The Big Bang
Similar to the modeling of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) by NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), astronomers hope to map out the sky in Gravitational Waves. WMAP studies the tiny variations in the temperature of the microwave mackground; this radiation dates back to about 400,000 years after the Big Bang. With gravitational waves, we hope to learn about the Universe at an even younger age (only 10-15 seconds after the Big Bang). Right after the Big Bang, the Universe was transparent in gravitational waves, because there were no clumps of mass to cause curvature in spacetime. However, a few seconds later, mass probably collected in irregular patterns. Reverberations of this clumping effect can be mapped with precise detectors of gravitational waves.
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WMAP result showing the fluctuations in the temperature of the CMB. |
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The Big Bang