Cosmic genesis Physical Laws Drive the Formation of Structure in the Universe Fred C. Adams Physics Department, University of Michigan SATURDAY MORNING PHYSICS How did we get here? Four Forces of Nature Gravity Electromagnetism Strong Weak Classical (19th century) Physics Quantum Mechanics Relativity Chaos Our Universe Cosmic Timeline (uchicago.edu) GSWE The Inflationary Universe Time in seconds (G vs G) (Guth/Wudka) Matter > Antimatter S vs G (members.aol.com) time t < 1 second: Dark Matter Freezes Out Dark matter abundance freezes before the universe is 1 second old W vs G The synthesis of light elements begins when the universe is one second old S vs E vs G (physics.uoregon.edu) Helium Deuterium Lithium (Schramm) frequency Intensity COBE Blackbody T = Kelvin E WMAP: Cosmic Background Radiation E vs G The VIRGO consortium G Andromeda: Our sister galaxy Cosmological Parameters Fates of the Universe Accelerating G Island Universe 14 Gyr 54 Gyr 92 Gyr Busha, Adams, Evrard, and Wechsler 2003 Every galaxy has a supermassive black hole anchoring its center M bh = millions to billions of Suns Gravity wins! G (astro.cf.ac.uk) Every galaxy produces about one million stellar mass black holes (Gravity wins again) G (life-enhancement.com) EM radiation Stars are still forming today The Eagle Nebula (Hester et al.) Orion The Stages of Star Formation Gravity vs Pressure A B C (Faulkes) Spectral Class Luminosity The fifty (50) nearest stars Our Sun is the fourth largest! The Periodic Table of Elements S,W (aether.lbl.edu) S,W vs E Late Nuclear Burning Stages of a Massive Star - just before IGNITION G,E,S,W (Faulkes) Distribution of Stellar Masses Stars that explode Stars that become white dwarfs Brown dwarfs Galaxy continues to make new stars. Time scales are lengthened by: - Recycling - Infall onto disk - Reduced SF rate Star formation continues until the galaxy runs out of gas (trillions of years from now) The smallest, longest lived stars last for tens of trillions of years Star formation continues until the galaxy runs out of gas (trillions of years from now) The smallest, longest lived stars last for tens of trillions of years Our universe is young: Only one tenth of one percent of the Stelliferous Era has taken place so far! Extrasolar Planets! California planet search Planets form out of circumstellar disks G. Bryden G,E Comets can carry water to newborn terrestrial planets But most water for Earth probably came from hydrogenated rocks Galilean Satellites: Ganymede Callisto Io Europa Icy worlds are easy to make E Our universe seems to have just the right version of the laws of physics so that LIFE CAN EMERGE Our universe seems to have just the right version of the laws of physics so that LIFE CAN EMERGE WHY? GSWE GSWE Here and Now For further reading: Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the physics of eternity, Fred Adams & Greg Laughlin, 1999 Origins of Existence: How life emerged in the universe, Fred Adams, 2002 Hawking Radiation Black hole Virtual particles Earth swallowed by the Sun Red Dwarf saves Earth sun red dwarf earth moon Red dwarf captures the Earth Sun exits with one red dwarf as a binary companion Earth exits with the other red dwarf Sun and Earth encounter binary pair of red dwarfs 9000 year interaction Primordial Era The Big Bang Inflation Matter > Antimatter Quarks -> protons, neutrons Nuclear synthesis of the light elements Cosmic Microwave Background Universe continues to expand Four Stages of Star Formation: G vs P