AST 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Light Curve, Type Ia Supernova, Galaxy Formation And Evolution
Document Summary
Inflation expands the universe from a size much smaller than a proton to 10cm across in only 15 x 10^-33 s. Space expands faster than the speed of light. Energy released by splitting of electroweak and strong forces may have driven inflation. Regions now on opposite sides of the sky were close together before inflation pushed them far apart. The fate of the universe depends on its composition. Initial expansion of the universe wants to force everything away. Gravity wants to pull matter back together. Fate of universe depends on which wins. Need a census of the content of the universe. Undetected form of mass that emits little or no light but whose existence we infer from its gravitational influence. Unknown form of energy that seems to be the source of a repulsive force causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate. Total amount of mass grows outwards as number of stars increase.
