Crash Course Pods: The Universe Ep. 3: The Dark Ages of the Cosmos
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May 22, 2024 Dr. Katie Mack discusses the cosmic dark ages, multiverse theories, and the connection between the early universe and today. Topics also include cosmic inflation, evolution of matter density, life insurance, early galaxies, dark matter role in structure formation, and the overwhelming nature of awe in the universe.
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Tiny Fluctuations Shape Universe
- Tiny fluctuations in the early plasma led to the large scale cosmic web structure we see today.
- Gravity amplified these minute density variations into galaxy clusters and voids over billions of years.
Cosmic Inflation Explains Uniformity
- Cosmic inflation stretched the universe so rapidly that it smoothed out temperature differences.
- This explains the uniformity of the cosmic microwave background and seed fluctuations for structure.
Quantum Fluctuations Seed Structure
- Quantum fluctuations of the inflaton field caused density variations during inflation.
- These became the seeds for all large scale cosmic structures after the Big Bang.