Can this thread be renamed to something more descriptive such as:

'Spectacular' discovery hailed: Cosmic inflation signal

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Indeed a great discovery:

BBC - Cosmic inflation: 'Spectacular' discovery hailed

... One of those pioneers, Prof Alan Guth from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the BBC: "I have been completely astounded. I never believed when we started that anybody would ever measure the non-uniformities of the CMB, let alone the polarisation, which is now what we are seeing.

"I think it is absolutely amazing that it can be measured and also absolutely amazing that it can agree so well with inflation and also the simplest models of inflation - nature did not have to be so kind and the theory didn't have to be right."

British scientist Dr Jo Dunkley, who has been searching through data from the European Planck space telescope for a B-mode signal, commented: "I can't tell you how exciting this is. Inflation sounds like a crazy idea, but everything that is important, everything we see today - the galaxies, the stars, the planets - was imprinted at that moment, in less than a trillionth of a second. If this is confirmed, it's huge."


Phenomenal stuff!

Keep searchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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So, gravity waves are real. Does this mean there are any practical applications of this knowledge? Or is this another line of research that falls in the category of "it's nice to Know"?

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

So, gravity waves are real. Does this mean there are any practical applications of this knowledge? Or is this another line of research that falls in the category of "it's nice to Know"?

If you suddenly find yourself floating above the floor you know the Pentagon is working on it.

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Very early days to try to predict practical applications of this knowledge. Perhaps it will help advance the search for a complete, workable grand unification theory, uniting all three forces, exclusive of gravity, or the theory of everything, which includes gravity. Either of those would probably have practical implications, eventually. Conversion of an electromagnetic beam to one of directional, controlled gravity comes to mind, in the latter case.

Gravitational wave astronomy will probably be helped by this discovery, and follow-up work based on it. For all we know, the preferred SETI medium is gravitational waves. It's been discussed that short wavelength gravitational waves, possibly as short as 3 centimeters, might be reproduced in the laboratory. There would be certain advantages over radio.

Stanford professor Andrei Linde, ' founding father of inflation', is first told about and then celebrates the new discovery. He quickly identifies the newly found patterns in the cosmic microwave background as due to quantum gravity.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlfIVEy_YOA

Batter UP wrote:

Time is not constant?

No, time is affected by speed and gravity relative to the observer.
At least that is what my New Jersey homie said.

The correct word is "absolute", not "constant".

I scanned all articles and videos but found no indication about the wavelength of those GW. So I still think it is very large.
Tullio

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Great discovery indeed! We're yet another step closer in unraveling the secrets of our Universe.

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rOZZ
Music
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The correct word is "absolute", not "constant".

Define "absolute".

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...and bingo, in a trillionth of a second or less, we have an entire universe complete with galaxies of stars, with nebulae and planets and suns and black holes etc. How does any of that seem plausible.

It doesn't... but fortunately, that isn't the timeline. Give it almost half a billion years before even the first stars form. Before that is just a coalescing haze of hydrogen, which isn't so implausible. :^)

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Isn't it fascinating the more we know the more we know we don't know.

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Here is a link to an article that discusses the scientific implications of the new discovery, and what it could mean for future research. This appears to be a watershed moment for astrophysics, and physics in general.
http://www.gizmag.com/bicep2-quantum-gravity-cosmic-inflation-harvard-smithsonian/31245/

This appears to be a watershed moment for astrophysics, and physics in general.

Truly; this discovery has made the popular news on morning shows even though 99 and 44/100% of the population don't have a clue what it really means.

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Isn't it fascinating the more we know the more we know we don't know.

Yup, still lots to learn... And if we will ever understand the big picture is another matter...

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

We never will |Julie, nit in our lifetime anyway that is for sure.

+1. Humankind is too 'young'

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

Sky and Telescope magazine website weighs in on the new discoveries:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/First-Direct-Evidence-of-Big-Bang-Inflation-250681381.html

Sky and Telescope magazine website weighs in on the new discoveries:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/First-Direct-Evidence-of-Big-Bang-Inflation-250681381.html

Thanx, good short read, I reposted it on Einstein which I also do.

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Define "absolute".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_time_and_space

No so fast??

I hope this is the right thread?

Gravitational Wave Discovery Challenged By Two New Studies

The astronomers who earlier this year announced that they had evidence of primordial gravitational waves jumped the gun, two independent analyses suggest.

The papers, published on the arXiv preprint repository, propose that the original analysis did not properly account for the confounding effects of galactic dust. Although further observations may yet confirm the findings, independent researchers now say they no longer think that the original data constituted significant evidence.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/04/gravitational-wave-discovery-challenged_n_5440197.html

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I shall continue to crunch E@H.

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