Found: evidence of cosmic inflation: Proof of the big bang?

Scientists have confirmed the big bang expansion evidence of cosmic inflation.

There is a thread about the gravity waves possibly being found, though this is rather major in the science community, the thread is about the confirmation of cosmic inflation as well as the corresponding diagrams and how this ties to the big bang theory.

Additionally, I placed this in the science forum as it might not be welcome in the religious forums though perhaps some religious people might have a counter theory that might be interesting, or even some bible quotes that supports such theory.

My own opinion is that most religions are based on arcane wisdom and often match science knowledge, perhaps the ancients knew more than are credited for, just in case anyone wondered my view on this.

Just like to add, this isn't a religion bashing thread not aimed at provoking anyone.

www.space.com...

Astronomers have found the first direct evidence of cosmic inflation, the theorized dramatic expansion of the universe that put the "bang" in the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, new research suggests.

If it holds up, the landmark discovery — which also confirms the existence of hypothesized ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves — would give researchers a much better understanding of the Big Bang and its immediate aftermath.

"If it is confirmed, then it would be the most important discovery since the discovery, I think, that the expansion of the universe is accelerating," Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who is not a member of the study team, told Space.com, comparing the finding to a 1998 observation that opened the window on mysterious dark energy and won three researchers the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics.

A team led by John Kovac, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, is announcing the results today (March 17), unveiling two manuscripts that have not yet been submitted to peer-reviewed journals. Nature released a video describing the cosmic inflation discovery earlier

Wow - this is huge!

Thanks for posting it - and especially for including those excellent infographics.

S&F...I read later...Thanks

More evidence for the big bang.
Amazing stuff OP makes me proud to be a human being
I wonder where all the guys who scream "No big bang it is BS" are?.
They know who I mean lol.

So we have more evidence for the Big Bang. The moment
when all matter in the universe, originating from a single point
in space smaller than the head of a pin, exploded our entire
universe into being in less than a trillionth of second.

WOW

I have to say, as a casual observer of the human condition, that
this claim is right up there with all the claims of all the religious
Gods we have created for ourselves, in the believability factor.

BUT

At least this one is based on science and not superstition.

FINALLY

I still believe this: That eventually all the energy of all the
stars in the universe will burn out. That eventually all the
energy of the all the forces in the universe will burn out.

And at that moment, the only energy left will be an energy
that we have yet to understand. This energy will slowly begin to
pull all the matter of the universe back together. And then
like a great black hole it will all re-condense into an infinitely
small point in space...

and then...

BANG!

I love astronomy and I follow carefully everything about it. It's so interesting, but I just have this one question that makes my head hurts every time i think about it. Okay, I can accept that the Universe was indeed created with a big explosion, but my question is, what was going on before that explosion? Was there anything else? Was it just a one big nothing? Just emptiness?

Oh man...I don't understand how can people be sane while studying this...

reply to post by Nikola014


That is where science stops, i don't think we can really prove what happened before the big bang. all we can prove was that there was something, because nothing can't exist. That is where philosophy and religion and stuff should come into play.

AzureSky
reply to post by Nikola014

 

That is where science stops, i don't think we can really prove what happened before the big bang. all we can prove was that there was something, because nothing can't exist. That is where philosophy and religion and stuff should come into play.

Agreed.

I believe we are simply a bubble in an endless sea of bubbles.

Beyond that, the questions pile up so fast that it almost defies thinking about at our present point of understanding.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


I am SO fed up with the "big bang theory". Not that I think it's wrong, but because I think there are other possibilities.

Personally, I think a Big "Collision" is FAR more likely and negates all the debate for those who argue you can't make something out of nothing.

Humanity...suckers destined to be ignorant from the start.

Stop funding "scientists" and "astro-whatevers" and use the money for what really matters in the here and now because all the wishing and wondering will be pointless if we obliterate ourselves anyway.

reply to post by nerbot


Yeah stop all scientific advances..heck why stop there lets stop trying to cure Aids, lets just forget that human beings want to find out the answers, lets go back to the dark ages eh? In fact lets burn the ones who have this need to explore our universe and understand the whys and hows.

Pfft.

This is a great discovery, pity it will just roll over most peoples heads.

I've seen mentioned elsewhere, that this 'Gravity Wave' discovery provides support to the theory of the Multi-verse existence. I hope so! I would like to visit the dinosaur-Earth (described by Dr Michio Kaku in a video) in which a dinosaur-populated Earth still exists, in another dimensional universe of the multiverse, and overlapping our existence - allowing dinosaurs to be in our living rooms at this time. I guess that would require an interdimensional Stargate to pass through.

boymonkey74
Yeah stop all scientific advances..heck why stop there lets stop trying to cure Aids,

Maybe if these scientists had spent more time trying to cure aids my opinion wouldn't rattle you so much.

reply to post by nerbot


They are, many different aspects of science and this discovery quenches the thirst for knowledge we humans have and makes us more knowledgeable about the place we live in.
This can not be a bad thing, the more we understand the better it will be for us all.

reply to post by nerbot


The thing is, practically EVERYTHING is science, from the earliest crop growing, choosing mates for reproduction, the psychology that determines our every thought, motive and action, the most effective way of roasting meat, catching / growing food, knowing when is best to sow and reap crops, knowing the seasons, weather patterns etc that has naturally evolved into more detailed science that is the study of everything, it is humanities primary enabler.

Science is an inevitable part of evolution and whilst there is intelligence and the impetus for understanding and improving, it is part of the primary instinct and drive of humanity, and perhaps all intelligent life form.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


Yes, improving is flexible a term. Subjective, sometimes it improvements are for humanity, others for wallets. Whats the difference?

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


I've just come up with something that blitzt my brain what if we're expanding as well ! What if we double in size every day. Surly our way of measuring will expand at the same rate wow brain fried now

nerbot

boymonkey74
Yeah stop all scientific advances..heck why stop there lets stop trying to cure Aids,

Maybe if these scientists had spent more time trying to cure aids my opinion wouldn't rattle you so much.

Why aren't you curing aids? What's your excuse? Whatever it is, it's no worse than the excuse COSMOLOGISTS would have for not curing AIDs.

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


I find it odd that few people besides myself consider the universe set in place prior to the "big bang." Hence, the expansion an assembly and polarization the product of a "push" via competing centripetal and centrifugal currents.

reply to post by bitsforbytes


Obviously the science just for financial gain is perhaps unscrupulous but, ultimately it isn't the science at fault, the science is possibly useful, generally, that includes astrophysics etc, as many advances in materials and medical science are made from such studies

Unscrupulous pharma etc is another matter.

reply to post by Americanist


The big bang theory postulates that there is ''something'' prior to it, it cannot yet answer the nature of that ''something'', unless comprehending a totality as in a 'God' energy or inclusion as part of a greater multiverse.

This new confirmation of cosmic inflation might well bring answers as to the nature of the universe pre big bang.

science.howstuffworks.com...

Here's a thought: What if our universe is but the offspring of another, older universe? Some astrophysicists speculate that this story is written in the relic radiation left over from the big bang: the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

Astronomers first observed the CMB in 1965, and it quickly created problems for the big bang theory -- problems that were subsequently addressed (for a while) in 1981 with the inflation theory. This theory entails an extremely rapid expansion of the universe in the first few moments of its existence. It also accounts for temperature and density fluctuations in the CMB, but dictates that those fluctuations should be uniform.

That's not the case. Recent mapping efforts actually suggest that the universe is lopsided, with more fluctuations in some areas than in others. Some cosmologists see this observation as supporting evidence that our universe formed out of a parent universe.

In chaotic inflation theory, this concept goes even deeper: an endless progression of inflationary bubbles, each becoming a universe, and each of these birthing even more inflationary bubbles in an immeasurable multiverse [source: Science News].

Still other models revolve around the formation of the pre-big bang singularity itself. If you think of black holes as cosmic trash compactors, they stand as prime candidates for all that primordial compression, so our expanding universe could theoretically be the white hole output from a black hole in another universe. A white hole is a hypothetical body that acts in the opposite manner of a black hole, giving off serious energy and matter rather than sucking it in. Think of it as a cosmic exhaust valve.

Some scientists propose that our universe may have been born inside a black hole, and every black hole in our own universe could each contain separate universes as well.

Other scientists place the formation of the singularity inside a cycle called the big bounce in which our expanding universe will eventually collapse back in on itself in an event called the big crunch. A singularity once more, the universe will then expand in another big bang. This process would be eternal and, as such, every big bang and big crunch the universe ever experiences would be nothing but a rebirth into another phase of existence.

The last explanation we'll discuss also supports the idea of a cyclical universe, courtesy of string theory. It surmises that new matter and energy spring into existence every trillion years when two extra-dimensional membranes, or branes, collide in a zone outside our universe.