The Universe Might Have Originated in a Big Splat!

Current theories about the beginning of the universe predict that all the observed matter originated in a single point in space, a singularity, which suddenly expanded in space-time provoking the so-called Big Bang. The light emitted by the glowing matter in the beginning of the universe slowly shifted towards the infrared spectrum and is currently detected in the microwave wavelength as the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, that can be used to create a map of matter distribution in the early life of the universe.

Detected in the middle of the 20th century by mistake, the CMB was the first evidence that the universe might have originated in a point-like structure in space, after which it expanded in the space-time fabric. By determining small variations in the temperature of the CMB, astrophysicists were able to determine the partial chain of events which took place after, and how structures like galaxy clusters and star clusters formed.

However, measurements made by NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe in 2003 showed that the average temperature of the CMB, which is 2.7 Kelvin, presents variations of only a few millionths of a degree, fact that cannot be predicted by the current models of the inflation theory. The Big Bang theory states that the universe expanded exponentially into space-time for about a fraction of a second, describing a smooth, flat structure that evolved into the large structure visible today due to those temperature variations. This is the most widely accepted theory, and also the simplest available.

Nevertheless, all the theories need testing as new information is available. By comparing the predictions made by the so-called 'single-field slow-roll inflation' with the measurements made by the WMAP, cosmologists Benjamin Wandelt and Amit Yadav, from the University of Illinois, clearly showed that the two do no match, but this does not mean that the other inflation theories are wrong, just that it cannot accurately describe the universe. Several other available inflation theories even suggest that the universe did not originate in a singularity, thus the Big Bang never happened, but rather a splat-like event took place.

Criticisms quickly followed after the announcement made by Wandelt. David Spergel from the University of Princeton argues that the measurements made by Wandelt and his colleague, by measuring fluctuations in the CMB plus the filtering of the interference induced by the interstellar dust from Milky Way's galactic disk, would have resulted in an incredible amount of data that would most likely bound to present anomalies.

As always, the cosmological community was extremely intrigued with the new findings regarding the early stages of the universe. Albeit new and more detailed observations are needed to confirm the newly developed theory. Thus NASA has scheduled for launch, in 2008, the Planck probe which will be used to support or reject the findings of the WMAP.