Observing Quanta on a Cosmic Scale

Craig J. Hogan

Craig J. Hogan

Astronomy and Physics Departments, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1580, USA

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First published: 27 August 2002
Citations: 1

Summary

Our entire galaxy, like all others, originated as a fairly smooth patch of binding energy, which in turn originated as a single quantum perturbation of the inflaton field on a subatomic scale during inflation. The best preserved relic of these perturbations is the anisotropy of the microwave background radiation, which on the largest scales preserves a faithful image of the primordial quantum fields. It is possible that close study of these perturbations might reveal signs of discreteness caused by spacetime quantization.

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