Scientists discovered a “supercool” secret about the Big Bang. From the study of gravitational waves they found supercool secret. Gravitational waves are the ripples in spacetime predicted by great scientist Albert Einstein over a century ago. The secret is that gravitational waves have provided new information about the early times of our universe.
These gravitational waves challenge previous assumptions and open the door for new, exciting possibilities for future research. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space and time.
Albert Einstein Prediction
After Albert Einstein’s prediction over a century ago, these waves were first detected in 2015, confirming Einstein’s major prediction. However, a recent study showed that these gravitational waves can tell us about the beginning of our universe.
In 2023, physicists discovered nearly unnoticeable ripples in spacetime formed by collections of rapidly spinning neutron stars called pulsar timing arrays. These unnoticeable low-frequency gravitational waves were first thought to be the result of a phase transition that occurred just after the Big Bang.
Supercool transition
Phase transition is defined as a sudden change in substance properties; for example, water turns into ice when kept in a freezer.
But, some researchers have doubts about this explanation. According to Andrew Fowlie, an assistant professor at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, the origin of these gravitational waves might be linked to a different kind of phase transition.
This phase transition, known as a “supercool” transition. This transition occurs when a substance gets stuck in its liquid phase, slowing its transformation into a solid.
The concept of a supercool transition is not new. It is similar to how water can remain liquid below its freezing point if it is impurities-free. In the context of the early universe, a supercool transition could have occurred when the universe was just a fraction of a second old. This transition generated gravitational waves that we can detect today.
Importance of Discovery
The supercool discovery is important because they challenge the current knowledge of the early universe. Scientists believe that the very first phase transition occurred at the beginning of time, and this led to the formation of gravitational waves.
These waves could be used to study many things, one of which is the conditions present during the first epoch of rapid inflation in the universe and the other of which is the conditions present before the Big Bang.
The Gravitational waves study is still in primary form, but it has already provided many valuable information about our universe. For example, the detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes has confirmed the existence of these objects and offered new insights into their properties.
Similarly, the study of gravitational waves from neutron star mergers gives data about the behaviour of matter under extreme conditions.
What was before the Big Bang?
One of the exciting parts of this discovery is that it might reveal information about the conditions present before the Big Bang. This is a great topic for physicists to discuss about the origin of our universe and answer the question of what was before the Big Bang. If a supercool transition generated these waves, they could offer a unique window into the very beginning of everything.
The study of gravitational waves is a rapidly evolving field, and new discoveries are constantly being made. As our understanding of these waves improves, we can expect to learn even more about the early universe and the fundamental laws of physics. This recent discovery is just the beginning, and it promises to open up new ways of research and exploration.
