Energy distribution in an axion field.

The foundation of modern cosmology was laid in 1981, when physicist Alan Guth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed an extension to the standard Big Bang model of the universe called the inflationary theory. This theory allows astronomers to trace the history of the universe back to a tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang, when the strong, weak and electromagnetic forces identified by current theory were unified into a single electronuclear force. With Office of Science funding, Guth worked out the cosmological consequences of a phase transition in the universe, which in its earliest moments supercooled and then, in a fraction of a second, rapidly expanded exponentially, by many orders of magnitude. This model has been further developed by Andreas Linde of Stanford University, Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University, and others. Since the inflationary theory was proposed, other developments have emerged that may enable scientists to probe events occurring at an even earlier stage, perhaps even before the creation event itself.

Scientific Impact: The inflationary theory solves many problems of standard Big Bang cosmology models, explaining, for example, why the universe appears so close to the transition between endless expansion and eventual contraction. The theory also suggests why the universe appears so homogeneous; at first it was so condensed that it became uniform, a condition well preserved by the very rapid expansion.

Social Impact: Widely accepted among theoretical physicists, the inflationary theory helps humans better understand nature and contributes to improvements in science education.

Reference: Scientific American Presents (ISSN 1048-0943), Volume 9, Number 1, 1998.

URL: http://www.sciam.com/specialissues/0398cosmos/0398linde.html

Technical Contact: Prof. Alan Guth, guth@ctp.mit.edu

Press Contact: Jeff Sherwood, DOE Office of Public Affairs, 202-586-5806

SC-Funding Office: Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics