Scientists recreate Big Bang in lab

PTI | Sep 2, 2013, 01.33 PM IST

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WASHINGTON: Scientists have successfully simulated the radiation created by the Big Bang - in just ten milliseconds - in a lab, to better understand how structure evolved in the early universe.

Physicists at the University of Chicago reproduced a pattern resembling the cosmic microwave background radiation using ultracold cesium atoms in a vacuum chamber.

"This is the first time an experiment like this has simulated the evolution of structure in the early universe," said Cheng Chin, professor in physics.

Extensive measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) - the echo of the Big Bang - provided cosmologists with a snapshot of how the universe appeared approximately 380,000 years following the Big Bang, which marked the beginning of our universe, researchers said.

It turns out that under certain conditions, a cloud of atoms chilled to a billionth of a degree above absolute zero in a vacuum chamber displays phenomena similar to those that unfolded following the Big Bang, lead author Chen-Lung Hung, now at the California Institute of Technology, said.

"At this ultra-cold temperature, atoms get excited collectively. They act as if they are sound waves in air," he said.

The dense package of matter and radiation that existed in the very early universe generated similar sound-wave excitations.

The synchronised generation of sound waves correlates with cosmologists' speculations about inflation in the early universe.

"Inflation set out the initial conditions for the early universe to create similar sound waves in the cosmic fluid formed by matter and radiation," Hung said.

The sudden expansion of the universe during its inflationary period created ripples in space-time in the echo of the Big Bang, researchers said.

One can think of the Big Bang, in oversimplified terms, as an explosion that generated sound, Chin said.

The universe simulated in Chin's laboratory measured no more than 70 microns in diameter, approximately the diameter as a human hair.

"It took the whole universe about 380,000 years to evolve into the CMB spectrum we're looking at now. But the physicists were able to reproduce much the same pattern in approximately 10 milliseconds in their experiment," Chin said.

The study was published in the journal Science Express. 

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The Sound of the Big Bang   A decade ago, American physics professor John Cramer released an audio file -- the sound of the Big Bang. Now with new data from ESA's Planck mission Cramer reran his simulation and released this hi-fidelity version. What you here is a sound wave calculated from the cosmic background radiation spectrum, extrapolated back and forth in time to gain a 50 seconds version of the theorized sound waves for the first 760,000 years after the Big Bang. During that time the universe was dense enough to carry sound waves similar to Earth's atmosphere. If this is at least similar to what was really going on in terms of sound of the Big Bang could be revealed by a LISA-class mission, expected to launch in 2028. For the very first time we will then be able to listen to the tiny fluctuations in spacetime caused by accelerated matter. This will tell us about the dark side of our Universe, yet unknown objects, and maybe even about the Big Bang itself. Sound: © 2013 by John G. Cramer, University of Washington,

 
Earth Aum

 

OM or AUM is the most important and significant word of Mantra tradition. It is considered as the root mantra of all mantra. In a majority of Mantra, you will find OM. OM is the most often chanted sound among all the sacred sounds on earth. This sound is considered as the sound of the existence. it is believed that the whole universe, in its fundamental form, is made up of vibrating, pulsating energy. Om is considered as the humming sound of this cosmic energy. OM is said to be the original primordial creative sound from which the entire universe have manifested. It is also known as the 'Anahat Nada', the "Unstruck Sound". This means the sound that is not made by two things striking together. If you observe the nature of sound you'll find that all ordinary audible sound are produced by the striking of two objects : bow and strings, drum and stick, two vocal cords, waves against the shore, winds against the leaves, bat against the ball, tyers against the road etc. In short all sounds within our range of listening are produces by things visible or invisible, striking each other or vibrating together, resulting in pulsating waves of air molecules which we interprets as sound. In contrast to the above, OM is the sound which is not the result of the striking of two objects. It, rather emanates on its own. It is the primal sound of the universe that contains all sounds in itself. 

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