Cosmic Engine Notes

Chapter 12: Big Bang Cosmology

12.1: Our View of the Universe
The Sun is a star, closest to Earth. Huge ball of gas (80% hydrogen and
20% helium), producing energy by nuclear fusion of the hydrogen nuclei
within its core.
Galaxy is a large collection of such stars, larger and smaller, and ours is
called Milky Way. Its shape deduced to be a rotating barred spiral galaxy.
One of many billion.
Sun thought to be one of 100 billion in Milky Way, which is thought to be 1
of 100 billion in the universe. Highlights our insignificance in the universe.
12.2 Historical Development of the Models of the Universe
Thales of Miletus (624 BC) model consisted of flat earth resting on water,
with air above it and celestial fire above that.
Pythagoras believed in purity mathematically, and believed Earth was a
perfect sphere and the universe was constructed of spheres, all orbiting a
central fire.
Eudoxidus (395-343 BC) had earth at middle with 27 concentric shells
along which sun, moon, stars and planets orbited the earth.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) - reasoned that Earth was round, and provided 3
proofs. He however believed in a geocentric model of the universe,
where Earth was at the centre of the universe and that the Sun, the moon
and the visible planets, as well as a celestial sphere containing all the
stars, revolve around the Earth.
His model used a system of 55 transparent concentric spheres rotating
around the Earth to explain the observed motion of the stars and planets.
He also believed in the four elements: fire, air, earth and water. Heavens
were believed to be made of quintessence, the fifth element.
Aristarchus (240 BC) - alternate view, suggesting: Sun is much bigger than
the Earth, Sun is at the centre of the universe and the Earth orbits it
(heliocentric model), and the Earth rotates on an axis once per day,
producing the apparent motion of the Sun and stars. His model was more
accurate but lacked detail to allow predictions and hence did not gain
favour like Aristotles model early on. Earth rotated on axis once a day,
revolved around sun once a year.
Ptolemy (140 AD) Last ancient Greek astronomer, refined Aristotles
model, contriving elaborate model of circles within circles. So successful
as perceived at the time in predicting observed motions of the heavens
that it was adopted by the Church as the correct picture of the universe;
predominant model for 1400 years. He introduced complex geometry, with
earth at centre, and a plant P describing small circle (epicycle) around
point on large circle called a deferent. Centre of deferent was off centre C
from the earth. Off centred circles were called equants. Once set up,
resultant motion produced ellipses and loopy motion that explained
retrograde motion.
Copernicus (1473-1542) Proposed sun at centre of universe, and
everything revolved around it in circles. He did his work quietly, but once
published finally in 1543, it was branded heretic against the Church. It
 slowed the acceptance and without the technology, did not help much till
later on.
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) Danish. Studied and plotted the sky with
meticulous care and accuracy. Regular and methodical observations. Made
measurements as accurate as 0.5 arc minutes, while others were limited
to 15 arc minutes. He combined geo and heliocentric, with all planets
except Earth revolving around Sun, and Sun revolved around stationary
Earth, an idea he found impossible to be not true. Technology of time
failed to show any evidence Earth moved; the evidence sought would have
been a slight shift in positons of some stars as the Earth orbited the Sun,
this effect is called parallax. The largest parallax of any star is less than
one second of arc, or less than a thirtieth of Brahes best measurements.
Hence, he could detect no parallax.
Kepler (1571-1630) Assistant of Brahe. Believer in the Copernican model.
Used Brahes data and Copernicus idea and in 1600s improved the
heliocentric model of the universe. His model said that planets moved
around Sun in ellipses. 3 laws: Laws of Ellipses- each planet moves in an
ellipse with the Sun at one focus. Laws of Areas- speed of the planets
along their elliptical orbits is such that they sweep out equal areas in equal
periods of time. In effect, the close the planets are to the Sun, the faster
they travel along their orbit. Laws of Periods- period T of the orbit of a
planet is related to the average radius: T^2/R (av) ^3 = k (constant).
Last law allowed Kepler to make calculations of the relative distances of
the planets in the solar system. In Austria, with favour in royal court, he
was able to advance idea, and predicted motions much greater than
Ptolemy.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) In 1608, telescopes had been invented in
Holland, and a year later GG started making his own. He became the first
one to point one at the sky, and observed the sheer amount of stars. He
made many observations, including the planet Jupiter having four
observable moons that orbited it; he tracked and plotted their rotations
about the planet also. Important point was that the moons were orbiting
Jupiter and not Earth, hence geocentric Ptolemy model had to be incorrect.
1616 Church issued warning, he did not pay heed, published book in 1632,
got house arrest for last 9 years of his life. Despite all this, Kepler and GGs
work had left a lasting impact.
Newton (1643-1727) 1687 published book PNPM, with theories on
motions of objects as well as calculus needed to analyse these motions.
Newton realised the force of gravity making apple fall was same as the
force keeping Moon in its orbit about Earth, and Earth around Sun. in 1684,
Halley proposed the unknown force between Sun and planets followed the
equation F is inversely proportional to distance of planet from sun
squared.
Newton used this idea, Keplers laws, and his own idea of gravity to
deduce his Law of Universal Gravitation, which describes the force of
gravity that exists between any two masses, but especially large ones
such as planets. F = G (m1m2)/r^2, where G is the universal gravity
constant, and r is distance between two masses. From this law, Halleys
relationship is evident and why orbits are ellipse can be derived.
12.3 An expanding universe
 Einstein (1879-1955) Fabrice of the universe: space-time continuum in
which time can slow down and objects shrink if they are fast enough, but
will never exceed speed of light. Theory predicted that if an object is
speeded up to light, some energy of the object converted to mass for
object, increasing acceleration difficulty, and hence never being able to
reach speed of light. Einstein suggested E=mc^2. Special Theory of
Relativity was not consistent with Newtons LOUG, which by definition,
would mean gravity would act instantaneously. Since Einstein knew
nothing could happen instantly, he came up with the General Theory of
Relativity, combining gravity into the math. Presented gravity as an effect
rather than force, the result of warped time-space. Large masses have
ability to warp time-space, and space-time affects the way the masses
move. He however could not accept the Earth expanded.
Friedmann (1888-1925) considered this an error, and expressed expansion
of universe in mathematical terms, saying that the radius of the curvature
of space increases with time.
Hubble (1889-1953) worked at MWO which possessed the most powerful
telescope in the world. He was studying nebulae, clouds of glowing gas
that appear as small fuzzy patches. He was looking at the stars in the
nebulae, and in 1924 noticed a pulsating star in the Andromeda nebulae,
called a Cepheid variable. He calculated the nebulae is 800000 light years
away, and was far beyond the distance of most stars known. Hubble had
shown that this was actually a separate galaxy, and went on to discover
and classify 24 different galaxies.
He also measured the red shift of the galaxies. Using a glass prism to
spread out the light into a spectrum, it became possible to identify
particular lines (specific wavelengths) in the spectrum. It was deduced
from the fact that the lines were closer to the red end that they were
moving away from Earth, and by measuring the degree of red-shifting, it
was possible to calculate how fast they were moving. Hubble found almost
all galaxies were red-shifted; they were moving away from us. Hubbles
Law v=HD (v velocity of recession, D distance in mega parsecs, H Hubbles
constant 70 km/Mpc. A parsec is a distance of 3.26 b light years.
Hubbles expansion was like an exploding bomb; faster pace at the
furthest point. This implied that at some stage in the past all of the matter
in our expanding universe, was concentrated at a single place, called a
singularity. From this singularity our universe exploded, an event that has
become known as bing bang. Using his constant, it is calculated the Bing
bang occurred 12-14 b years ago.
The same way stars radiate light, a young, hot, dense universe should
emit radiation. As the universe expanded, like a hot gas, then cooled
down, the radiation should still be present. This was predicted by Gamow
in 1948, but the radiation was discovered in 1965.
Robert Dicke suggested it was cosmic background radiation- pattern of
background radiation from space that represents the afterglow of the heat
of the early universe. He suggested they should appear as microwaves
now and a radiometer should be used to search for them. By accident
however, Penzias and Wilson in 1965 were working on a radiometer built
into a telescope to track communication satellites. The radiometer was
making a persistent noise they could not eradicate. They had discovered
CBR, and a satellite found the microwave radiation was very nearly same
 strength all the way around, justifying Friedmanns assumption about the
uniformity of the universe.
12.4 The Big Bang
Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose proved mathematically, based on
general relativity that the universe must have begun with a big bang.
Supported by CBR, relative proportions of the lighter elements and the
Hubble expansion. Current model is one that supports an initial rapid
inflation leading to a more slowly expanding, spatially flat universe that is
now starting to accelerate its expansion. LCDM model. 13.7 b years ago.
Friedmann (again). Two models of the universe: Closed- time and space
beginning and end. Started with the big bang and will end with a big
squeeze. Space and galaxy number are finite. Open- begins with a big
bang but produces an indefinite expansion in which time and space have
no end. The big bang thus is just an expansion of time. Both models have
galaxies moving away from each other, and have a correlation with the
red-shift.
Stages of universe:
o Atomic-particle-sized dot exploded 12 (13.7?) b years ago creating
space, time, and releasing energy. Singularity. Grew rapidly.
o Gamow in 1948 suggested that original universe consisted of
exceedingly hot EMR. Suggested temperatures of 10^30 degrees.
o Matter began to form. At one second of age, universe was a hot
swirling mass of basic particles (e.g. quarks) and energy. Expansion
continued, and basic particles were formed from e=mc^2. These
original quarks are supposed to be the particles which combined to
form protons, neutrons and electrons. They were much more
massive than modern day particles. Probable that early forming
particles consisted of both matter and antimatter, which tend to
destroy themselves when they form.
o 10000 years, 100000K, consisted of charged atomic particles called
plasma. Within the plasma, nuclear fusion occurred and atoms
formed, helium and hydrogen.
o At 1 b years, hydrogen and helium gas formed random dense
pockets scattered throughout the expanding universe. These gas
clouds condensed to form proto-galaxies glowing and heating under
gravity.
o At 2 b years, proto-galaxies gathered into clusters, and the universe
took on a honeycomb appearance. Within the PGs, gas
concentrations gave birth to first stars, some of which evolved into
fast fusing blue giants which create bigger atoms by nuclear fusion
of hydrogen. So first galaxies were formed.
o One of the early blue giants probably existed in our region of space.
They live short lives fusing hydrogen rapidly. The death of that first
generation star produced the heavy atoms that formed yourselves
and our planet.
Evidence for Big Bang- expansion of the universe as shown by the
movement of galaxies away from us, observations of very distant galaxies
12 b years out, observations of strange energetic super-galaxies called
quasars far out back in time, discovery of black holes, microwave radiation
spread out throughout space.
Chapter 13: Stars
Luminosity of a star- mass of gas which determines the intrinsic luminosity
of a star; the more gas, the brighter it shines at the surface. Suns
luminosity is the energy emitted per second of power of the sun. It can be
estimated in watts. Brightness = luminosity/4(pi)r^2
Brightness of a star- wattage received per square and depends on a)
luminosity of the star b) the distance in parsecs form observer to star.
Inverse square law- applies to any object emitting EMR. Law states that
the brightness or energy intensity drops off in proportion to the distance
away. I = k/d^2. Alternatively, I1d1^2 = I2d2^2, where Is are the two
light intensities, and ds are the different distances away from the star.
Colour of the stars- surface temperature determines the visible colour of
the star. Generally, reddish colours are cooler and blue colours are bluish.
Letters for colours are called the spectral class of the star. A type O star
is blue and very hot, and M type is red and is the coolest. Our sun is
yellow G.
Hottest-coolest: O(blue), B(blue-white), A(white), F(yellow-white),
G(yellow), K(orange), M(red). Other Boys Are Fat Gay KitKat Monkeys.
M= sun mass. O(blue)- >30000K, 30M; B(blue-white)- 30000-11000K, 8M;
A(white)- 11000-8000K, 2.5M; F(yellow-white)- 8000-6000K, 1.4M;
G(yellow)- 6000-4800K, M; K(orange)- 4800-3500K, 0.7M; M(red)- <3500K,
0.3M
Black body is one that absorbs all radiation falling upon it. As it gets
hotter, begins to radiate its own EM energy. Black body radiation is the
EMR emitted by black body. Each curve on a BBRC is specific to a
particular temperature, and each has peak intensity corresponding to
particular wavelength. As temperature increases, peak moves
towards shorter wavelengths. At lower temperatures the
radiation lies mostly in the invisible IR region, but as temp
increases, peak moves into visible spectrum, and at even higher
temps, moves into UV region.
Cooler star (3/4kK) will appear red, longer wavelength end. As increase
temp, peaks in yellow so star is yellow, then white, then blue.
Hertzsprung Russell diagram. Graph absolute luminosity of stars against
their surface temp. Absolute luminosity is brightness from 10 parsecs
away, and to calculate, apparent luminosity (magnitude from earth) and
distance of star from earth are required.
Multiple scales: Y axis: absolute luminosity (0.0001-100000), with sun as
1, indicates brightness. Absolute magnitude- the more negative the
number, the brighter the star. X axis: spectral class- colour. Surface
temperature- thousands of degrees absolute.
Main sequence stars- 90% of the stars in an s-shaped curve from top
left to bottom right, these are stars which achieve balance between
gravity and nuclear fusion. More luminous stars are more massive, less
bright ones tend to be smaller.
Red giants- most red giants are reaching end of their star life cycles.
Some just started their life cycles and are contracting to normal size. Older
red giants form from main sequence stars when the hydrogen in the core
is exhausted. Core in the elderly star contracts under gravity,
superheating it. New hotter fusion takes place around the core, core
 becomes very hot whilst outside gets much cooler. Cool, bright, large.
There are two variations, red giants, and the more luminous, called
supergiants. They do not last long, and blow up in a bang called a nova,
forming a ring shaped nebula. Supergiants explode in events called
supernovae. White dwarfs are the remains of the core after red giants
explode.
White dwarfs- fusion ceased, little larger than earth. Bigger white dwarfs
contract under gravity to dense ball of neutrons, which are invisible but
emit radio pulses due to rotation, and are called neutron stars or pulsars. If
big enough, these collapse further to make black holes- super condensed
matter from which no light can escape.
Star groupEnergy Producing Reactions
o Main sequence- nuclear fusion of hydrogen to helium in core
o Red giants- nuclear fusion of helium to carbon in core, with
hydrogen fusion continuing in shell
o Supergiants- multiple nuclear fusions possible in shells, forming
elements up to iron in core
o White dwarfs- fusion stops, no energy producing reactions occur
Stellar evolution- protostar: contracting gas cloud of hydrogen and some
helium. Once fusion begins, becomes a main sequence star, and its
position depends on its mass: higher mass is higher up. As the hydrogen
starts running out, it becomes a red giant, where its core is shrinking.
The core shrinks quickly as the outside shell expands. When fuel runs out
completely, outer layers are shed as the core remains a hot dense star
corpse, and becomes a white dwarf, and keeps cooling till it becomes a
black dwarf. If it was a larger star to start with, most likely will end up as
a neutron star or a black hole. Mass makes big difference.
Chapter 14: Radiation and the Sun
Radioactive decay- emissions from the nucleus and are ionising
radiations, meaning they roar through matter, leaving a trail of ions
behind. Three types:
o Alpha- helium nucleus (4.2), +2 charge, low penetrative ability, can
only penetrate several centimetres and stopped by paper, high
ionising ability, larger.
o Beta- electron (0.-1), -1 charge, medium penetrative ability, can
penetrate about a metre of air, medium ionising ability, smaller.
o Gamma- very high frequency EMR, no charge, high penetrative
ability, low ionising ability.

Structure of the sun:

o Core- innermost layer and site of energy production through fusion
of hydrogen to helium. 15m K
o Radiation zone- EMR is transmitted slowly through this layer by
successive absorption and re-radiation. Zone of dense packed
atoms. Reflects most gamma rays.
o Interface zone- thin layer seems to generate suns magnetic field.
o Convection zone- energy is transmitted through to the surface by
convection currents.
o Photosphere- visible pebbly layer (6000K). Gaseous layer.
 o Atmosphere- normally invisible except during a total solar eclipse.
Made up of:
Chromosphere- flaming inner atmosphere
Transition region- few hundred km thick
Corona- outer atmosphere, extends millions of km out into
space. Streams out into space, forming the solar wind
The suns surface approximates the behaviour of a black body- emitting
energies in the same way as a black body emitting no light would do. The
sun correlates with a 6000K curve.
Most curves depict and ideal black body curve, but our sun actually emits
more X-rays and UV than an ordinary black body. The upper atmosphere
however deals with most of these.
Sun mass: 2x10^27 tonnes/diameter: 864 000 miles/Composition: 80% H,
~20% He
Sunspots are dark spots on the surface of the sun, varying in size from
few hundred to few thousand kilometres in diameter. Appear as dark as
they are about 1500K cooler than surrounding plasma. They represent
regions of intense magnetic activity, containing magnetic fields of 0.4
tesla, much higher than the rest of the Sun and the Earth. It is thought
that they are locations of disturbances in the magnetic field lines within
the surface of the Sun, where they have become sufficiently buckled to
loop out and then back into surface. This intense magnetic activity
prevents convection of heat to surface, making it cooler. Peak of sunspot
activity happens every 11 years, and helps astronomers figure out the
solar cycle, where peak is solar max and trough solar min. Peak activity
intensifies solar wind. It represents an increase radiation hazard to
astronauts and disrupts radio communications.
Solar wind is an outflow of low density plasma from the corona of the
sun. Contains protons and electrons and helium nuclei. Has a speed of
400km/s. Takes 3-4 days to reach Earth. Moving charged particles produce
their own magnetic fields which push around other moving charges.
Essentially outflowing solar wind carries suns magnetic fields out with it to
form the inter-planetary magnetic field, which become a giant spiral and
deviate with suns rotation.
Much of the radiation in the wind is ionising, and earth has a moving
molten layer in the outer core generating the magnetic field, which
compresses when impacted upon by the solar wind, creating a bow up
front and a long tail. Solar wind ends up flowing around and past the
Earth. The region containing earths magnetic field, distorted in this way is
called the magnetosphere. Ions can still enter magnetosphere by: cusps
and holes over the N and S poles, through the magneto tail, and through
some leakage in the magneto pause.
Van Allen belts are two doughnut shaped zones of radiation (ions) that wrap
around Earth, with the inner being stronger and the outed slightly weaker.
Charges within outer belt can descend to 100km near the poles during N-S
motion. Descent causes collision with tenuous upper atmospheric molecules (O,
N), giving energy, which then gets re-emitted producing light, and these lights are
called auroras. Inner belt is within earths outer atmosphere, exosphere, and
1000-5000km above surface. Outer belt 15k-20k above surface, and less intense.
Spacecraft flying through need protection from penetrative particles.
 Ring current running around the earth in the ionosphere and VAB increases causing difficulties in radio
communications which rely on reflection off the ionosphere. Solar winds cause: interference in radio
com, high V power lines experience current surges that can trip circuit breakers and black out the grid.