OLLI - Why is there anything at all?

- Notes for final class The Big Bang - Any ideas concerning exactly what happened at the Big Bang is pure conjecture. We have no experimental or other mechanisms for examining the Big Bang at the moment it happened. It is conjectured that at around10^-37 seconds following the BB, there was cosmic inflation due to a phase transition(false vacuum) in an inflaton field that expanded space at an expoential rate from a mere point to the size of a grapefruit. Space expanded at a rate far in excess of the speed of light. Inflation lasted only until some 10^-33 seconds after the BB, but it solves some of the thornier problems posed by the BB, while raising others. It is a theory only, but it is the only theory that solves the flatness problem, so it is generally accepted. After inflation, there is a quark/gluon plasma, some other elementary particles, and probably all four basic forces of nature as well as the Higgs field. We cannot generate the energies present in the early universe until it was around 10^-11 seconds old. 10^-6 baryogenesis: neutrons and protons form with a slight excess of matter over antimatter, some 1 in 10^30. No explanation for this surplus is available. At one second, electrons and positrons form with same excess of electrons over positrons. A few minutes after BB, rest mass energy came to dominate the photon radiation energy. At 379,000 years, recombination took place. Electrons and nuclei formed atoms. Electron fog cleared and light was free to travel unimpeded. Universe becomes visible. Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle gives slightly variations in distribution of matter that allow stars to form and then galaxies and other structures. The assumptions concerning the formation of our universe: Laws of physics apply uniformly through space and time. And the universe is homogeneous and isotropic. The horizon problem - there are limits to how much of our universe we can observe. Evidence for the BB 1) Hubble expansion - the rate of expansion is directly proportional to distance. This is expansion of space, not speed at which objects are moving. 2) Cosmic background radiation 3) Evolution of stars and galaxies as well as their distribution

4) Distribution of the light elements with nuclei predicted to be formed right after baryogenesis. Tested using primordial gas clounds. Distribution for lightest elements almost perfect, but no so much for heavier ones. Problems raised in the BB 1) Baryon asymmetry 2) Discrepancies in distribution of the light elements 3) Dark energy 4) Dark matter 5) Physical constants of the universe 6) The specific laws that govern this universe 7) The relative strengths of the fundamental forces Problems solved by inflation 1) The isotropy of the universe - without inflation different sections would not have been in causal contact because of the speed of light 2) The flatness problem - Omega, the critical constant that measures whether the universe will expand forever or contract must be within 10^14 of 1. Inflation had to stop at just the right moment. 3) Absence of magnetic monopoles - does away with defects that generate monopoles Other models for creation of universe Hartle-Hawking no boundary model, whole of space-time is finite, avoids singularity String theory can generate branes that bump into one another providing energy for BB and also explanation why gravity is so weak M-theory provides us with 10^500 possible universe Continuing generation of universes from our BB Continuing generation of universes from a quantum foam substrate Questions: Are there natural laws the pre-exist the BB or do laws comes into existence with it? Similar question with time Why these laws and not others? What about physical constants? Why these forces and their relative strengths? Some explanation from symmetries in gauge theories? Dont ask. On the other hand, maybe its all a bad dream.