Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id EAA04077 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 31 Jan 2002 04:53:16 GMT Message-ID: <00a001c1aa12$8c34fa60$6324f4d8@teddace> From: "Dace" <edace@earthlink.net> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> References: <20020131003859.52438.qmail@web12308.mail.yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Photons before the matter-energy decoupling 300,000 yrs Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 20:48:36 -0800 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Dace wrote
>
> > >> >It's common knowledge among physicists,
> > >> >astronomers, cosmologists, etc., that light
> > >> >didn't appear until 300,00 years after
> > >> >the big bang (though I recently saw this figure
> > >> >upped to 400,000, unfortunately without any
> > >> >explanation for the revised figure).
>
> Dace, this is incorrect. The 300,000-400,000 date was
> that for te decoupling of matter and energy. Before
> that decoupling energy was more important than matter
> gravitationally. Scattering of light was such that
> clumps of matter were "dampened" and prevented from
> forming (a little like the dissipation of sound which
> dissipates "compression and rarefaction" of matter
> that propagates in a lineal fashion, before gravity
> can take effect). In fact light was present from the
> phase change of the electro-weak force into the
> weak-interaction and electro-magnetism. This occurred
> about 10^-12 seconds after the big bang, at about the
> time of the Quark Hadron confinement phase change.
>
> The Photon dominated Era began after 10^-10 seconds
> when temperatures fell below about 1 MeV (Million
> Electron Volts) as below that energy level
> annihilation between pairs of electrons and positrons
> exceeded pair creation. After that, the stage of
> nucleosynthesis added still more photons to the mix
> which finishes up with innumerably more photons per
> baryon.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Regards
>
> John
John,
Let me ask you this. If a theoretical "entity," capable of vision in the
early universe, had been looking around, what would this "eye" have seen?
Ordinarily when we think of radiation, we imagine waves of photons traveling
according to a particular frequency/wavelength. The higher the frequency
the shorter the wavelength. Let's give our entity universal eyesight, so
that it can detect everything from radio on up to gamma. What does it see?
Is anything there?
Just curious.
Ted Dace
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