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TheBigBang

Introduction

Inthisunit,wepresentthethreemainlinesofexperimentalevidencepointingto
thebigbangoriginoftheUniverse:(i)therecessionofthegalaxies;(ii)the
microwaveremnantoftheearlyfireball;and(iii)thecomparisonbetweenthe
calculatedprimordialnuclearabundancesandthepresentdaycompositionof
matterintheUniverse.

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LearningOutcomes

Bytheendofthisunityoushouldbeableto:

describethecharacteristicsoflightemittedbystars,andhencethe
informationofcosmologicalinterestthatcanbededucedfromit;
distinguishbetweentrueandfalsestatementsrelevanttothedistribution
andmotionofstarswithingalaxies,andofgalaxieswithinclustersand
superclusters;
outlinethemethodsusedforestimatingthedistancestostarsandto
galaxies;
explainandapplyHubbleslaw;
distinguishbetweenvarioussourcesofredshiftandestimatetheirrelative
importanceinagivensituation;
describethecosmicmicrowaveradiationintermsofitsorigin,itsthermal
nature,andhowitstemperaturehaschangedwithtime;
explainhowobservationsofthermalradiationareaffectedbythemotion
oftheobserverwithrespecttoit;
outlinetheevidenceconcerningtheisotropyoftheUniverse;
describethemostimportantbasicnuclearreactionstakingplaceinthe
earlystagesofthebigbang,andhowthefinalmixofelementsproduced
providesevidencetodayforthebigbang.

1Introducingcosmology
GeneralrelativityhasaverydifferentconceptualbasisfromthatofNewtonian
mechanics.ItssuccessinaccountingfortheprecessionofMercury'sorbit,and
thebendingoflightbymassiveobjectsliketheSun,givesusconfidencethatour
pictureofspaceandtimeshouldbeEinstein'sratherthanNewton's.Inthisand
thefollowingunits,weturnourattentiontothestudyofthelargescalestructure
ofspacetime.Weseehowspacetimeasawholeiscurvedbythegross
distributionofmassandenergyintheUniverse.Thisdistribution,togetherwith
thequestionofhowtheUniversehasdevelopedovertime,isthesubjectof
cosmology.

Astronomyandcosmologyaresubjectsthatmergeintooneanotherwiththe
singlecombinedaimofunderstandingthestructureandhistoryoftheUniverse.
Thebasisandmotivationforthewholesubjectareacomesultimatelyfrom
astronomersobservations.SincethedaysofGalileo,opticaltelescopesofever
greatersizehavebeenmade.Inthelast60years,ithasbeenpossibletostudyan
increasingrangeoftheelectromagneticspectrumasdifferenttypesoftelescope
havebecomeavailable.ThefirstradiotelescopesweremadejustbeforeWorld
WarII.Infrared,ultraviolet,Xrayandgammaraytelescopesthenfollowed,
oftenoperatingfromspacecraftabovetheEarth'satmosphere.Thesemethods
havebecomesocomplicatedthatwehaveattemptedtooutlineonlycertain
results;afarlongercoursewouldhavebeennecessarytodoanythinglikejustice
tothedelicacyandsophisticationofthetechniquesinvolved.

Whathavewelearnedfromthesenewtechniques?Firstly,matterhasbeen
detectedinawidevarietyofformsinterstellargasaswellasthestars
themselves,forinstance.Secondly,ithasbecomepossibletoperformdetailed
studiesoftheradiationfromtheveryancientUniverse.Thesedevelopmentshave
givencosmologistsamorecomprehensivelistoftheformsofmassandenergy
thatgovernthespacetimeoftheUniverse.Next,matterhasbeendetectedat
muchgreaterdistancesthemoredistantviewprovidingcosmologistswith
moretellingtestsoftheirmodels.Thentherehasbeentheincreasinglydetailed
informationonspectra,withitsevidenceonthecompositionsoftheemitting
bodies.Thisinformationisofparticularconcerntotheastrophysicist,whotries
tounderstandtheevolutionofstarsandothertypesofmatter.Suchevolutionis
governedbystellardynamicsandtheprocessesofnuclearphysics.Thelatterwill
betouchedonlater,thoughwithreferencemoretonuclearreactionstakingplace
intheveryearlyUniversethantothoseoccurringinthestarstoday.

Wehopetobuildabridgebetweenthetwoextremestherawdataobtainedby
theastronomer,andthemetricparametersderivedbythecosmologist.Thus,we
examinethereasonsforbelievingthattheUniversehaditsoriginsinthebig
bang.Weshallfindthattherearethreeindependentpiecesofevidenceall
pointingtothesameconclusion.Sections2to4introduceyoutothefirstof
these.
2Radiationfromthegalaxies

Starsoccuringreatcollectionscalledgalaxies.Thedistributionandmotionof
galaxiesprovideuswiththefirstimportantexperimentalinformationonwhich
weshallbuildourunderstandingofthetypeofuniverseweinhabit.So,whatdo
weknowaboutgalaxies?

Allthestarsthatcanbedistinguishedbythenakedeyeafewthousandin
numberbelongtoonegalaxy:ourownMilkyWayGalaxy.Sometimesitisjust
writtenGalaxy,withacapitalG,todistinguishitfromallthebillionsofother
galaxiesintheobservableUniverse.

OurGalaxyhastheoverallshapeofaflattenedspiral.AsshowninFigure1,we
arehalfwayinsidetheGalaxysothespiralformisnotobvioustousaswelook
atthesky.Infactithasonlybeenrevealedbydetailedradiomapping.Thisis
becausetherearelargesectionsoftheGalaxythatareobscuredfromoptical
observationsbytheinterveningdustandgaswhichscatterandabsorbvisible
light.(However,theyareessentiallytransparenttoradiowaves.)Iftherewerean
unobscuredviewthroughtelescopes,wewouldbeabletoseetothefarsideof
theGalaxy,andindoingsowewouldrecordabout1011starswithinit.
 Figure1:TheSolarSystemisabouthalfwayoutfromthecentreofthe
MilkyWaygalaxy.Wehavearelativelyclearviewoutwardsfromthedisc
toothergalaxies

Fortunatelyforastronomers,thestars,thoughvastinnumber,displayadegreeof
uniformitywhichmakestheirclassificationandstudypossible.Theirmassesare
broadlysimilarmostarecontainedwithinacoupleofordersofmagnitude,
withourSunhavingatypicalaveragemass.Theydodifferconsiderablyinsize
andthereforeindensity(sincetheirmassesaresimilar),butthesedifferencesare
thoughtprincipallytorelatetodifferentstagesinthelifeofastarratherthanto
differenttypesofstar.Thesevariousstagescorrespondtodifferenttypesof
nucleitakingpartinthenuclearreactionsthatprovidetheenergyoutput.Itisone
ofthefeaturesofastrophysicsthatoneisabletotakenucleardataobtainedinthe
laboratoryandusethemtounderstandthevariousstagesofevolutionseenin
differentstars.Themainprocessinyoungstarsisasequenceofreactionsleading
tothefusionofhydrogennucleitomakeheliumnuclei.Later,heliumfusesto
formcarbon,thencarbonundergoesreactionswhichbuildupheaviernuclei.
Thiscancontinueuptoiron.Thedifferentreactionstakeplaceatdifferent
temperaturesandpressures,sothisprogressionofreactionsgovernsthesequence
inwhichastarchangesitssizeandappearance.

Stellarevolutionistooslowaprocessforustoseeanyparticularstarundergo
changeinonehumanlifetime,apartfromafewexceptionallyyoungstars,and
someveryoldstarsundergoinggravitationalcollapseleadingtosupernova
explosions.Butbyobservingdifferentstarsattheirrespectivedifferentstagesof
development,itispossibletopiecetogetherthewholeofatypicalstellarlife
cycle.

Thegeneralideaofanevolutionarysequenceonethatcanbereconstructedon
acomputerisofconcerninthisunitforthefollowingreason:when
astronomerslookataverydistantgalaxy,theyarereceivingradiationthatleftits
sourcelongago.Thegalaxywill,therefore,seemyoungerthanitactuallyisnow.
Thetraveltimeforthelightmayhavebeenhundredsorthousandsofmillionsof
years.Tointerprettheobservations,oneneedstoknowhowthepoweroutputof
thegalaxyevolveswithtime.

Thelightfromatypicalgalaxyderivesmostlyfromthestarsitcontains,with
onlyasmallamountfrominterstellarmatter.So,tounderstandthepoweroutput
ofagalaxyonehastoaddtogetherthelightfromabout1011starsatvarious
stagesofdevelopment.Wecannotassumethatthestarsofthedistantgalaxywill
beemittingthesameamountoflightasthoseofourownGalaxytoday;the
distantstarswillbeseenatanearlierstageintheirdevelopmentwhenperhaps
theirpoweroutputwasdifferentfromwhatitactuallyisnow.Indeed,thereisan
addedcomplication.Theevolutionofastardependscriticallyonitsmass.Avery
massivestarwillshinemuchmorebrightlythanalessmassiveone,butovera
muchshortertimeperiod.Itcouldbethatwhenwelookatayounggalaxy,we
seemanymoremassivestarslivingouttheirbriefactivelivesthanweobserve
todayinourownGalaxy.SothemassdistributionofactivestarsinourGalaxy
mightnotberepresentativeofwhatweseehappeninginthedistantyounger
galaxy.Itisdifficulttoknowhowtocompensateforthis.Themassdistribution
ofthestarsinagalaxydependsonthewaythegalaxywasformed,and
unfortunately,theformationandgrowthofgalaxiesremainsanunsolved,orat
leastpoorlyunderstood,problem.

Insummary,weknowlittleaboutthewaythepoweroutputofagalaxychanges
withtime,andthisrepresentsaseverelimitationonthecosmologist'suseand
interpretationofastronomicaldataonpoweroutput.Thefrustrationthiscauses
willbecomeapparentlater.

Thelightfromagalaxycantellusmorethanjustitsoverallpoweroutput.
Additionalinformationcomesfromtheanalysisofitsspectrum.Letusassume
thatlightcomesmainlyfromthestarsandthatwecanignoreinterstellarmatter.
Themajorityofgalaxiesaretoofarawayforittobepossibletoresolve
individualstars,andthereforethebestonecandoistotakethespectrumofthe
galaxyasawhole:1011starssummedtogether.Howcanwerelatethistoastellar
spectrum?

Thelightfromastarcomesfromthehotlayersofgasnearitssurface.Thislight
filtersoutthroughthedilutelayersabove.Asitdoesso,characteristicpatternsof
absorptionlinesareimprintedonthespectrum.

Figure2showspartoftheabsorptionspectrumoftheSun,comparedtoan
emissionspectrumproducedinthelaboratory.
 Figure2:TheabsorptionspectrumoflightfromtheSun,forwavelengths
between390nmand450nm.Itiscomplicatedbecauseofthemanyelements
involved.Thebrightlinesaboveandbelowtheabsorptionspectrumbelong
totheemissionspectrumofalaboratoryreferencesource
HaleObservatories
Question1

Abeamofwhitelightispassedthroughabulbcontainingcalciumvapour.
Explain,inbroadterms,withtheaidofdiagrams,thenatureofthelight
transmitted,(a)inthedirectionofthebeam,and(b)atanangletoit.

Nowreadtheanswer

Thespectrallinesinthelightfromagalaxyenabletheastronomertoidentifythe
elementsemittingthelight.Anyoftheninetyorsostableelementsmaybe
present,butthelighterelements,especiallyhydrogen,areusuallythemore
abundant.Becausesomeelementsarecommontomoststars,theabsorptionlines
oftheseparticularelementswillbevisibleinthelightofthegalaxyasawhole.
Also,theabsorptionlinesofmagnesium,sodium,calciumandironareofteneasy
todistinguish,eventhoughotherelements,suchashydrogenandhelium,are
moreabundantthanthese.

Usuallytheabsorptionlinesaresharpandidentifiable,despiteseveraleffects
whichcanbroadenthem.OneoftheseeffectsisaDopplershiftcausedbythe
rotationofthesource.Forexample,thespectrallinesofcalciumatomsmoving
towardsuswouldhavetheirapparentfrequenciessystematicallyincreased
(blueshifted)accordingtotheequation

wheref0istheobservedfrequency,f1istheemittedfrequencyand isthespeed
ofappoach.Thespectrallinesofatomsmovingawayfromuswouldbe
correspondinglyredshifted.ThisDopplershiftcausesthewidthofagiven
spectrallinetobroadenifweareviewingtherotatinggalaxyalongtheplaneof
itsdiscsothatthelightabsorbingatomsbelongingtostarsononesideare
movingawayfromus,whilethoseontheoppositesidearemovingtowardsus
(referbacktoFigure1).Inaddition,thestaritselfmightberotatingsothat
differentpartsofthestarwouldhavedifferentcomponentsofvelocitytowardsor
awayfromus,therebyincreasingthebroadening.Randommotionsofstarscan
alsocauselinebroadeninginasimilarway.

Theshiftsandbroadeningsofthelinesarenotusuallybadenoughtomaskthe
spectrum.Therefore,althoughagalaxyisaverycomplicatedlightsource,its
lightisnotjustameaninglessjumbleoffuzzylines.Therearesomefeatures,
suchasthecalciumlines,whichstandoutsharply.
Question2

(a)ItcanbeshownthatwhenradiationrisesaheightHneartheEarth'ssurface,
thereisashiftinfrequencytowardstheredendofthespectrumgivenby
f/f=gH/c2,wheregistheaccelerationduetogravity.Whenradiationstarting
fromthesurfaceofabodyofmassMandradiusRescapestoalargedistance,it
suffersafractionalfrequencyshiftf/f=GM/Rc2,whereGisthegravitational
constant.Outlinethestepsyouwouldneedtotaketoestablishtheconnection
betweenthesetwostatementswithoutnecessarilygivingthederivation.(Hint:
Bearinmindthatg=GM/R2.)

(b)ImagineastarwithamassM=21030kg,aradiusR=7108manda
periodofrotationT=2106s(similartotheSun).Supposealsothatthetypical
speedofturbulentmotionintheatmosphereofthestaris6000ms1.Howisthe
frequencyofthehydrogenlinewhosewavelengthinthelaboratoryis656nm,
affectedby:

(i)gravitationalredshift;

(ii)Dopplershiftduetorotation;

(iii)Dopplershiftduetoturbulence?

(ThevaluesofGandcaregiveninthedatasheet,andtheformulaforthe
Dopplershiftoflightisgivenintheequationabove.)

Nowreadtheanswer

Table 1
f/MH
f/f
z

gravitatio 2.121
6 970
n 0

7.331
rotation 3350
06

turbulenc 2010
6 9150
e

Inmanygalaxies,spectrallineshavebeenobservedwhoserelativepositions
correspondexactlywiththoseofaknownelement(sothatthespectrumis
confidentlyidentified),butwhoseabsolutefrequenciesareallnoticeablyshifted.
Thiscanhavenothingtodowiththerandommotionsofthestarswithinthe
galaxy,ortherotationsofeithertheindividualstarsorofthegalaxyasawhole;
allthesemotions(beingasoftentowardsusasawayfromus)wouldmerely
broadentheline.Anetshiftofallthelinesinaspectrumseemstosuggestthat
thegalaxyitselfhasalineofsightmotion(i.e.acomponentofvelocitytowards
orawayfromus).Theshiftisnearlyalwaystolongerwavelengths,i.e.towards
theredendofthevisiblespectrum,soitisreferredtoastheredshift.Ifthe
redshiftisinterpretedasaDopplershift(aninterpretationweshallreconsider
later)duetothemotionofthegalaxies,thenitfollowsthatmostofthegalaxies
arerecedingfromus.Inotherwords,theUniverseisexpanding.

Thetermredshifthasaprecisedefinition:itisequalto/,whereisthe
shiftinwavelengthofalinewhoseemittedwavelengthis.Thevalueof/is
thesameforallthelinesinthespectrumofanobjectrecedingatagivenspeed,
andisnormallydenotedbyz:

where0istheobservedwavelengthnow,and1isthewavelengthatemission.
Theseredshiftsinthespectraofgalaxiesaregenerallyfarlargerthanthestellar
effectsconsideredinQuestion2,ascanbejudgedfromFigure5.
 Figure5:Theabsorptionspectraoffivedifferentgalaxies.Onlythemost
stronglyabsorbedlines,commontothebulkofthestars,arevisible,butthis
isenoughtogivearecognisablepattern
HaleObservatories

Insummarythen,whendealingwithlightfromstars,therearethreewaysin
whichthefrequencycanbeshifted:

(i)TheDopplershiftduetomotionwhetherthatarisesthroughtherotationof
thestar,itsbodilymotionalongthelineofsight,orturbulenceinitsatmosphere.
Thistypeofshift,whichcanberedorblue,isaccountedforbyspecialrelativity.

(ii)Thegravitationalredshift,arisingfromgeneralrelativity.
(iii)Anewtypeofredshiftduetotherecessionofthegalaxies,whichisalsoa
consequenceofgeneralrelativity.

(Notethatitiscustomarytoreservethesuffix,0,forthevaluesofquantitiesas
theyareatthepresenttime,t0.Valuesatothertimesmustcarrysomeother
suffix.Inthisway,weendupwiththerathercounterintuitivesituationwhere1
appliestoanearliertime,t1,than0.)

Question3

Hydrogenhasemissionlinesat434,486and656nm.Agalaxyisobservedto
havethesethreelinesredshiftedinwavelengthby2%(i.e.z=/=0.02).
Whatwavelengthswillbeobserved?Whatisthefrequencyshiftf/f?

Nowreadtheanswer

Asweshallseelaterinthisunit,theredshiftingalacticlighthasprovidedoneof
themaincluestothenatureofthelargescalestructureofspacetime.Butto
discoverhowthepatternoftheredshiftsobservedindifferentgalaxiesreveals
thisstructure,weneedfurtherinformationaboutthedistancesofgalaxies.

3Distancesofgalaxies

3.1Firststepstowardsadistancescale

AsyouwillseefromTable2,whenitcomestoastronomyandcosmology,oneis
calledontodealwithawiderangeofdistances.(Notethatalightyear(ly)isthe
distancelighttravelsinoneyear,i.e.9.461015m.Thedistancesarealsoquoted
inaverycommonlyusedastronomicalunitofdistance:themegaparsec,Mpc,
whereaparsec(pc)is3.26lyor3.091016m.)

Table 2
Distance

1.28light 1.251014
EarthMoon
seconds Mpc

8.3light 4.81012
EarthSun
minutes Mpc

1.23106
Neareststar 4ly
Mpc
 Diameterofour
105ly 3102Mpc
Galaxy

Distancetonearest
2106ly 1Mpc
galaxy

1.2103
Farthestgalaxyseen 4109ly
Mpc

Tomeasurethedistanceofafaroffgalaxyclearlyrequiresaseriesofsteps.The
firstofthese,theEarthSundistance,isbasedonourknowledgeoftheorbital
periodoftheEarthabouttheSun,andthatofsomeotherplanet.Onecanthen
readilyobtainanestimateoftheirrelativedistancesfromtheSunbyusing
Kepler'sthirdlaw.Toconvertthistoanabsolutemeasurement,oneneedsa
determinationoftheactualdistancebetweentheEarthandtheplanetatsome
time.Inpractice,thisfixisgainedbymeasuringthedistancestoMercury,Venus
andMars,usingradar.ThesethenallowonetocomputetheEarthSundistance.
Itiscurrentlyestimated,withobvioushighprecision,tobe149597870.66km.

Knowingthis,thediameteroftheEarth'sorbitcannowbeusedasabaselinefor
measuringthedistancetonearbystars,usingthesurveyor'striangulationmethod.
OnemakesangularmeasurementsonastarfromoppositeendsofanEarth
orbitaldiameter,i.e.atintervalsof6months.Atthetimeofwriting(2004),data
fromtheHipparcossatellitesurpassinprecisionandscopeallprevious
measurementsofnearbystellardistances.

Butnomatterhowgoodthissatellitegathereddata,theresooncomesastage
wheretheanglesbecometoosmalltomeasureaccuratelyusingthetriangulation
method.Someothermethodmustbeemployedtoextendthedistancescaletothe
moredistantstars.

Ifasourcehasaknowntotallightoutput,i.e.knownluminosity,thenitcanbe
usedasastandardsource.Thedistanceofthesourcecanbefoundfromthe
receivedlightpower.Thefurtherawaythestaris,thefainteritappears.The
relationshipfollowsaninversesquarelaw(allowingforvariouscorrections,such
asthatduetotheabsorptionoflightbyinterstellardust).Thelightpower
receivedperunitareaofdetectoriscalledthefluxdensity.Itfollows,summing
overtheareaofaspherecentredonthestarandofradius,r,equaltothedistance
tothestar,thatintheabsenceofabsorption:
Unfortunatelystarsdifferwidelyintheirluminosities,soifwesimplylookupat
theskyandpickoutafaintstar,itmaybeeitheranintrinsicallydimstar,ora
particularlydistantstarorpartlydimanddistant.

Thisambiguitycanbepartlyovercomebyrecognisingthat,whileitisimpossible
todirectlymeasuretheluminosityofaparticularsource,onecanestimatethe
temperatureofthestar.Thisisdonefrommeasurementsontheoverallshapeof
itsemittedspectrumstarsemittingpredominantlyintheredpartofthe
spectrumbeingcoolerthanthosethatemitmoreintheblueregion.Thusthe
spectrum,andhencetemperature,canbedeterminedwithafairdegreeof
confidence.Now,itturnsoutthatwhenobservationsaremadeonacompact
clusterofstars(theclusterbeingsmallenoughforallitsstarstobeconsidered
equidistantfromus),aplotoffluxdensityversustemperaturegenerallygivesthe
samedistributionnomatterwhichclusterischosenapartfromanoverall
constantfactordependingonthedistancetothecluster.Thus,themostlikely
luminosityofastarisrelatedtoitstemperature.Butinordertousethe
temperaturesofstarstoobtainluminosities,andhencedistances,fromEquation
2,weneedtoprogressbeyondaplotoffluxdensityversustemperaturetooneof
luminosityversustemperature.

Inordertoachievethis,studieshavebeenmadeofagroupofabout100stars
calledtheHyadesstarcluster.Thisgroupiscloseenoughtousforitsdistance
tobedeterminedbytheHipparcossatellite.Knowingthisdistanceandtheflux
densityofthestars,theluminositiescouldbeestablished,andtheplotof
luminosityversustemperaturecalibrated.Bystudyingthefluxdensitiesand
coloursofstarsmoredistantthantheHyadesstarcluster,wecanusethis
calibratedplottoinfertheirdistancesfromus.

ThismethodappliestostarsconfinedtoourownGalaxy.Asforstarsinother
galaxies,mostofthesecannotbedistinguishedseparately.So,thenextstepisto
trytofindaparticularlybrighttypeofstaronethatcanberecognisednotonly
inourGalaxybutalsoinneighbouringgalaxies.Ifthiswerepossible,itwould
giveusamethodofextendingthedistancescaleouttoothergalaxies.
Fortunatelytheredoesexistatypeofstarthatcanberecognisedatleastin
neighbouringgalaxiesastarknownasaCepheidvariable.Theimportant
characteristicofaCepheidisthatitslightoutputvariesinaregularfashion,with
aperiodwhichisdirectlyrelatedtoitsmeanluminosity(seeFigure6a).The
variationisduetocyclicalchangesindiameter.Therelationshipbetweenmean
luminosityandperiodcanbecalibratedbystudyingCepheidsthatare
sufficientlyclosefortheirdistancestohavebeenmeasuredbymethods
mentionedearlier.Sowheneversuchstarscanbedistinguishedfromtheother
typesofvariablestarinthemoredistantgalaxies,theirluminositiescanbe
deduced(seeFigure6b).Comparingluminositywiththemeasuredfluxdensity
thenenablesthedistanceofthestartobecalculated.Cepheidshavebeenused
extensivelytomeasurethedistancestonearbygalaxiesthosebelongingtoa
clusterofgalaxiesknownastheLocalGroup(tobedescribedlater).Following
theadventoftheHubbleSpaceTelescopewithitssuperiorresolutionof
individualstars,itbecamepossiblein1996toextendCepheidbased
measurementsasfarasagalaxyknownasM100,intheVirgocluster,yieldinga
distanceof5.6107ly.

Figure6:(a)An18daysectionofthelightcurveofthetypicalCepheid
variable,DeltaCephei,whichhasa5.37dayoscillation.(b)Theobserved
relationshipbetweentheperiodandluminosity(inwatts)ofCepheid
variables(1W=1Js1).Noticethatbothscalesarelogarithmic,sothe
straightlineimpliesthatperiod(luminosity)m,where1/mistheslopeof
theline.
basedonH.Arp(1960)inAstronomicalJ.
,65,426
AnothertypeofstarthatcanberecognisedinothergalaxiesisaTypeIa
supernova.Whathappensisthis:whenamediumsizedstar,suchastheSun,
approachestheendofitsactivelife,itshrinksdowntoasmallstarcalleda
whitedwarf.Ifthewhitedwarfhappenstobelongtoabinarysystemoftwo
stars,itcan,fromtimetotime,capturematerialfromtheatmosphereofits
companion,soincreasingitsownmass.Butthisisaprocessthatcannotcontinue
indefinitely.Themaximummassforawhitedwarfis1.4solarmasses;anything
abovethatlimitanditsinnerforcescannotresisttheinwardpullofgravity,and
thestarhastocollapsedowntothenextstableform(calledaneutronstar).
Thus,thewhitedwarfinthebinarysystemcancapturematerialonlyuptothis
limitingmass.Onceitexceedsthislimit,thecollapseoccurswiththeexcess
energyemittedasanexplosiontheTypeIasupernova.Becausewhitedwarfs
arealwaysofthesamelimitingmasswhenthishappens,theexplosionsare
similar,yieldingessentiallythesamespectrumandvariationoflightintensity
overtime.(ItisthesecharacteristicsthatallowtheTypeIasupernovaetobe
distinguishedfromothertypes.)Whytheyareimportantinthepresentcontextis
that,towithin30%,theyhavethesameluminosity.Takingintoaccountthatthe
variationinluminositywithtimedoesshowadifferenceincharacteristicdecay
times,andthesearecorrelatedtosomewhatdifferentvaluesofpeakluminosity,
allowancecanbemadeforthis,andtheuncertaintyspreadinpeakluminosity
reducedto20%.Thisinturnleadstorelativedistancesmeasurableto10%.

TypeIasupernovaeprovideuswithstandardlamps(orstandardexplosions!),
that,attheirpeak,are100000timesbrighterthanaCepheid,andarevisible
hundredsoftimesfurtheraway.Havingestablishedtheirluminosityby
measuringthefewthatoccuringalaxiesforwhichthedistanceisalreadyknown
frommeasurementsonCepheids,theycanbeusedtoextendthedistancescaleto
verygreatdistances.

Thishoweverstilldoesnotgofarenough.Sincenormalstarscannotberesolved
inthefarthergalaxies,theadditionalmethodsofestimatingdistancewillhaveto
bebasedonthepropertiesofgalaxiesasawhole.Wethereforeinterruptthe
distancestorytodescribesomepropertiesofwholegalaxies,showingfirstwhy
theyareimportanttocosmology,andthenhowtheyhaveledtonewwaysof
measuringdistance.

Question4

Supposeanastronomerusingatelescopeof2mdiameterhasadetectorwhose
limitofsensitivityis3.21017W.UseFigure6todeduce,forthisinstrument,
theperiodofthefaintestCepheidvariablethatcanbeobservedatadistanceof
2106ly[lightyears].

(Remember:ThevalueofalightyearinSIunitsisgivenonthedatasheet)
Nowreadtheanswer

3.2Somegeneralpropertiesofgalaxies

Firstly,wenotethatgalaxiestendtooccurinclustersratherthansingly.The
mutualgravitationalattractionofgalaxiesnaturallytendstoholdthemonpaths
thatremainclosetoeachother.Typicallyaclustercontainstensorhundredsof
galaxies.Thereare,however,largeclusterswiththousandsofgalaxies,andthere
aresomesolitarygalaxies.OurownGalaxyisamemberofasmallishclusterof
about36galaxiescalledtheLocalGroup(seeFigure7).Atypicalclusterof
moderatesizeisshowninFigure8.
 Figure7:Ourclusterofgalaxies,calledtheLocalGroup.M31,the
Andromedagalaxy,canbeseenwithbinoculars.TheLargeMagellanic
Cloudisoneofournearestneighbours,andisvisibletothenakedeyefrom
theSouthernHemisphere
fromLeGrandAtlasdelAstronomie
,EncyclopaediaUniversalisediteur

Figure8:Aclusterofgalaxieswhosepositionintheskyisbehindthe
constellationofstarsinourGalaxywhichwecallHercules.Thisclusteris
notvisibletothenakedeyenotbecauseitistoosmallbutbecauseitistoo
faint
HaleObservatories

Howarethegalaxyclustersdistributed?Aretheycloseenoughtoaffecteach
other?Iftheyare,thenthemotionofagivenclusterwoulddependmostlyonthe
distortionofspacetimecausedbyitsnearestneighbours.Becausethedistances
betweenclustersvary,thiswouldcorrespondtoalargespreadinrelativespeeds.
Attheotherextreme,iftheclustersofgalaxieswereveryfarapart,thenthe
attractionofneighbouringclusterswouldbenegligible,andthemotionwouldbe
dominatedbytheoverallspacetimecurvatureduetothematterofthewhole
Universeamuchsimplersituation.
Infact,galaxyclustersarelooselyassociatedinsuperclusters.However,theyare
farenoughapartforonetoregardclustersasessentiallyindependent(seeFigure
9).Thefactthatclustersare,ineffect,independentofoneanotherisofcentral
importancetocosmology.Itmeansthataclusterofgalaxiescanbetakenasthe
basicparticleofcosmologicaldynamics,andthemotionofindividualgalaxies
withinaclustercanbeignoredonthegrandscaleofcosmology.Thus,we
conclude:

Galaxyclustersarethebasictestparticlesofcosmology,theirmotionfollowing
geodesicpathsthroughspacetime.

Figure9:Averyschematicviewofthreeclusters,showingtypicaldiameters
ofgalaxies(singledots)andclusters(groupsofdots),andtypicaldistances
betweenclusters

Inotherwords,agalaxyclusterplaysasimilarroleonthegrandscaletothatofa
planet(e.g.Mercury)mappingoutthelocalregionofspacetimeintheSolar
System,orNewton'sfallingappledoingthesamethingclosertotheEarth's
surface.

Thenextimportantpropertyofgalaxiesisthatthereisastatisticalpredictability
abouttheirmassesandluminosities.Figure10showstheproportionofgalaxies
havingagivenluminosity.Itvariesoverquiteawiderange,thedistribution
fallingoffsteeplyonthehighluminosityside.(Notethattheluminosityis
expressedintermsof(absolute)magnitudes,thisbeingaparametersuchthat
thesmallerormorenegativethevalueofthemagnitude,themoreluminousthe
object.Thisratheroddchoicearisesforhistoricalreasons.)Therearelarge
numbersoftheleastluminousgalaxies(shownbytherisingcurveontheleft
handside),butinpracticethesetendtobeinvisibleinthemoredistantclusters
whichareofgreaterinteresttocosmologists.Nodoubtitwouldhavebeeneasier
forcosmologyifgalaxieshadbeenmoresimilar.However,becausegalaxies
occurinclusters,onecanatleastusestatisticalmethods.Forinstance,the
distributionofluminositiesismoreorlessthesameforallclusters,resultingin
theaverageluminosityofgalaxiesinaclusterbeingfairlystandardeventhough
theindividualgalaxiesvarygreatly.Thisstatementassumes,ofcourse,thatwe
aredealingwithgalaxyclustersofthesameage.Aswehavealreadypointedout,
thismightnotbethecasewhenobservinggalaxiesatagreatdistance,andhence
astheyweresometimeinthedistantpast.

Figure10:Numberofgalaxiespermagnitudeclasspercubicmegaparsec,as
afunctionofabsolutemagnitude.Differentsymbolsrepresenttheresultsof
differentobservers
basedonErikHolmberginE.M.andG.R.Burbidge(1975)Galaxiesandthe
Universe,UniversityofChicagoPress

3.3Extendingthedistancescale
Havingreviewedsomeofthepropertiesofgalaxies,wearenowinapositionto
returntothequestionofhowwearetodevelopfurtherourmethodsofmeasuring
distance.

Thevariousstepstakenindetermininglargerdistancesfromknownsmallerones
areoftencalledrungsinthedistanceladder.Theprocessofconstructingarung
hasbeen:

1. Findameasurablequantityassociatedwithaclassofobjects.
2. Observehowthemeasurablequantitydependsondistanceforobjects
closeenoughtohavehadtheirdistancesmeasuredbythemethodofa
previousrung.
3. Assumethesamerelationshipholdsformoredistantobjectsofthesame
class,andhencecalculatetheirdistances.
4. Returntostep1,withanewmeasurablequantity.

The classes of objects (and distance indicators) for the first four rungs of the distance
ladder were:

Sun (byradarranging)

NearbystarsinourGalaxy (bytriangulation)

(usingCepheid
OurGalaxyandnearbygalaxies
variables)

Nearbyandsomewhatfurtheroff (usingTypeIa
galaxies supernovae)

Thesedistanceindicatorsalldependedonrecognisingaparticulartypeofstar.
But,aswasmentionedinSection3.1,individualstarscanberesolvedonlyin
galaxiesthatarenottoodistant.Formostgalaxies,amethodisneededwhich
dependsonrecognising,ordeducing,theluminosityofthegalaxyasawhole.
Although,asalreadynoted,individualgalaxiesvaryconsiderablyintheir
luminosity,theyoccurinclusters.Asimplerulewhichseemstoworkinpractice
istoassumethatthethirdbrightestgalaxyinallclustershasthesameluminosity
(astandard1037Wlamp).

Analternativemethodistoseparategalaxiesintodifferenttypes,withthe
assumption,oratleastthehope,thatthetypeshavecharacteristicluminosities.
Therearecertainlygenericdifferencesbetweenspiralgalaxies(Figure11)and
ellipticalgalaxies(Figure12).Butitisalsowellestablishedthatthereisauseful
correlationbetweentheluminositiesofspiralgalaxiesandtheirrotationspeeds,
whichcanbedeterminedfrom(radio)observationsofDopplerbroadening.
Figure11:SpiralgalaxyM81(NGC3031),takenwiththe200inchtelescope
atthePalomarObservatoryinCalifornia.Thisgalaxy,likeourown,has
tightlywoundarmsandaprominentbulge(knownasanuclearbulge)
HaleObservatories
Figure12:M59(NGC4261),anellipticalgalaxyabout19Mly(i.e.1.9107
ly)away.Likeallellipticalgalaxies,M59hasnospiralarms
NASA/IPACExtragalacticDatabase(NED),JetPropulsionLaboratory,
CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology

Anothermethodexploitsthefactthatsometypesofradiogalaxy(socalled
becausetheyarestrongemittersatradiofrequencies)arefairlyuniforminsize,
andradiointerferometerscanresolveverysmallangularseparationsathousand
timessmallerthanthoseresolvedbyopticaltelescopes.Theapparentsizeleads
toanestimateofthedistanceofthegalaxy.Becausesomeradiogalaxiesarealso
visibleatopticalwavelengths,theopticalandradiodistancescalescanbe
intercalibrated.

Yetanothermethodshouldalsobementioned.Itinvolvesthebehaviourofa
singlestarinagalaxy,thoughonetoodistanttoberesolved.Wehavealready
mentionedTypeIasupernovae.Theseareeventsthatoccurwhenawhitedwarf
(whichitselforiginallyresultedfromthelaststagesintheactivelifeofa
mediumsizedstar)capturesmaterialfromacompanionstar,andundergoes
collapsetoaneutronstar.Ifinsteadofamediumsizedstaronebeginswitha
verymassivestar,thenattheendofitsactivelifeitcatastrophicallycollapses
directlytoaneutronstarorblackhole.Thisleadstoagiganticexplosioneven
moreenergeticthanaTypeIasupernova;itiscalledaTypeIIsupernova.These
explosionsarebrightenoughtobevisibleatlargedistancesinsomecases
brieflyshiningmorebrightlythanalltheotherstarsofthegalaxyputtogether.
Unfortunatelytheyareratherrare,occurringonlyonceeveryhundredyearsorso
inatypicalgalaxy.ATypeIIsupernovaexplosioncausesasphericalshellofhot
gastoexpandoutofthestarathighspeedthousandsofkilometrespersecond.
Thespectrallinesintheobservedlightfromthisshell(mostlyfromhydrogen
andthereforeeasilyidentified)areblueshiftedbyitsvelocitytowardsus.
Knowingthisvelocityfromtheamountofblueshift,theincreaseinsizeofthe
shell,monthbymonth,canbecalculated.Thustheshellisasourceofknown
size,eventhoughthiscannotberesolvedfromanobservedangularwidth.The
temperaturecanbefoundfromtheoverallshapeofthecontinuousspectrum
betweenthespectrallines.Knowingboththesizeandtemperatureoftheshell,its
totallightoutput(thatis,itsluminosity)canbefound.Fromthisandthe
observedfluxthisandtheobservedfluxdensity,thedistancecanbecalculated
usingtheinversesquarelaw.

Remember,luminosity=4 r2fluxdensity,whereristhedistance.
 Figure13:NGC5457,aspiralgalaxyinourLocalGroup,havinglooser
armsandafarlessnoticeablenuclearbulgethanthegalaxyshowninFigure
11
HaleObservatories

Question5

Commentonthetruthorotherwiseofthefollowingstatements:

(i)Averagingstatisticallyovertheluminositiesofitsconstituentgalaxies,each
clusterofgalaxiescanbeassumedtohavethesameoverallluminosity.

(ii)ThedistancemeasuringmethodinvolvingTypeIIsupernovaereliesonthe
factthattheshellofmaterialthrownoutbytheexplosiongreatlyexceedsthe
parentstarinsize,totheextentthatitcanbeopticallyresolved.

Nowreadtheanswer

4Thevariationofredshiftwithdistance

4.1Hubble'sdiscoveries

Inthissection,webringtogethertwoimportantfeaturesofgalaxiestheir
redshiftsandtheirdistances.

ThiscrucialdevelopmentowesitsoriginstoEdwinHubble.Hispioneeringwork
in1923firstledtotheconfirmationthatcertainofthefuzzypatchesinthesky,
looselycallednebulae,wereinfactgalaxieslikeourown.
Figure14:(a)NebulaNGC6514,acloudofgasanddustinourownGalaxy;
(b)HubbleshowedthatobjectslikeM31(NGC224,nowcalledthe
Andromedagalaxy)weregalaxieslikeourown,andtheyceasedtobecalled
nebulae.ThetwolargebrightpatchesnearM31aresatellitegalaxies,NGC
205andNGC221
(a)courtesyofUppsalaUniversity;(b)HaleObservatories

ItwasimmediatelyrealisedthattheUniversewasenormouslybiggerthanhad
previouslybeenthought.Alsothenumberofgalaxieswaslarge.Infact,itisnow
knownthatthenumberofgalaxiesaccessibletoourtelescopesiscomparable
withthenumberofstarsinourGalaxyabout100billion(i.e.1011).

AsecondsignificantdiscoverymadebyHubbleconcernedthespectraof
galaxies,nearlyallofwhichareredshifted.Thisredshiftwasasystematicshiftof
allthelinestotheredendofthespectrum(itwasdiscoveredbyanotherUS
astronomer,VestoSlipher).Usinghismeasurementsofdistance,Hubbleshowed
thattheredshiftincreasedwithdistance.Asfarashecouldtell,theredshiftofa
galaxywasproportionaltoitsdistance.
 Figure15:Theredshiftdistancerelationshipforgalaxies,asplottedby
Hubblein1929.Thesolidlinerepresentstherelationshipinferredfrom
individualgalaxies(solidcircles),thedashedlinetherelationshipwhenthe
galaxiesarecombinedintogroups(opencircles).Hubble'sdistancescalehas
beenomittedsinceitisnowknownthatitwasinerror.
basedonE.P.Hubble(1929)inProc.Nat.Acad.Sci.
,15,168

Hubble'soriginalmeasurements,showninFigure15,exhibitedalargescatter
aboutastraightline.Thiswaspartlyduetotheinevitableobservational
uncertainties,especiallyindistancemeasurements.Butevenifonewereableto
removetheobservationaluncertainties,therewouldstillhavebeena
considerablescatteraboutastraightline.Thiscomesfromthefactthatmostof
thegalaxiesHubblelookedatweremembersofclusters,andeachwasmoving
aboutwithinitscluster.Becausethegalaxieswereratherclosetous,thespeeds
associatedwiththisrandommotionwerecomparabletotherecessionalspeed
Hubblewastryingtomeasure.Sometimesthemotionofthegalaxyrelativeto
theclustercentrewasdirectedtowardsus(givingablueshiftcomponent),
sometimesawayfromus(addingafurtherredshiftcomponent).Ifthestructure
oftheclusterwerewellenoughknown,theseeffectscould,inprinciple,be
estimatedandacorrectionapplied.Allowancemustalsobemadeforsmall
gravitationalredshifts(seeQuestion2).Finally,themotionoftheEarthwith
respecttoourLocalGroupmustbesubtracted.(ThiswillbediscussedinSection
6.2.4.)Supposethatallthesecorrectionscouldbeperfectlymadeinallcases.
Thenaredshift(z)againstdistance(r)plotwould,asfarasweknow,appearas
inFigure16.
Figure16:AnidealisedHubblediagramwithallsourcesofscatterremoved

ThestraightlineinFigure16wouldrepresenttheunderlyingcosmological
redshift.Thus,forthiscosmologicalredshift,wehave

InterpretingtheobservedredshiftasaDopplershiftimpliesthateachgalaxyis
recedingataspeedproportionaltoitsdistancefromus.Toseethis,considerthe
Dopplershiftformulaandtherelationshipbetweenredshift,wavelengthchange
andfrequencyshiftgivenintheanswertoQuestion3.Itfollowsthatthe
redshift,z,isgivenby

Hence,Equations3and4togetherimplythat

ThisprovidesthebasisforoneofthecommonwaysofwritingHubble'slaw,
Thefactorofproportionality,H,issometimescalledtheHubbleconstant.But
thetermparameterisperhapspreferablesincethewordconstantmightlead
onetothinkthatitshouldremainconstantintimeinsteadofbeingaconstantof
proportionalitybetweentwovariablesasthosevariablesareataparticular
pointintime.Hmust,wenowrealise,varyslowlywithtime.

Ifthespeedofrecessionisproportionaltodistance,thisimpliesalldistances
betweengalaxiesareincreasingatthesamerate.Notonlydoallclustersof
galaxiesappeartoberecedingfromushereonEarth,theywouldappeartobe
recedinginexactlythesamemannerfromwhatevervantagepointanobserver
adopted.

Hubble'sworkhasbeencontinued,refined,andextendedtomuchmoredistant
andfaintergalaxies.

Question6

Takingtypicalinterclusterdistancestobeapproximately2108ly,andthevalue
ofHtobeabout21018s1,estimatetheminimumzvaluethatcanreliablybe
ascribedtotheexpansionoftheUniverse.Comparethiswiththeredshifts
measuredbyHubbleinFigure15.

Nowreadtheanswer

Sinceitishardtomeasurethedistancetoafaroffgalaxy,itisnotsurprisingthat
therehasbeenagooddealofcontroversyaboutthereliabilityofdistance
estimates.Theredshiftmeasurementsaremucheasiertomakeandaremore
direct,sotherehasbeenmuchlessuncertaintyoverthem.Nevertheless,itis
usefultohaveacheck,andthishasbeenprovidedbyradioastronomers
measuringtheredshiftoflinesintheradiospectrum,suchasthatduetothe
emissionofhydrogenatawavelengthof21cm.Thisconfirmsthattheredshiftis
thesameoveralargerangeoffrequencies.

Basedonarangeofrecentresults,thevalueofHiscurrentlyreckonedtobe
2.31018s1,withanobservationaluncertaintyofabout10%.

Hubble,whointerpretedredshiftsintermsofrecessionalvelocities,wouldquote
thisas23kms1foreverymillionlightyearsofdistanceofagalaxy.Estimates
ofHareoftenquotedintermsofkms1Mpc1.Intheseunits,Hisabout70km
s1Mpc1.

IthasbecomecommonusagetowriteH=h100kms1Mpc1,inwhichcaseh
currentlyhasabestestimateof0.7.

WeendthissectionwithamoreuptodateversionoftheHubblediagram
(Figure17)forsomegalaxiesandclustersofgalaxies.

Figure17:Aplotofredshiftagainstdistanceforaselectionofgalaxiesand
clustersofgalaxies
adaptedfromA.Sandage(1970)PhysicsToday
,vol.34,February1970,
AmericanInstituteofPhysics

Question7

UsethesumoftheshiftscalculatedforthestarspecifiedinQuestion2togivean
estimateoftheuncertaintyinthecosmologicalredshiftzforastarinagalaxyat
4106lyfromus.(Thismaybeanoverestimatebecausethecentreofalinecan
beestimatedquitewellevenifthelineisfuzzy.However,inarealgalactic
spectrumtherewillbeafurthercomponentofbroadeningduetogalactic
rotation.)

Nowreadtheanswer

Question8

BytakingappropriatereadingsoffthegraphofFigure17,estimatethevalueof
theHubbleconstant,H,indicatedbythissetofdata.

Nowreadtheanswer

4.2Evidenceforabigbang

Havinginterpretedtheredshiftasindicatingarecessionalspeedproportionalto
distance,onemayextrapolateintothefuturetopredicthowthepositionsofthe
galaxieswillevolvewithtime.Onecanalsorunthesequencebackwards,soto
speak,todiscusswhattheirpositionswereinthepast.Clearly,atformertimes
thegalaxieswereclosertoeachother.

Butnotonlythat.Becauseoftheproportionalrelationshipbetweenspeedand
distance(Equation6),atacertaintimeinthepast,allthematteroftheUniverse
musthavebeentogetheratapointofextraordinarilyhighdensity.Itwasfrom
thisconditionthatitsubsequentlyexpandedgivingthematteroftheUniverseits
presentdaydistribution.Thisisourfirstindicationthatthehistoryofthe
Universefeaturedanexplosiveevent.

Thishasbecomeknownasthebigbang.Itisbelievedtohavemarkedthe
beginningoftheUniverse.(Actuallythephrasebigbangisusedintwoways:
(i)todenotetheinstantatwhichcosmicexpansionbegins;and(ii)torefertothat
instantplusthesequenceofeventsimmediatelyfollowing.Itisusuallyclear
fromthecontextwhichofthesemeaningsisintended.)

Itispossibletodeducemuchaboutthenatureofthebigbangandhowlongago
ittookplaceinotherwords,howoldtheUniverseis.Butweneedtobesure
thattherereallywasabigbang.Whatweseekisevidencethatisindependentof
theobservationofmovinggalaxies.Theremainderofthisunitisdevotedto
describingjustsuchconfirmatoryobservations.Notonlydotheyaddtoour
confidencethattheUniversedidindeedhaveadefinitebeginning,theyalso
informusthatthebeginningwasexceedinglyviolentthebigbangwashot.
Thisindicationassumesgreatimportancewhenweseektogetsome
understandingofthevaryingtypesofprocessthatmusthavebeentakingplace
duringtheinitialstagesofexpansionduringthefirstyears,minutes,even
fractionsofasecondaftertheinstantofthebigbang.
5Themicrowavebackgroundradiation

5.1Asecondmajordiscovery

Intheintroductiontothisunit,wesaidthattherewerethreepillarsofevidence
forthebigbang.Wenowturntothesecond.Itrestsonadiscoverythatranksin
importancewiththatofHubble'slaw.Itcameaboutwhenobservationsinanew
regionoftheelectromagneticspectrumthemicrowaveregionbecame
possible.Thiswasduetotheinventionofnewdetectors,workingatfrequencies
ashighas30000MHz.In1965,twoBellTelephonescientists,A.Penziasand
R.Wilson,wereinvestigatingtheradionoisefoundatwavelengthsbetweena
fewmillimetresandafewcentimetres.Thesewavelengthswere,atthetime,a
relativelyuntappedfieldforcommunications.(Theyarenowveryusefulfor
satellitesbecauseevensmallantennaegivenarrowbeamsatthesewavelengths.
PenziasandWilsonwereworkingontheTelstar/Echosatelliteprojectatthat
time.)

Theyfoundthat,onceallknownsourcesofnoisehadbeenaccountedfor,they
wereleftwitharesidualsignalwhichwascomingequallyfromalldirections.It
wassoonrealisedthatbecauseofthisisotropy,itcouldnotoriginateonthe
Earth,orintheSolarSystem.NorcoulditbecomingevenfromtheGalaxythe
Galaxybeingathindisc,withusnotatitscentre.

Question9

ConsiderourGalaxytobeauniformdiscwhichisgeneratingradiowaves
uniformlythroughoutitsvolume(Figure19).Assumeforthepurposesofthis
questionthatallotherradiosourcesarenegligible.AlsoassumethattheEarthis
inthecentralplaneofthediscbutoffcentre(nearertheedgethanthecentre)and
thatitisatrestintheGalaxy.Sketchgraphsshowingthewaythesignalpicked
upbyaradiotelescopeonEarthwillvarywhenthetelescoperotates:

(a)intheplaneoftheGalaxy;

(b)inaplaneperpendiculartotheGalaxy.
 Figure19:TheEarthinsidetheGalaxy,shownschematicallyasadisc

Nowreadtheanswer

Havingseparatedouttheseothersourcesofbackgroundnoise,itwasconcluded
thattheisotropiccomponenthadtobeofcosmicorigin.Itiscalledthecosmic
microwavebackgroundradiation.

Figure20(a)showshowcomplicatedtheoverallmicrowavespectrumis,due
largelytoasetoflinesgeneratedintheEarth'satmosphere.Figure20(b)focuses
ontheregionatthelefthandsideofFigure20(a).Thisregionisofinterest
becauseitisatlowerfrequenciesthanmostoftheatmosphericlines.The
atmosphericinterferencevarieswiththethicknessoftheatmosphere,andhence
withtheangleofobservation.Thisnoisecanthereforebeseparatedoutfromthe
cosmicsignalinwhichweareinterested.Figure20(b)showsthemicrowave
spectrumaftercorrectingfortheeffectsoftheatmosphere.
 Figure20:(a)Theoverallgroundbasedmicrowavespectrum.(b)Ground
basedmeasurementsbyPenziasandWilson,andbyotherobservers,ofthe
microwaveintensityatvariousfrequencies;anenlargementofthespectrum
shownatthelefthandsideof(a),correctedtoremovetheeffectsofthe
atmosphere.Theshadedarearepresentsthelimitsgivenbymeasurements
madewithadetectorthatcoveredawidebandoffrequencies.(Thesolid
lineshowsathermalspectrumcorrespondingtoatemperatureof2.8K.The
termthermalspectrumisexplainedalittlelaterinthetext.)
(a)basedonD.P.Woodyetal.
(1975)in
Phys.Rev.Lett.
,34,10369;(b)based
onR.A.Muller(1978)inScientificAmerican
,238,6474

In1989,theCOBEsatellitewaslaunched.Itwasabletomakemeasurements
fromabovetheEarth'satmosphereandwasthereforenotsubjecttosomeofthe
problemsencounteredbyPenziasandWilson,andbyothergroundbased
observers.However,amajorcontaminantradiationoriginatingfromwithinthe
Galaxyremained.TheCOBEresults,aftercorrectionforthiseffect,areshown
inFigure21.

Theshaperevealedbythiscloserlookisidenticaltothatfoundforthespectrum
insideahotcavityforexamplethespectruminanovenorfurnace(Figure22).
Itiscalledablackbodyspectrum(becauseitisthatwhichisgivenoutbyan
idealisedheatedblacksurface),orsimplyathermalspectrum.

Figure21:Dataonthemicrowavebackgroundradiationtakenbythe
COBEsatellite.Thecurvethroughthedatapointsisthatofathermal
spectrumof2.73K.NotethatFigure20(b)hadalogarithmicfrequency
scale,whilethisoneislinear
courtesyofNASA/CSFCandCOBEScienceWorkingGroup
 Figure22:Thermalspectraforvarioustemperatures,T,basedon
laboratorymeasurementsofrelativeintensity,W,ofradiationwith
frequencyf

Oneofthebasicfeaturesofthermalradiationisthat,regardlessofthe
temperatureofthesurfaceorenclosuregeneratingit,theshapeofthespectrumis
alwaysthesame.Thepeakofthespectrummovesuptohigherfrequenciesasthe
temperaturerises(itmightglowredhotorwhitehot).Butthebasicshape
remainsthesame.Whatthismeansisthatifthespectrafortwodifferent
temperaturesaredrawnontwographs,wecanalwayschoosescaleslinearbut
differentsothatthegraphscanbesuperimposed(Figures23and24).This
single,characteristicshapearisesfrom,andisanindicatorof,theequilibrium
conditionsinsidetheoven.TherescalinginFigure23worksonlyforthermal
spectra,andsoisatrueindicatorofequilibrium.

Asanexampleoftheoppositeextreme,takethelinespectrafromahydrogen
lampandasodiumlamp.Noamountofrescalingwouldfitthesetwotogether;
theyarequitedistinct.
 Figure23:Whatismeantbytheshapesofthermalspectrabeing
independentoftemperature:(a)isthemeasuredspectrumat998K(from
Figure22);(b)isobtainedfrom(a)byexpandingtheverticalscalebya
factorof(1646/998)3;(c)isobtainedfrom(b)byexpandingthehorizontal
scalebyafactorof(1646/998);(d)isthemeasuredspectrumat1646K
(fromFigure22)plottedusingthesamescalesasthosein(a),andisthe
samecurveas(c).
Figure24:AssuggestedbyFigure23,aplotofW/T3asafunctionoff/Tisa
singlecurve,foralltemperatures;thatis,ifW/T3isplottedagainstf/Tfora
numberoffrequenciesandtemperatures,theplottedpointsforall
frequenciesandtemperatureslieononeandthesamecurve

Sincethecosmicmicrowavespectrumhasathermalshape;theconclusionisthat
itwasgeneratedinequilibriumconditionsinsomesortofcavity.Butthe
radiationfillstheUniverse:thecavityistheUniverseitself,acavitywithno
walls.

Thewordequilibriumisusedherewithsomereservations.TheUniversehas
notreachedoverallequilibrium,andstrictlyspeakingneverwill.Thisisbecause
oftheexpansionoftheUniverse.WesawinSection4.1howthewavelengthof
lightfromdistantgalaxiesisredshiftedduetotheexpansionoftheUniverse.It
turnsoutthatthesamethinghappenstothemicrowavebackgroundradiation;its
wavelengthisalsoincreased.Thepeakfrequencyofthespectrumisreduced,and
thismeanstheradiationisprogressivelycooling.Hencetheradiationhasnot
strictlyspeakingreachedequilibrium.However,theprocesseswhichtransferred
energybetweenradiationandmatterintheearlyUniverseweresorapidthatitis
meaningfultothinkofaquasiequilibriumstatehavingbeenattainedatanearly
time,withthetemperaturegraduallyfallingsubsequentlybecauseofthe
expansionoftheUniverse.

Asecondfeatureofthethermalspectrumisthatifthedetectorissituatedwithin
theovengeneratingit(asdistinctfromlookingatadistantblacksurfaceor
openingtoanoven),theintensityoftheradiationatanyparticularfrequency
uniquelyidentifiesthethermalcurvetowhichitbelongs,i.e.whatthe
temperatureoftheovenis.So,ifFigure22referredtothermalspectrapicked
upbyadetectorsituatedinsideanoven,theordinateofthegraphcouldbe
expressedintermsofabsolute,ratherthanrelativeintensities.Underthese
circumstances,ameasurementofintensityatasinglefrequency,say601012
Hz,wouldbesufficienttoidentifywhichcurvethatdatapointbelongedto,and
hencewhatthetemperatureoftheovenwas.

InasmuchastheUniversecanberegardedasanoven,andweareinit,Penzias
andWilsonwereabletoestimatefromtheintensityoftheradiationatthesingle
frequencytheyweredetectingthatthetemperaturewasabout3K.Forthis
reason,thecosmicmicrowavebackgroundradiationisoftencalledthe3K
radiation.ThespectrumobservedbyCOBEallowedamorepreciseestimateof
thetemperature,namely2.73K.ThisisbasedontheresultspresentedinFigure
21,whereitshouldbenotedthatthedatapointsdonotdeviatefromthethermal
curvebymorethan0.03%,thisbeingconsistentwithmeasurementprecision.
Inthe1940s,sometheoreticiansalreadyhadaninklingthatthisradiationshould
exist,fromthepredictionsoftheircosmologicalmodels.TheAbbeGeorges
Lemaitre,aBelgiancosmologist,wasthefirsttoseeclearly(around1927)that
theexpansionoftheUniversepointedbacktoabigbang.Buthecouldnotget
muchfurtherbecausenotenoughwasknownaboutnuclearphysicsatthattime.
ItwasGeorgeGamowandhiscolleagues,in1948,whofirstsawthatveryhigh
temperaturesmustbeinvolvedatearlytimesinanexpandingUniverse.They
sketchedoutsomenuclearreactionsthatmustthereforehavetakenplace.By
1953,theirreconstructionhadbeenrefinedandgavedefinitepredictionsfor
nuclearabundancesandradiationintensity.Itwasatthisstagetheyrealised
thatradiationhadbeenavitalcomponentintheearlyUniverseandthatthissame
radiation,albeitsubstantiallyredshiftedandcooled,shouldstillbearoundtoday
(therebeingnootherplaceforittogo!).Inthe1950s,radioequipmentalready
existedwhichwassensitiveenoughtodetectthisradiation.Indeed,radio
astronomywasdevelopingfast,basedatfirstonthetechnologyofmilitaryradar
inWorldWarII.Soby1953thestagewassetforthisradiationtobediscovered.
Butasitsohappened,thetwogroups,theoreticalandexperimental,didnot
stumbleintoeachotherforanother12years.Despiteconferencesandjournals,
scientificcommunicationwithNewJerseywasnotaseffectiveas
communicationover1010lightyears!Whentheoryandobservationfinallycame
together,thequestionofprioritytooksomesortingout,asindicatedinGamow's
letter,reproducedasFigure25.
 Figure25:AletterfromGeorgeGamowtoArnoPenzias
courtesyofDrA.A.Penzias

ThereferencetoalmightyDickeattheendofthisletterconcernsR.H.Dicke,
theleaderofagroupatPrincetonUniversity(alsoinNewJersey)whichwas
pursuingboththeoreticalandobservationalresearchintothebackground
radiationinthe1960s.ThepaperbyPenziasandWilsonannouncingtheir
discovery,andapaperbyDicke'sgroupprovidingapossiblecosmological
interpretation,werepublishedbacktobackinvolume142oftheAstrophysical
Journalin1965.
ThespectrumofthermalradiationatagiventemperatureTcanbeexpressedin
termsofafunctionW(f,T)whichgivestheintensityofradiationoffrequencyf.
Theenergydensityofthatpartoftheradiationwithfrequencieslyingbetweenf
andf+fisgivenbyW(f,T)f.TheformulaforW(f,T)wasderivedbyMax
Planckin1900:

whereAandBareconstants.Atlowfrequencies(fT/B),onecanuseasimpler
approximateformula:

Studycomment

WesuggestthatyoudonotomitQuestion10asitcontainsinformationthatwill
beneededlater.

Question10

(a)VerifytheresultrepresentedbyFigure24,thatW/T3isafunctionoff/Tonly,
whichappliesforallfrequenciesandtemperatures.

(b)Usetheresultof(a)toshowthatmaximumintensityoccursatafrequency,
fmax,whichisproportionaltothetemperature.

(c)Imaginethatyoureceivearadiomessagefromaverydistantgalaxy,
informingyouaboutmeasurementsofthecosmicbackgroundradiationat
variousfrequencies(definedintermsoffractionsofthefrequencyofastandard
spectralline).Theseresultsdonotagreewithyourownmeasurementsofthe
radiation.Inparticular,youfindthatthequotedvalueofthemaximumintensity
iseighttimesyourvalueandoccursatafrequencythatistwiceyourfrequency
formaximumintensity.Youfindthatthequotedintensitiesatlowfrequencies
aretwiceyourvaluesatthesamefrequencies.Howcanyouexplainthese
discrepancies?(Youmayassumethatthediscrepancyisnotduetocalibrationor
othererrors.)
Nowreadtheanswer

Question11

(a)Onthebasisofyoursolutionstoparts(a)and(b)ofQuestion10,which
wouldbehotter,aredstarorayellowstar?

(b)ThecurvesofFigure22canbeusedtoextrapolateresultstolower
temperatures.Bytakingameasurementoffthefigure,andusingtheresultof
Question10(b),estimatethefrequencyoftheintensitymaximumforradiation
emittedbyabodyatroomtemperature.Whatisthetermusedtodescribe
electromagneticradiationinthisfrequencyrange?

Nowreadtheanswer

5.2Theoriginofthe3Kradiation

Inspeakingoftheradiationashavingacosmicorigin,whatdowehaveinmind?
Essentiallythis:

IntheviolentconditionsoftheearlyevolutionoftheUniverse,astagewas
reachedwherethematterconsistedofaplasmaofelectrons,protons,neutrons,
andsomelightnucleisuchashelium.Therewerenoatomsassuchforthesimple
reasonthatatomswouldhavebeentoofragiletowithstandtheviolenceofthe
collisionsthatweretakingplaceatthetemperaturethatthenexisted.As
electromagneticradiationpassedthroughtheplasma,itinteractedwiththe
matter,exchangingenergyinpacketsorquantaofmagnitude

wherefisthefrequencyoftheradiationandhisthePlanckconstant.

Theradiationwasmainlyaffectedbyitscollisionswiththeelectrons.Thisis
becausesuchcollisionscausemuchbiggerenergychangestothephotonsthan
collisionswiththefarmoremassivenucleons(justasatabletennisballmaylose
allitsenergyinacollisionwithanothertabletennisball,butwillbounceoffa
relativelymassivebilliardballwithlittlechangeinenergy).Thusthereisaready
exchangeofenergybetweenthephotonsandtheelectrons,intheprocessof
which,theradiationacquiresthethermalspectrumcharacterisedbythe
temperatureoftheelectrons.Theradiationandtheelectronstendtocomeinto
thermalequilibriumwitheachother,andtheelectronsaresaidtohave
thermalisedtheradiation.
AstheexpansionoftheUniverseproceeded,thetemperatureoftheradiation
progressivelyfell,andsodidthatofthematter.Thisfallledtoimportantchanges
inbehaviour.Fromtheearliesttimes,theUniversehadbeenopaquetoradiation,
inthesensethatitcouldnottravelfarbeforeitinteractedwiththeelectrons.But
asthetemperaturedeclinedandphotonenergiesdecreased,astagewasreached
whereelectronscouldbeboundtonucleitoformneutralatomsatomsthatwere
nolongerlikelytobedisruptedincollisionswiththereducedenergyphotons.
Later,theenergyoftheradiationreducedstillfurthertothepointwhereitcould
notevenexcitetheatomicelectronstohigherenergystates.Atthisstage,the
radiationcouldnolongerbestronglyabsorbedbymatter.Thisbeingso,the
Universebecametransparent.Thisstagewecallthedecouplingofradiationfrom
matter.(Youwillfindthatsomebooksrefertothisstageinthedevelopmentof
theUniverseastherecombinationeraratherthanthedecouplingepoch.)It
occurswhentheradiationhascooleddowntothepointwherethemostprobable
photonenergycorrespondstoatemperatureof3000K.Thisoccurredsome
4105yearsaftertheinstantofthebigbang.Thustheradiationwenowobserve
as3Kradiationistoday'scooleddownremnantofthat3000Kbigbang
radiation.

Howconfidentcanwebethatthiswasindeedtheoriginofthe3Kradiation?
Thereareessentiallyfourpropertiesthatleadtothisconclusion:

1. Aswehavealreadymentioned,theisotropyoftheradiationpointsto
someglobal,cosmicorigin.
2. Thespectrumoftheradiationissuchthatitcouldonlyhavebeen
producedbyasufficientlyrapidinteractionoftheradiationwithmatterfor
thethermalenergydistributionoftheparticlesofmattertobeimprinted
ontheradiation.OnlyintheearlydensestagesoftheUniversewere
particlesandradiationinteractingfastenoughforthistohavebeen
achievedwithinthetimeavailable.
3. Thepresenttemperatureoftheradiationofonly3Kislowerthanthatof
mostvisiblemattercurrentlyintheUniverse.Howcoulditbesolow?
Theonlyreasonableexplanationisthatithasbeenstronglyredshifted
indicatingthatithasbeentravellingtowardsusoveranexceedinglylong
periodoftime,i.e.itwasemittedsoonafterthebigbang.
4. Thedensityofphotonscorrespondingtothe3Kradiationisenormous.In
facttherearebelievedtobeabout109timesasmany3Kphotonsinany
largeregionoftheUniverseasthereareneutronsandprotons.Clearlythis
radiationisnomerebyproductofanobscureprocess;itisaubiquitous
featureoftheUniverse.Thispromptsustoaskatwhatstageofthe
Universeisradiationlikelytohaveplayedadominantrole?Theanswer
hastobe:theviolentearlyUniverse.

5.3Theredshiftofthe3Kradiation
Thetemperature,T,oftheradiationisproportionaltothemostprobablephoton
energy,E,whichaswehavesaidisproportionaltof,andhenceinversely
proportionaltothewavelength.Thus,

AccordingtoEquation1,wehavefortheredshift,z

Thus,

Thewavelengthweobservenow,0,isthatcorrespondingtoT3K,whereas
theoriginalwavelength,1,emittedduringthedecouplingepochcorrespondedto
T3000K.Hence

andhencez1000.Thiscompareswithz6forthefurthestopticalobjectsofar
seen(2004).Thiswasassociatedwithaquasar.

Quasarsarebelievedtobethehighlyluminouscentresofcertaingalaxiesatan
earlystageintheirlife.Theycanbe1000timesbrighterthanatypicalgalaxy
andcanthereforebeseenatgreatdistances.
Fromthesezvalues,youcanappreciatehowmuchfurtherbackintimeand
fartherawayindistanceitispossibletolookwithamicrowavedetectorthan
withanopticaltelescope.Evenso,itisimportanttorecognisethatwecannot,
andnevershallbeableto,seerightbacktotheinstantofthebigbang.Forthe
first4105years,theUniversewasopaque.

Question12

Thewavelengthsassociatedwithphotonsincreaseast2/3,wheretisthetimethey
wereemittedafterthebigbang.Assumingthetimenow,t0=1.41010years,
andthatdecouplingtookplacewhenT=3000K,estimatethetime,td,atwhich
decouplingoccurred.

Nowreadtheanswer

6Theangulardistributionofthe3Kradiation

6.1Basicisotropy

Aswehavesaid,thephotonsinthe3Kbackgroundhavebeenpracticallyfree
frominteractionwithanythingsinceabout4105yearsaftertheinstantofthe
bigbang.Thepresentangulardistributionofthemicrowaveradiationtheway
inwhichitisspreadacrosstheskyisthereforealmostthesameasitwasthen.
Thespectrumwefindtodaydependsonthetemperaturesatthattimeforthe
intensityoftheradiationinaparticularregionoftheearlyUniversedepended
onlyonthetemperature.IftheUniverseatthattimewasinhomogeneous(inthe
senseofbeinghotterinsomeregionsthanothers)the3Kradiationobserved
todaywouldbemoreintenseinsomedirectionsthaninothers.

Infact,aswehaveindicated,theradiationislargelyisotropic.Thereare,
however,somesmallsomeverysmallbutsignificantdeparturesfromperfect
isotropy.Butbeforethesecanbeidentified,wehavetotakeintoaccountthe
effectoftheEarth'smotion.Thiswouldinanyeventimposeanapparent
asymmetryontheradiation.Indeed,asweshallnowshow,thiseffectcanbe
turnedtoouradvantageandprovideuswithameansformeasuringthespeedof
theEarthrelativetotheaveragedistributionofmatterandenergyinthe
Universe.

6.2TheeffectofthemotionoftheEarth
6.2.1TheneedforareferenceframefordescribingtheUniverse

ThespeedoftheEarthinitsorbitroundtheSunis29.8kms1,inaheliocentric
frame.Buttospecifythevelocityvector,itisnotsufficienttospecifytheSunas
theoriginofthecoordinatesystem;fixeddirectionsmustalsobeidentified.

Question13

Herearetwopossiblerulesforfixinganx1direction:

(i)Thex1axisistakenasthelinefromtheSuntotheneareststar(Proxima
Centauri);

(ii)Thex1axisistakenaspointinginthedirectionfromthecentreoftheGalaxy
tothenearestlargegalaxy(theAndromedagalaxy).

Arethesetwomethodsequallyacceptable?Ifnot,whichispreferable,andisit
completelysatisfactory?

Nowreadtheanswer

TheconsiderationsofQuestion13forceonetolookatbiggerandbigger
aggregatesofmatterinthesearchforreferencebodieswithrespecttowhicha
systemofcoordinatescanbedefinedindependentlyofthemotioncausedbythe
gravitationaleffectsofnearbymatterinourlocalregionoftheUniverse.We
assumethattheclustersofgalaxiesfulfilthisrole.Butclustersmaybeloosely
associated(thoughnotbound)insuperclusters.

Forthisreason,wewouldliketohaveanalternativewayofestablishinga
referenceframe.The3Kradiationprovidessuchameans.

Ifthe3KradiationfilledtheUniverseatearlytimesandhasnotinteracted
appreciablywithmattersincedecoupling,thenthisradiationdefinesasystemin
whichmatterandenergyintheearlyUniverseareassumedtohavebeen
distributedhomogeneously.Soifweweretofindthatthe3Kradiationis
completelyisotropicwhenobservedonEarth,wecouldconcludethatweareat
restwithrespecttotheaveragedistributionofmatterandenergyintheUniverse.
Inthatsense,theradiationcanbesaidtodefinearestframeoftheUniverse.
Butifwefindthattheradiationisnotisotropic,andmoreover,thatitvariesina
characteristicallysystematicfashionaccordingtodirection,thenwecanconclude
thatwearemovinginaparticulardirectionwithrespecttotheframeinwhichthe
radiationisisotropic.

ItisamatterofgreatinteresttoknowthevelocitiesoftheEarth,theSun,our
GalaxyandourLocalGroupwithrespecttothesystemdefinedbythe3K
radiation.Itmight,forexample,providesupportfortheideathatgravitational
effectswithinasuperclustermustbetakenintoaccountinmappingoutthe
Universe.

6.2.2TheEarth'smotionrelativetothe3Kradiation

Radiationhasenergyandmomentum,sowecanusethemoleculesofafluid
suchasairasananalogyforthephotonsofradiation.Adetectorpointing
forwardsalongthedirectionofourmotion(ifany)willencounteragreater
numberofphotonsthanadetectorpointingbackwards;inotherwords,itwill
recordahigherintensityof3Kradiation.(Ifthedetectoristunedtoanarrow
bandoffrequenciesonewouldalsohavetotakeaccountofthechangein
observedspectrum,buttheprincipleremainsthesame.)

Figure26:Theradiationdetectedatanangletothedirectionofmotion
hasathermalspectrumcharacterisedbyatemperatureT(v,)which
dependsonthespeedvandtheangle.

NotonlydoestheEarth'smotionaffecttheintensityasafunctionofangle,but
alsotheenergyofthephotons.SupposetheEarthismovingwithavelocity
withrespecttotheframeinwhichtheradiationisisotropicandweobservethe
componentofthe3Kradiationthatarrivesinadirectionmakingananglewith
ourdirectionofmotion(seeFigure26).Whatsortofspectrumwouldwe
observe?Onemightthinkthattheobservedspectrumwouldbevery
complicated.Afterall,thephotonshavebeenshiftedtodifferentfrequencies,
becauseoftheDopplereffect,andourclocksandmeasuringrodswillmeasure
differentintervalsoftimeandlength,comparedwithclocksandmeasuringrods
intheframeofisotropic3Kradiation.Butitturnsoutthattheresultisvery
simple:Cosmicmicrowaveradiationobservedatananglerelativetothe
observer'sdirectionofmotionwillstillhaveathermalspectrum,thoughitwill
becharacterisedbyatemperatureT( ,)whichdependsontheobserver'sspeed
andtheangle.(ThisremindsusofhowtheexpansionoftheUniverseaffected
thecosmicbackgroundradiation:inthatcasetoothethermalcharacterofthe
spectrumwasmaintained;onlythetemperaturewaschanged.)

ItisinfacteasytocalculatehowT( ,)dependson and.Weshallusethefact

thatthefrequencyfmax,correspondingtothemaximumintensity,isproportional
tothetemperature(seeQuestion10).Thatmeansthatintherestframe

whereCisaconstantandT0(3K)isthetemperatureoftheradiationinthe
frameinwhichitisisotropic.Butwhenwearemovingwithaspeed and
observingatanangle,wefindadifferentfrequency,fmax,correspondingto
maximumintensity:

Therelationshipbetweenfmaxandfmaxisgivenbytheformulafortherelativistic
Dopplershift:

Thuswefindthat
Thus,ifweweretomeasuretheapparenttemperatureoftheradiationatdifferent
angles,wecoulddetermineourspeed andthedirectioninwhichwearemoving
(whichisthedirectioninwhichtheradiationhasthehighesttemperature,
correspondingto=0).

Radioastronomersmeasuretheintensityofradiationataparticularfrequencyor
overaparticularrangeoffrequencies.Thevariationofintensitywithangleis
particularlysimpleifmeasurementsaretakenatlowfrequencies,wellbelowthe
frequencyformaximumintensity,fmax.Inthisregionofthespectrum,the
intensityatagivenfrequencyisproportionaltothetemperature(seeEquation8),

andhence

ThepredictionofEquation13isplottedinFigure27forvaluesof /c=0,0.1
and0.2.Theangulardistributions(b)and(c)showadipolaranisotropy.
Figure27:Theradiationintensityatlowfrequencies,W(),asafunctionof
,forv/cequalto(a)0,(b)0.1and(c)0.2,whereW()iscalculatedfrom
Equation13.(Notethatv/cfortheEarth'smotionroundtheSunisonly
104)

Athigherfrequencies,thecoefficientofcosismorecomplicatedandmustbe
calculatedfromEquation7.Theresultofsuchacalculation,whichappliesatall
frequencies,is

where
ButforfT/B61010Hz,wehaveF(f)1andobtainthesimplerresultof
Equation13.

6.2.3Measurementoftheangulardistributionofthe3Kradiation

Howaresuchangulardistributionstobemeasured?Oneway,ofcourse,isto
takearadiotelescopeandswingitroundthesky,takingreadingsindifferent
directions.ButasisclearfromFigure20(a),theatmosphereitselfemits
microwaves.Thereisthereforeagravedanger,withthismethod,ofpickingup
differentcontributionsofatmosphericemissionfromdifferentdirectionsmore
asyoupointyourtelescopeclosetotheground,withalongpaththroughthe
atmosphere,lesswhenitisverticalwiththeminimumpaththroughthe
atmosphere.Abetter,andindeedsimpler,waywithagroundbasedtelescopeis
toleavethetelescopeinafixeddirectionwithrespecttotheEarth,sayvertical,
andlettheEarth'srotationcarryitround.In24hours,thetelescopewillbe
carriedroundawholecircle,allowingthemeasuredintensitytobeplotted
againstangleofobservationasindicatedinFigure27.

ThusapracticalprescriptionforlookingforthetranslationalmotionoftheEarth,
relativetotheframeinwhichthe3Kradiationisisotropic,istolookfora
variationwitha24hourperiodintheradiationdetectedbyafixedradio
telescope.Suchasearch,foravariationofknownperiod,canbecarriedoutvery
sensitively.Thatiswhywehavelookedatthedataintwostages,firstaskingif
thedatalookisotropic,andnowaskingmorespecificallyforthemagnitudeof
any24hourvariation.

Afurtherniceexperimentalfeatureisthatthecomponentbeingsoughtisof
period24siderealhours.Humaninterference,ontheotherhand,willtendto
haveaperiodof24solarhours.Thissmalldistinction(explainedbelow)often
allowsaradioastronomertosortoutthepureastronomicalsignalfromthestrong
terrestrialnoise.

SiderealDay

LookingattheEarthfromoutsidetheSolarSystem,oneseesitrevolving366
timesayear,not365.FromourpositionontheEarth,weseeonly365days,
becauseoneturnistakenupintherevolutionroundtheSun.Asiderealdayis
(1/366)ofayearandasolardayis(1/365)ofayear.
Question14

Howlargeachangeinapparenttemperatureofthe3Kradiationisexpecteddue
totheEarth'smotionroundtheSun?HowlargeisitduetotheSolarSystem's
motionof230kms1roundtheGalaxy?(Thedatasheetgivesinformationyou
mayneedtoanswerthisquestion.)

Nowreadtheanswer

6.2.4ThespeedanddirectionoftheEarth'smotion

ThefirstsignificantclaimtohavedetectedthemotionoftheEarthrelativetothe
frameofisotropic3Kradiationcamein1977fromagroupatBerkeley,
California.TheyconcludedthattheEarthismovingataspeedof(39060)km
s1,inadirectiontowardstheconstellationLeo,relativetoaframeinwhichthe3
Kradiationisisotropic.Theirconclusionresultedfromobservationsofa
variationofintensitywithangleoftheformpredictedbyEquation14,whichwe
havecalleda24hourvariation.

NowthismotionoftheEarththroughthe3Kradiationwillbetheresultantof
severalcomponentmotions:

1. TheEarth'svelocityabouttheSun(ofmagnitude30kms1):
2. ThevelocityoftheSunitselfabouttheGalacticcentre(currently
estimatedtobeofmagnitude230kms1):
3. ThevelocityoftheGalaxyrelativetotheLocalGroup;
4. WhatevervelocitytheLocalGrouphasrelativetotheframeofisotropic
3Kradiation.
 Figure28:TheabsolutemotionoftheEarth.TheEarthtravelsinitsorbit
roundtheSunat30kms1andisbeingsweptaroundthecentreofthe
Galaxyat230kms1.ExperimentshowsthattheEarth'snetspeedthrough
the3Kradiationisabout400kms1.TheEarth'snetvelocityliesinthe
sameplaneasitsorbitroundtheSunandatanangletiltedsharplyupwards
(northwards)fromtheplaneoftheGalaxy.Inthisdiagram,theEarth'snet
velocityisdepictedasaheavyarrowcentredontheSun(pointingupwards
andtotheright),sincethetwobodiestraveltogether.Botharebeingcarried
bytheGalaxy'sownmotionthroughthe3Kradiation.Inordertoaccount
fortheEarth'smotionwithrespecttothe3Kradiation,theGalaxymustbe
travellingatabout600kms1inthedirectionshownbythecolouredarrow
centredonthediscoftheGalaxy.
basedonR.A.Muller(1978)inScientificAmerican
,238,6474

TheEarth'sspeedofabout400kms1,relativetothisframeinwhichthe
radiationisisotropic,iscomparabletoitsspeedofabout230kms1relativeto
theGalacticcentreofmass.Nevertheless,theGalaxyasawholemustbemoving
throughthe3KradiationevenfasterthantheEarth,becausethedirectionofthe
SolarSystem'sorbitalvelocityroundtheGalaxyisalmostoppositetothe
directionofmaximumobservedintensityofthe3Kradiationandhenceopposite
tothedirectionoftheEarth'svelocitythroughthe3Kradiation,asdepictedin
Figure28.AddingthetwovelocityvectorsgivesthecentreoftheGalaxya
velocitywhosemagnitudeisabout600kms1withrespecttothe3Kradiation.
NowifourGalaxywereisolated,thisvelocitycouldonlybeinterpretedasa
departure(and600kms1wouldbeanembarrassinglylargedeparture)fromthe
basicideaofcosmologythattheexpansionoftheUniverseissharedbyall
matterandradiation;anisolatedgalaxy,orthecentreofmassofaclusterof
galaxies,shouldnotbemovingwithrespecttothe3Kradiation.ButourGalaxy
isnotisolated,itisamemberofourLocalGroupofgalaxies.Itcannotbe
stationarywithrespecttothecentreofmassoftheLocalGroupbutmust,to
avoidfallingin,betravellingaroundinsomequitecomplicatedorbit.Sothenext
steptowardsanunderstandingofthe600kms1istosubtractfromitthevelocity
ofourGalaxyinitsmovementabouttheLocalGroup.Unfortunatelythis
velocityisnotverywellknown,becausetheestimatesofthemassesofsomeof
thegalaxiesintheLocalGroupareveryrough.Butcurrentdatagivethespeedof
ourGalaxywithrespecttotheAndromedagalaxy(whichistheothermajor
memberofourLocalGroup)as40kms1.Thismightbeanindicationofthe
kindofvelocitywehaverelativetothecentreofmassoftheLocalGroup.Ifso,
itstillleavesanunexplainedspeedof500600kms1.

OurLocalGroupisthoughttobeamemberofaclusterofclusterscalledthe
LocalSupercluster.SothenextstepistosubtractthevelocityofourLocalGroup
withrespecttothecentreofmassoftheLocalSuperclusterfromthe600kms1.
Ifthisisalsothefinalstep,theanswershouldbecompatiblewithzero.
Unfortunately,theuncertaintiesare,atthisstage,toogreattobeabletodecide
whetherthevelocityofourLocalGroupcanbeentirelyexplainedintermsofthe
effectsofaLocalSupercluster.Ifnot,thentheeffectsofotherstructuressuchas
moredistantsuperclustersandthevoidsbetweenthem,mustalsobetakeninto
account.

6.3AnisotropiesintheUniverseitself

HavingsubtractedthedipolaranisotropyduetothemotionoftheEarthrelative
tothe3Kradiation,weareleftwithradiationthatisexceedinglyisotropic.So,
wehavetoaskwhetherthereareanyresidualvariationsthatwouldpointtoa
departurefromisotropyoftheradiationitself?Thisisacrucialquestion.
Althoughitwasgratifyingtohavetheradiationsoisotropicthattherecouldbe
littledoubtofitscosmicorigins,neverthelessacompletelyisotropicdistribution
wouldbringtroublesofitsown.

Thereasonforthisisthat,althoughthematterdistributionisisotropiconalarge
enoughscale,itisclearlynotsoonsmallerscales.Itisclumpedtogetherin
galaxies,thegalaxiesarepreferentiallytobefoundinclustersofgalaxies,and
eventheclustersarelooselyassociatedinsuperclusters.Infact,thematter
distributionsomewhatresemblesagiganticsponge;ithasenormousholesinit,
withthesuperclustersarrangedaroundtheboundariesofthesevoids.Presumably
thisdistributioncameaboutasaresultofinhomogeneitiesintheoriginal
distributionofmattercomingfromthebigbang.Ifaparticularregionhappened
tohavebychanceasomewhatgreaterdensityofmatterthanitsneighbours,its
increasedgravitywouldtendtoattractmatterawayfromthelessdensely
populatedregionsandtowardsitself.Thiswouldenhancetheinhomogeneity,
leadingtothisparticularregiongaininganevenstrongerpullingpower,and
attractingyetmorematerialtoitself.Theinitialinhomogeneities,whichin
themselvesmayhavebeenslight,wouldoverthecourseoftimehavebecome
magnified.

Thatisthoughttobetheprocesswherebywehaveourpresentdaydistribution.
Havingsaidthat,itisnotatallclearyetinwhatorderthehierarchyofstructures
formed.Perhapsthematterfirstassembledtoformsuperclusters;thesethen
brokedownintotheircomponentclusters,whichintheirturnlaterseparatedout
intogalaxies.Finally,theindividualstarscondensed.Alternativelyitcouldall
havehappenedtheoppositewayround,withstarsformingfirst,thesebeing
attractedintogalaxies,whichlatergatheredintoclustersandsuperclusters.Or
indeeditcouldhavebeensomeothermixofaspectsdrawnfromboththese
scenarios.Butwhicheverwasthecorrectsequenceofevents,onethingisclear:
therehadtobedensityinhomogeneitiesonsomescaleorother.

Fromthisweinferthatthereshouldalsobeanisotropiesinthe3Kradiation.The
reasonisthatwhengascollectstogetherandissquasheddownbyitsmutual
gravity,potentialenergyisconvertedintokineticenergyleadingtoatemperature
rise.Itissuchtemperatureincreasesthatcanignitenuclearreactionsandresultin
thebirthofanewstar(assumingsufficientgashasbeencollectedoriginally).
Gascollectingtoformaprimordialgalaxyoraclusterofgalaxieswillsimilarly
undergoatemperaturerise,thisrisebeingreflectedinthetypeofradiationit
emits.Theangulardistributionofthisradiation,aswereceiveittoday,should
showadegreeofanisotropybecauseitoriginatesinmatterthatwasnotitself
entirelyhomogeneous.Inhomogeneitiesmusthavealreadybeenpresentinmatter
whenitwasemittingwhatisnowthe3Kradiation.Thusweshouldexpectthe3
Kradiationtomanifestsomedegreeofanisotropy;itshouldnotbewholly
uniform.

Thisisnottosaythatweshouldnecessarilyexpecttodetecthotspots.The
situationissomewhatmoresubtlethanthat.Wehavetorecallthatwhenweare
dealingwithgalaxiesorwithclusters,agreatdealofmatterisinvolved.The
gravitationalpotentialenergiesareenormous.Radiationemittedfromthedepths
ofoneoftheseconglomerationsofmatterhastoescapethegravitationalfieldof
thematterproducingit.Thiswillleadtoagravitationalredshift,i.e.acoolingof
theradiation.Theinterestingquestionthenbecomeswhetherthehotradiation
fromtheinteriorisstillhotwhenitescapes,orwhetheritwillnowhavelostso
muchenergythroughredshiftthatitemergescoolerthantheambient
temperatureofthesurroundingmatter.Wemightthereforeobservecoldspots
ratherthanhotspots.

So,althoughthetheoreticalanalysisiscomplicated,therehavetobeanisotropies
ofonekindoranotherinthe3Kradiationatsomelevelofsensitivity,and
definitepredictionshavelongbeenmadeabouttheangularscaleonwhichsuch
anisotropiesoughttoappear.Therefinementofthesepredictionsandtheeffortto
detecttheanisotropiesobservationallyhavebecomemajorthemesintherecent
developmentofcosmology.

Therewasagreatstir,whicheventhepopularpressrecognised,whenin1992,
theCOBEsatellitesucceededindetectingtheanisotropies,albeitatthe
extremelylowlevelof1partin100000.Figure29showsapictureofthe
measuredintensitydistributionacrossthesky.

Figure29:Departuresfromisotropyinthe3Kradiation(COBEsatellite)
courtesyofNASAGoddardSpaceFlightCenter,Greenbelt,Maryland

Thisfirstdetectionoftheintrinsicanisotropiesinthecosmicmicrowave
backgroundhadtobeinterpretedwithgreatcaresincethesignalbeingdetected
wasofthesameorderofmagnitudeasthebackgroundnoisefluctuations.
However,sincethatfirstdetectionmanyotherstudieshavebeencarriedoutand
theangulardistributionoftheanisotropieshasbeencharacterisedwithgreatly
increasedprecision.
Thecharacterisationoftheangulardistributionofanisotropiesisusually
expressedthroughaplotoftheangularpowerspectrumoftheobserved
radiation.Suchaplotindicatestherelativestrengthofintensity(ortemperature)
fluctuationsasafunctionoftheangularscaleofthosefluctuations.Arecent
determinationofthisangularpowerspectrum,basedonresultsobtainedby
COBE'ssuccessor,theWilkinsonMicrowaveAnisotropyProbe(WMAP),is
showninFigure30.

Figure30:Theangularpowerspectrumofthecosmicmicrowave
backgroundradiationasdeterminedbytheWMAPsatellite(basedon
Bennettetal.,2003)
basedonC.L.Bennettetal.
,(2003)
TheAstrophys.J.Supp.
,148(1),127

Thedetailsoftheangularpowerspectrumneednotconcernushere,butthe
followingpointsshouldbenoted.

1. Thepointsandverticalerrorbarsrepresenttheresultsofobservation.
Thesmoothlinerepresentsabestfittothedatabasedonspecific
theoreticalassumptions.
2. Theshadedbandrepresentstheunavoidableuncertainty(knownas
cosmicvarianceinthiscase)associatedwithtryingtodeterminea
cosmicquantityfromobservationsmadeatone(typical)pointinthe
Universe,i.e.fromtheneighbourhoodoftheEarth.
3. TheCOBEdatawerelimitedtoangularscalesof10ormore.The
WMAPdatarevealanisotropiesonmuchfinerscalesandtellusmuch
abouttheangulardistributionofthoseanisotropies.
 4. Theanisotropiesareparticularlypowerfulonascaleofabout1.Thisis
justtheangularscaleatwhichtheinhomogeneitiesassociatedwiththe
formationofsuperclustersareexpectedtoleavetheirimprintonthe3K
radiation.
5. Theoreticalexplanationsforthepeaksandtroughsseeninthedatadepend
ontheassumedvaluesofvariouscosmologicalparameterssuchasthe
currentvalueoftheHubbleparameter.Thustheprocessoffitting
predictionstothedataprovidesamethodofdeterminingthevaluesof
thosecosmologicalparameters.Weshallreturntothispointlater.

Inconclusion,wecansaythattheextremedegreeofisotropyofthe3Kradiation
pointstoitscosmicorigininthebigbang,andjustifiesusinregardingitas
powerfulconfirmatoryevidencethattherewasindeedabigbang.Nevertheless,
itisperhapstheexceedinglyweakinhomogeneitiesthatwillultimatelyproveto
beofthemostlastingvalueforcosmology.Thesegiveuswhatmaybeaunique
snapshotofastageintheearlydevelopmentofgalaxies/clusters/superclusters
thestagereachedatthetimeofdecoupling,4105yearsafterthebigbang.

7Theprimordialnuclearabundances

7.1Introduction

Sofarwehavepresentedtwopiecesofevidencepointingtotheoccurrenceofa
bigbang:theredshiftofthegalaxies(indicatingthecontinuingexpansionofthe
Universe),andthe3Kradiation(theremnantoftheprimordialradiation).But
thereisathirdimprintsuchabigbangoughttohaveleftonourpresentday
world.Wecannotatthisjuncturetraceoutthefullsequenceofeventsfollowing
theinstantofthebigbang(thatcanonlybedoneafterwehaveworkedthrough
thenexttwounits).Butregardlessoftheexactdetailsofthesequence,anybig
bangscenarioislikelytohavepassedthroughthestagereferredtoinSection5.2
wheretherewasaplasmaofelectrons,protons,andneutrons.Asthiscooled,
nuclei(andlaterstill,atoms)wouldhaveformedincertainproportions.
Whatevertheseproportionswere,theyoughttobereflectedintherelative
abundancesofthedifferentelementswefindinthepresentdayUniverse.The
ideathereforeistotryandcalculatetheprimordialnuclearabundances,and
comparethemwithwhatexistsnow.Ifthereisagreement,thenthatwillbea
thirdpieceofevidenceforourmodelofthebigbang.

7.2Thetemperatureofmatterandradiation

Thedifferentreactionsbywhichneutronsandprotonscametogethersoonafter
theinstantofthebigbangtoproduceheaviernucleiwillhaveproceededat
differentratesaccordingtotheenergiesoftheparticlesinvolved.Thefirststepin
calculatingnuclearabundancesisthereforetomakesomeassumptionaboutthese
energies.
Theparticlesatanyinstanthaveawiderangeofenergies;thisobviously
complicatesmatters.Fortunately,however,itispossibletomakeonevery
importantsimplification.Thisisbasedontheconceptofequilibrium.Wehave
alreadytouchedonthistopicinthecontextofourdiscussionoftheoriginofthe
3Kradiation.Letusnowlookintoitinalittlemoredetail:

Weuseananalogy.Supposethatalargenumberofmoleculesofanordinarygas
areintroducedintoaninsulatedcontainer.Toallexternalappearances,thestate
ofthegasdoesnotchangewithtime.Itisatafixedpressureandafixed
temperatureandissaidtobeinequilibrium.Ofcourse,onamicroscopicscale,a
greatdealishappeningasthemoleculescollidewithoneanother.Nevertheless,
themeasurablepropertiesofthegasremaineffectivelyconstant.Thereasonfor
thisisthatthedistributionofenergyamongthemoleculesfluctuatestoonlya
verysmallextentaboutawelldefinedaveragepattern.Thus,althoughtheenergy
ofanygivenmoleculecontinuallychangesasitcollideswithothers,detailslike
themostprobableenergyforamolecule,ortheprobabilityofamoleculehaving
anenergygreaterthan,say,1020Jarepreserved.Nowitturnsoutthat,oncethe
temperatureofthegashasbeenspecified,itispossibletopredicttheaverage
patternofenergydistributioninthegasatequilibriumthetemperatureof
matterservesasalabelfortheaveragemixtureofenergiesofthegasmolecules.
Forexample,themostprobableenergyforamoleculeisproportionaltothe
temperature,andcould,intheabsenceofathermometer,beusedtodefinethe
temperaturescale.

Ifwenowhaveamixtureofgasandradiation,andtheseareallowedtocome
intoequilibriumwitheachother,notonlywilltheparticlesofthegasadopta
characteristicenergydistribution,butsoalsowillthephotonsoftheradiation.As
wediscussedearlierinconnectionwiththemicrowaveradiation,thisdistribution
ofphotonenergiesisknownasathermalspectrum,andisratherdifferentfrom
theMaxwellBoltzmanndistributionformolecules.Nevertheless,thedistribution
canagainbelabelledbyasinglenumberthetemperatureofradiation.Thisis
definedtobeproportionaltothemostprobableenergy(orfrequency)ofa
photon.Ourtwotemperaturescalesformatterandforradiationareconsistentin
that,wheneverradiationisinequilibriumwithmatter,thevaluesofthetwo
temperaturesagree.

ReturningnowtotheearlyUniverse,itisimportanttorealisethattheveryhigh
densityofmatterandradiationatthattimegaverisetoafrequencyofcollisions
betweenprotons,neutrons,electrons,andphotonssufficientlyhightoensurethat
thevariouscomponentsoftheUniversewereinalmostperfectequilibrium.
Thus,theirrespectivedistributionsofenergiescouldbelabelledbyasingle
commontemperature.Theelectronshadthesametemperatureastheprotonsand
theneutronsandthephotons,becausethecollisionsweresofrequentthatnopart
oftheUniversecouldgetoutofstepwiththerest.Thisisveryimportantbecause
itallowsustoreplacethegreatcomplexityofthepossibleenergydistributions
byasingleparameterthetemperature.

Strictlyspeaking,thevariousequilibriabetweenparticles,andbetween
particlesandradiationcanneverhavebeenquiteperfectbecausetheUniverse
wasexpandingallthetime,andthereforecoolingrapidly.Therewastherefore
neverasteadyapproachtoafinalconditionsuchasweassociatewiththe
behaviourof,say,acupofcoffeecoolingtoequilibriumwithitssurroundings.
Indeed,aswehavepointedoutbefore,theUniversehasstillnotreached
equilibrium.Nevertheless,therewasnearequilibriumintheearlyUniverse
becauseofthehighrateofcollisions.

7.3Theformationoflightnuclei

Itistheveryhightemperaturesthatmaketheearlystagesofthebigbang
relativelysimpletocalculate.Whenitcomestotheformationofthefirstnuclei,
wearelookingatatemperaturethathasdroppedtoabout109K,thisbeing
achievedapproximately3minutesaftertheinstantofthebigbang.Fornucleito
form,thetemperaturemuststillbehighenoughthatchargednucleicanapproach
eachothercloselydespitetheelectrostaticrepulsionbetweentheirpositive
chargesthusallowingfurtherfusiontotakeplace.Ontheotherhand,ifthe
temperatureistoohigh,anynucleithatareformedwillimmediatelybedisrupted
againbyasubsequentviolentcollisionwithanotherparticle.

Theonlyparticlestakingpart(toanysignificantextent)inthereactionsatthis
timewereneutrons,protons,electrons,andphotons.Inadditiontherewere
neutrinosaveryweaklyinteractingparticle.Thesimplestreaction,andperhaps
themostimportantasfarascosmologyisconcerned,isthefusionofaneutron
(n)andaproton(p)togiveadeuteron,d(i.e.adeuteriumnucleus)plusaphoton
ofsufficientlyhighenergytobecalledagammaray( ):

Notethattheenergyismostlycarriedawaybythegammaray.Thisisessentialif
theneutronandprotonaretobind,forotherwisetheneutronandprotonwould
simplybounceapartagain.Theprobabilityofthisfusionreactionoccurringis
high,asisthatofthereversereaction,inwhichagammaraydestroysadeuteron.

Aswehavenoted,significantnumbersofdeuteronscouldformandremain
undisturbedonlyafterthetemperaturehaddroppedtoabout109K.Ontheother
hand,bythetimethetemperaturehaddroppedtoabout5108K,at20minutes
afterthebigbang,thedensityhadbecomesoreducedthattherewerenowno
longersufficientcollisionstakingplacetoproducemanydeuterons.Deuteron
formationwasthereforeconfinedtotheperiodduringwhichthetemperaturefell
betweenthesetwovalues.

Morecomplicatednucleicanbeproducedbysimilarreactions.Forexample,
helium(4He)canbeformedthroughthefusionoftwodeuterons:

Buttherearealsoseveralotherwaysinwhichitcanbeformed,eachinvolving
twosteps.Forexample:

and

where3Hisatritiumnucleus(atriton),i.e.thenuclearisotopeofhydrogen
consistingofaprotonandtwoneutrons.
Eachoftheabovereactionscanoccurineitherdirection.Thus,forexample,
correspondingtoReaction20therewillbeitsreverse:

Givensufficienttime,anequilibriumstatewouldarisewherebytheparticles
presentwillyieldthesamerateforReaction20aasforReaction20.Andthe
samewillapplyforeachoftheotherreactions.Thus,correspondingtoany
particulartemperature(thetemperaturegoverningthereactionrates)itispossible
toestimatetheproportionsofthevariousparticlesthatwouldbepresentonce
equilibriumhadbeenestablished.Thisestimateisindependentofwhether
equilibriumwasreachedquickly(underconditionsofhighdensitywherethe
interactionshappenfrequently)orslowly(underlowdensityconditions).

Somuchforthedensityindependentequilibriumstateachievedoveralengthy
periodoftime.Butthecaseofthebigbangisdifferent.Thematterwasrapidly
dispersedonlyashorttimeafterthemixtureofneutronsandprotonshadstarted
thechainoffusionprocesses.Underthesecircumstances,thefinalabundancesof
nuclidesdependedonhowmanycollisionswereabletotakeplacebeforethe
dispersioneffectivelybroughttheprocessestoahalt.Thisinturnmeansthatthe
finalmixofparticlesisexpectedtodependonthedensity.Morespecifically,itis
encounterswithprotonsandneutronsthataresignificant,soitisthecosmic
densityofprotons,neutronsandmatterbasedonprotonsandneutronsthatis
important.ThisparticularcontributiontotheoveralldensityoftheUniverseis
knownasthebaryonicdensity,sincetheprotonandneutronarethelightest
membersofafamilyofparticlesknownasbaryons.Weshallrepresentthe
averagemassdensityofbaryonicmatterintheUniverseasb/c2,preservingthe
symbolbfortheassociatedenergydensityofbaryonicmatter.Thus,the
baryonicdensityprevailingatthetimeofnuclearsynthesishadanimportantpart
toplayingoverningtherelativeabundancesofthelightelementsformed.

Roughlyspeaking,youcanthinkofthebaryonicdensityasthedensityof
ordinarymatter.YouareessentiallymadeofbaryonicmatterasaretheEarth,
theSunandallfamiliarobjects.

Thereisasecondreasonwhythebaryonicdensitywasimportant.Itarisesfrom
thefactthatwhilethesefusionreactionsweretakingplace,freeneutrons(those
thathadnotyetbeenincorporatedintonuclei)weredecaying:
where isanantineutrino.

Unlikethefusionreactions,therateforthisdecayisindependentofbaryonic
density.Thuswhenthebaryonicdensitychanges,thebalancebetweenthetwo
typesofreactionchanges.Atlowdensities,aneutrontravelsfurtherbefore
collidingwithanotherbaryon,soithasagreaterchanceofdecayingbefore
beingcapturedintoanucleus.Contrastthiswithcollisionreactionswhichhave
lessprobabilityofoccurringatlowdensities.Itisthesedifferentdependenceson
densitythatprovidethesecondreasonwhythefinalmixofnucleiwilldependon
thebaryonicdensityduringtheperiodofnuclearsynthesis.

Nowletustakealookattheresultofdetailedcalculations.Therateofeach
reactiondependsontheconcentrationsoftheparentnuclei,onexperimentally
determinedrelationshipsbetweenthereactionprobabilityandtheenergiesofthe
particles,andontherelationshipbetweentheequilibriumdistributionofenergies
andthetemperature.Tofindouttheneteffectofallthereactionsis,
mathematically,simplyamatterofsolvingsimultaneousdifferentialequations;
buttheymustbesolvednumerically,andjudgementmustbeexercisedin
interpolatingtheexperimentaldata.Itisalengthycomputercalculation,even
thoughitisbasicallystraightforward.Severalgroupshavemadethese
calculations.WeshowtheresultsofoneparticularinvestigationinFigure31.

Figure31isbasedonamodelwithanassumedvalueofthebaryonicdensityasit
istoday,b,now,fromwhichonecanextrapolatebackintimetowhatitwould
havebeenatthetimeoftheprimordialnuclearsynthesis(makingdueallowance
fortheexpansionoftheUniversebetweenthosetwotimes).Themassfractions
ofthevariousnucleiwerecalculatedasafunctionoftime.Sincethetemperature
atagiventimecanbecalculated,thehorizontalscalesaremarkedwith
temperature(atthetop)aswellastimeelapsedsincethebigbang(atthe
bottom).
 Figure31:Evolutionofnuclearabundancesduringtheexpansionofa
typicalmodelofthebigbang.Theverticalscaleshowswhatfractionofthe
totalmassthevarioustypesofnucleusformatdifferenttimes.Note:H,He,
LiandBestandforthenucleiofhydrogen,helium,lithiumandberyllium
respectively,andthesuperscriptindicatesthemassoftheisotope(e.g. 3Heis
theisotopeofheliumcontainingtwoprotonsandoneneutron).The
deuteronissignifiedbyd,andthenucleusoftritium(twoneutrons+one
proton)byt.
fromM.S.Smith,L.H.KawanoandR.A.Malaney(1993)TheAstrophys.J.
Supp.,85,21947

Lookfirstatthebasicparticles:neutronsandprotons.Initially,attime1second,
wehaveessentially13%neutronsand87%protons.Thisratiocanbecalculated
withconfidenceasitdependsonlyonthemassdifferencebetweenneutronsand
protons.

Asfarasweareconcerned,theinterestingactionstartsjustabove10 9K,the
temperatureatwhichtheprotonandneutronnumbersbegintodropbecausethey
arebeingusedupinthermonuclearreactions(similarnumbersofneutronsand
protonsareusedupitisonlythelogarithmicscalethatmakesthedropinthe
protoncurvealmostinvisible).Someelements,suchashelium(boththenormal
4
Heanditsisotope3He),shownodecrease,withthemainproductioncloseto109
K.Thedeuteriumconcentration,ontheotherhand,increasesrapidlyat
temperaturesaround109K,butlater(below6108K)theconcentrationfallsa
little,becausemoredeuteriumisbeingusedinmakingheliumthanisbeing
synthesisedfromrawneutronsandprotons.Thepointisthatatthisstageweare
dealingwithperiodsoftimecomparabletothemeanlifetimeoftheneutron(930
s,i.e.about15minutes).Neutronsarebeingremovedbydecaynotethesteady
declineinitscurveandarethusnolongeravailableforsynthesisingdeuterons.
However,therearestillcollisionsgoingonthataredestroyingthedeuterons.
Fromacosmologist'spointofview,thisisthecrucialstage.Thegreaterthe
baryonicdensityoftheUniverseatthattime,thelongertheprocessofdeuteron
destructioncancontinueafterthesynthesisofdeuteronshaseffectivelyceased,
andtherefore,thelowerthefinalconcentrationofdeuterium.Itistruethatthis
effectispartlyoffsetbythefactthatinadenserUniverse,moredeuteriumwould
havebeenformedinthefirstplace.Butthedestructionofdeuteriumismore
sensitivetodensitythanisitsinitialformation.

Belowabout4108K,allthenuclidemassfractionsapartfromthedecaying
neutronsandtritons,thelatterdecayingto3Hearemoreorlessconstant
becausethethermonuclearreactionsarethensoslow.Themostimportantfeature
ofFigure31isthesetoffreezeoutvaluesoftheelementalmassfractionstobe
foundattheextremerighthandside.Thissetofvaluescorrespondstothe
particularassumptionmadeaboutbaryonicdensity.Adifferentassumptionfor
thebaryonicdensitynow(andhenceatearliertimes)wouldhaveledtoa
differentsetofcurves,andtheseinturnwouldbeexpectedtoyieldadifferentset
offreezeoutvalues.

Question15

Imagineauniversethatdiffersfromoursinthatneutronslivetwiceaslong,on
average,astheydoinourUniverse,buttheHubbleconstantandthebaryonic
densityhavethesamevaluesasours.OnthebasisofReactions15to20,would
inhabitantsofthatuniverseexpecttofindmoreorlessdeuteriumleftoverfrom
thefirst20minutesoftheiruniversethanisleftoverfromthefirst20minutesof
ours?

Nowreadtheanswer

Figure32showshowthecomputedfreezeoutmassfractionsoflightnuclei
dependontheassumedpresentdayvalueofthebaryonicdensity.Asyoucan
see,thefreezeoutabundanceof4Heisalmostindependentofthepresent
baryonicdensity,whereasthefreezeoutabundanceofdeuterium2Hdepends
verysensitivelyonb,now.Themostabundantnuclideofhydrogen(1H)isnot
shown,butifithadbeenshown,ittoowouldhavebeenrelativelyinsensitiveto
thepresentbaryonicdensity,itsmassfractionbeingabout0.75.

Figure32:Predictedfreezeoutmassfractions(ataround104safterthebig
bang)forvariouslightnucleiplottedagainsttheassumedpresentdaymass
densityofbaryonicmatter,b,now/c2
adaptedfromR.V.Wagoner(1973)TheAstrophys.J.
,179(2),349

7.4Nuclearabundancesasevidenceforthebigbang

Whatwehaveseenisthatatheoreticalmodelbasedontheassumptionthatthere
wasabigbang,andincorporatinganassumptionaboutthepresentdayvalueof
thebaryonicdensity,b,now,leadstodefinitepredictionsastowhatthenuclear
abundancesmusthavebeenwhentheelementsfrozeout.This,therefore,
providesuswithathirdwayofcheckingoutthebigbanghypothesis:Dothe
presentdaycosmicnuclearabundancesagreewiththesepredictionsforany
plausiblevalueofthepresentdaybaryonicdensity?

Obtainingananswertothisquestionisnotaseasyasonemightthink.The
troubleisthatsincethefreezeoutabundanceswereestablished,about20
minutesafterthebigbang,furthermodificationstothenuclearabundanceshave
beengoingon.Thestoryofmostmatteristhatitexistsforafewhundredmillion
yearsasararefiedgas,andthenisslowlydrawnintoastar,whereitsnuclear
compositionisalteredbecauseitisheateduptotemperaturesatwhichfurther
nuclearreactionstakeplace.Becausethetemperatureanddensityconditionsina
starareverydifferentfromthoseencounteredduringthebigbangepochof
nuclearsynthesis,thethermonuclearreactionsinstarsaredifferent,andtheylead
toadifferentmixofendproducts.Therefore,thefreezeoutconcentrationsofthe
variouselementsarenotreflecteddirectlyintheabundancesfoundinstars,or
indeedontheEarthwhichitselfcondensedoutofstellarmatterthrownoutof
starsduringsupernovaexplosions.

Question16

Figure33showsinaschematicwaytheconditionsoftemperatureanddensity
underwhichcosmologicalnuclearreactionsareimportant(regionontheleft),
andtheconditionsforstellarnuclearreactions(regionontheright).
 Figure33:Conditionsunderwhichfusionreactionsoccur

(a)WhyistheareabetweenAandBinclinedtotheaxesratherthanbeing
vertical?

(b)Whydoestheareaforthenucleosynthesisinthebigbangnotcontinueabove
A?

(c)WhydoesitnotcontinuetotheleftofB?

(d)WhydoestheareaforstarsnotcontinuebelowC?

Nowreadtheanswer

Thewaysinwhichpresentdayobservationsofabundancescanbecompared
withthepredictedabundancesatfreezeoutarebestconsideredbytreatingeach
oftherelevantnucleiinturn.

First,wecannotethatthereisgoodevidencefromawiderangeofastronomical
bodiesthatthe1Hnuclideisthemostcommon.Thisfitswellwiththefreezeout
predictions,butishardlyconclusive.Formoredetailedinsightweneedtolookat
howtheabundancesofothernuclei(asexpressedbytheirmassfractions)
comparewiththatof1H.

Turningtothesecondmostabundantnuclide,4He,wemustconfronttheproblem
thatmuchoftheheliuminthepresentdayUniversehasbeenproducedinstars.
Fortunately,starsalsoproduceother,heavierelements,andwecanusetheseto
determinehowmuchoftheheliuminanyregionistheresultofstellar
processingratherthanthebigbang.Moststarsarenothotenoughtoshow
heliumlinesintheirspectra,andthosethatdoareunsuitableforprimordial
abundancemeasurements.Instead,heliumisbestmeasuredinthecloudsof
diffuseglowinggasthatastronomerscallHIIregions,andeventhesecloudsare
beststudiedinsmallergalaxieswheretherehasbeenlessstellarprocessingthan
inourownGalaxy.

Onewayofproceedingistousespectraltechniquestomeasureboththehelium
massfractionandtherelativeabundanceofoxygennucleiforanumberof
extragalacticHIIregions.Oncethemeasurementshavebeenmade(andthe
uncertaintiesinthoseobservationsestimated)aplotsuchasthatshowninFigure
35canbecompiled.Byextrapolatingthedatabacktozerorelativeabundanceof
oxygen,aprimordialvaluefortheheliummassfractioncanbededuced.Figure
35impliesavalueofabout0.23forthisprimordialheliummassfraction,inline
withseveralotherattemptstodeterminethisquantity.
 Figure35:Aplotofobservedheliummassfractionagainstrelative
abundanceofoxygentohydrogen,expressedas106(numberofoxygen
nuclei)/(numberofhydrogennuclei),forseveralextragalacticHIIregions.
(BasedonmeasurementsbyB.Pagelandcolleagues)
B.E.J.Pageletal.
(1992)
MonthlyNoticesoftheRAS
,255,32545

Comparingthisobservedprimordialheliummassfraction(0.23)withthe
predictedvaluesinFigure32,thereisareasonablelevelofagreementforarange
ofpresentdaybaryonicdensities.

Theabundanceof3Heislessuseful.Anumberofobservationaldifficultiesmake
itveryhardtodeduceanythingreliableabouttheprimordialabundance.The
comparisonofpredictionandmeasurementhaslittletoofferinthiscase.

Thepresentdayabundanceof7Licanbededucedfromspectralstudiesofmetal
poordwarfstars.Theouterlayersofthesestarsarebelievedtoberelatively
unchangedsincetheywereformed.Mostsharethesamelithiumabundance
despitehavingdifferentamountsofotherelementsanddifferentmasses.This
makesitprobablethatthelithiumintheseouterstellarlayershasnotbeen
processed,andthusgivesadirectindicationoftheprimordialmassfractionof
lithium.Theobservationsfavoura7Limassfractioncloseto81010.According
toFigure32,thiscorrespondstoapresentdaymassdensityofbaryonicmatterof
around(1to5)1028kgm3.

Finallyconsiderthecaseofdeuterium,2H.Deuteriumisdestroyedinstarssoits
currentlyobservedmassfractionprovidesalowerlimitonitsprimordialmass
fraction.Thislowerlimitisabout3105to7105,consistent(accordingto
Figure32)withpresentdaybaryonicmassdensitiesofabout51028kgm3or
less.
Bringingalloftheobservedabundancestogether,itdoesseemthattheyare
consistentwiththepredictedprimordialabundances(Figure32),providedthe
presentdaybaryonicmassdensityisaround1028kgm3.

Pleasingly,atleasttothosewholikeconsistency,apresentdaybaryonicmass
densityofafewtimes1028kgm3isinexcellentagreementwiththerather
precisevalueofb,now/c2deducedbythosewhoattempttodeducecosmological
parametersfromtheobservedanisotropiesinthecosmicmicrowavebackground
radiation(asdescribedinSection6.3).Thefactthatthereisanarrowrangeof
valuesforthepresentdaybaryonicdensitiesinwhichthepredictedand
observedlightnuclearabundancesagree,isasignificantsuccessforbigbang
cosmology.Thefactthatthisnarrowrangeofbaryonicdensitiesincludesthe
valuededucedbyaquitedifferenttechniqueisatrulyremarkableachievement.

8Conclusion

Wehaveseenthattherearethreeindependentpiecesofevidence,allofwhich
pointtotheoccurrenceofabigbang:(i)therecessionofthegalaxies;(ii)the
cosmicmicrowavebackground;and(iii)thecomparisonbetweenthecalculated
primordialnuclearabundancesandthepresentdaycompositionofmatterinthe
Universe.Forthesevariousreasons,thevastmajorityofcosmologiststoday
acceptthattherewasabigbang.Thisacceptancehasbeengivenextrasupportby
theagreementbetweenthevalueofthepresentdaybaryonicmassdensity
indicatedbyabundancemeasurements,andthevalueofthatsamequantity
deducedfromanisotropiesinthecosmicbackgroundradiation.

Inthisunit,wehaveseentwosnapshotsofthedevelopmentoftheUniverse:the
periodofnuclearsynthesiswhichshapedtoday'snuclearabundances;andthe
laterperiodofdecouplingfromwhichemergedtoday's3Kradiation.Inlooking
athowthesetwoepochsfitintotheoverallpatternoftheUniverse'sevolution,
oneoftheaimsistotryandpushourdescriptionasfarbackintimeaswecan
towardstheveryinstantofthebigbang;anotheristolookasfaraheadintothe
futureaswecansoastouncoverwhatmightbethelikelyendoftheUniverse.

Summary

1ThevisiblematterintheUniverse,starsandinterstellargas,isconcentrated
intogalaxies,whicharecollectionsof1011stars.Thegalaxiesthemselvesare
usuallytobefoundinclusterswithtypicallytensorhundredsofmembers.The
clusters,intheirturn,arelooselyassociatedinsuperclusters.

2Distancesareestimatedviaaseriesofintercalibratedtechniques,each
overlappingwithandextendingfurtherthanthepreviousone.Theprincipal
stagesare:
 EarthMoonandEarthSundistancesinvolvingradarranging;
Triangulationtonearerstars,usingthediameteroftheEarth'sorbitas
baseline;
Calibrationofluminosityagainsttemperaturefortypicalstars,usingthe
starsoftheHyadescluster;
PeriodluminosityrelationshipforCepheids,firstforstarsinourGalaxy,
theninothergalaxies;
TypeIasupernovae,firstinnearer,theninfurtheroffgalaxies;
Classificationofgalaxiesintorecognisabletypes,ofdifferent
luminosities.

IndependentchecksareprovidedbyradiogalaxiesandobservationsofTypeII
supernovae.

3Thespectraoflightemittedbythestarsofdistantgalaxiesisredshifted,such
thattheredshift,z,isproportionaltothedistanceofthegalaxy.

4Thiscosmologicalredshiftfindsanaturalexplanationintermsofthegalaxies
recedingfromus(andfromeachother),inaccordancewithHubble'slaw.Thisis
thefirstindicationthattheUniversebeganwithabigbang.

5Radioastronomershavedetectedmicrowaveradiation(i.e.radiationwith
wavelengthsintheregionof1cm)comingalmostisotropicallyfromall
directions,withathermalspectrumwhichtallies,asfarascanbemeasured,with
thatexpectedfromcalculationsbasedonthebigbangmodel.Noconvincing
alternativeexplanationshavesofarbeenadvanced.This3Kradiationtherefore
providesgoodevidencebothfortherehavingbeenabigbang,andforthe
isotropyoftheUniverseatthetimewhentheradiationdecoupledfrommatter,
4105yearslater.

6IftheEarthatpresentismovingwithrespecttothe3Kradiation,whichwe
assumeisthesameastherestframeoftheUniverseatthetimeofdecoupling,
theangulardistributionoftheintensityoftheradiationwouldbeslightly
distortedinacharacteristicway.MeasurementsindicatethattheEarthdoeshave
suchavelocity,withamagnitudeofabout400kms1.

7Ifgalaxies,orclustersofgalaxies,hadalreadybeguntoformatatime
considerablylessthan107yearsafterthebigbang,onewouldhaveexpectedpre
existentinhomogeneitiesinthematterdistributiontohaveleftatraceoftheir
presencebyimpartingsomeintensityvariationtotheangulardistributionofthe3
Kradiation.Suchinhomogeneitieshavenowbeendetectedatthelevelof1part
in100000.
8Iftherehasbeenahotbigbang,wewouldexpectthematerialproducedto
consistof23%bymassofhelium,therestbeingmostlyhydrogen,withtracesof
otherlightelements.

9Detailedcomparisonsofpredictedprimordialnuclearmassfractionswiththose
deducedfromobservationsalsoconstrainthevalueofthepresentdaybaryonic
massdensity.Avalueof4or51028kgm3fitswellwithboththenuclear
abundancedataandthedataonanisotropiesinthecosmicmicrowave
backgroundradiation.

Dothis

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Acknowledgements

ThematerialacknowledgedbelowisProprietaryandusedunderlicenceandnot
subjecttoCreativeCommonslicensing(seetermsandconditions).

Figures

Gratefulacknowledgementismadetothefollowingsourcesformaterialusedin
thisUnit:

Figures2,5,8,11,13and14b:fromHaleObservatories;

Figure6a,b:basedonH.Arp(1960)inAstronomicalJ.,65,426;

Figure7:fromLeGrandAtlasdel'Astronomie,EncyclopaediaUniversalis
editeur;

Figure10:basedonErikHolmberginE.M.andG.R.Burbidge(1975)Galaxies
andtheUniverse,UniversityofChicagoPress;
Figure12:NASA/IPACExtragalacticDatabase(NED),JetPropulsion
Laboratory,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology;

Figure14a:courtesyofUppsalaUniversity;

Figure15:basedonE.P.Hubble(1929)inProc.Nat.Acad.Sci.,15,168;

Figure17:adaptedfromA.Sandage(1970)PhysicsToday,vol.34,February
1970,AmericanInstituteofPhysics;

Figure20a:basedonD.P.Woodyetal.(1975)inPhys.Rev.Lett.,34,10369;

Figures20band28:basedonR.A.Muller(1978)inScientificAmerican,238,
6474;

Figure21:courtesyofNASA/CSFCandCOBEScienceWorkingGroup;

Figure25:courtesyofDrA.A.Penzias;

Figure29:courtesyofNASAGoddardSpaceFlightCenter,Greenbelt,
Maryland;

Figure30:basedonC.L.Bennettetal.,(2003)TheAstrophys.J.Supp.,148(1),
127;

Figure31:fromM.S.Smith,L.H.KawanoandR.A.Malaney(1993)The
Astrophys.J.Supp.,85,21947;

Figure32:adaptedfromR.V.Wagoner(1973)TheAstrophys.J.,179(2),349;

Figure35:B.E.J.Pageletal.(1992)MonthlyNoticesoftheRAS,255,32545.

Unitimage

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