Cosmic Inflation and Big Bang Ripples

On March 17th, physicists with the BICEP2 experiment announced they had detected the remnant of gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave background, the light left over from the big bang. Although still needing confirmation, the discovery lends weight to the idea that the early universe underwent rapid expansion.

Video credits - writer/host: Sophie Bushwick, production assistant: Geoffrey Giller, editor: Kathryn Free, producer: Eric R. Olson

The shock waves are still reverberating from BICEP2's bombshell announcement that they've discovered the holy grail of cosmology: the telltale signature of gravitational waves from inflation.

Few people were as thrilled with the big physics news today as physicist Andrei Linde. One of the main authors of inflation theory--the idea that the universe expanded incredibly rapidly just after it was born in the big bang--Linde has reason to be excited.

A curved signature in the cosmic microwave background light provides proof of inflation and spacetime ripples
 

The B-mode polarization signal provides a way for astronomers to calculate neutrino masses, as well as to chase a class of "primordial" B-modes that could be used to confirm inflation

The Planck space telescope's picture of the cosmic microwave background sheds fresh light on the first instants following the birth of the universe, and suggests that it's about 80 million years older than previously thought

Cosmic inflation may have left a telltale imprint on the universe that could be detected in the coming years

In part 2 of this podcast, cosmologists Alan Guth from M.I.T., Arizona State University's Lawrence Krauss, John Carlstrom from the University of Chicago, and Fermilab's Scott Dodelson take reporters' questions at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago on February 16th

In part 1 of this podcast, cosmologists Alan Guth from M.I.T., Arizona State University's Lawrence Krauss, John Carlstrom from the University of Chicago, and Fermilab's Scott Dodelson discuss the state of cosmology--and the universe's possible dismal future--at a press conference at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago on February 16th

Scientists may soon glimpse the universe's beginnings by studying the subtle ripples made by gravitational waves

Recent versions of the inflationary scenario describe the universe as a self-generating fractal that sprouts other inflationary universes

A new theory of cosmology suggests that the observable universe is embedded in a much larger region of space that had an extraordinary growth spurt a fraction of a second after the primordial big bang