Stanford KIPAC Lecture tonight at 7:00PM PST - Inflation!

[JeffKeryk]

I hope you can tune in. When any of you come to Silicon Valley, I promise to drag you up to Stanford for one of these incredible lectures. I might even let you drive the M3P...

The first trillionths of a second after the Big Bang are amongst the most mysterious periods in the Universe’s history, yet the physics governing this era remains largely unknown. Our current best model for describing the cosmic expansion during this tiny fraction of a second is “inflation” — a brief, violent period that caused the fabric of space itself to stretch faster than the speed of light.

Echoes from the Beginning: How Galaxies Encode the Early Universe

Livestream starts at 7:00PM PST. Hope you can make it!

 

[Leo99]

I've been watching a lot of quantum physics stuff on YT. Been trying to comprehend that gravity is not a force.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I've been watching a lot of quantum physics stuff on YT. Been trying to comprehend that gravity is not a force.

Sounds like you're doing it just right... Curiosity for the win!

 

[Leo99]

Sounds like you're doing it just right... Curiosity for the win!

I'm also trying to understand how Ernie is 80 years old. He looks like he's 50.

 

[Astro14]

I read Alan Guth’s book on inflation around 1997 or so. It was controversial back then. Accepted now.

 

[dnewton3]

Gravity is no more a "force" than "torque" is a force. Both are huge misuses/misapplications of the words, but layman's descriptions are what are predominant in many conversations.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Chem building. Welcome to the Farm. I believe the lecturer is a Cambridge Princeton guy...

 

[JeffKeryk]

Gravity is no more a "force" than "torque" is a force. Both are huge misuses/misapplications of the words, but layman's descriptions are what are predominant in many conversations.

Kinda funny... I am a stickler for terms, but at least we are having a conversation.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I read Alan Guth’s book on inflation around 1997 or so. It was controversial back then. Accepted now.

Astro you gotta stop holding out on us and spread some of that knowledge around!

 

[Snagglefoot]

I’m just concentrating on something simpler. Everyone has heard about the dinosaurs getting wiped out 66 million years ago the Cretaceous period. BBC Earth has a documentary on the Permian Extinction when severe volcanic activity and the resulting release of Ash, Sulphur Dioxide and Carbon Dioxide wiped out 90% of the life on earth. It’s a tough game!

 

[MolaKule]

The lecture is based on the Hot Big Bang working hypothesis.

 

[Astro14]

Astro you gotta stop holding out on us and spread some of that knowledge around!

I majored in Astrophysics. Worked as a teaching assistant (both in lab and class, including grading problem sets) in college. Tried teaching physics on BITOG a while back - it didn’t go well. Love reading and talking about physics, most of my reading is non-fiction, but I’m reticent to dive back in on BITOG.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I majored in Astrophysics. Worked as a teaching assistant (both in lab and class, including grading problem sets) in college. Tried teaching physics on BITOG a while back - it didn’t go well. Love reading and talking about physics, most of my reading is non-fiction, but I’m reticent to dive back in on BITOG.

The teacher will appear when the pupil is ready.
Oh yeah, you know life is for learning.

 

[97prizm]

I hope you can tune in. When any of you come to Silicon Valley, I promise to drag you up to Stanford for one of these incredible lectures. I might even let you drive the M3P...

The first trillionths of a second after the Big Bang are amongst the most mysterious periods in the Universe’s history, yet the physics governing this era remains largely unknown. Our current best model for describing the cosmic expansion during this tiny fraction of a second is “inflation” — a brief, violent period that caused the fabric of space itself to stretch faster than the speed of light.

Echoes from the Beginning: How Galaxies Encode the Early Universe

Livestream starts at 7:00PM PST. Hope you can make it!

Have you seen where recently the fastest ever recorded thing (a photon traveling through a hydrogen atom) took 247 zeptoseconds or a period with twenty zeros then 247. Or a trillionth of a billionth of a second. Truly fascinating stuff. Looks like a hoot.

 

[97prizm]

I’m just concentrating on something simpler. Everyone has heard about the dinosaurs getting wiped out 66 million years ago the Cretaceous period. BBC Earth has a documentary on the Permian Extinction when severe volcanic activity and the resulting release of Ash, Sulphur Dioxide and Carbon Dioxide wiped out 90% of the life on earth. It’s a tough game!

The comet that struck Jupiters great red spot would have vaporized Earth. Makes you realize how small we really are.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I do not pretend to comprehend everything put forward in these lectures, so on the way home wifey and I post question to Grok.
I wasn't sure if Dark Matter was expanding in the universe, stretching or what. But the amount of Dark Matter is considered fixed, so it becomes less dense as the Universe expands. There is more space between objects which does expand faster than the speed of light.

Or something like that.

 

[JeffKeryk]

The comet that struck Jupiters great red spot would have vaporized Earth. Makes you realize how small we really are.

Yep. As humans, we are a place in time from our evolution from distant apes, etc. We will not be the last in the continuing evolution.

Much of the water we drink is older than the Earth.

The observable universe is thought to be 93B light years across.

 

[dogememe]

I don’t think I’m smart enough to attend any such lecture. I’m having a hard enough time training my custom AI model in my self driving RC car project! It drives like it’s drunk when it even drives at all (on the sidewalk only of course). Mostly it just doesn’t work at all. Oh well!

 

[JeffKeryk]

I don’t think I’m smart enough to attend any such lecture. I’m having a hard enough time training my custom AI model in my self driving RC car project! It drives like it’s drunk when it even drives at all (on the sidewalk only of course). Mostly it just doesn’t work at all. Oh well!

No. These are public lectures. The audience spans the gamut of knowledge, education, etc. There are Postdocs, parents bringing young children, Stanford students and many more. Even knuckleheads like me. The know-it-all attitude is absent; remember there was a "day 1" for all of us. The lectures do not depend on the Physics heavy math.

Smart enough? In fact, the Q&A greatly adds to understanding, as we may have the a similar query, but we definitely gain insight through them.

The energy in the room is infectious! Highly recommended.

All you need is curiosity. Upon leaving, you will be filled with awe and a desire to further explore. The issues in today's world are removed and replaced with pure joy.

The KIPAC lectures are meant to be a primer to continued learning. Silicon Valley is steeped in Science. Put your toe in the water.

 

[MolaKule]

I do not pretend to comprehend everything put forward in these lectures, so on the way home wifey and I post question to Grok.
I wasn't sure if Dark Matter was expanding in the universe, stretching or what. But the amount of Dark Matter is considered fixed, so it becomes less dense as the Universe expands. There is more space between objects which does expand faster than the speed of light.

Or something like that.

I watched the whole lecture. The graph of galaxy distributions vs alleged age was to somehow relate to the expansion question but I don't think the connection was clearly made.

Is anyone aware of a paper by the presenter or others that speaks to this?