THE BIG BANG THEORY

– THE EARLY EVIDENCES

Credit: Edwin Hubble Papers/Courtesy of Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif; via NPR
 Back to the beginning
• Equipped with our newly gained knowledge about
observation. We are in a position to learn the
observations that led to our understanding of the origin
of the universe.
• Incredibly, the universe reveals enough of itself such
that we can determine when it all started.
• First of all, are there some hints that the universe is
changing?

2
 Early hints of a changing universe
• Most scientists, including Newton (牛頓) and Einstein
(愛因斯坦), believe in an eternal universe…

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)

Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
3
 The dark night sky
• Suppose the universe doesn’t change over time, and is
infinite in size, and eternal. Further suppose that
everywhere in the universe looks more or less the same.
• There will be an infinite number of stars in the universe.
• Even though the apparent size of a star drops with
increasing distance, the infinite number of stars means
that every point on the sky is covered with a star.
• The night sky should be bright!
• Why is the sky dark at night? The question, also known
as Olbers’ Paradox (奧伯斯佯謬), was asked
astronomer Heinrich Olbers and many other scientists.
4
 The dark night sky
• It is like how you can’t see
through an infinitely large
forest. Each direction is
covered by a tree.
• The apparent paradox means
that some of the assumptions
are incorrect. But which one(s)?
• Turns out the paradox can be solved by considering the
finite lifespans of stars. However, it leads to the guess that
ours is not an infinitely large static universe.
• The guess is correct – the gravitational pull between the
masses makes such a universe unstable.
5
 The dark night sky
• Einstein realized that the universe would collapse under
its own gravity, so he added a special term to his original
equation of general relativity. The term (called the
cosmological constant 宇宙常數) efficiently provides
anti-gravity to support the universe.
• A static universe requires a delicate balance of the
support and gravity. Again, it is unstable.
• The expansion of the universe was proposed by Georges
Lemaître in 1927, and the first piece of evidence was
provided by Edwin Hubble (哈勃) in 1929.
• Einstein later called the cosmological constant the
biggest blunder of his life. (More about it later…) 6
 An expanding universe
• The discussion of a changing
universe remained as a highly
philosophical one.
• The old idea was deep-rooted.
• Science is NOT an accumulation of
knowledge, but a series of
revolutions
Examples: formation of salt;
Brownian motion; formation of
mountains
• Thomas Kuhn : Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996)

New paradigm replaces old one 7

• History of astronomy is
a series of revolutions.
The revolution in this
case took several major
steps.
• The first one involved
the spectra of celestial
objects. The advance in
the understanding of
atomic spectrum and
the improvement of
technology allowed us
to gain significant
knowledge about
Credit: NMSU, N. Vogt
celestial objects.
8
 Image: Harvard College Observatory

The Harvard “computers” examining photographic plates

9
Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868–1921)
10
 • Leavitt studied a type of
variable star known as
Cepheid variables (造父
變星).
• Cepheid was not
something new (the first
Cepheid was discovered
in 1784). However, by
early 20th century, the
new tools allowed us to
improve our
understanding of them.
Polaris (北極星): period ~ 4 days,
brightness change by 0.1 magnitude;
11
 A new way to measure distance
• Distance to the nearby stars (up to ~100 pc) can be
measured using stellar parallax. For larger distance,
other method is needed.
• In general, a standard
candle is an object with
known luminosity
(intrinsic brightness).
• If it looks brighter, it is
closer. If it looks dimmer,
it is further away.

Credit: user Pro-Zak on Flickr 12

• In general, larger
distance from the
source means that the
light is spread over a
larger area. The
change of brightness
with distance follows
the inverse square law.
• Given two objects with same intrinsic luminosity, and
one appears to be 9 times dimmer than another, the
dimmer one is 3 times as far away.
• The distance of a standard candle can be found by
measuring its apparent brightness.
13
 Cepheid variables (造父變星)
• Leavitt identified 25
Cepheids in SMC.
• All roughly the same
distance à an
apparently brighter
star is intrinsically
more luminous.
• The higher the
luminosity of the
Cepheid is, the longer
the period (between
Small Magellanic Cloud (小麥哲倫星系 ); the peaks in brightness)
Distance: ~200 kly
is! 14
• Now we know that Credit: ESA
they are huge dying
stars with periodic
change in its
luminosity. In other
words, they brighten
up and gradually dim
again in a regular
cycle.
• There is a fixed relationship between its luminosity and
the period (周期) of oscillation.
• Cepheids are good standard candles because they are
bright. Ground-based telescopes can be measure
Cepheids up to several Mpc, and the Hubble Space
Telescope can detect them to tens of Mpc. 15
 Here is another way of understanding how
one can use Cepheids to measure distance.
For example, two Cepheids have the same
periods, i.e., luminosity approximately the
same.

But one has apparent brightness

fainter than the other. It must be due
to the difference their distances. The
fainter one is farther away.
By finding the distance to one
Cepheid, the distance to other
Cepheids would be measured.

16
 A side note: The underlying science of
Cepheid variables (for reference)
• 3 regions:
– outer layer (not ionized)
– partially ionized region
– fusion region (fully ionized)
• when star contracts,
– more atoms are ionized
– EM radiations are trapped
efficiently
– the outer layer expands
• when star expands,
– recombination, opacity drops, outer
layer contracts
• With this newly found tool, Edwin Hubble (哈勃) made a
lot of important contributions.
Credit: Hale Observatories

Edwin Hubble (1889 – 1953)

• He was the first to prove that galaxies are at great distances.

18
Credit: Hale Observatories

The Hooker 100-inch telescope that Hubble used. 19

• Hubble measured the distance of a Cepheid in Andromeda
(M31) in 1923. 20
 Credit: copyright uncertain.
Via: AIP’s Ideas of Cosmology

• He found that it was beyond our galaxy.

• Andromeda is a galaxy on its own, instead of a nebula in the
Milky Way Galaxy.
• The universe was a lot larger than expected!
21
 The receding galaxies
• In 1929, Hubble published his finding that all galaxies
are leaving us! The recession velocity is proportional to
the distance.
The relationship is
known as the
Recession velocity (km/s)

1000
Hubble’s law:
𝑣 = 𝐻! 𝑑
500
where 𝐻! is the
Hubble’s constant.
0
The present value
is ~70 km/s/Mpc
0 1 2
Distance (Mpc) 22
• The distances were
measured using
Cepheid variables.
• The velocities along
the line of sight were
measured using the
Doppler effect.
• Starlight from galaxies
were redshifted (i.e.
frequency decreased,
wavelength increased).
• The farther away a
galaxy is, the faster it
appears to be
receding.
23
 The expanding universe
• As the technology improved, Hubble’s discovery was
confirmed over a large distance.
• Since galaxies are receding in all directions, it may be
tempting to put us back to the centre of the universe (as
we once incorrectly did by imagining that all celestial
objects orbited the Earth).
• There is actually no
centre of expansion.
As the universe
expands, the distance
between any two
points increases. 24
 The expanding universe

60 km/hr

90 km

• The car left 1.5 hours ago (= 𝑑/𝑣)

• Hubble’s law is 𝑣 = 𝐻! 𝑑, where 𝐻! ≈ 70 km/s/Mpc
à The receding galaxies were here about 14 Gyr ago
(約一百四十億年前)
25
 Cosmic Microwave Background
• Tracing backward in time, galaxies were once closer to
each other. Matters in the universe were in a denser and
hotter state.
• The universe is believed to start from a primordial fireball
(原始火球). It is called the Big Bang (大爆炸).
• Again, unlike an explosion that has a centre, one can say
that the Big Bang happened everywhere at the same
time as the universe began to draw apart.
• The further (in distance) we observe, the further (back in
time) we observe. We can look back to a time before the
first stars began to shine.
• Can we measure the radiation from the early universe? 26
 The thermal relic of the Big Bang
• Arno Penzias & Robert Wilson built a large antenna in
the 60s. They were frustrated to detect a unknown
noise from all directions on the sky.
• They thoroughly checked
their equipment, and got
rid of all possible sources
of error (including
removal of pigeon
droppings!). Finally they
concluded that the signal
was real.
27
28
 The thermal relic of the Big Bang
• The Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB or
CMBR 宇宙微波背景輻射) is an almost isotropic (各向
同性) radiation. The spectrum is that of a ~3K
blackbody radiation.
(Note: 0 K = −273℃, 3 K = −270℃)
• It is the thermal relic of the universe at an early moment
after the Big Bang. Its discovery provided strong
evidence of the Big Bang model.
• Penzias and Wilson received the Nobel Prize in 1978 for
the discovery of the CMB.

29
 The origin of the CMB
• The universe was once denser and hotter. There were
no bound atoms because of the high temperature.
• The plasma was opaque (不透明) to EM radiation,
which simply scattered around randomly.

Light cannot go far

charged without colliding on a
particle charged particle.

photon (光子)
30
 The origin of the CMB
• The universe continued to cool as it expanded. Finally, at
about 380,000 years after the Big Bang, when the
temperature was about 3000 K, the universe was cool
enough for neutral hydrogen atoms to exist.
• The epoch is called Recombination. Sometimes the
event is called 宇宙放晴.
• The gas was transparent to the radiation. The thermal
radiation became free to travel.
• The CMB allows us to take a snapshot of the universe
right when it became transparent.

31
Credit: NASA

32
 The origin of the CMB
• Since then the size of the universe has increased by a
factor of 1000. The wavelength of the radiation has also
increased by the same factor (more about it later).

• It explains the low temperature of the background

radiation. 33
Credit: NASA /
WMAP Science
Team

• Subsequent measurements of the CMB revealed small

deviations from isotropy. These earliest photos of the universe
provide lots of information to understand the universe’s origin.
 Other evidences of the Big Bang
• There are other evidences to support the Big Bang.
• One important evidence is that the relative abundance
of light elements is in good agreement with the Big Bang
model.
• Another is the large-scale structure is consistent with
the prediction of the Big Bang model.
• The Big Bang theory has been successful to explain the
observable properties of universe.

35
 MODELING THE UNIVERSE

Credit: the BOOMERANG Collaboration

 Understanding the universe
• Over the centuries, many scientists have made important
contributions about our understanding the universe:
– Ptolemy, 2nd century: sophisticated geocentric system
– Copernicus, 1543: heliocentric system
– Galileo and contemporaries, 17th century: set lower limit of
the distances of stars by the lack of parallax
– Newton, 1686: the law of universal gravitation
– Herschel, 1785: (tried) mapping the shape of the Milky Way
– Einstein, 1915: General Relativity
– Shapley, 1918: the Sun was off-centred of the MW galaxy
– Hubble, 1923: galaxy outside of ours
– Hubble, 1929: Hubble’s law 37
 Models of the Universe
• The study of the origin, evolution, and fate of the
universe is called Cosmology (宇宙學).
• Various observational evidences led to our current
understanding of the universe.
• However, to understand the implications of
observational results, one needs to know how to
interpret them. One needs to check whether
observations are consistent with theoretical
expectations.
• We need to constitute a working model of the universe.

38
 Einstein’s Theory
• Einstein published the Theory of
Special Relativity (狹義相對論)
in 1905.
• At speed much smaller than the
speed of light (3×10" m/s),
Newton’s theory about motion
is an excellent approximation.
Einstein’s paper on • In general, the motion of
Special Relativity moving object is described by
Special Relativity.
39
 • Newton’s law of universal
gravitation (萬有引力定理) is
not consistent with Special
Relativity.
• In 1915, he published the
Theory of General Relativity (廣
義相對論), which is a new
theory of gravity.
• Newton’s theory about gravity is
an excellent approximation for
weak gravity.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
• In general, gravity is described
by General Relativity.
40
 Spacetime (時空)
• The universe is actually 4-dimensional (3 space + 1 time)
• Together they are called spacetime (時空).

• It is useful to think of space as a rubber sheet.

41
 Basic Assumptions of Cosmology
• Now the question is: how do we apply this correct law
of gravity to model the universe?
• When we deal with the universe as a whole, the length
is too large for us to (i) ignore the finite speed of light,
and (ii) ignore the curvature of the universe. We have to
use GR.
• To understand how the universe evolve, we have to
make certain assumptions that cannot be proved. They
are however consistent with observations.
• Together, the two basic assumptions are called the
cosmological principle (宇宙學原理).
42
The Cosmological Principle (宇宙學原理)
• Homogeneity (均勻性)
– Large-scale distribution of matter in the universe is uniform.
– In other words, the universe should look essentially the
same no matter where an observer is.
• Isotropy (各向同性)
– Large-scale distribution of matter in all directions is the
same.
– In other words, the universe should look essentially the
same no matter what direction an observer observes.
• They are not identical concepts.

43
A

The cube is
homogeneous, but it
is not isotropic as
observed at A.

44
The sphere is not
homogeneous
because it is
composed of
different layers, but
it is isotropic as
observed at the
centre.

45
• Evidence for isotropy:

A survey of 2 million galaxies in different directions on the

sky was completed in the early 1990s. 46
• Evidence for homogeneity:

Galaxy distribution in two

slices on of the universe,
according to the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey
http://www.sdss.org/

47
• Any observer anywhere in the universe sees the same
general features of the universe, after correcting for
evolutionary changes
– no special place in the universe; all locations are typical
– the universe has no edge, no centre

8 years
ago
4 years
ago

• An additional cosmological assumption is universality

(普遍性), which means that the same physical laws
apply everywhere in the universe. 48
 A side note: The Steady-State Theory
• When studying science, it is common not to remember that
there could be alternative theories.
• E.g., in the 1940s, the perfect cosmological principle was
proposed. It states that there is also no special time. The past,
present, and future are the same. The universe is in a steady
state, and matter continues to emerge in the expanding space.
• The steady-state theory fails to predict the number of distant
galaxies, the amount of light elements, and the CMB.
• It is the way that science is done. An important property of
scientific theory is its falsifiable (可證偽性). A theory has to be
able to explain the current observations and experiments,
makes predictions that can be tested, and allows itself to be
shown wrong.
49
 The Expanding Universe
• With the cosmological assumptions, General Relativity
describes a simple model that can explain the
observations of Hubble.
• The universe starts with the Big Bang. The space is
expanding in the way that the universe remains
homogenous and isotropic at large scale.
• The expansion of the universe means that the
background “grid” is expanding. As the space expands,
the galaxies move along with it.
• There is no centre to the expansion. It happens
everywhere.
50
 The Cosmological Redshift
• Celestial objects such as galaxies, planetary systems, and
stars remain held together by their own internal forces.
• EM radiation, being massless, is affected by the expansion.
• The result is the cosmological redshift (宇宙學紅移). We
have seen this effect in the discussion of CMB.
Image: Astronomy Today

51
• Recall that Hubble measured the distance of galaxies,
and also the redshifts in the spectra.

• Galaxies are moving away from us. The larger the

distance is, the faster they are moving.
• The Hubble’s law is 𝑣 = 𝐻! 𝑑.
• We used the word “recession velocity”, which implies
that the redshift comes from the Doppler effect.
52
• If that is the case, we would expect all the recession
speeds be lower than the speed of light. In reality, distant
galaxies can recede faster than light, because the
apparent recession speed is caused by expansion of
space instead of motion through space.
• Suppose a source has a cosmological redshift 𝑧 (defined
as the fractional increase of the wavelength), the
observed wavelength is 1 + 𝑧 times the original
wavelength. The light was emitted when the universe
was 1/(1 + 𝑧) times of the current size.
• As the universe expands, the wavelength is stretched by
the same factor. The redshift is actually not related to
velocity!
• The further an object is, the longer ago the emission was.
Therefore It is common to use redshift to describe
objects at cosmological distance.
53
This distant galaxy has a redshift of 7.2, its observed wavelength
is 8.2 times the original wavelength. The light was emitted when
the universe was about 1/8 of its current size. 54
 The Critical Density (臨界密度)
• Now imagine throwing a ball from a
planet with no atmosphere. The
higher the initial speed is, the
greater the height it reaches.
• For a low speed, gravity eventually
pulls the ball back to the planet.
• If ball is thrown with a initial velocity
equal to or larger than the escape
velocity (逃逸速度), it escapes the
gravitational influence of the planet.
It reaches the infinite.
55
 • These graphs show
the changing distance
between the object
(say a spacecraft) and
the planet.
• Remember that an
initial speed is given
to the spacecraft,
which is not powered.
• The escape velocity is
the critical value that
separates the two
distinct cases of
subsequent motion.
Image: Astronomy Today
56
• What if we fix the initial speed and change the planet
instead? For a given radius, the mass of planet
determine the fate of the object.
• Similarly, the universe can have different possible fates.

57
• Instead of the initial speed, in this case, Hubble's
observation tells us how fast the universe is expanding
in the present time.

Image: Astronomy Today

58
• If the density of the universe is high enough, gravity will
eventually halt the expansion. The universe will collapse
back to a point in the distant future. The universe
returns to the original hot and dense state, and it is
known as the Big Crunch (大塌縮/大擠壓).
• If the density is too low, gravity continues to slow down
the expansion, but cannot stop it. All galaxies beyond
the Local Group will recede until they are too dim to be
seen. The fuel of the local stars will eventually be used
up, and everything freezes. This fate is known as the
heat death (熱寂).
• The density just enough to close the universe is the
critical density (臨界密度) 𝜌# ≈ 9×10$%& kg/m' , or
about 5 hydrogen atoms per cubic metre (!).
59
• Define the density parameter Ω ≡ 𝜌/𝜌#
• If Ω = 1, the universe is flat.
• It is possible to measure the contribution of different
components of the cosmos.
– The present-day energy density of CMB radiation is tiny:
Ω!"# ∼ 10$%
– It is possible to count the amount of luminous matters, gas,
and dust, the corresponding density parameter is merely
several percent.
– By observing the hot gas that surrounds the clusters of
galaxies, one can estimate the required mass to exert
enough gravity to keep the gas in place. The total
contribution of matter is Ω ∼ 0.3.
• Some masses are missing (more about it later).
• All signs point to an open universe. 60
• So far an open universe would be consistent with other
observations, such Image: Astronomy Today (modified)

as the formation (Ω! < 1, open,

of globular 開放宇宙)
clusters (球狀星
團), which are
very old objects.
(Ω! = 1, flat,
平直宇宙)

(Ω! > 1, closed,

閉合宇宙)

• Our earlier estimation of the age, 1/𝐻& , is included for reference. 61

 The Geometry of the Universe
• The apparent consistent picture turns out is incorrect.
• To understand why, recall that mass can curve spacetime in
GR. Such an effect also happens globally, and the combined
mass-energy density of the universe affects its curvature (彎
曲度).
• Living in a 3D world, our perception only allows us to see how
a lower-dimensional world curve. So we shall use a 2D
universe as an example.
– If the curvature is zero, the universe is flat.
– If the curvature is positive, the 2D geometry would be similar to
that of a spherical surface, and the universe is closed.
– If the curvature is negative, the 2D geometry would be similar to
that of a saddle-shaped surface, and the universe is open. 62
 • The three possible cases:
(2-dimensional analogy)
• positive curvature
sum of angle
• finite but no edge > 180o
• light beams converge

• zero curvature
sum = 180o
• infinite and no edge
• parallel light beams
remains parallel

• negative curvature sum < 180o

• infinite and no edge
• light beams diverge

63
• The curvature leads to different
predictions in the different cases.
• It is known that there are small
fluctuations (10$( , or one part
in 100000) in the CMB radiation.
The fluctuations come from
oscillations in the early universe.
• In the BOOMERanG experiment
(late 90s to early 00s), a high-
altitude balloon was used to fly
a telescope above the Antarctica
to measure the small
fluctuations over different
directions.
64
• The difference of the
curvature leads to
different predictions
regarding the CMB
fluctuations.
• For example, if the
universe is closed,
the bending of light
beams will make the
hot spots bigger.
• Observational results
are consistent with a
flat universe. The
curvature is very
close to zero.
Small anisotropy (10!") in the CMB 65
• Obviously globular clusters cannot form before the Big Bang.
Image: Astronomy Today (modified)

(Ω! < 1, open,

開放宇宙)

(Ω! = 1, flat,
平直宇宙)

(Ω! > 1, closed,

閉合宇宙)

• Is it possible to add the content up to Ω = 1? 66

 Contents of the universe
• As stated, the density of the universe determines whether it
will collapse and ends with the Big Crunch (大塌縮).
• There is a large discrepancy of the visible matter and the total
matter. Most of the matter in the universe is the dark matter
(黑暗物質), does not emit or absorb of any EM radiation.
• From galactic motions, we
believe that dark matter exists.
Even though we cannot see it
directly, its gravitational effect
allow us to know their existence.
• Galaxies are rotating too fast that,
without dark matter, they will
simply fly apart.
• Galaxy rotation curve (evidence for dark matter):

Orbital speed observed motion

of stars

motion in case the mass is

concentrated at its centre

Distance from centre

68
• Another piece of evidence comes from the gravitational
lensing. Original matter is not enough to bend the path of
light to such an extent.

69
• Observations of collision between galaxy clusters also
resulted in the collision that most of the matter in the
clusters is dark.
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/
CfA/M.Markevitch et al.;
Optical: NASA/STScI;
Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Cl
owe et al.; Lensing Map:
NASA/STScI; ESO WFI;
Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Cl
owe et al.

• There are other evidences. All in all, we are certain that

several times more dark matter than original matter.
70
 The accelerating universe
• By counting all the matter (dark and ordinary), the
density is about 20% to 30% of the critical density.
However, we expect the universe to be about flat (result
of the BOOMERanG experiment).
• In order to determine the geometry of the universe,
astronomers decided to look even further.
• One important method involves the observations of
Type Ia supernovae (超新星).
• All Type Ia supernovae are exploding celestial bodies
with the same condition.
• They are very bright objects with known luminosity
(standard candles!). 71
 A side note: Type Ia supernova
• After a Sun-like star has
exhausted its fuel, the ash is
an Earth-sized super dense
object known as a white
dwarf (白矮星).
• Quantum-mechanical effect
supports WDs from
collapsing, even though it no
longer generates energy.
• It is known that the
maximum mass of a WD is
1.4 solar masses. Gravity will
further collapse it beyond 1 tea spoon of white dwarf matter
this limit. ~ tens of tons
 A side note: Type Ia supernova (cont'd)
• If a WD is in a close binary
system, some of the mass
of the companion could
end up adding to the WD.
• It leads to sudden
collapse of the WD.
• The WD collapses to a
core with even higher
density. Eventually the
core resists further
compression, and pushed
everything outwards.
• The end result is a Type Ia
supernova. Image: NASA, ESA, A. Feild (STScl)
• In 1998, two groups of astronomers performed such
observations, which are essentially updated versions of
Hubble's observation.
• Redshift measures the recession velocity; the brightness
measures the distance.
• The measurement shows that the universe is indeed flat
(consistent with BOOMERanG result) and expanding (as
expected since Hubble).
• Surprisingly, the universe is expanding in an accelerating
rate!
• More precisely, the universe expanded in a decelerated
rate some time in the past, and currently it is expanding
faster and faster.
• Some content of the universe has an anti-gravitational
effect!
74
 Image: Mei, Yu, IJAA, Vol 3, 36521 (2013)

The discovery leads to Shaw Prize 2006, Nobel Prize 2011:

Saul Perlmutter, Adam Riess, Brian Schmidt 75
 Dark Energy
• Most of the content of the universe seems to be even
stranger than dark matter. The acceleration of the
expansion suggests that about 70% of the content is
dark energy (黑暗能量), which has an overall repulsive
effective on the universe.
• We do not know much about dark energy, but its
existence is consistent with various cosmological
observations.
• Albert Einstein may not be so wrong after all when he
proposed the cosmological constant (宇宙常數).

76
 Image: Astronomy Today
Ω" is the density
parameter of dark (Ω" ≠ 0, Ω! ≈ 1)
energy

( Ω" = 0 )

A revised version of the expanding history. 77

 Our best understanding of the cosmos
• Results from various
observations have led to
a convergence of
cosmological models.
• The ΛCDM model
explains the
observations very well.
• There are still attempts
of models with no dark
energy (Ω) = 0), but so
far the ΛCDM model is Image: nLab (standard model of cosmology)
the best that we have. 78
 Cosmic Contents
• The expansion of the universe is governed by GR.
• The cosmic contents as we know today are approximately:

Image: Wikimedia Commons, B. Finney

79
 Credit: R. Cen, Princeton
Cosmic Contents
Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Livio, Hubble

Image: NASA/JPL

Credit: NASA

Credit:
NASA/SDO
THE EARLY UNIVERSE
 The origin of the universe
• The Hot Big Bang theory has been a success – the
universe has been expanding for about 13.8 billion years.
• By measuring the contents of the universe, and applying
the theory of General Relativity, we know the expansion
history of the universe.
• Further combining it with our knowledge of particle
physics (粒子物理) and high-energy physics (高能物理),
we can understand various events at early time.
• So, what happened right after the very beginning (at
“time 𝑡 = 0”)?
• Let’s trace back from now to the past…
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 The change of the densities
• As the universe expands, the densities of its various
components could change over time.
– Matter (both dark matter and ordinary matter) has the same
mass (which is energy) as the universe expands. The density is
inversely proportional to the volume. Therefore,
𝜌#$%%&' ∝ 1/ universe size (
– Radiation is affected by cosmological redshift and also the
change of volume. Knowing that radiation energy is
proportional to 1/wavelength, we have
𝜌'$)*$%*+, ∝ 1/ universe size -
– Dark energy is the property of space. Its density is constant. It
does not change when the universe expands.
𝜌)$'. &,&'/0 = constant
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• Today, the density of dark energy (∼ 70%) is larger than
those of matter (∼ 30%) and radiation (∼ 10$% ).
• As the universe expands, the densities of these components
change at different rates.
• The present-day universe is dark-energy-dominated.

Image: Astronomy Today 84

• The matter density drops while the dark energy density is
constant. The universe were once matter-dominated.
• The radiation density thus drops even faster than matter.
• The crossover point was ∼ 50000 years after the Big Bang.
• Here we consider events in the radiation-dominated era,
before any
stars or
galaxies
were
formed.

Image: Astronomy Today 85

Particle Production in the Early Universe
• The existence of the CMB implies that the early universe
was dominated by an intense radiation background.
• At high temperatures, the particle properties of light are
important. The light particles – photons (光子) – can
collide on one another.
• If the energy of the photons is high enough, the collision
of two photons could create two other particles, in a
process known as pair production (粒子對生成).
• The photons are destroyed in the process. Again, the
energy is converted to mass via Einstein’s energy
equation 𝐸 = 𝑚𝑐 % .
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• The process only happens when the temperature is very
high. Only then the photons has enough energy for pair
production.
• For example, this is what happens at 10*! K :

Image: Astronomy Today 87

• The newly produced matter is a pair of particle and
antiparticle (反粒子).
• E.g., electron actually has an almost identical twin:
positron (正電子).
• Most of the properties of electron and positron are the
same, except that positron carries positive charge.

• They annihilate (湮滅) when they meet. Pure energy

(photons) is created in the process.
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• Higher temperature means higher photon energy. The
masses of the particle created by pair production is higher.
• For any given particle, there is a certain temperature
below which pair production stops. For electrons, the
temperature is about 6×10+ K.
• Therefore, as the universe expands and the temperature
drops, here is what happen:

Image: Astronomy Today 89

 Imbalance of matter and antimatter
• Then does it mean that there are only photons in the
universe? If so, there would be no one here to tell the
story…
• In reality, antimatter is rare in the universe.
• That means, in the early universe, there was a slight
excess of matter over antimatter. The tiny (one part per
billion) difference leads to the universe as we know today.
• We do not know for sure how to explain the imbalance.
• With no antimatter to annihilate with matter, some
particle survive as the universe expands and the photon
energy drops.
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 At the very beginning
• Before the first 10$,' seconds, the condition of the
universe is too extreme that we cannot apply our current
theories. We basically know nothing about the era (except
that the temperature exceeded about 10'% K).
• Maybe the Big Bang starts from a singularity?
• Among our theories, quantum mechanics (量子力學) can
deal with situations when the size is very small, and
general relativity can deal with situations with very strong
gravity. However, the two theories are incompatible.
• To understand what happened, we need a self-consistent
quantum theory of gravity – which we do not have.
• For now let’s skip forward to 10$'( sec. 91
 !"# !$
Between ~10 sec and 10 sec
• The universe was filled with high-energy photons that are
in equilibrium with particles and antiparticles.
• Particle-antiparticle pairs annihilated to produce photons,
whereas photons formed particle-antiparticle pairs.
• The temperature was so high for protons and neutrons to
form. Instead, the universe was filled with quarks (夸克)
and gluon (膠子).
Credit: CERN

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 !$
Between 10 sec and 1 sec
• The annihilation between protons, neutrons, and their
antiparticles occurred at 𝑡~10$- sec, when the universe
was about 10*' K.
• At about 1 sec, when the temperature had dropped to
about 10*! K, electrons “froze”.
• The surviving protons, neutrons, and electrons are in the
atoms of you and me and everything around us.
• The temperature was still too high for nucleus to form.
Stand-alone neutrons turns out to be unstable, and they
started to decay into protons and electrons.

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Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (大爆炸核合成)
• If you have some stand-alone neutrons, it takes about
10 minutes for half of them to decay.
• As the universe continued to expand, and the
temperature continued to drop, stable nuclei started to
form. Within stable nuclei, neutrons do not decay.
• If it took too long for the universe to cool down, there
would not be many neutrons left. If the universe cooled
down too rapidly, there would be a large amount of
neutrons (now staying in nuclei) in the universe.
• As the temperature dropped to about 10+ K at about
100 seconds, nuclei of deuterium (重氫), helium, and
lithium were formed. 94
The major nuclear fusion processes in the early universe
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• The formation of the light elements is called the Big
Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN, 大爆炸核合成). It is also
known as Primordial Nucleosynthesis.
• The temperature of the universe dropped rapidly.
Within 10 minutes, BBN was completed. Most nuclei in
our universe are hydrogen and helium, because the time
was too short for heavy element to form.
• The theory predicted that the proton to neutron ratio
was about 7:1. If one counts the number of protons and
neutrons in different nuclei, one concludes that about
25% of matter (by mass) should be helium, while the
rest are mostly hydrogen.
• The prediction is consistent with the observations.
• We can also predict the relative amount of deuterium…
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• Besides, the abundance of
other light elements also
serve as a good test of the
theory. So far the observed
abundances are in good
agreement with what we
expect.
• Besides the Hubble
expansion and CMB, BBN is
also a “pillar” of the Big
Bang theory.
• How about heavy elements?
Remember how their
formation is related to stars?
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 Conclusion
• Hubble discovered the expansion of the universe.
• The universe started with a bang.
• We can observe CMB – the relic radiation from the early
universe.
• We can model the universe by considering GR and the
cosmological principles.
• The cosmic contents are mainly dark energy (~70%),
dark matter (~2x%), ordinary matter (a few %).
• We know how the contents affected the expansion of
the universe.
• We know the condition in the early universe, as verified
by the amount of the light elements.
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