Chapter 2: Microwave Background Radiation

How accurately has the universe expanded to its present size? Why does the universe not collapse under its own weight? And why does it not fly apart, like an exploding bomb? What is between the different galaxies of our universe, with its stars and planets? - Empty space. - And of what is this empty space made up? What have scientists found out about this?

Prof. Harald Fritzsch, a German physicist: "One may imagine the universe as a large container, filled with the photons of the cosmic radio-radiation (and, of course, with galaxies). Let us assume that this container is expanding. In this case, also the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation will be ‘stretched out’. This, then, causes the energy of the photons to decrease, and in the same way, also the temperature, which one may ascribe to the radiation. The electromagnetic radiation, which we are able to observe now in the universe, thus, is nothing else, but the ‘stretched-out’ version of this hot radiation, which was present shortly after the big bang.

"This would mean, that the temperature of the radiation, while the universe was developing, has sunk down all the time. At first, when the cosmos was still about a hundred times smaller than now, the photons of the background radiation had energies of about 1 eV; one was able to see them ... nearly 20 billion years ago. The energy of the photons of the universe is still sinking, and with it, also the temperature of the sea of photons. ... Not only the energy of the photons, but also the density of the photons has sunk down all the time, while the universe was expanding. The radiation, with its temperature of 2.8° K, filling out now the cosmos, has a photon-density of nearly exactly 500 000 photons per liter.

"That is quite a large number, when comparing them with the number of nuclear particles, namely, with the number of the protons and neutrons in the universe. ... for a closed universe, one needs at least three nucleons per cubic meter, or 0.003 nucleons per liter. ... Here I would like to remark that in the cosmos there are no areas, where it is really tiresome. Even the intergalactic space, far away from every galaxy, is filled with electromagnetic fields, with waves hurrying through space in all directions with the speed of light." - Fritzsch, H. (1983:135, 263).

Hubert Reeves has studied nuclear physics. He taught physics at the University of Montreal, and was scientific advisor for NASA. Since 1966 Reeves is Research Director at CNRS, and works at the Centre d’études nucláires in Saclay, France. He writes:

The matter of the universe was at first very dense. "The matter is opaque. This period of the universe has lasted for the universe 1 million years, till the now primordial 3-K-light was emitted. ... The primordial 3-K-radiation is the analogue to the visible light of the sun. It consists of all those photons, which were emitted, when the opaque state changed over to the transparent state, and which was able since then, to travel on freely. This are the oldest photons of the universe. They arose, when the universe was 1 million years old.

"The center of the sun can be understood as a point; the beginning of the universe lies everywhere. Thus, the photons of the 3-K-radiation are reaching us from all directions, while the photons of the sun are coming from a clearly determined direction. In other words: The matter, which emitted the 3-K-radiation, has the form of a spherical shell, surrounding us at a distance of 15 billion light-years. The matter, however, emitting the sun’s radiation (which is also a spherical shell), does not surround us. The expansion has reduced these red photons then to radio waves. ... The photons are the most numerous ones. There are about 400 of them per cubic centimeter. Most of them belong to the 3-K-radiation." (1983:232, 262, 263).

The Professors Halliday, Resnick, and Krane report about the cosmic microwave background radiation: "If we run the cosmic clock back far enough, we find that in its early state the universe consisted of unimaginably high densities of matter and radiation. As the universe expanded, both the matter and the radiation cooled; you can think of the wavelengths of the radiation photons as being stretched in the expansion. The radiation filled the entire universe in its compact state, and it continues to fill the entire universe in the expansion. We should still find that radiation present today, cooled to the extent that its most intense component is in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is known as the cosmic microwave background radiation.

"Measurements of the intensity of the microwave background radiation in various directions show that the radiation had a uniform intensity in all directions; it does not appear to come from any particular source in the sky, but instead fills the entire universe uniformly, as would be expected for radiation that likewise filled the early universe. Recent observations, however, show that there are temperature fluctuations of about 10^-5 K between different regions of the sky. ...

The energy density of the radiation can be found from Planck’s radiation law. The number density of these background photons is about 400 per cm³, and the energy density is about 0.25 eV/m³ (roughly corresponding to half the rest energy of an electron per m³). The mean energy per photon is about 0.0063 eV, which suggests why we are not ordinarily aware of the presence of these photons. They have a temperature of 2.735 K." - Halliday, et al. (1992:1203).

There are about 400 photons in each cubic centimeter of cosmic space, as we found out. How many of these photons belong to the microwave background radiation?

Prof. M. Taube: "The number of the photons is about one billion times larger, than that of the baryons. Of thousand photons, about 995 are lower-energetic with about 0.5 MeV, corresponding to a wave-length of 1 mm, that is, the realm of radio-waves. Only one photon has an energy of 2 eV, that is, the wavelength of 600 nm (nanometer), and corresponds to the visible yellow light. The other photons - also the X-rays, have other wavelengths.

"The most common kind of electromagnetic radiation, with a wavelength of about 1 mm, the so-called background radiation, comes to us astoundingly evenly from all sides of the sky. The change from isotropy is less than 0.01 percent of the mean value. This background radiation shows us the nearly ideal spectrum of a blackbody-radiation with a temperature of 2.75 Kelvin (Picture 2.5 in his book). There is clear proof that this background radiation has been left over from an earlier hot era of the evolution of the universe." - Taube, M. (1988:51, 52).

The expanding universe. After J. D. Barrow and J. Silk (1987:173). Our universe was born at time zero as a tiny ball, only a fraction of a millimeter across. It contained already all the energy (hardware) and information (software), needed, to make our universe and to keep it going. It has reached now a radius of about 12 billion light-years. The points on the surface of the balloon represent the galaxies of the universe (bottom). When the balloon is blown up, the points (= galaxies) are moving apart (top).

Microwave Background Radiation

Why is there background radiation? What does it tell us about the origin of our universe?

Steven W. Hawking, British Professor of theoretical Physics, in Cambridge, England: "This expansion (of the universe) is uniform and not chaotic. Clues for this have come from a background of microwave-radiation, reaching us from outer space. ... One assumes that this radiation (of 2.7 K) is a relict from the very hot early state of our universe. But really remarkable is here, that the energy of this radiation, coming from all directions, seems to be nearly the same. It has been measured very precisely by the satellite ‘Cosmic Background Explorer’ (COBE). A sky-map, made from these observations, shows us different radiation-temperatures in different directions, but these fluctuations are very small, one part in one hundred thousand. The microwave background must be different in different directions, since the universe is not completely uniform; there are local irregularities, like stars, galaxies, and heaps of galaxies. But the fluctuations in the microwave-background are, in agreement with the local irregularities, which we do observe, very small. At 99 999 parts of 100 000 the microwave-background is uniform in all directions." (1993:146).

What does that prove?

Steven W. Hawking: "Thus, we must assume, that the background in all directions and in every other galaxy is the same. This is only possible, if the average density and the expansion rate of the universe are everywhere identical. Each variation from the average density or of the expansion rate in a larger region would appear in the microwave-background as a variation. This means, when looking at it at a very large scale, that the behavior of the universe is simple and not chaotic. Hence, it can be predicted far into the future." (1993:146).

The Great Cosmic Non-Transparent Wall

The cosmic microwave radiation and its non-transparent wall. Why have they arisen? - Rudolf Kippenhahn was Professor for Astrophysics at the Max-Planck-Institute in Garching, near Munich, S. Germany. He writes:

"When radiation and matter were still hotter than 3000° absolute temperature, there existed then no real atoms yet. Atomic nuclei and electrons were flying independently of each other through space. The matter of the world was not made up yet of atoms, but only of its building blocks. When the temperature sank below 3000°, the protons and electrons combined into hydrogen atoms. That had grave consequences. Electrons, flying around freely, are for the rays a strong obstruction. When the electrons were not yet bound in the hydrogen atoms, each beam of light was again and again diverted from its straight path. Whenever it met an electron, it was pushed into another direction.

"Down here on earth, we do observe something similar, when there is a fog. The beams of light are diverted by the water-droplets again and again. They are not moving in a straight line, but in a zigzag-course through the screen of fog. That is why we are not able to recognize objects in a fog at larger distances. Just like that it was also during the first 300 000 years of the universe. The light was forced by the free electrons to move in a zigzag-course. The universe was non-transparent like a screen of fog." (1991:229, 230).

"But when the temperature of the universe had sunk below 3000° absolute temperature, this changed. The atomic nuclei of the hydrogen and the electrons combined into hydrogen atoms. There were no freely roaming electrons left anymore. Bound electrons do not obstruct the rays. Suddenly the light was able to hurry along in a straight line over long distances, without being hindered. It was just, as if the fog had suddenly cleared up. Matter, filling the universe, became transparent. This transition occurred, when in the early universe the absolute temperature has sunk below 3000°. That was about 300 000 years after the big bang, where everything had begun." (1991:230, 231).

"But we should not imagine, that, when the universe became transparent, one was suddenly able to look into all the parts of the universe. So, one year after that, we were able to see only one light-year far, and were looking there at a wall, where the electrons were just combining with the atomic nuclei of the hydrogen. We do know already, that for this, the absolute temperature had to be 3000°. Later on, this horizon widened out more and more. Also today, we are still looking at a wall of 3000°. It is standing now perhaps 20 billion light-years away from us. Still further, we are not able to look, for this would mean, to look that much further back into the past, into a time, when matter was not transparent yet. It is still blocking our view.

"When looking into space, we are looking into areas, from where the light was sent out millions and billions of years ago. It is showing us, what the world was like before, how it was long ago. Thus, we are not only seeing in the universe the spatial order of the cosmic objects, but at the same time also their history.

"We are seeing in the neighborhood of our Milky Way System galaxies. Further out, when looking far back into the world, we are not able to recognize any structures anymore. We are looking there back into a time, where matter is not even showing yet any of the condensations, out of which galaxies and stars have flocculated.

"What is still further out? Where is the edge (or rim) of the world? The light, coming from there, is the light from its beginning. Since matter, at an absolute temperature of more than 3000°, is non-transparent, we are looking out there at non-transparent gas of this temperature. But this does not mean, that this matter there would still be non-transparent today; no, but only, when it sent out the light, reaching us today." - Kippenhahn, R. (1991:231).

"Thus, we are looking at a wall with an absolute temperature of 3000°, that is, of about 2730° C. But should the night-sky not also show us then the light of this hot wall, besides the stars? Hot stars in front of the hot background that should again give us a glaringly bright night-sky! But since the matter of the world is expanding, the matter of the hot wall is moving away from us very fast. The quanta of light are, therefore, coming to us scarcer, than the pigeons of a breeder, moving away from home... And each quantum of light has come, therefore, because of the Doppler effect (= redshift), of longer wavelength and weaker energy.

"When this light was sent out on its way to us, matter was moving away from us with nearly the speed of light. Thus, the 2370° C hot wall appears to our eyes pitch-dark. Only the radio-astronomers are measuring its light, coming to us from the edge of the world. That is, why the sky at night is dark. Because the world is expanding. We are seeing the expanding universe, since it began, at night with our bare eyes." - Kippenhahn, R. (1991:233, 234).

Result

The microwave background radiation arose, when the universe was about 300,000 years old, and when it had cooled down to 3000 Kelvin (absolute temperature). There are now about 400 photons (electromagnetic waves) of his cosmic background radiation within each cubic centimeter of cosmic space. They have now a temperature of 2.735 K and a wavelength of 1 mm. They have been stretched out, while the universe was expanding. This 2.7-K-radiation has been sent to us some 10-20 billion years ago. These oldest electromagnetic waves do prove that the physical laws and fundamental constants of the universe are constant that they have not changed with time. The electromagnetic wave depends on several universal fundamental constants: the speed of light in a vacuum c, the electric field constant_, magnetic field constant, Planck-constant h, spin, the critical energy density of the universe.

The 2.7-K-photons have moved now through cosmic space with the speed of light for some 10-20 billion years, when the universe was 300,000 years old. They are the oldest electromagnetic waves in the world. They are messengers from the past, when our universe was still young. They contain physical laws, fundamental constants, and high mathematics, existing independently of mankind. These 2.7-K-photons are coming uniformly toward us from all sides, at 99,999 parts of 100,000. Thus, the universe must have expanded very uniformly, since it was born, with a precision of better than 1: 10¹²⁰, compared to the Planck-length.

The creative and operational information and high mathematics, which these old electromagnetic waves do contain, proves, that they have been thought out by an intelligent person. This intelligent person must know more about physics and mathematics, than any human being, living now on this earth. The information and mathematics, contained in the cosmic microwave radiation, do clearly disprove the doctrine of evolution, which claims, that there are no design and planning in the universe. The cosmic microwave radiation, coming evenly toward us from all sides at 99,999 of 100,000, also proves that our universe is a sphere. Its attracting gravitational field and its expanding electromagnetic field make it up.