All mysteries solved??

I received an email from a relative, asking if the newly discovered “missing link” in astronomy now solves all the known mysteries. My original response was a defiant “No”—for how could observation of polarized light from gravitational waves at the time of the Big Bang, thereby proving inflation, be the answer to all of our mysteries? It definitely does not help answer the question of “how far away is epsilon Aurigae?” But it got me thinking about what impact this amazing finding will actually have on physics. Does it really solve all mysteries?

I first heard about the proof of inflation via a feed I get in my email. There is an excellent summation of what this really means on the Bad Astronomy blog from slate.com. It is quite a complicated finding, but let’s see if I can write a brief summary of what it is and what the BICEP2 B-mode figure means.

The published figure shows polarization (the lines) “ripples” in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which were created during the inflationary period at the beginning of the universe. The lines show how the light/radiation/CMB is polarized. (Your polarized sunglasses block out light polarized in a certain orientation) The CMB is left-over radiation from the beginning of the universe—it permeates everywhere (that is shown in the blue and red). It is how the polarization “curls” that is the signature astronomers have been looking for. This is indicative of gravitational waves interacting with the CMB.

Now, why does this matter? The figure below gives a lot of information, but the point is that the inflation period happened quickly and allows for the gravitational waves to polarize the CMB. So, it is essentially proof of how the universe came to be—it helps answer how everything is. It provides a link toward the grand unification where the strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions are all unified (see the 3^rd figure, here). This is a wonderful statement from Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy:

“Inflation is based on principles of quantum mechanics, while gravitational waves are the purview of relativity. QM has brought us computers, solar power, atomic energy—a huge amount of modern tech. Relativity is critical in many aspects of our lives as well, including GPS and also nuclear power. In the past these two concepts haven’t played well together, but now we have a direct and profound connection between them. This result is new, and we have a long, long way to go to understand it better. There’s no way to know what will result from this. Yet. But whenever we open up new fields of science, all sorts of interesting things follow. Bet on it.”

So, let’s refine the opening statement: it solves many mysteries, just not all; and it will open the door to more.