NASA astrophysicists made an important scientific discovery - they experimentally confirmed the inflationary theory of the evolution of the Universe.

Scientists are convinced that they “touched” events approximately 14,000,000,000 years ago. After three years of continuous observations of the cosmic background in the microwave range, they were able to “catch” the light remaining (relict) from the first moments of the life of the Universe. These discoveries were made using the WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) apparatus.

Astrophysicists study the Universe at that moment in its existence, when its age was about one trillionth of a second, that is, almost immediately after the Big Bang. It was at this moment that the beginnings of future hundreds of millions of galaxies appeared in the tiny Universe, from which stars and planets subsequently formed over hundreds of millions of years.

The leading postulate of the inflationary theory is this: after the Big Bang, which gave rise to our Universe, in an incredibly short period of time - a trillionth of a second - it turned from a microscopic object into something colossal, many times larger than the entire observable part of space, that is, it underwent inflation.

“The results are in favor of inflation,” said Charles Bennett (Johns Hopkins University), who reported the discovery. "It's amazing that we can say anything at all about what happened in the first trillionth of a second of the universe's existence," he said.

Apparently, in the first trillionths of a second after the Explosion, the expansion rate of the Universe was higher than the speed of light, and the time that passed from the moment the Universe expanded from the size of several atoms to a stable spherical shape is measured in very small quantities. This hypothesis was first put forward in the 80s.

“How do we know what was in the Universe at the time of its creation? The cosmic microwave background is a real treasure trove of information about the past of our Universe. The light radiation that has reached us clearly indicates the facts of the development of the Universe,” says Dr. Gary Hinshaw, employee NASA Goddard Space Center.

The inflation theory itself exists in several versions, astronomer Nikolai Nikolaevich Chugai (Institute of Astronomy RAS) tells NewsInfo.

“There is no complete theory of this, but there are only some assumptions about how this happened. But there is one “prediction” that follows from the fact that quantum fluctuations (from the Latin fluctuatio - oscillation; random deviations of physical quantities from their average values on microscopic scales) predict a certain spectrum of disturbances, that is, the distribution of the amplitude of these disturbances depending on the length of the scale on which this disturbance develops. You can imagine in the figure a wavy line with different wavelengths, and if you have one amplitude for large-scale ones, then for small-scale ones it’s different - you say that the spectrum of these disturbances is not flat,” explains Nikolai Chugai.

Until about the 1970s of the 20th century, there was a standard picture of the Big Bang, according to which our Universe arose from a very dense, hot state. Thermonuclear fusion of helium has occurred - this is one of the confirmations of the model of a hot Universe. In 1964, relict (residual) radiation was discovered, for which the Nobel Prize was received. CMB radiation comes to us from very distant regions. During the expansion process, the radiation filling the larger Universe cools.

“This property is similar to when a balloon bursts and becomes cold,” explains Nikolai Chugai. “The same thing happens when the spray escapes from your balloon, and you can feel the balloon cooling.”

“The discovery of this radiation (it is now cold - only 3 degrees) was decisive evidence of the hot phase of the Universe. But this model is not complete,” says the astronomer. “It does not explain everything. And the main thing is that it does not explain the fact that the Universe is homogeneous on all scales. Wherever we look, we see almost identical galaxies with the same density of these galaxies in units of volume. Everywhere it is approximately the same. Since these distant points of the Universe do not interact, it turns out strange - from the point of view of physics - how they are. do not interact and know nothing about each other, relatively speaking? And, nevertheless, the Universe is structured in the same way at these distant points. And this should mean for a physicist that once these distant parts of the Universe were in contact. were part of a whole in which disturbances spread and these disturbances were smoothed out. That is, once the universe that we see now on large scales was physically unified - signals and disturbances from these distant points managed to pass through and smear the disturbances that arose there."

Today we observe precisely this homogeneity in distant points of the Universe in opposite regions of the sky as completely identical in density - relict radiation, which we observe with absolutely the same intensity and brightness. "No matter where you look," says Dr. Chugai.

“And this means that the Universe was absolutely homogeneous - isotropic. This initial inflationary stage allows us to “prepare” such a homogeneous universe. Another advantage of the inflationary phase is not only that it prepared a homogeneous universe, but also that so-called quantum fluctuations (perturbation of density on microscopic length scales) were associated with the quantum nature of our world (at the level of elementary particles),” concluded Nikolai Chugai.

Listen to the sounds of a simulated Big Bang.

Materials used in the article:

2.Ringside Seat to the Universe's First Split Second 3.Russian media

In the scientific world, it is generally accepted that the Universe originated as a result of the Big Bang. This theory is based on the fact that energy and matter (the foundations of all things) were previously in a state of singularity. It, in turn, is characterized by infinity of temperature, density and pressure. The state of singularity itself rejects all the laws of physics known to the modern world. Scientists believe that the Universe arose from a microscopic particle, which, for reasons still unknown, came into an unstable state in the distant past and exploded.

The term “Big Bang” began to be used in 1949 after the publication of the works of the scientist F. Hoyle in popular science publications. Today, the theory of the “dynamic evolving model” is so well developed that physicists can describe the processes occurring in the Universe within 10 seconds after the explosion of a microscopic particle that laid the foundation for all things.

There are several proofs of the theory. One of the main ones is the cosmic microwave background radiation, which permeates the entire Universe. It could have arisen, according to modern scientists, only as a result of the Big Bang, due to the interaction of microscopic particles. It is the relict radiation that allows us to learn about those times when the Universe was like a burning space, and there were no stars, planets and the galaxy itself. The second proof of the birth of all things from the Big Bang is considered to be the cosmological red shift, which consists in a decrease in the frequency of radiation. This confirms the removal of stars and galaxies from the Milky Way in particular and from each other in general. That is, it indicates that the Universe was expanding earlier and continues to do so to this day.

A Brief History of the Universe

• 10 -45 - 10 -37 sec- inflationary expansion


• 10 -6 sec- emergence of quarks and electrons


• 10 -5 sec- formation of protons and neutrons


• 10 -4 sec - 3 min- emergence of deuterium, helium and lithium nuclei


• 400 thousand years- formation of atoms


• 15 million years- continued expansion of the gas cloud


• 1 billion years- the birth of the first stars and galaxies


• 10 - 15 billion years- emergence of planets and intelligent life


• 10 14 billion years- cessation of the process of star birth


• 10 37 billion years- energy depletion of all stars


• 10 40 billion years- evaporation of black holes and the birth of elementary particles


• 10 100 billion years- completion of the evaporation of all black holes

The Big Bang theory was a real breakthrough in science. It allowed scientists to answer many questions regarding the birth of the Universe. But at the same time, this theory gave rise to new mysteries. The main one is the cause of the Big Bang itself. The second question that modern science has no answer to is how space and time appeared. According to some researchers, they were born along with matter and energy. That is, they are the result of the Big Bang. But then it turns out that time and space must have some kind of beginning. That is, a certain entity, constantly existing and independent of their indicators, could well have initiated the processes of instability in the microscopic particle that gave birth to the Universe.

The more research is carried out in this direction, the more questions astrophysicists have. The answers to them await humanity in the future.

The Big Bang is confirmed by many facts:

From Einstein's general theory of relativity it follows that the universe cannot be static; it must either expand or contract.

The further away a galaxy is, the faster it moves away from us (Hubble's law). This indicates the expansion of the universe. The expansion of the universe means that in the distant past the universe was small and compact.

The Big Bang model predicts that the cosmic microwave background radiation should appear in all directions, having a black body spectrum and a temperature of about 3°K. We observe the exact spectrum of a black body with a temperature of 2.73°K.

CMB radiation is uniform up to 0.00001. A small unevenness must exist to explain the uneven distribution of matter in the universe today. Such unevenness is also observed in the predicted size.

The Big Bang theory predicts the observed amounts of primordial hydrogen, deuterium, helium, and lithium. No other models can do this.

The Big Bang theory predicts that the universe changes over time. Because the speed of light is finite, observing at long distances allows us to look into the past. Among other changes, we see that when the universe was younger, quasars were more common and stars were bluer.

There are at least 3 ways to determine the age of the Universe. I will describe below:
*Age of chemical elements.
*Age of the oldest globular clusters.
*Age of the oldest white dwarf stars.
*The age of the Universe can also be estimated from cosmological models based on the Hubble Constant, as well as matter and dark energy densities. This model-based age is currently 13.7 ± 0.2 billion years.

Experimental measurements are consistent with the age-based model, which strengthens our confidence in the Big Bang model.

To date, the COBE satellite has mapped the background radiation with its wave-like structures and amplitude fluctuations over several billion light-years from Earth. All these waves are greatly enlarged images of those tiny structures from which the Big Bang began. The size of these structures was even smaller than the size of subatomic particles.
The new MAP (Microwave Anisotropy Probe) satellite, which was sent into space last year, deals with the same problems. Its mission is to collect information about the microwave radiation left over from the Big Bang.

Light coming to Earth from distant stars and galaxies (regardless of their location relative to the Solar System) has a characteristic red shift (Barrow, 1994). This shift is due to the Doppler effect - an increase in the length of light waves as the light source quickly moves away from the observer. Interestingly, this effect is observed in all directions, which means that all distant objects are moving away from the solar system. However, this does not happen because the Earth is the center of the Universe. Rather, the situation can be described using a comparison with a balloon painted with polka dots. As the balloon inflates, the distance between the peas increases. The universe is expanding and has been doing so for a long time. Cosmologists believe that the Universe was formed within one minute 10-20 billion years ago. It “flew out in all directions” from one point where matter was in a state of unimaginable concentration. This event is called the Big Bang.

The decisive evidence in favor of the Big Bang theory was the existence of background cosmic radiation, the so-called cosmic microwave background radiation. This radiation is a residual sign of the energy released at the beginning of the explosion. The CMB was predicted in 1948 and experimentally detected in 1965. It is microwave radiation that can be detected anywhere in space, and creates a background for all other radio waves. The radiation has a temperature of 2.7 degrees Kelvin (Taubes, 1997). The omnipresence of this residual energy confirms not only the fact of the origin (and not the eternal existence) of the Universe, but also that its birth was explosive.

If we assume that the Big Bang occurred 13,500 million years ago (which is supported by several facts), then the first galaxies arose from giant gas accumulations about 12,500 million years ago (Calder, 1983). The stars of these galaxies were microscopic accumulations of highly compressed gas. The strong gravitational pressure in their cores initiated thermonuclear fusion reactions, converting hydrogen into helium with a by-product energy emission (Davies, 1994). As stars aged, the atomic mass of the elements within them increased. In fact, all elements heavier than hydrogen are products of stars. In the hot furnace of the stellar core, heavier and heavier elements were formed. It was in this way that iron and elements with lower atomic mass appeared. When the early stars used up their fuel, they could no longer resist the forces of gravity. The stars collapsed and then exploded as supernovae. During supernova explosions, elements with an atomic mass greater than that of iron appeared. The heterogeneous intrastellar gas left behind by early stars became the building material from which new solar systems could form. The accumulations of this gas and dust formed partly as a result of the mutual attraction of particles. If the mass of the gas cloud reached a certain critical limit, gravitational pressure triggered the process of nuclear fusion and a new one was born from the remains of the old star.

Evidence for the Big Bang model comes from a variety of observed data that are consistent with the Big Bang model. None of this evidence for the Big Bang is conclusive as a scientific theory. Many of these facts are consistent with both the Big Bang and some other cosmological models, but taken together these observations show that the Big Bang model is the best model of the Universe today. These observations include:

The blackness of the night sky - Olber's Paradox.
Hubble's Law - The law of linear dependence of distance on redshift. This data is very accurate today.
Homogeneity is clear data showing that our location in the Universe is not unique.
Isotropy of space is a very clear data showing that the sky looks the same in all directions to within 1 part in 100,000.
Time dilation in supernova brightness curves.
The observations above are consistent with both the Big Bang and the Steady-State Model, but many observations support the Big Bang better than the Steady-State Model:
Dependence of the number of radio sources and quasars on brightness. It shows that the Universe has evolved.
The existence of black-body cosmic microwave background radiation. This shows that the Universe evolved from a dense, isothermal state.
Change Trelikt. with a change in redshift value. This is a direct observation of the evolution of the Universe.
Contents of Deuterium, 3He, 4He, and 7Li. The abundances of all these light isotopes correspond well to the predicted reactions occurring in the first three minutes.
Finally, the one part per million angular intensity anisotropy of the CMB is consistent with a dark matter-dominated Big Bang model that went through an inflationary stage.

Precise measurements carried out by the COBE satellite confirmed that the cosmic microwave background radiation fills the Universe and has a temperature of 2.7 degrees Kelvin. This radiation is recorded from all directions and is quite uniform. According to the theory, the Universe is expanding and, therefore, it should have been denser in the past. And therefore the radiation temperature at that time should be higher. Now this is an indisputable fact.

Chronology:

* Planck time: 10-43 seconds. Through this gap time, gravity can be considered as a classical background against which particles and fields develop, while obeying the laws of quantum mechanics. The area about 10-33 cm in diameter is homogeneous and isotropic, Temperature T=1032K.
* Inflation. In Linde's chaotic inflation model, inflation begins at Planck time, although it can begin when the temperature drops to the point where the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) symmetry suddenly breaks. This occurs at temperatures between 1027 and 1028K, 10 to 35 seconds after the Big Bang.
* Inflation ends. The time is 10-33 seconds, the temperature is still 1027 - 1028K because the vacuum energy density, which accelerates inflation, is converted into heat. At the end of inflation, the rate of expansion is so great that the apparent age of the Universe is only 10-35 seconds. Thanks to inflation, the homogeneous region from the Planck moment in time has a diameter of at least 100 cm, i.e. has increased more than 1035 times since Planck time. However, quantum fluctuations during inflation create regions of inhomogeneity with low amplitude and random distribution, having the same energy in all ranges.
* Baryogenesis: The slight difference in reaction rates for matter and antimatter results in a mixture containing about 100,000,001 protons for every 100,000,000 antiprotons (and 100,000,000 photons).
* The Universe grows and cools until 0.0001 seconds after the Big Bang and a temperature of about T=1013 K. Antiprotons annihilate with protons, leaving only matter, but with a very large number of photons for each surviving proton and neutron.
* The Universe grows and cools until 1 second after the Big Bang, temperature T = 1010 K. Weak interactions are frozen out at a proton/neutron ratio of about 6. The homogeneous region reaches a size of 1019.5 cm by this moment.
* The universe grows and cools until 100 seconds after the Big Bang. Temperature 1 billion degrees, 109 K. Electrons and positrons annihilate, forming even more photons, while protons and neutrons combine to form deuterium (heavy hydrogen) nuclei. Most of the deuterium nuclei combine to form helium nuclei. Ultimately, the mass is about 3/4 hydrogen, 1/4 helium; the deuterium/proton ratio is 30 ppm. For every proton or neutron, there are about 2 billion photons.
* A month after the BW, the processes that transform the radiation field to the radiation spectrum of a completely black body weaken; now they lag behind the expansion of the Universe, so the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation retains information relating to this time.
*Matter density compared to radiation density 56,000 years after WW. Temperature 9000 K. Inhomogeneities of dark matter may begin to shrink.
* Protons and electrons combine to form neutral hydrogen. The universe becomes transparent. Temperature T=3000 K, time 380,000 years after WW. Ordinary matter can now fall onto dark matter clouds. The CMB travels freely from this time until the present, so the anisotropy of the CMB gives a picture of the Universe at that time.
* 100-200 million years after the BV, the first stars are formed, and with their radiation they again ionize the Universe.
* The first supernovae explode, filling the Universe with carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, and so on, all the way to Uranus.
* How clouds of dark matter, stars and gas gather together form galaxies.
* Clusters of galaxies are formed.
* 4.6 billion years ago the Sun and the Solar System were formed.
* Today: Time 13.7 billion years after the Big Bang, temperature T=2.725 K. The homogeneous area today is at least 1029 cm across, which is larger than the observable part of the Universe.

There was a Big Bang! Here is what, for example, academician Ya.B. wrote about this. Zeldovich in 1983: “The Big Bang theory at the moment does not have any noticeable shortcomings. One might even say that it is as firmly established and true as it is true that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Both theories occupied a central place in the picture of the universe of their time, and both had many opponents who argued that the new ideas contained in them were absurd and contrary to common sense. But such speeches are not able to hinder the success of new theories.”

Radio astronomy data indicate that in the past, distant extragalactic radio sources emitted more radiation than they do now. Consequently, these radio sources are evolving. When we now observe a powerful radio source, we must not forget that we are looking at its distant past (after all, radio telescopes today receive waves that were emitted billions of years ago). The fact that radio galaxies and quasars evolve, and the time of their evolution is commensurate with the time of existence of the Metagalaxy, is also generally considered in favor of the Big Bang theory.

An important confirmation of the “hot Universe” follows from a comparison of the observed abundance of chemical elements with the ratio between the amount of helium and hydrogen (about 1/4 helium and about 3/4 hydrogen) that arose during primordial thermonuclear fusion.

Abundance of light elements
The early Universe was very hot. Even if protons and neutrons combined during a collision and formed heavier nuclei, their lifetime was negligible, because the next time they collided with another heavy and fast particle, the nucleus again disintegrated into elementary components. It turns out that about three minutes had to pass from the moment of the Big Bang before the Universe cooled down enough for the energy of collisions to soften somewhat and elementary particles began to form stable nuclei. In the history of the early Universe, this marked the opening of a window of opportunity for the formation of nuclei of light elements. All nuclei formed in the first three minutes inevitably disintegrated; Subsequently, stable nuclei began to appear.

However, this initial formation of nuclei (the so-called nucleosynthesis) at the early stage of the expansion of the Universe did not last very long. Soon after the first three minutes, the particles flew so far apart that collisions between them became extremely rare, and this marked the closing of the nuclear fusion window. During this brief period of primary nucleosynthesis, the collisions of protons and neutrons produced deuterium (a heavy isotope of hydrogen with one proton and one neutron in the nucleus), helium-3 (two protons and a neutron), helium-4 (two protons and two neutrons) and, in small quantities, lithium-7 (three protons and four neutrons). All heavier elements are formed later - during the formation of stars (see Evolution of stars).

The Big Bang theory allows us to determine the temperature of the early Universe and the frequency of particle collisions in it. As a consequence, we can calculate the ratio of the number of different nuclei of light elements at the primary stage of the development of the Universe. By comparing these predictions with the actual observed ratios of light elements (adjusted for their production in stars), we find an impressive agreement between theory and observations. In my opinion, this is the best confirmation of the Big Bang hypothesis.

In addition to the two evidence given above (microwave background and the ratio of light elements), recent work (see Inflationary stage of expansion of the Universe) has shown that the fusion of Big Bang cosmology and modern theory of elementary particles resolves many cardinal questions of the structure of the Universe. Of course, problems remain: we cannot explain the very root cause of the universe; It is also not clear to us whether the current physical laws were in effect at the moment of its origin. But today there are more than enough convincing arguments in favor of the Big Bang theory.

The Big Bang belongs to the category of theories that attempt to fully trace the history of the birth of the Universe, to determine the initial, current and final processes in its life.

Was there something before the Universe came into being? This fundamental, almost metaphysical question is asked by scientists to this day. The emergence and evolution of the universe has always been and remains the subject of heated debate, incredible hypotheses and mutually exclusive theories. The main versions of the origin of everything that surrounds us, according to the church interpretation, assumed divine intervention, and the scientific world supported Aristotle’s hypothesis about the static nature of the universe. The latter model was adhered to by Newton, who defended the boundlessness and constancy of the Universe, and by Kant, who developed this theory in his works. In 1929, American astronomer and cosmologist Edwin Hubble radically changed scientists' views of the world.

He not only discovered the presence of numerous galaxies, but also the expansion of the Universe - a continuous isotropic increase in the size of outer space that began at the moment of the Big Bang.

To whom do we owe the discovery of the Big Bang?

Albert Einstein's work on the theory of relativity and his gravitational equations allowed de Sitter to create a cosmological model of the Universe. Further research was tied to this model. In 1923, Weyl suggested that matter placed in outer space should expand. The work of the outstanding mathematician and physicist A. A. Friedman is of great importance in the development of this theory. Back in 1922, he allowed the expansion of the Universe and made reasonable conclusions that the beginning of all matter was at one infinitely dense point, and the development of everything was given by the Big Bang. In 1929, Hubble published his papers explaining the subordination of radial velocity to distance; this work later became known as “Hubble’s law.”

G. A. Gamow, relying on Friedman’s theory of the Big Bang, developed the idea of ​​​​a high temperature of the initial substance. He also suggested the presence of cosmic radiation that did not disappear with the expansion and cooling of the world. The scientist performed preliminary calculations of the possible temperature of residual radiation. The value he assumed was in the range of 1-10 K. By 1950, Gamow made more accurate calculations and announced a result of 3 K. In 1964, radio astronomers from America, while improving the antenna, by eliminating all possible signals, determined the parameters of cosmic radiation. Its temperature turned out to be equal to 3 K. This information became the most important confirmation of Gamow’s work and the existence of cosmic microwave background radiation. Subsequent measurements of the cosmic background, carried out in outer space, finally proved the accuracy of the scientist’s calculations. You can get acquainted with the map of cosmic microwave background radiation at.

Modern ideas about the Big Bang theory: how did it happen?

One of the models that comprehensively explains the emergence and development processes of the Universe known to us is the Big Bang theory. According to the widely accepted version today, there was originally a cosmological singularity - a state of infinite density and temperature. Physicists have developed a theoretical justification for the birth of the Universe from a point that had an extreme degree of density and temperature. After the Big Bang occurred, the space and matter of the Cosmos began an ongoing process of expansion and stable cooling. According to recent studies, the beginning of the universe was laid at least 13.7 billion years ago.

Starting periods in the formation of the Universe

The first moment, the reconstruction of which is allowed by physical theories, is the Planck epoch, the formation of which became possible 10-43 seconds after the Big Bang. The temperature of the matter reached 10*32 K, and its density was 10*93 g/cm3. During this period, gravity gained independence, separating itself from the fundamental interactions. The continuous expansion and decrease in temperature caused a phase transition of elementary particles.

The next period, characterized by the exponential expansion of the Universe, came after another 10-35 seconds. It was called "Cosmic inflation". An abrupt expansion occurred, many times greater than usual. This period provided an answer to the question, why is the temperature the same at different points in the Universe? After the Big Bang, the matter did not immediately scatter throughout the Universe; for another 10-35 seconds it was quite compact and a thermal equilibrium was established in it, which was not disturbed by inflationary expansion. The period provided the basic material - quark-gluon plasma, used to form protons and neutrons. This process took place after a further decrease in temperature and is called “baryogenesis.” The origin of matter was accompanied by the simultaneous emergence of antimatter. The two antagonistic substances annihilated, becoming radiation, but the number of ordinary particles prevailed, which allowed the creation of the Universe.

The next phase transition, which occurred after the temperature decreased, led to the emergence of the elementary particles known to us. The era of “nucleosynthesis” that came after this was marked by the combination of protons into light isotopes. The first nuclei formed had a short lifespan; they disintegrated during inevitable collisions with other particles. More stable elements arose within three minutes after the creation of the world.

The next significant milestone was the dominance of gravity over other available forces. 380 thousand years after the Big Bang, the hydrogen atom appeared. The increase in the influence of gravity marked the end of the initial period of the formation of the Universe and gave rise to the process of the emergence of the first stellar systems.

Even after almost 14 billion years, cosmic microwave background radiation still remains in space. Its existence in combination with the red shift is cited as an argument to confirm the validity of the Big Bang theory.

Cosmological singularity

If, using the general theory of relativity and the fact of the continuous expansion of the Universe, we return to the beginning of time, then the size of the universe will be equal to zero. The initial moment or science cannot describe it accurately enough using physical knowledge. The equations used are not suitable for such a small object. A symbiosis is needed that can combine quantum mechanics and the general theory of relativity, but, unfortunately, it has not yet been created.

The evolution of the Universe: what awaits it in the future?

Scientists are considering two possible scenarios: the expansion of the Universe will never end, or it will reach a critical point and the reverse process will begin - compression. This fundamental choice depends on the average density of the substance in its composition. If the calculated value is less than the critical value, the forecast is favorable; if it is more, then the world will return to a singular state. Scientists currently do not know the exact value of the described parameter, so the question of the future of the Universe is up in the air.

Religion's relationship to the Big Bang theory

The main religions of humanity: Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Islam, in their own way support this model of the creation of the world. Liberal representatives of these religious denominations agree with the theory of the origin of the universe as a result of some inexplicable intervention, defined as the Big Bang.

The name of the theory, familiar to the whole world - “Big Bang” - was unwittingly given by the opponent of the version of the expansion of the Universe by Hoyle. He considered such an idea "totally unsatisfactory." After the publication of his thematic lectures, the interesting term was immediately picked up by the public.

The reasons that caused the Big Bang are not known with certainty. According to one of the many versions, belonging to A. Yu. Glushko, the original substance compressed into a point was a black hyper-hole, and the cause of the explosion was the contact of two such objects consisting of particles and antiparticles. During annihilation, matter partially survived and gave rise to our Universe.

Engineers Penzias and Wilson, who discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation, received the Nobel Prize in Physics.

The temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation was initially very high. After several million years, this parameter turned out to be within the limits that ensure the origin of life. But by this period only a small number of planets had formed.

Astronomical observations and research help to find answers to the most important questions for humanity: “How did everything appear, and what awaits us in the future?” Despite the fact that not all problems have been solved, and the root cause of the emergence of the Universe does not have a strict and harmonious explanation, the Big Bang theory has gained a sufficient amount of confirmation that makes it the main and acceptable model of the emergence of the universe.

Even modern scientists cannot say with certainty what was in the Universe before the Big Bang. There are several hypotheses that lift the veil of secrecy over one of the most complex issues of the universe.

Origin of the material world

Until the 20th century, there were only two supporters of the religious point of view, who believed that the world was created by God. Scientists, on the contrary, refused to acknowledge the man-made nature of the Universe. Physicists and astronomers were supporters of the idea that space has always existed, the world was static and everything will remain the same as billions of years ago.

However, accelerated scientific progress at the turn of the century led to the fact that researchers had opportunities to study extraterrestrial spaces. Some of them were the first to try to answer the question of what was in the Universe before the Big Bang.

Hubble Research

The 20th century destroyed many theories of past eras. In the vacated space, new hypotheses appeared that explained hitherto incomprehensible mysteries. It all started with the fact that scientists established the fact of the expansion of the Universe. This was done by Edwin Hubble. He discovered that distant galaxies differed in their light from those cosmic clusters that were closer to Earth. The discovery of this pattern formed the basis of Edwin Hubble's law of expansion.

The Big Bang and the origin of the Universe were studied when it became clear that all galaxies “escape” from the observer, no matter where he was. How could this be explained? Since galaxies move, it means that they are pushed forward by some kind of energy. In addition, physicists have calculated that all worlds were once located at one point. Due to some push, they began to move in all directions with unimaginable speed.

This phenomenon was called the “Big Bang”. And the origin of the Universe was explained precisely with the help of the theory about this ancient event. When did it happen? Physicists determined the speed of movement of galaxies and derived a formula that they used to calculate when the initial “push” occurred. No one can give exact numbers, but approximately this phenomenon took place about 15 billion years ago.

The emergence of the Big Bang theory

The fact that all galaxies are sources of light means that the Big Bang released a huge amount of energy. It was she who gave birth to the very brightness that the worlds lose as they move away from the epicenter of what happened. The Big Bang theory was first proven by American astronomers Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias. They discovered electromagnetic cosmic microwave background radiation, the temperature of which was three degrees on the Kelvin scale (that is, -270 Celsius). This find supported the idea that the Universe was initially extremely hot.

The Big Bang theory answered many questions formulated in the 19th century. However, now new ones have appeared. For example, what was in the Universe before the Big Bang? Why is it so homogeneous, while with such a huge release of energy the substance should scatter unevenly in all directions? The discoveries of Wilson and Arno cast doubt on classical Euclidean geometry, as it was proven that space has zero curvature.

Inflationary theory

New questions posed showed that the modern theory of the origin of the world is fragmentary and incomplete. However, for a long time it seemed that it would be impossible to advance beyond what was discovered in the 60s. And only very recent research by scientists has made it possible to formulate a new important principle for theoretical physics. This was the phenomenon of ultra-fast inflationary expansion of the Universe. It was studied and described using quantum field theory and Einstein's general theory of relativity.

So what was in the Universe before the Big Bang? Modern science calls this period “inflation.” In the beginning there was only a field that filled all imaginary space. It can be compared to a snowball thrown down the slope of a snowy mountain. The lump will roll down and increase in size. In the same way, the field, due to random fluctuations, changed its structure over an unimaginable time.

When a homogeneous configuration was formed, a reaction occurred. It contains the biggest mysteries of the Universe. What happened before the Big Bang? An inflationary field that was not at all like current matter. After the reaction, the growth of the Universe began. If we continue the analogy with a snowball, then after the first one, other snowballs rolled down, also increasing in size. The moment of the Big Bang in this system can be compared to the second when a huge block fell into the abyss and finally collided with the ground. At that moment, a colossal amount of energy was released. It still can't run out. It is due to the continuation of the reaction from the explosion that our Universe is growing today.

Matter and field

The Universe now consists of an unimaginable number of stars and other cosmic bodies. This aggregate of matter exudes enormous energy, which contradicts the physical law of conservation of energy. What does it say? The essence of this principle comes down to the fact that over an infinite period of time the amount of energy in the system remains unchanged. But how can this fit in with our Universe, which continues to expand?

Inflationary theory was able to answer this question. It is extremely rare that such mysteries of the Universe are solved. What happened before the Big Bang? Inflationary field. After the emergence of the world, matter familiar to us took its place. However, in addition to it, there is also something in the Universe that has negative energy. The properties of these two entities are opposite. This compensates for the energy coming from particles, stars, planets and other matter. This relationship also explains why the Universe has not yet turned into a black hole.

When the Big Bang first happened, the world was too small for anything to collapse. Now, when the Universe has expanded, local black holes have appeared in certain parts of it. Their gravitational field absorbs everything around them. Not even light can get out of it. This is actually why such holes become black.

Expansion of the Universe

Even despite the theoretical justification of the inflationary theory, it is still unclear what the Universe looked like before the Big Bang. The human imagination cannot imagine this picture. The fact is that the inflation field is intangible. It cannot be explained by the usual laws of physics.

When the Big Bang occurred, the inflation field began to expand at a rate that exceeded the speed of light. According to physical indicators, there is nothing material in the Universe that could move faster than this indicator. Light spreads across the existing world with incredible numbers. The inflationary field spread with even greater speed, precisely due to its intangible nature.

Current State of the Universe

The current period in the evolution of the Universe is ideally suited for the existence of life. Scientists find it difficult to determine how long this time period will last. But if anyone undertook such calculations, the resulting figures were no less than hundreds of billions of years. For one human life, such a segment is so large that even in mathematical calculus it has to be written down using powers. The present has been studied much better than the prehistory of the Universe. What happened before the Big Bang will, in any case, remain only the subject of theoretical research and bold calculations.

In the material world, even time remains a relative value. For example, quasars (a type of astronomical object), existing at a distance of 14 billion light years from Earth, are 14 billion light years behind our usual “now”. This time gap is enormous. It is difficult to define even mathematically, not to mention the fact that it is simply impossible to clearly imagine such a thing with the help of human imagination (even the most ardent).

Modern science can theoretically explain to itself the entire life of our material world, starting from the first fractions of seconds of its existence, when the Big Bang just occurred. The complete history of the Universe is still being updated. Astronomers are discovering amazing new facts with the help of modernized and improved research equipment (telescopes, laboratories, etc.).

However, there are also phenomena that are still not understood. Such a white spot, for example, is its dark energy. The essence of this hidden mass continues to excite the consciousness of the most educated and advanced physicists of our time. In addition, no single point of view has emerged about the reasons why there are still more particles in the Universe than antiparticles. Several fundamental theories have been formulated on this matter. Some of these models are the most popular, but none of them has yet been accepted by the international scientific community as

On the scale of universal knowledge and colossal discoveries of the 20th century, these gaps seem quite insignificant. But the history of science shows with enviable regularity that the explanation of such “small” facts and phenomena becomes the basis for humanity’s entire understanding of the discipline as a whole (in this case we are talking about astronomy). Therefore, future generations of scientists will certainly have something to do and something to discover in the field of knowledge of the nature of the Universe.