Notes
Slide Show
Outline
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Astr 1050     Wed., Apr 7, 2004
  •    Today:  Finish Chapter 14, Active Galaxies
  • Start Ch. 15, Cosmology


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Quasar Images 1
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Quasar Images II
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Quasar Images III: “Starburst-Quasar”
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What makes an AGN active?
    • Need a supply of gas to feed to the black hole
    • (Black holes from 1 million to >1 billion solar masses!
    • Scales as a few percent of galaxy bulge mass.)
  • Collisions disturb regular orbits of stars and gas clouds
    • Could feed more gas to the central region


  • Galactic orbits were less organized as galaxies were forming, also recall the “hierarchical” galaxy formation
    • Expect more gas to flow to central region when galaxies are young => Quasars (“quasar epoch” around z=2 to z=3)


  • Most galaxies may have massive black holes in them
  • They are just less active now because gas supply is less
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Gravitational Lensing
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For more information, movies:
  • A nice website: http://www.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/www_astro/agn/agn_beginners.html
  • Other links on the website will take you to movies showing quasar structure, and discussing unified models.
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Chapter 14: Galaxies with Active Nuclei
  • Discovery of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN)
    • Seyfert Galaxies and Radio Sources
  • The Unified Model
    • Black Holes in Galaxies, disks, orientation, +
  • Quasars
    • Distances and Relativistic Redshifts
    • Quasars as extreme AGN
    • Evolution of Quasars/Galaxies
    • Gravitational Lensing
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Chapter 15: Cosmology
  • Olber’s paradox
  • The Hubble Expansion – review+
  • The Big Bang
  • Refining the Big Bang
  • Details of the Big Bang
  • General Relativity
  • Cosmological Constant
  • Origin of Structure


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Olber’s Paradox:
Why is the night sky dark?
  • If we are in a forest which extends far enough then
  • In any direction we will just be looking at the trunk of some
    tree.
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Olber’s Paradox:
Why is the night sky dark?
  • If we are in a universe which extends far enough then
  • In any direction we will just be looking at the surface of some star.
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Olber’s Paradox:  Answer

  • It could be that the Universe doesn’t extend far enough –
    but that doesn’t seem to be the right answer


  • The finite age of the universe limits how far we can see:
    If it has age T, we can only see out as far as d=c´T
    The light from farther stars hasn’t had time to reach us yet
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Basic Cosmology Assumptions
  • Homogeneity – matter is uniformly spread across the universe on large scales


  • Isotropy – the universe looks the same in all directions, again strictly true on large scales


  • Universality – laws of physics apply everywhere in the universe (being challenged!)


    • These lead to the “cosmological principle” which says that any observer in any galaxy in the universe should see essentially the same features of the universe.
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The Hubble Law and the Age of the Universe
Ho = 72 ±8 km/s/Mpc
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Hubble Law:  Everyone sees same expansion
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Universal Expansion: Balloon Analogy
  • Simulation of a “closed” spherical universe expanding:
  • http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/Balloon2.html


  • The points here are that
    • Expansion looks the same from each galaxy
    • There is no “center” of the universe
    • Galaxies do not expand
    • Photons are redshifted because space itself is expanding


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Early History of Universe?
Run time “backwards” to understand
  • Density goes up as expansion “reverses”


  • Temperature goes up as material is compressed
  • The early universe was very hot and dense.
  • This is the essence of the “Big Bang” model, which has numerous testable predictions.


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Consider a molecular H2 , He gas as it gets hotter
  • H2 molecules break apart into H atoms
  • H atoms loose their electrons
  • He atoms lose their electrons
  • He nuclei break apart into protons, neutrons
  • Protons and neutrons break apart into quarks
  • More exotic massive unstable particles are created


  • You get more and shorter wavelength photons
  • You get a quasi-equilibrium between photons and matter
    •                High energy photons Û (particles + antiparticles)
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Critical points with time running forward
  • 10-45 sec Quantum gravity?  Physics not understood
  • 10-34 sec 1026 K Nuclear strong force/electro weak force separate
    (inflation, matter/antimatter asymmetry)
  •   10-7 sec 1014 K Protons, AntiprotonsÛphotons
  •   10-4 sec 1012 K Number of protons frozen
  •     4   sec            1010 K                  Number of electrons frozen
  •     2   min Deuterium nuclei begins to survive
  •     3   min 109  K Helium nuclei begin to survive
  •   30   min           108  K                     T, r too low for more nuclear reactions
    (frozen number of D, He -- critical prediction)
  • 300,000 yr 104  K Neutral H atoms begin to survive
    (frozen number of photons – critical prediction)
  •  1 billion yr Galaxies begin to form
  • 13 billion yr Present time
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First prediction from Big Bang model:
Cosmic Background Radiation
  • Look out (and back in time) to place  where H became neutral
  • Beyond that the high density ionized H forms an opaque “wall”
  • Originally 3000 K blackbody radiation
  • The material that emitted it was moving away from us at extreme speed
  • That v produces extreme redshift (z=1000), so photons all appear much redder, so T appears cooler
  • With red shift, get 2.7 K Planck blackbody
  • Should be same in all directions
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Cosmic Microwave Background Observations
  • First detected by Wilson and Penzias in 1960’s
    • Serendipitous detection – thought is was noise in their radio telescope but couldn’t find cause.  Only later heard of theoretical predictions


  • Best spectrum observed by COBE satellite
    • Red curve is theoretical prediction
    • 43 Observed data points plotted there
      error bars so small they are covered by curve.
    • it is covered by curve.


  • Isotropy also measured by COBE
    • T varies by less than 0.01 K across sky
    • Small “dipole” anisotropy seen
      • Blue = 2.721    Red = 2.729
      • Caused by motion of Milky Way falling towards the Virgo supercluster.
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Second prediction from Big Bang Model:
Abundance of the light elements
  • Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
    • T, r both high enough at start to fuse protons into heavier elements
    • T, r  both dropping quickly so only have time enough to fuse a certain amount.


    • Simple models of expansion predict 25% abundance He
      • 25% is the amount of He observed
    • Abundance of 2H, 3He, 7Li depends on rnormal matter
      • Suggests rnormal matter is only 5% of rcritical
      • But we need to also consider “dark matter” and its gravity
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Main Tests of the Big Bang
  • Hubble Expansion (not a test really, inspiration)
  • Cosmic Microwave Background
  • Abundance of light elements

    Refinements of Big Bang Still Being Tested
    • Possible “cosmological constant”
    • Very early history:
      • particle/antiparticle asymmetry
      • “inflation” -- Details of very early very rapid expansion
      • small r, T fluctuations which lead to galaxies

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Will the expansion stop?
  • Is there enough gravity (enough mass) to stop expansion?
  • Consider an simple model as first step  (full model gives same answer)
    • Treat universe as having center
    • Assume only Newtonian Gravity applies
    • Does a given shell of matter have escape velocity?  Is v > vesc ?
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General Relativistic Description
  • What we call “gravity” is really bending of our 3-d space in some higher dimension.
  • Bending, or “curvature of space” is caused by presence of mass.
  • More mass implies more bending.


  • If bending is enough, space closes back on itself, 
    just like 2-d surface of earth is bent enough in 3rd dimension
    to close back on itself.
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Mass and the Curvature of Space
  • First consider case with little mass (little curvature)


  • Ant (in 2-d world) can move in straight line from point A to point B.


  • Add mass to create curvature in extra dimension invisible to the ant.


  •    In trying to go from point A to
       point B, fastest path is curved one
       which avoids the deepest part of the
  •    well.


  •   Ant will be delayed by the extra
  •   motion in the hidden third
  •   dimension.


  • Both effects verified in sending photons past the sun:
  •   Bending of starlight during solar eclipse
  •   Delay in signals from spacecraft on
      opposite side of the sun
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How to test the amount of curvature
  • Measure the circumference of a circle as you get farther and farther from the origin:


  • Does it go up as expected from (2 p R)?


  • It goes up slower in a positively curved world.
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How high is the density?
  • Not nearly enough normal matter to provide critical density
  • We keep seeing effects of gravity from “dark matter”
    • Higher rotation speeds in our own galaxy
    • Higher relative velocities of galaxies in clusters
    • Rate at which matter clumps together to form galaxy clusters
    • Gravitational lensing from galaxies, clusters
    • May be 10 to 100 times as much “dark matter” as visible matter


  • What might make up the “dark matter”?  Possibilities include
    • MACHOs (massive compact halo objects) http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/microlensing.html
      • but 2H, Li, Be abundance suggest no more than 5% can be “baryonic”
    • WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) predicted by some GUT’s
    • Mass of neutrinos
    • Mass equivalent of “cosmological constant” energy
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Refining the Big Bang
  • Flatness Problem – why so close to a critical universe?
  • Horizon Problem – why is background all same T?


  • SOLVED BY AN “INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE”
    • “Grand Unified Theories” of combined Gravity/Weak/Electric/Nuclear forces predict very rapid expansion at very early time:  “inflation”
    • When inflation ends, all matter moving away with v=vescape  (flat universe – curvature forced to zero)
    • Also solves horizon problem – everything was in causal contact

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Implications of Slowing Expansion Rate
  • Our calculation of age T=1/Ho = 13.6 billion years assumed constant rate
  • Gravity should slow the expansion rate over time
    • If density is high enough, expansion should turn around











  • If expansion was faster in past, it took less time to get to present size
  • For “Flat” universe  T = 2/3 * (1/Ho) = 9.3 billion years
    • contradiction with other ages if T is too small
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Is the expansion rate slowing?
  • Look “into the past” to see if expansion rate was faster in early history.


  • To “look into the past”  look very far away:
    • Find “Ho” for very distant objects, compare that to “Ho” for closer objects


  • Remember – we found Ho by plotting velocity (vr) vs. distance
    • We found velocity vr from the red shift (z)
    • We found distance by measuring apparent magnitude (mv)
      of known brightness objects


    • We can test for changing Ho by measuring mv vs. z


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Measuring deceleration using supernovae
  • Plot of mv  vs. z   is really a plot of distance vs. velocity
  • If faint (Þdistant Þearlier) objects show slightly higher z
    than expected from extrapolation based on nearby (present day) objects,
    then expansion rate was faster in the past and has been decelerating










  • Surprise results from 1998 indeed do suggest accelerating expansion
  • May be due to “cosmological constant” proposed by Einstein
    • AKA “Dark energy” or “Quintessence”
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“Cosmological constant”
  • General Relativity allows a repulsive term
    • Einstein proposed it to allow “steady state” universe
    • He decided it wasn’t needed after Hubble Law discovered


  • Is the acceleration right?
    • Could it be observational effect – dust dims distant supernova?
    • Could it be evolution effect – supernova were fainter in the past?
    • So far the results seem to stand up

  • Still being determined:  1)  density, 2) cosmological constant
    • With cosmological constant included, can have a “flat universe” even with acceleration.
    • Given “repulsion” need to use relativistic “geometrical” definition of flatness, not the escape argument one given earlier.
    • Energy (and equivalent mass) from cosmological constant may provide density needed to produce flat universe.
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Tests using
 the Origin of Structure
  • Original “clumpiness” is a “blown up” version of the small fluctuations in density present early in the big bang and seen in the background radiation.
    • We can compare the structure implied to that expected from the “Grand Unification Theories”
  • Rate at which clumpiness grows depends on density of universe
    • Amount of clumpiness seems consistent with “flat universe” density
    • That means you need dark matter to make clumpiness grow fast enough
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Acoustic Peaks in Background
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Cosmology
 as a testing ground for physics
  • Extremely high energies and densities in early Big Bang test “Grand Unification Theories” which combine rules for forces due to gravity, weak nuclear force, electric force, strong nuclear force


  • Extremely large masses, distances, times, test
    General Theory of Relativity
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Chapter 15: Cosmology
  • The Hubble Expansion – review+
  • Olber’s paradox
  • The Big Bang
  • Refining the Big Bang
  • Details of the Big Bang
  • General Relativity
  • Cosmological Constant
  • Origin of Structure