Big Bang and Beyond

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Big Bang and Beyond

• Did someone monkeyed with the laws of nature ?

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Theories of the Origin of the Universe

• Theological Theories
• Greek Mythology (Chaos)
• Hinduism (Cosmic sleep of gods)
• Chinese creation myth (Pangu)
• Biblical account of the creation (God)
• Scientific Theories
• Continuous creation
• Big Bang Theory the commonly accepted theory

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Big Bang

• Technically, there was no bang
• Technically, galaxies are not moving away from
  each other
• Reality space expands
• When there are more space between galaxies, they
  move away from each other
• Analogy dots on an expanding balloon
• Isaiah 4512
• I have stretched out the heavens...
• Its only ancient document that mentions an
  expanding Universe

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Evidence for the Big Bang

• Theory predicts an expanding universe
• Confirm by Red Shift (Doppler effect) in spectrum
• Theory predicts cosmic background radiation
• Background radiation was discovered in 1964 by
  Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, who later won the
  Nobel Prize for this discovery

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Beyond the Big Bang

• Big Bang Theory explains how the Universe first
  started but leaves many unanswered questions
• Time, Space and Matter were created in the Big
  Bang
• Before the bang, there were no time, no space and
  no matter
• Physics has not solved the question Whats
  before the Big Bang
• If I hear a small bang, I will ask Who or what
  caused it
• So Who or what caused the Big Bang ?
• Other factors determine how the Universe will
  develop
• Amount of matter in the Universe
• Physical properties of the matter
• Strength of the fundamental forces

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Fundamental Forces in Physics

• Gravitational force
• Attractive force between objects with mass
• Weakest, long range
• Electromagnetic force
• Attractive and repulsive
• Long range, 1039 times stronger than gravity
• Nuclear Weak force
• Cause neutrons to decade into a protons
• Range lt10-17 m, 1028 times stronger than gravity
• Nuclear Strong force
• Hold the nucleus together
• Range lt10-15 m, 1041 times stronger than gravity

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Gravitational Force

• Law of Gravity
• M mass of one object
• m mass of second object
• G 6.67 x 10-11 Nm2/kg2
• r distance between the objects

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Electro-Magnetic Force

• Coulomb Law
• Strength of EM-force determines how strongly
  electrons in an atom are held in orbit

proton
electron
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Nuclear Weak-force

• Repelling force that cause beta-decay

proton
neutron
anti-neutrino
electron (beta-particle)
The strength of the nuclear weak-force determines
how fast neutrons are converted into protons and
electrons
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Nuclear Strong-force

• Hold nucleus together by overcoming the repelling
  protons in nucleus
• Strength of the nuclear strong-force determines
  how fast nuclear reactions will proceed

proton
neutron
neutron
proton
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Thinkering with the Force...

• Fact
• The fundamental forces in nature have strength
  that is determined by a number of physical
  constants
• For example gravitational constant in the Law
  of Gravity, Coulumb constant in the
  Electro-magnetic force
• Question what would happen to the Universe if
  the values of these physical constant were
  changed ?
• Say, what would happen if the gravitational (or
  some other) constant would be off a little bit ?
• We would surely weight a bit more on EarthBUT...
• Physicists did NOT expect earth-shattering
  consequences

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Precondition for Life

• Stars of the right type for sustaining life
  supportable planets only can occur during a
  certain range of ages for the universe.
• stars of the right type only can form for a
  narrow range of values of the gravitational
  constant
• Living cells consists of light and heavy elements
  (Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, and metals such as
  Iron, Copper, ect)
• To make both light and heavy elements, the
  strengths of the fundamental forces must lie
  within a very narrow range of values
• Many many other preconditions exists

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Amazing Findings...

• Brandon Carter presented his ideas about the
  anthropic principle in 1973 in Poland during
  the 500th birthday of Copernicus
• The anthropic principle states that
• All the seemingly arbitrary and unrelated
  constants in physics have one strange thing in
  common these are precisely the value you need
  if you want to have a universe capable of
  sustaining life
• Astronomer Fred Hoyle once said
• A commonsense interpretation of the facts
  suggests that a SUPERINTELLECT has MONKEYED with
  physics . . . and that there are no blind forces
  worth speaking about in nature.
• And Fred Hoyle was an..Atheist

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The strength of the Gravitational force

• If gravitational force was made a bit stronger,
  stars will be more massive and burn more
  violently and unstable
• More harmful radiation to life deadly to life
• If gravitational force was made a bit weaker,
  stars are too light and do not become
  super-novae
• Element heavier than iron are only formed when
  stars explode as a super-novae no life possible
  without them

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The strength of the EM-force

• If the electro-magnetic force is slightly weaker
• Too weak to hold electrons in orbits about nuclei
• Universe will consists of loose protons and
  electrons, no atoms, and thus no life will be
  possible
• If the electro-magnetic force is slightly
  stronger
• atom could not "share" an electron orbit with
  other atoms
• No chemical reactions possible and no life

proton
electron
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Strength of the Nuclear Weak-force

• If Nuclear Weak-force is made a bit stronger
• neutrons would decay more readily, and there
  would be little to no neutrons left
• Neutrons are necessary to form heavier elements
  used in living cells no neutrons, no heavy
  elements, no life.
• If Nuclear Weak-force is made a bit weaker
• Plenty of neutrons will be available
• Stars can use neutrons to burn most or all of the
  hydrogen into helium (and subsequently to heavy
  elements)
• But little or no hydrogen will be left no
  hydrogen, no water, and no life

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Strength of the Nuclear Strong-force

• If Nuclear Strong-force is made a bit stronger
• Nuclear reactions will be very efficient (fast)
• Most or all hydrogen will be converted to Helium
  and then on into Iron
• No hydrogen, no water, and thus, no life
  possible
• If Nuclear Strong-force is made a bit weaker
• Force is too weak to overcome electro-magnetic
  repulsion of protons in nuclei
• multi-proton nuclei would not hold together
• No carbon or oxygen, no proteins, no water, and
  thus no life possible

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Thats just the beginning...

• Many more amazing coincidences that make life
  possible have been discovered
• The composition of our sun is just right, the
  distance of the Earth to the sun is just right,
  the size of the Earth is just right, the orbit of
  the Earth is just right, the size of our moon is
  just right and even the giant planets (Jupiter)
  are just right for life on Earth
• Other amazing coincidences makes it possible
  for the stars and galaxies to form

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A coincidence at nuclear scale

• The following is an account of a series of
  amazing coincidences in nature that dazed an
  atheist astronomer and many others
• I have to take you into nuclear Physics
• Brace for the ride please ask questions if you
  dont understand something

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Nuclear Reaction

• Electrons can only occupy a number of specific
  orbits around the nucleus each orbit represents
  a certain energy level
• So also, nucleus of atoms can occupy a number of
  specific energy levels
• In a nuclear reaction, the Law of Conservation of
  Energy must hold

Kinetic nuclear energy before Kinetic
nuclear energy after
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Nuclear Reaction 2

• When nuclei collide, they form a new nucleus
• If the energy level of the new nucleus is very
  different from one of its natural energy state,
  the new nucleus is unstable and will decompose
  (radio-activity)

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Nuclear Resonance

• If sum total of kinetic and nuclear energy before
  and after are very close to each other, the
  nuclear reaction will proceed very rapidly
• In such case, we say there is Nuclear Resonance
• Resonance between atomic nuclei depends on
• Structure of the nuclei involved
• Temperature under which the nuclear reaction
  takes place
• Resonance between atomic nuclei are extremely
  rare in nature.

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Nuclear Reaction in Stars

• Matter are converted into energy in stars through
  a number of nuclear reactions
• The three primary nuclear reactions (after these,
  the star is almost burned up) are
• Proton-proton cycle
• Helium fusion
• Carbon cycle

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Proton-proton cycle

• The proton-proton cycle will burn Hydrogen into
  Helium (first phase of star development)
• When all Hydrogen are burned, phase 2 kicks in

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Helium Fusion

• After all the Hydrogen is converted to Helium,
  the star converts Helium to. What ?
• Here we have a major problem...
• When two Helium nuclei are fused into
  Beryllium-8, the resulting Beryllium-8 isotope is
  highly unstable
• Beryllium-8 has a half life of 10-16 seconds !!!

Helium
Beryllium-8
Helium
lt 0.0000000000000001 sec
According to the physics of Beryllium-8, stars
cannot burn Helium
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A Stellar Mystery

• Dilemma
• According to the physical properties of
  Beryllium-8, stars cannot burn beyond Helium
• Yet, Helium is being converted in Carbon in stars
  all the time
• First proposed solution Triple collision

Helium
Carbon-12
Helium
Helium
Triple collisions are extremely rare and the
rarity cannot explain the abundance of carbon
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Ed Salpeters solution...

• Faced with the dilemma that stars convert Helium
  into Carbon at great rate, and no plausible
  explanation for this process, the astrophysicist
  Ed Salpeter proposed the following solution in
  1952

Helium
Helium
Beryllium-8
Helium
BUT Beryllium is extremely unstable
Carbon-12
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Fred Hoyles insight

• Fred Hoyle realized that the only way that
  Salpeters solution can produce Carbon at the
  rate that is happening in stars is

Helium
Helium
Beryllium-8
Helium
Nuclear resonance !!! (Very fast reaction)
Problem there is no known energy level of the
Carbon-12 nucleus that is near the sum total
energy values of He and Be
Carbon-12
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Fred Hoyles wild guess

• So Fred Hoyle hypothesized (guessed) that there
  must be such a natural energy level of the
  Carbon-12 nucleus
• Hoyle calculated the temperature inside a large
  star to be about 100 million degrees
• and worked out how much kinetic energy this would
  give to the particles rushing around in the
  star's atmosphere.
• Knowing the masses of both beryllium-8 and
  Helium, his hypothesis predicted that there must
  be an excited state at an energy of 7.6 million
  electron volts in the nucleus Carbon-12
• I did tell you that nuclei resonance was rare
  everyone was skeptical about Hoyles
  prediction...
• A team at Cal. Tech. led by Willy Fowler (later a
  Nobel Prize winner) began the search for the
  mysterious resonant state in carbon-12, and
  discovered it - just 4 percent above Hoyle's
  prediction !!!

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Yet another amazing coincidence...

• We are not out of the wood yet... Heavier
  elements must be formed specifically
• You want to form Oxygen (necessary for life !)
• But you want to keep some Carbon (also necessary
  for life)

Carbon-12
Oxygen-16
Helium
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A missed resonance

• In order to have this nuclear reaction going
• You need a natural energy level of Oxygen-16
  close to the sum total of the energy levels of
  Carbon-12 and Helium
• But not too close - if the level is too close,
  most or all Carbon-12 will be converted, so you
  want this energy level to be off a bit

Carbon-12
Oxygen-16
Helium
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Another coincidence

• Wellthey did find that resonance level of
  Oxygen-16 and it did miss the resonance level to
  slow the production of Oxygen-16
• These two coincidences caused atheist atronomer
  Fred Hoyle to comment
• If you wanted to produce carbon and oxygen in
  roughly equal quantities by stellar
  nucleosynthesis, these are the two basic levels
  you would have to fix, and your fixing would have
  to be just about where these levels are actually
  found to be....
• A commonsense interpretation of the facts
  suggests that a SUPERINTELLECT has MONKEYED with
  physics . . . and that there are no blind forces
  worth speaking about in nature

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Flatness-oldness problem

• The following incredibly precise tweaking of the
  Universe is known as the Flatness-oldness problem
• The amount of matter created in the Big Bang has
  a profound impact on how the Universe will
  develop
• Matter attract and will pull the Universe back
  together towards one point
• There is a critical amount where the attraction
  will halt the expansion and the Universe will
  slow down and stop expanding
• If the total mass in the Universe is less than
  critical, the Universe will keep expanding
• If the total mass in the Universe is more than
  critical, the Universe will stop expanding and
  contract (Big Crunch)

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Place your bet...

• Suppose X represents the critical mass of the
  Universe, what do you think that the total of
  mass of the Universe is ?
• There are so many possible values to pick from
  for the total mass of the Universe
• An does it matter how much mass there is in the
  Universe ?? (You will be amazed by the results)

0
X
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Some results from Theoretic Physics
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Interpretations of the results

• IF the density of the matter after 1 nsec from
  the Big Bang is equal to 447,225,917,218,507,401,2
  84,017 mg/cc, the Universe would have collapsed
  by now.
• IF the density of the matter after 1 nsec from
  the Big Bang is equal to 447,225,917,218,507,401,2
  84,015 mg/cc, the Universe expands so rapidly
  that galaxies and stars cannot form.
• To get the (flat) Universe in which we (probably)
  live in, the density of the matter after 1 nsec
  from the Big Bang must be equal to
  447,225,917,218,507,401,284,016 mg/cc not one
  gm more nor one gm less
• No wonder than many scientists believe that, the
  Universe was designed

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And there is much more...

• There are many more examples of coincidences in
  nature without which life could not have
  developed
• Science has coined a term to describe these
  strange coincidences Anthropic Principle (The
  Universe is destined to support (human) life)
• For more examples
• http//cheungpc.mathcs.emory.edu

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(Not) The End (just
out of time)