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phy134_lecture20

Uploaded by

lucfranzblau
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lecture 20: The Expanding Universe

opening numbers: “The Space Between” by Dave Matthews Band


Reading Quiz

Which of the following is not expanding


in the expanding Universe?

A. the size of individual galaxies


B. the space between galaxies
C. the distance between galaxies
D. the wavelength of photons traveling through the Universe
E. The Duke/UNC rivalry hype

M67
Reading Quiz

Which of the following is not expanding


in the expanding Universe?

A. the size of individual galaxies


B. the space between galaxies
C. the distance between galaxies
D. the wavelength of photons traveling through the Universe
E. The Duke/UNC rivalry hype

M67
Homework Quiz

Why do virtually all of the galaxies in the Universe appear to


be moving away from us?

A. we are near the center of the Universe


B. we are near the edge of the Universe
C. basically all galaxies are moving away from all other galaxies
D. the Big Bang happened to occur very near to the Milky Way
E. we smell bad
Homework Quiz

Why do virtually all of the galaxies in the Universe appear to


be moving away from us?

A. we are near the center of the Universe


B. we are near the edge of the Universe
C. basically all galaxies are moving away from all other galaxies
D. the Big Bang happened to occur very near to the Milky Way
E. we smell bad
The spectral features of virtually all galaxies are redshifted,
which means that they’re all moving away from us.
Hubble’s law: Velocity = H0 × distance
demos
Redshift of a galaxy
tells us its velocity,
and Hubble’s law
lets us measure its
distance:

v = H0 d
velocity
so distance =
H0

to determine distance
need to measure: velocity (from redshift)
and need to know H0 (~22 km/sec per Mly)
Distances of
the farthest
galaxies are
measured
from their
redshifts.
The expansion rate
appears to be the
same everywhere
in space.

The universe has


no center and no
edge (as far as we
can tell).
One example of something that expands but has no center or
edge is the surface of a balloon.
Hubble’s Law

Hubble’s
the Law is a consequence
cosmological of the expansion of the Universe
distance ladder
velocity is proportional to distance
An Expanding Universe

original expanded by 5%
each dot represents a galaxy in the Universe
An Expanding Universe

“velocity” is proportional to distance: Hubble’s Law!


Conceptual Quiz

For the green dot in the center, we saw all the other dots rushing
away, with their speed proportional to their distance.

What does it look like from another dot’s point of view?


A. for another dot, some dots will be moving towards it and some away from it
B. for another dot, all the dots will be moving away, but with a different relationship
between distance and speed
C. for another dot, the dots will still look like they are moving away
from the original center dot
D. for another dot, it looks the same; it doesn’t matter which dot is the “center”
E. so many dots, it must be another dot com bubble
Conceptual Quiz

For the green dot in the center, we saw all the other dots rushing
away, with their speed proportional to their distance.

What does it look like from another dot’s point of view?


A. for another dot, some dots will be moving towards it and some away from it
B. for another dot, all the dots will be moving away, but with a different relationship
between distance and speed
C. for another dot, the dots will still look like they are moving away
from the original center dot
D. for another dot, it looks the same; it doesn’t matter which dot is the “center”
E. so many dots, it must be another dot com bubble
An Expanding Universe

everyone sees the same relationship: Hubble’s Law is universal!


An Expanding Universe

there is no “center” of the Universe and there is no “edge”


Hubble’s Law

Hubble’s
the Law is a consequence
cosmological of the expansion of the Universe
distance ladder
velocity is proportional to distance
Cosmological Principle

The Universe looks about the same


no matter where you are within it.

• Matter is evenly distributed on very large scales in the


universe.

• It has no center or edges.

• The cosmological principle has not been proven


beyond a doubt, but it is consistent with all
observations to date.
How do distance measurements tell us
the age of the universe?
Conceptual Quiz

You observe a galaxy moving away from you


at a speed of 0.1 light-years per year.

If this galaxy is 1.4 billion light-years away,


how long has it taken to get there?
(assume the expansion occurs at a constant rate)

A. 140 million years


B. 1.4 billion years
C. 14 billion years
D. 140 billion years
E. how do we know it didn’t stop for gas?
Conceptual Quiz

You observe a galaxy moving away from you


at a speed of 0.1 light-years per year.

If this galaxy is 1.4 billion light-years away,


how long has it taken to get there?
(assume the expansion occurs at a constant rate)

A. 140 million years


B. 1.4 billion years
C. 14 billion years
D. 140 billion years
E. how do we know it didn’t stop for gas?
An amazing race

0 mph 4 mph 8 mph 10 mph


0 miles 2 miles 4 miles 5 miles

imagine these runners have been running at a constant speed, and


they measure each others relative speed and distance
An Amazing Race
An Amazing Race
An Amazing Race
An Amazing Race
An Amazing Race

time from start: ½ hour


1
t=
H

speed = (2 mph/mile) × distance


v = Hd
An Amazing Race
An Amazing Race
An Amazing Race
An Amazing Race
An Amazing Race

time from start: ½ hour


1
t=
H
from blue’s
point of view
speed = (2 mph/mile) × distance
v = Hd
Hubble’s constant
tells us the age of
universe because it
relates the
velocities and
distances of all
galaxies.

age =
distance
velocity
d d
age = =
v H0 d
1
so, age =
H0
How does the universe’s expansion affect
our distance measurements?
Distances
between faraway
galaxies change
while light
travels.

Astronomers
think in terms
of lookback
time rather than
distance.
from http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=42355
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMAVpeaIJpw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJTwYOZrGU
How did galaxies form?
Our best models for
galaxy formation
assume:

• Matter originally
filled all of space
almost uniformly.

• Gravity of denser
regions pulled in
surrounding
matter.
Deep
observations
show us very
distant galaxies
as they were
much earlier in
time (old light
from young
galaxies).

The Hubble Space Telescope


“Ultra Deep Field”
Observing galaxies at different distances (redshifts)
shows us how they age.
Conceptual Quiz

Most of the light emitted by stars is in the


optical (visible) part of the spectrum.

If we wanted to observe the starlight from the very first galaxies, at


what wavelength should we should observe?
A. infrared light
B. optical light
C. ultraviolet light
D. X-rays
E. amber waves of grain
Conceptual Quiz

Most of the light emitted by stars is in the


optical (visible) part of the spectrum.

If we wanted to observe the starlight from the very first galaxies, at


what wavelength should we should observe?
A. infrared light
B. optical light
C. ultraviolet light
D. X-rays
E. amber waves of grain
We still can’t observe the earliest galaxies
(because their light gets shifted to the infrared where our
current telescopes are not as sensitive).
JWST will also observe further into the infrared than HST
What have we learned?

• How do distance measurements tell us the age


of the universe?
–Measuring a galaxy’s distance and speed allows us to
figure out how long the galaxy took to reach its
current distance.
–Measuring Hubble’s constant tells us that amount
of time: about 14 billion years.

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