Cosmic ripples put inflation to the test

• Autores: Lisa Grossman
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2962, 2014, págs. 10-11
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Here, Grossman details the vision of cosmic expansion, called inflation, that got a big boost last week with the announcement of the first sighting of primordial gravitational waves, ripples in space-time linked to the universe's rapid growth spurt. The findings, reported by the BICEP2 team, are already helping physicists sort through the mountain of theories for how inflation happened. But there are a few wrinkles, including the fact that hints of the waves seem much more pronounced than they should be, according to previous observations of the early universe. Resolving the discrepancies--perhaps using results due out later this year from the Planck space telescope--might give a glimpse of physics from before the big bang.