in the past whose light has not had time to reach us. This places a
limit or a past horizon on the most distant objects that can be observed. Conversely, because space is expanding, and
more distant objects are receding ever more quickly, light emitted by us today may never "catch up" to very distant
objects. This defines a future horizon, which limits the events in the future that we will be able to influence. The
presence of either type of horizon depends on the details of the FLRW model that describes our Universe. Our
understanding of the Universe back to very early times suggests that there is a past horizon, though in practice our
view is also limited by the opacity of the Universe at early times. So our view cannot extend further backward in
time, though the horizon recedes in space. If the expansion of the Universe continues to accelerate, there is a future
horizon as well.[47]

Observational evidence
The earliest and most direct kinds of observational evidence are the Hubble-type expansion seen in the redshifts of
galaxies, the detailed measurements of the cosmic microwave background, the abundance of light elements (see Big
Bang nucleosynthesis), and today also the large scale distribution and apparent evolution of galaxies[48] which are
predicted to occur due to gravitational growth of structure in the standard theory. These are sometimes called "the
four pillars of the Big Bang theory".[49]

Hubble's law and the expansion of space

Observations of distant galaxies and quasars show that these objects are redshifted—the light emitted from them has
been shifted to longer wavelengths. This can be seen by taking a frequency spectrum of an object and matching the
spectroscopic pattern of emission lines or absorption lines corresponding to atoms of the chemical elements
interacting with the light. These redshifts are uniformly isotropic, distributed evenly among the observed objects in
all directions. If the redshift is interpreted as a Doppler shift, the recessional velocity of the object can be calculated.
For some galaxies, it is possible to estimate distances via the cosmic distance ladder. When the recessional velocities
are plotted against these distances, a linear relationship known as Hubble's law is observed:[7]
v = H0D,
Big Bang 6

where
• v is the recessional velocity of the galaxy or other distant object,
• D is the comoving distance to the object, and
• H0 is Hubble's constant, measured to be 70.1 ± 1.3 km/s/Mpc by the WMAP probe.[35]
Hubble's law has two possible explanations. Either we are at the center of an explosion of galaxies—which is
untenable given the Copernican Principle—or the Universe is uniformly expanding everywhere. This universal
expansion was predicted from general relativity by Alexander Friedman in 1922[16] and Georges Lemaître in
1927,[17] well before Hubble made his 1929 analysis and observations, and it remains the cornerstone of the Big
Bang theory as developed by Friedmann, Lemaître, Robertson and Walker.
The theory requires the relation v = HD to hold at all times, where D is the comoving distance, v is the recessional
velocity, and v, H, and D vary as the Universe expands (hence we write H0 to denote the present-day Hubble
"constant"). For distances much smaller than the size of the observable Universe, the Hubble redshift can be thought
of as the Doppler shift corresponding to the recession velocity v. However, the redshift is not a true Doppler shift,
but rather the result of the expansion of the Universe between the time the light was emitted and the time that it was
detected.[50]
That space is undergoing metric expansion is shown by direct observational evidence of the Cosmological Principle
and the Copernican Principle, which together with Hubble's law have no other explanation. Astronomical redshifts
are extremely isotropic and homogenous,[7] supporting the Cosmological Principle that the Universe looks the same
in all directions, along with much other evidence. If the redshifts were the result of an explosion from a center distant
from us, they would not be so similar in different directions.
Measurements of the effects of the cosmic microwave background radiation on the dynamics of distant astrophysical
systems in 2000 proved the Copernican Principle, that the Earth is not in a central position, on a cosmological
scale.[51] Radiation from the Big Bang was demonstrably warmer at earlier times throughout the Universe. Uniform
cooling of the cosmic microwave background over billions of years is explainable only if the Universe is
experiencing a metric expansion, and excludes the possibility that we are near the unique center of an explosion.

Cosmic microwave background radiation

During the first few days of the Universe, the Universe was in full
thermal equilibrium, with photons being continually emitted and
absorbed, giving the radiation a blackbody spectrum. As the Universe
expanded, it cooled to a temperature at which photons could no longer
be created or destroyed. The temperature was still high enough for
electrons and nuclei to remain unbound, however, and photons were
constantly "reflected" from these free electrons through a process WMAP image of the cosmic microwave
called Thomson scattering. Because of this repeated scattering, the background radiation

early Universe was opaque to light.

When the temperature fell to a few thousand Kelvin, electrons and nuclei began to combine to form atoms, a process
known as recombination. Since photons scatter infrequently from neutral atoms, radiation decoupled from matter
when nearly all the electrons had recombined, at the epoch of last scattering, 379,000 years after the Big Bang.
These photons make up the CMB that is observed today, and the observed pattern of fluctuations in the CMB is a
direct picture of the Universe at this early epoch. The energy of photons was subsequently redshifted by the
expansion of the Universe, which preserved the blackbody spectrum but caused its temperature to fall, meaning that
the photons now fall into the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The radiation is thought to be
observable at every point in the Universe, and comes from all directions with (almost) the same intensity.
Big Bang 7

In 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson accidentally discovered the cosmic background radiation while conducting
diagnostic observations using a new microwave receiver owned by Bell Laboratories.[30] Their discovery provided
substantial confirmation of the general CMB predictions—the radiation was found to be isotropic and consistent with
a blackbody spectrum of about 3 K—and it pitched the balance of opinion in favor of the Big Bang hypothesis.
Penzias and Wilson were awarded a Nobel Prize for their discovery.
In 1989, NASA launched the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite
(COBE), and the initial findings, released in 1990, were consistent with
the Big Bang's predictions regarding the CMB. COBE found a residual
temperature of 2.726 K and in 1992 detected for the first time the
fluctuations (anisotropies) in the CMB, at a level of about one part in
105.[31] John C. Mather and George Smoot were awarded Nobels for
their leadership in this work. During the following decade, CMB
anisotropies were further investigated by a large number of
ground-based and balloon experiments. In 2000–2001, several
experiments, most notably BOOMERanG, found the Universe to be
The cosmic microwave background spectrum
measured by the FIRAS instrument on the COBE almost spatially flat by measuring the typical angular size (the size on
satellite is the most-precisely measured black the sky) of the anisotropies. (See shape of the Universe.)
[52]
body spectrum in nature. The data points and
error bars on this graph are obscured by theIn early 2003, the first results of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy
theoretical curve. Probe (WMAP) were released, yielding what were at the time the most
accurate values for some of the cosmological parameters. This
spacecraft also disproved several specific cosmic inflation models, but the results were consistent with the inflation
theory in general,[32] it confirms too that a sea of cosmic neutrinos permeates the Universe, a clear evidence that the
first stars took more than a half-billion years to create a cosmic fog. A new space probe named Planck, with goals
similar WMAP, was launched in May 2009. It is anticipated to soon provide even more accurate measurements of
the CMB anisotropies. Many other ground- and balloon-based experiments are also currently running; see Cosmic
microwave background experiments.

The background radiation is exceptionally smooth, which presented a problem in that conventional expansion would
mean that photons coming from opposite directions in the sky were coming from regions that had never been in
contact with each other. The leading explanation for this far reaching equilibrium is that the Universe had a brief
period of rapid exponential expansion, called inflation. This would have the effect of driving apart regions that had
been in equilibrium, so that all the observable Universe was from the same equilibrated region.

Abundance of primordial elements

Using the Big Bang model it is possible to calculate the concentration of helium-4, helium-3, deuterium and
lithium-7 in the Universe as ratios to the amount of ordinary hydrogen, H.[40] All the abundances depend on a single
parameter, the ratio of photons to baryons, which itself can be calculated independently from the detailed structure of
CMB fluctuations. The ratios predicted (by mass, not by number) are about 0.25 for 4He/H, about 10−3 for 2H/H,
about 10−4 for 3He/H and about 10−9 for 7Li/H.[40]
The measured abundances all agree at least roughly with those predicted from a single value of the baryon-to-photon
ratio. The agreement is excellent for deuterium, close but formally discrepant for 4He, and a factor of two off for 7Li;
in the latter two cases there are substantial systematic uncertainties. Nonetheless, the general consistency with
abundances predicted by BBN is strong evidence for the Big Bang, as the theory is the only known explanation for
the relative abundances of light elements, and it is virtually impossible to "tune" the Big Bang to produce much more
or less than 20–30% helium.[53] Indeed there is no obvious reason outside of the Big Bang that, for example, the
young Universe (i.e., before star formation, as determined by studying matter supposedly free of stellar
nucleosynthesis products) should have more helium than deuterium or more deuterium than 3He, and in constant
Big Bang 8

ratios, too.

Galactic evolution and distribution

Detailed observations of the morphology and distribution of galaxies
and quasars provide strong evidence for the Big Bang. A combination
of observations and theory suggest that the first quasars and galaxies
formed about a billion years after the Big Bang, and since then larger
structures have been forming, such as galaxy clusters and
superclusters. Populations of stars have been aging and evolving, so
that distant galaxies (which are observed as they were in the early This panoramic view of the entire near-infrared
Universe) appear very different from nearby galaxies (observed in a sky reveals the distribution of galaxies beyond
the Milky Way. The galaxies are color coded by
more recent state). Moreover, galaxies that formed relatively recently
redshift.
appear markedly different from galaxies formed at similar distances
but shortly after the Big Bang. These observations are strong
arguments against the steady-state model. Observations of star formation, galaxy and quasar distributions and larger
structures agree well with Big Bang simulations of the formation of structure in the Universe and are helping to
complete details of the theory.[54] [55]

Other lines of evidence

After some controversy, the age of Universe as estimated from the Hubble expansion and the CMB is now in good
agreement with (i.e., slightly larger than) the ages of the oldest stars, both as measured by applying the theory of
stellar evolution to globular clusters and through radiometric dating of individual Population II stars.
The prediction that the CMB temperature was higher in the past has been experimentally supported by observations
of temperature-sensitive emission lines in gas clouds at high redshift. This prediction also implies that the amplitude
of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect in clusters of galaxies does not depend directly on redshift; this seems to be
roughly true, but unfortunately the amplitude does depend on cluster properties which do change substantially over
cosmic time, so a precise test is impossible.

Features, issues and problems

While scientists now prefer the Big Bang model over other cosmological models, the scientific community was once
divided between supporters of the Big Bang and those of alternative cosmological models. Throughout the historical
development of the subject, problems with the Big Bang theory were posed in the context of a scientific controversy
regarding which model could best describe the cosmological observations. With the overwhelming consensus in the
community today supporting the Big Bang model, many of these problems are remembered as being mainly of
historical interest; the solutions to them have been obtained either through modifications to the theory or as the result
of better observations.
The core ideas of the Big Bang—the expansion, the early hot state, the formation of helium, the formation of
galaxies—are derived from many observations that are independent from any cosmological model; these include the
abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background, large scale structure, and the Hubble diagram for
Type Ia supernovae.
Precise modern models of the Big Bang appeal to various exotic physical phenomena that have not been observed in
terrestrial laboratory experiments or incorporated into the Standard Model of particle physics. Of these features, dark
matter is currently the subject to the most active laboratory investigations.[56] Remaining issues, such as the cuspy
halo problem and the dwarf galaxy problem of cold dark matter, are not fatal to the dark matter explanation as
solutions to such problems exist which involve only further refinements of the theory. Dark energy is also an area of
Big Bang 9

intense interest for scientists, but it is not clear whether direct detection of dark energy will be possible.[57]
On the other hand, inflation and baryogenesis remain somewhat more speculative features of current Big Bang
models: they explain important features of the early universe, but could be replaced by alternative ideas without
affecting the rest of the theory.[58] Discovering the correct explanations for such phenomena are some of the
remaining unsolved problems in physics.

Horizon problem
The horizon problem results from the premise that information cannot travel faster than light. In a Universe of finite
age, this sets a limit—the particle horizon—on the separation of any two regions of space that are in causal
contact.[59] The observed isotropy of the CMB is problematic in this regard: if the Universe had been dominated by
radiation or matter at all times up to the epoch of last scattering, the particle horizon at that time would correspond to
about 2 degrees on the sky. There would then be no mechanism to cause wider regions to have the same temperature.
A resolution to this apparent inconsistency is offered by inflationary theory in which a homogeneous and isotropic
scalar energy field dominates the Universe at some very early period (before baryogenesis). During inflation, the
Universe undergoes exponential expansion, and the particle horizon expands much more rapidly than previously
assumed, so that regions presently on opposite sides of the observable Universe are well inside each other's particle
horizon. The observed isotropy of the CMB then follows from the fact that this larger region was in causal contact
before the beginning of inflation.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle predicts that during the inflationary phase there would be quantum thermal
fluctuations, which would be magnified to cosmic scale. These fluctuations serve as the seeds of all current structure
in the Universe. Inflation predicts that the primordial fluctuations are nearly scale invariant and Gaussian, which has
been accurately confirmed by measurements of the CMB.
If inflation occurred, exponential expansion would push large regions of space well beyond our observable horizon.

Flatness/oldness problem
The flatness problem (also known as the oldness
problem) is an observational problem associated
with a Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker
metric.[59] The Universe may have positive,
negative or zero spatial curvature depending on
its total energy density. Curvature is negative if
its density is less than the critical density, positive
if greater, and zero at the critical density, in which
case space is said to be flat. The problem is that
any small departure from the critical density
grows with time, and yet the Universe today
remains very close to flat.[60] Given that a natural
timescale for departure from flatness might be the
Planck time, 10−43 seconds, the fact that the
Universe has reached neither a Heat Death nor a
Big Crunch after billions of years requires some The overall geometry of the Universe is determined by whether the Omega
explanation. For instance, even at the relatively cosmological parameter is less than, equal to or greater than 1. Shown from
late age of a few minutes (the time of top to bottom are a closed Universe with positive curvature, a hyperbolic
Universe with negative curvature and a flat Universe with zero curvature.
nucleosynthesis), the Universe density must have
Big Bang 10

been within one part in 1014 of its critical value, or it would not exist as it does today.[61]
A resolution to this problem is offered by inflationary theory. During the inflationary period, spacetime expanded to
such an extent that its curvature would have been smoothed out. Thus, it is theorized that inflation drove the
Universe to a very nearly spatially flat state, with almost exactly the critical density.

Magnetic monopoles
The magnetic monopole objection was raised in the late 1970s. Grand unification theories predicted topological
defects in space that would manifest as magnetic monopoles. These objects would be produced efficiently in the hot
early Universe, resulting in a density much higher than is consistent with observations, given that searches have
never found any monopoles. This problem is also resolved by cosmic inflation, which removes all point defects from
the observable Universe in the same way that it drives the geometry to flatness.[59]
A resolution to the horizon, flatness, and magnetic monopole problems alternative to cosmic inflation is offered by
the Weyl curvature hypothesis.[62] [63]

Baryon asymmetry
It is not yet understood why the Universe has more matter than antimatter.[38] It is generally assumed that when the
Universe was young and very hot, it was in statistical equilibrium and contained equal numbers of baryons and
antibaryons. However, observations suggest that the Universe, including its most distant parts, is made almost
entirely of matter. An unknown process called "baryogenesis" created the asymmetry. For baryogenesis to occur, the
Sakharov conditions must be satisfied. These require that baryon number is not conserved, that C-symmetry and
CP-symmetry are violated and that the Universe depart from thermodynamic equilibrium.[64] All these conditions
occur in the Standard Model, but the effect is not strong enough to explain the present baryon asymmetry.

Globular cluster age

In the mid-1990s, observations of globular clusters appeared to be inconsistent with the Big Bang. Computer
simulations that matched the observations of the stellar populations of globular clusters suggested that they were
about 15 billion years old, which conflicted with the 13.7 billion year age of the Universe. This issue was generally
resolved in the late 1990s when new computer simulations, which included the effects of mass loss due to stellar
winds, indicated a much younger age for globular clusters.[65] There still remain some questions as to how accurately
the ages of the clusters are measured, but it is clear that these objects are some of the oldest in the Universe.

Dark matter
During the 1970s and 1980s, various
observations showed that there is not
sufficient visible matter in the
Universe to account for the apparent
strength of gravitational forces within
and between galaxies. This led to the
idea that up to 90% of the matter in the
Universe is dark matter that does not
emit light or interact with normal
baryonic matter. In addition, the A pie chart indicating the proportional composition of different energy-density
components of the Universe, according to the best ΛCDM model fits – roughly 95% is in
assumption that the Universe is mostly
the exotic forms of dark matter and dark energy
normal matter led to predictions that
Big Bang 11

were strongly inconsistent with observations. In particular, the Universe today is far more lumpy and contains far
less deuterium than can be accounted for without dark matter. While dark matter was initially controversial, it is now
indicated by numerous observations: the anisotropies in the CMB, galaxy cluster velocity dispersions, large-scale
structure distributions, gravitational lensing studies, and X-ray measurements of galaxy clusters.[66]
The evidence for dark matter comes from its gravitational influence on other matter, and no dark matter particles
have been observed in laboratories. Many particle physics candidates for dark matter have been proposed, and
several projects to detect them directly are underway.[67]

Dark energy
Measurements of the redshift–magnitude relation for type Ia supernovae indicate that the expansion of the Universe
has been accelerating since the Universe was about half its present age. To explain this acceleration, general
relativity requires that much of the energy in the Universe consists of a component with large negative pressure,
dubbed "dark energy". Dark energy is indicated by several other lines of evidence. Measurements of the cosmic
microwave background indicate that the Universe is very nearly spatially flat, and therefore according to general
relativity the Universe must have almost exactly the critical density of mass/energy. But the mass density of the
Universe can be measured from its gravitational clustering, and is found to have only about 30% of the critical
density.[20] Since dark energy does not cluster in the usual way it is the best explanation for the "missing" energy
density. Dark energy is also required by two geometrical measures of the overall curvature of the Universe, one
using the frequency of gravitational lenses, and the other using the characteristic pattern of the large-scale structure
as a cosmic ruler.
Negative pressure is a property of vacuum energy, but the exact nature of dark energy remains one of the great
mysteries of the Big Bang. Possible candidates include a cosmological constant and quintessence. Results from the
WMAP team in 2008, which combined data from the CMB and other sources, indicate that the Universe today is
72% dark energy, 23% dark matter, 4.6% regular matter and less than 1% neutrinos.[35] The energy density in matter
decreases with the expansion of the Universe, but the dark energy density remains constant (or nearly so) as the
Universe expands. Therefore matter made up a larger fraction of the total energy of the Universe in the past than it
does today, but its fractional contribution will fall in the far future as dark energy becomes even more dominant.
In the ΛCDM, the best current model of the Big Bang, dark energy is explained by the presence of a cosmological
constant in the general theory of relativity. However, the size of the constant that properly explains dark energy is
surprisingly small relative to naive estimates based on ideas about quantum gravity. Distinguishing between the
cosmological constant and other explanations of dark energy is an active area of current research.

The future according to the Big Bang theory

Before observations of dark energy, cosmologists considered two scenarios for the future of the Universe. If the mass
density of the Universe were greater than the critical density, then the Universe would reach a maximum size and
then begin to collapse. It would become denser and hotter again, ending with a state that was similar to that in which
it started—a Big Crunch.[47] Alternatively, if the density in the Universe were equal to or below the critical density,
the expansion would slow down, but never stop. Star formation would cease as all the interstellar gas in each galaxy
is consumed; stars would burn out leaving white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. Very gradually, collisions
between these would result in mass accumulating into larger and larger black holes. The average temperature of the
Universe would asymptotically approach absolute zero—a Big Freeze. Moreover, if the proton were unstable, then
baryonic matter would disappear, leaving only radiation and black holes. Eventually, black holes would evaporate by
emitting Hawking radiation. The entropy of the Universe would increase to the point where no organized form of
energy could be extracted from it, a scenario known as heat death.
Modern observations of accelerated expansion imply that more and more of the currently visible Universe will pass
beyond our event horizon and out of contact with us. The eventual result is not known. The ΛCDM model of the
Big Bang 12

Universe contains dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant. This theory suggests that only gravitationally
bound systems, such as galaxies, would remain together, and they too would be subject to heat death, as the Universe
expands and cools. Other explanations of dark energy—so-called phantom energy theories—suggest that ultimately
galaxy clusters, stars, planets, atoms, nuclei and matter itself will be torn apart by the ever-increasing expansion in a
so-called Big Rip.[68]

Speculative physics beyond Big Bang theory

While the Big Bang model is well
established in cosmology, it is likely to be
refined in the future. Little is known about
the earliest moments of the Universe's
history. The Penrose-Hawking singularity
theorems require the existence of a
singularity at the beginning of cosmic time.
However, these theorems assume that
general relativity is correct, but general
relativity must break down before the
Universe reaches the Planck temperature,
and a correct treatment of quantum gravity
may avoid the singularity.[69]

Some proposals, each of which entails This is an artist's concept of the Universe expansion, where space (including
hypothetical non-observable portions of the Universe) is represented at each time
untested hypotheses, are:
by the circular sections. Note on the left the dramatic expansion (not to scale)
• models including the Hartle–Hawking occurring in the inflationary epoch, and at the center the expansion acceleration.
no-boundary condition in which the The scheme is decorated with WMAP images on the left and with the
representation of stars at the appropriate level of development.
whole of space-time is finite; the Big
Image from WMAP press release, 2006
Bang does represent the limit of time, but
without the need for a singularity.[70]
• brane cosmology models[71] in which inflation is due to the movement of branes in string theory; the pre-big bang
model; the ekpyrotic model, in which the Big Bang is the result of a collision between branes; and the cyclic
model, a variant of the ekpyrotic model in which collisions occur periodically. In the latter model, the Big Bang
was preceded by a Big Crunch and the Universe endlessly cycles from one process to the other.[72] [73] [74]
• chaotic inflation, in which universal inflation ends locally here and there in a random fashion, each end-point
leading to a bubble universe expanding from its own big bang.[75] [76] [77]
Proposals in the last two categories see the Big Bang as an event in a much larger and older Universe, or multiverse,
and not the literal beginning.

Religious interpretations
The Big Bang is a scientific theory, and as such is dependent on its agreement with observations. But as a theory
which addresses the origins of reality, it has always carried theological and philosophical implications. In the 1920s
and 1930s almost every major cosmologist preferred an eternal steady state Universe, and several complained that
the beginning of time implied by the Big Bang imported religious concepts into physics; this objection was later
repeated by supporters of the steady state theory.[78] This perception was enhanced by the fact that the originator of
the Big Bang theory, Monsignor Georges Lemaître, was a Roman Catholic priest.[79] Pope Pius XII, declared at the
November 22, 1951 opening meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that the Big Bang theory accorded with
the Catholic concept of creation.[80]
Big Bang 13

Since the acceptance of the Big Bang as the dominant physical cosmological paradigm, there have been a variety of
reactions by religious groups as to its implications for their respective religious cosmologies. Some accept the
scientific evidence at face value, while others seek to reconcile the Big Bang with their religious tenets, and others
completely reject or ignore the evidence for the Big Bang theory.[81]

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Reissued (1987). New York (NY): Dover Publications ISBN 0-486-65383-8.

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Big Bang 14

[25] Lemaître termed the event the "big noise". Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle, who disliked the idea, designated the creation event "Big Bang",
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[29] It is commonly reported that Hoyle intended this to be pejorative. However, Hoyle later denied that, saying that it was just a striking image
meant to emphasize the difference between the two theories for radio listeners. See chapter 9 of The Alchemy of the Heavens by Ken Croswell,
Anchor Books, 1995.
[30] Penzias, A.A.; Wilson, R. W. (1965). "A Measurement of Excess Antenna Temperature at 4080 Mc/s" (http:/ / adsabs. harvard. edu/ abs/
1965ApJ. . . 142. . 419P). Astrophysical Journal 142: 419. doi:10.1086/148307. .
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Mission: Its Design and Performance Two Years after the launch". Astrophysical Journal 397: 420. doi:10.1086/171797.
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[34] There is no consensus about how long the Big Bang phase lasted. For some writers this denotes only the initial singularity, for others the
whole history of the Universe. Usually, at least the first few minutes (during which helium is synthesized) are said to occur "during the Big
Bang".
[35] Hinshaw, G., et al. (2008). "Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Data Processing, Sky Maps, and
Basic Results" (http:/ / lambda. gsfc. nasa. gov/ product/ map/ dr3/ pub_papers/ fiveyear/ basic_results/ wmap5basic. pdf) (PDF). The
Astrophysical Journal. .
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of Physics) 728 (1). . Retrieved 2007-05-27.
[38] Kolb and Turner (1988), chapter 6
[39] Kolb and Turner (1988), chapter 7
[40] Kolb and Turner (1988), chapter 4
[41] Peacock (1999), chapter 9
[42] Ivanchik, A.V. (1999). "The Fine-Structure Constant: A New Observational Limit on Its Cosmological Variation and Some Theoretical
Consequences" (http:/ / adsabs. harvard. edu/ abs/ 1999A& A. . . 343. . 439I). Astronomy and Astrophysics 343: 459. .
[43] Detailed information of and references for tests of general relativity are given at Tests of general relativity.
[44] This ignores the dipole anisotropy at a level of 0.1% due to the peculiar velocity of the solar system through the radiation field.
[45] Goodman, J. (1995). "Geocentrism Reexamined". Physical Review D 52: 1821. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.52.1821.
[46] d'Inverno, R. (1992). "Chapter 23". Introducing Einstein's Relativity. Oxford (UK): Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-859686-3.
[47] Kolb and Turner (1988), chapter 3
[48] Gladders, M.D., et al.; Yee, H. K. C.; Majumdar, Subhabrata; Barrientos, L. Felipe; Hoekstra, Henk; Hall, Patrick B.; Infante, Leopoldo
(2007). "Cosmological Constraints from the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey" (http:/ / adsabs. harvard. edu/ abs/ 2007ApJ. . . 655. . 128G). The
Astrophysical Journal 655 (1): 128–134. doi:10.1086/509909. .
[49] The Four Pillars of the Standard Cosmology (http:/ / www. damtp. cam. ac. uk/ user/ gr/ public/ bb_pillars. html)
[50] Peacock (1999), chapter 3
[51] Astronomers reported their measurement in a paper published in the December 2000 issue of Nature titled The microwave background
temperature at the redshift of 2.33771 (http:/ / adsabs. harvard. edu/ cgi-bin/ bib_query?astro-ph/ 0012222) which can be read here (http:/ /
arxiv. org/ abs/ astro-ph/ 0012222). A press release (http:/ / www. eso. org/ outreach/ press-rel/ pr-2000/ pr-27-00. html) from the European
Southern Observatory explains the findings to the public.
[52] White, M. (1999). "Anisotropies in the CMB". Proceedings of the Los Angeles Meeting, DPF 99. UCLA. arXiv:astro-ph/9903232.
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[58] If inflation is true, baryogenesis must have occurred, but not vice versa.
[59] Kolb and Turner (1988), chapter 8
Big Bang 15

[60] Strictly, dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant drives the Universe towards a flat state; however, our Universe remained close
to flat for several billion years, before the dark energy density became significant.
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(Translated in Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters 5, 24 (1967).)

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[73] Than, K. (2006). "Recycled Universe: Theory Could Solve Cosmic Mystery" (http:/ / www. space. com/ scienceastronomy/
060508_mm_cyclic_universe. html). Space.com. . Retrieved 2007-07-03.
[74] Kennedy, B.K. (2007). "What Happened Before the Big Bang?" (http:/ / www. science. psu. edu/ alert/ Bojowald6-2007. htm). . Retrieved
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[75] Linde, A. (1986). "Eternal Chaotic Inflation". Modern Physics Letters A1: 81.
[76] Linde, A. (1986). "Eternally Existing Self-Reproducing Chaotic Inflationary Universe". Physics Letters B 175: 395–400.
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[78] Kragh, H. (1996). Cosmology and Controversy. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-02623-8.
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[80] Ferris, Timothy (1988). Coming of age in the Milky Way (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=a8nuAAAAMAAJ). Morrow. pp. 274, 438.
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Lemaître fifty years after his initiation of big-bang cosmology, Louvainla-Neuve, Belgium, 10-13 October 1983 (http:/ / books. google. com/
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[81] Wright, E.L (24 May 2009). "Cosmology and Religion" (http:/ / www. astro. ucla. edu/ ~wright/ cosmo-religion. html). Ned Wright's
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Books
• Kolb, Edward; Turner, Michael (1988). The Early Universe. Addison–Wesley. ISBN 0-201-11604-9.
• Peacock, John (1999). Cosmological Physics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521422701.

Further reading
For an annotated list of textbooks and monographs, see physical cosmology.
• Barrow, John D. (1994). The Origin of the Universe: To the Edge of Space and Time. New York: Phoenix.
ISBN 0465053548.
• Alpher, R. A.; R. Herman (August 1988). Reflections on early work on 'big bang' cosmology. Physics Today. pp.
24–34.
• Mather, John C.; John Boslough (1996). The very first light: the true inside story of the scientific journey back to
the dawn of the Universe. New York: BasicBooks. p. 300. ISBN 0-465-01575-1.
• Singh, Simon (2004). Big Bang: The origins of the universe. New York: Fourth Estate. ISBN 0007162200.
Big Bang 16

• Davies, Paul (1992). The Mind of God: The scientific basis for a rational world. New York: Simon & Schuster
UK. ISBN 0-671-71069-9.
• "Cosmic Journey: A History of Scientific Cosmology" (http://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/index.htm).
American Institute of Physics.
• Feuerbacher, Björn; Ryan Scranton (2006). "Evidence for the Big Bang" (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/
astronomy/bigbang.html).
• "Misconceptions about the Big Bang" (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&
articleID=0009F0CA-C523-1213-852383414B7F0147). Scientific American. March 2005.
• "The First Few Microseconds" (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&
articleID=0009A312-037F-1448-837F83414B7F014D). Scientific American. May 2006.
• "Expansion of the Universe – Standard Big Bang Model" (http://arxiv.org/abs/0802.2005v1). University of
Helsinki, astro-ph. February 2008.

External links
• Cosmology (http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Astronomy/Cosmology//) at the Open Directory Project
• Big bang model with animated graphics (http://www.scientificblogging.com/hammock_physicist/
big_bang_big_bewilderment)
• Evidence for the Big Bang (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/astronomy/bigbang.html)
Article Sources and Contributors 17

Article Sources and Contributors

Big Bang  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=388522303  Contributors: 041744, 0ut0ftunevi0lin, 129.128.137.xxx, 162.83.144.xxx, 168.143.112.xxx, 1800reverse, 1tephania,
879(CoDe), 99DBSIMLR, A. di M., A455bcd9, AMERICA SUPREME, ANIMAL, Aarchiba, Adashiel, Adrian, AdultSwim, Aeiownusir, Agathman, Ageekgal, Agge1000, Ahoerstemeier,
Aitias, Aiyda, Ajdlinux, Aldebaran66, Alex cole, Alexandra lb, Alsandro, Altenhofen, Alvaro, Alvevind, Amalthea, Amberrock, Ameki, AmiDaniel, Ancheta Wis, Andonic, Andre Engels,
Andres, Andrewpmk, Andrewwang90, Androstachys, Andy, Andy120290, Andycjp, Anetode, Angela, Anilocra, Animum, Another sockpuppet of Outoftuneviolin, Antandrus, Anton n, Anville,
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braves, Aunt Entropy, Avicennasis, Awptics, AxelBoldt, Aximilli, Azcolvin429, Azndragon2131, BD2412, BNL52577, Bachrach44, BatteryIncluded, Bcrowell, Bebenko, Bejerbel, Ben
Standeven, Ben robbins, BenRG, Bender235, Benjaburns, Benra, Bento00, Bevo, Bewildebeast, Bhenderson, Bigtimepeace, Biochem67, Bjh21, Blainster, Blarg123456789, Blue520,
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CharlesHBennett, Charliet, Chenyu, Childhoodsend, Chill doubt, Chimesmonster, Chimpa, Chochopk, Chris Mid, Chris-constant, Chrisbrl88, Christian75, Christopher Parham, Christopher
Thomas, Chun-hian, CidVSReno, Cigsandalcohol, Ckatz, ClairSamoht, Cmapm, Cnj, CodeWeasel, Cohesion, Collabi, Cometstyles, CommonsDelinker, Comrade Tassadar, Condem, Consumed
Crustacean, Conversion script, CovenantD, Cow457, Crisnumbertwo, CrunchyAvocado000, Crystallina, Csigabi, Curps, Cxat, Cymru.lass, D, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, DCCougar, DHN, DJ
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Ex, Dgaubin, Dialog, DianaS, Digger3000, Dinnerbone, Discospinster, Diza, Djyang, Dlohcierekim, Doc Tropics, Dogaru Florin, Doradus, Down.with.conformity, Dr. Submillimeter, Dr.alf,
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Jay Turner, Jaygeisler, Jayjg, Jazza18, Jbananal, Jc-S0CO, Jcw69, Jdude3, Jebba, Jefffire, Jeffro77, JeremyA, JeremyLydellHaugen, JerryFriedman, JesseGarrett, Jfdwolff, JimJast, Jimp, Jitse
Niesen, Jklin, Jmlk17, JoanneB, JocK, Joe Jarvis, Joe Kress, Joe hill, Joeljoslin, Johan1298, John Gibbons2, Johnston213, Johnuniq, Jok2000, Joke137, Jomel, Jonathunder, Jooler, Joopercoopers,
Josh Grosse, Joshua Davis, Joshua Gonsalves, JoshuaZ, Jossi, JosueM, Jpatros, Jpk, Jprw, Jruderman, Jtankers, Jumbuck, JustSomeKid, Justin Hirsh, Jvasu 2000, Kablammo, Kaiwhakahaere,
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Melsaran, Mendel, Metamagician3000, Mhking, MiPe, Michael C Price, Michael Hardy, MichaelBillington, MidgleyDJ, Mike Payne, Mike Peel, Mike Rosoft, Mike s, Mikefzhu, MikeyTMNT,
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Paales, PaddyLeahy, Paine Ellsworth, PaladinWriter, Paleorthid, Papa November, Parhamr, Patrick, Patton123, Paul venter, Paul-L, Paulamicela, Paxsimius, Pd THOR, Pdn, Peacetoyomama,
Peak, Persian Poet Gal, Peruvianllama, Pervect, Petej010, Petersburg, Pgk, PhJ, Philip Trueman, PhilipO, Phoenix2, Phral, PhySusie, Phys, Pi@k, Pilotguy, Pinea, Pinethicket, Piotrus, Pjacobi,
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RekishiEJ, Restre419, RetiredUser2, Reuvenk, RexNL, Rfl, Rgdboer, Rhobite, Rhrad, Riana, Rich Farmbrough, Rick Sidwell, Rijkbenik, Rjwilmsi, Rklawton, Rlcuda, Rnt20, Roadrunner, Rob
Hooft, Robert Stevens, RobertG, Robertd, Roketjack, Romanm, Rory096, Rosencrantz1, Rossnixon, Rossp, RoyBoy, Rursus, Russ143, Ruud Koot, RxS, Ryanborgz, SallyForth123, Sam Korn,
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Scorpiona, Sean Whitton, Shailaja87, Shanes, Shijualex, Shoeofdeath, Shushruth, Silence-is-infinite, Silsor, Simeon H, SimonP, Sir48, Sirrontail, Sjö, Skaggamoo, Skier Dude, Skizzik,
Skyfire.michael, Skynet1216, Slater bob, Sligocki, Smack, Smalls1652, Snowolf, Soccermonkey 77, Soccerpro, Sohailstyle, Somearemoreequal, Someguy1221, Sonalchagi, Sonett72, Sophia,
Sopranosmob781, Sp82, Spacepotato, Spellcast, Spinner198, SpookyMulder, SqueakBox, Srkpriv, Sry85, Staeiou, Ste4k, Steamboatdude, Steel, Stephenb, SteveW, Stevenj, Stevertigo,
Stevietheman, Stragler, Sundar, SuperHamster, Superbeecat, Surfer9986, Susurrus, Svetovid, SwordSmurf, Syrthiss, T-dot, T-rex, TStein, Ta bu shi da yu, Tabletop, Taffboyz, Tanglewood4,
Tangotango, Tannin, Tapir Terrific, Tarotcards, Tassedethe, Tchernobog, TeaDrinker, Teapotgeorge, Teardrop onthefire, TedE, Telecineguy, Terence, Terraguy, The Anome, The C of E, The
Epopt, The1physicist, TheKMan, TheMusicalGenius, TheProject, The_ansible, Thealltruth, Thebeast373, Thorns among our leaves, Thryllkill, Tiddly Tom, Tim Chambers, Timo Honkasalo,
TimothyRias, Timwi, Tiptoety, Tom33, TomS TDotO, Tommy2010, Tommysun, Travelbird, Tre2, Trelvis, Triangulator, Tricky Victoria, Truth is relative, understanding is limited, Truthiness34,
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Utcursch, Utopial, VandalCruncher, Vanished User 0001, Vanished user, Varith, Vary, VegaDark, Vegaswikian, Verkle, Viajero, VinnieCool, Violetriga, Viriathus, Voice of All, Voldemortuet,
Voyagerfan5761, Vsmith, WFPM, Wa2ise, Waggers, Warrior m4, WarthogDemon, WatermelonPotion, Wayne, Wayward, Wazzz, Welsh-girl-Lowri, Weregerbil, Wesino, West Brom 4ever,
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Wrathchild, Writtenright, Wtmitchell, Wwoods, X!, X201, XJamRastafire, Xiner, Xosé, Yamamoto Ichiro, Yasinmiyar, YellowMonkey, Yelyos, Yidisheryid, YishaiMagelMoganim, Yobingfrog,
Yoenit, Youandme, Zarcom, Zgystardst, Zharradan.angelfire, Zinger0, Zundark, Zybez, Александър, आशीष भटनागर, 1658 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Universe expansion2.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Universe_expansion2.png  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Original uploader was Gnixon at
en.wikipedia Later version(s) were uploaded by Papa November at en.wikipedia. (Original text : )
File:WMAP2.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:WMAP2.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: w:User:TempshillTempshill
File:Hubble ultra deep field high rez edit1.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hubble_ultra_deep_field_high_rez_edit1.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors:
User:Noodle snacks
File:WMAP 2010.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:WMAP_2010.png  License: Public Domain  Contributors: NASA / WMAP Science Team
Image:Firas spectrum.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Firas_spectrum.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Harp, Perhelion, Pieter Kuiper, Ysangkok
File:2MASS LSS chart-NEW Nasa.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:2MASS_LSS_chart-NEW_Nasa.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: w:Infrared
Processing and Analysis CenterIPAC/Caltech, by Thomas Jarrett
File:End of universe.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:End_of_universe.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Dgies, Maksim, Olaf Davis, Shyam, 3 anonymous edits
File:Cosmological Composition - Pie Chart.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cosmological_Composition_-_Pie_Chart.png  License: Creative Commons
Attribution-Sharealike 3.0  Contributors: User:Azcolvin429
File:CMB Timeline75.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:CMB_Timeline75.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: User:Kyle_the_hacker
License 18

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