Googol-sized Particles Larger Than Thousands of Galaxies Fill the Universe -New Discovery

An ancient subatomic signature extends across the universe.  It seems that some subatomic particles, invisible and untouchable effects of the very creation of reality, might exist simultaneously across all of space.  We're honestly surprised people who say science is boring don't spontaneously combust from the foolishness of their statements.

"Relic" neutrinos, like the relic photons that make up the cosmic microwave background, are leftovers from the hot, dense early universe that prevailed 13.7 billion years ago. But over the lifetime of the cosmos, these relic neutrinos have been stretched out by the expansion of the universe, enlarging the range in which each neutrino can exist.

Of course there's a little bit of physics involved when you talk about particles pouring out of the beginning of time.  Neutrinos are tiny, almost undetectable neutral particles which stream through pretty much everything, ever.  Over one hundred trillion have passed through you while reading this sentence.  Most of those came from nuclear reactions, but a blast wave of neutrinos were also released shortly after the big bang and are, we presume, still going strong.

"We're talking maybe up to roughly ten billion light-years" for each neutrino, said study co-author George Fuller of the University of California, San Diego. "That's nearly on the order of the size of the observable universe." These oldest of the subatomic particles might each encompass a space larger than thousands of galaxies, new simulations suggest.

While trying to calculate masses for neutrinos, Fuller and his student Chad Kishimoto found that, as the universe has expanded, the fabric of space-time has been tugging at ancient neutrinos, stretching the particles' ranges over vast distances.

Such large ranges can remain intact, the scientists suggest in the May 22 issue of Physical Review Letters, since neutrinos pass right through most of the universe's matter. The big question is whether gravity—say, the pull from an entire galaxy—can force a meganeutrino to collapse down to a single location.

"Quantum mechanics was intended to describe the universe on the smallest of scales, and now here we're talking about how it works on the largest scales in the universe," Kishimoto said. "We're talking about physics that hasn't been explored before."

According to physicist Adrian Lee at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not part of the study team, "gravity is a real frontier these days that we don't really understand. "These neutrinos could be a path to something deeper in our understanding with gravity."

Although they should be extraordinarily common in the universe, the relic neutrinos now have only about one ten-billionth of the energy of neutrinos generated by the sun. "This makes relic neutrinos near impossible to detect directly, at least with anything one could build on Earth," study co-author Fuller said.

Still, the fact that there are so many relic neutrinos means that together they likely exert a significant gravitational pull—"enough to be important for how the universe as a whole behaves," Fuller added. "So by looking at the growth of structures in the universe," Fuller said, "you might be able to detect relic neutrinos indirectly by their gravity."

The second part of this crash-course in cosmologically relevant physics is quantum theory.  Particles can be "spread out" as a wavefunction - a representation of possible states - until they're observed and the wave collapses into a single fact.  While that explanation is so horrifically simplified it would make a quantum scientists eyes bleed, it's good enough for now.  The wavefunction of relic neutrinos from the big bang is on the length scale of the universe itself.  They literally are sort of everywhere, because the only thing which can "observe" them is gigantic black holes or galaxies.

It's astonishing stuff, not just for the cosmo-experts but the casual fan.  Because even trying to wrap your mind around such concepts is like a gym for your brain, and a booster for your sense of awe.

Posted by Luke McKinney with Casey Kazan.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227115.800-stretched-neutrinos-could-span-the-universe.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=cosmology

http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PRLTAO000102000020201303000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes.

http://physicalsciences.ucsd.edu/news/archives/archive_detail.php?clip_id=381

Comments

[o-dish-es]

Are you guys sure about this stuff?

[Bizrad]

How close we are to knowing whether or not we are sure is inversely proportionate to our ability to know where that knowledge will take us.

[dirk alan]

if my rounded off math is correct these neutrinos now take about 1 hour to cross a football pitch. thats about twice the speed of a garden snail. somebody check my work please.

[davakins]

Okay, but would they taste like marshmallows?

[Simply Ridiculous]

Maybe these omnipresent particles are the God particles??

[o-dish-es]

mmmmmm, marshmallow God particles, aaaaaaaaaa

[EvilCosmicMonkeyfrom Knoxville]

Neutrinos & tachyons pass through everything, correct ?
If so, they could pass through all of time & space & exist at all points.

Imagine a space drive that could harness this property, chemical rockets & even ion jets would be as primitive as chariots.

A star ship that could be anywhere in the universe at any time.

Infinite Improbability Drive, anyone ??
We could be looking at the bedrock, so to speak, of the universe as well as the glue binding it together.

[pikestaff]

I have a headache

[Ted]

Could these particles account for dark energy?

[Jonathan Ainsley Bain]

And this information can be used, how?

[Ivar Nielsen]

Ge, I wish!

I wish cosmological scientists to stop talking of "time" when dealing with the properties of the Universe, and the very same goes for the concept of "time/space" or "space/time". It is illogical!

The concept of "time" should really be "movement". And since movements in space can be anything from a direct linear force from an explosion to swirling concentrating and exploding masses, the linear concept of "time" is a complete non sense!

Therefore, the concept of "big bang" and "the age of the Universe", also is complete non sense. And also therefore, there is no "left over" background radiation from such a "big bang"

The "Cosmic Microwave Background-Radiation" did not start at any special stage of Creation. It is the eternal "soup" in which all creative movements have been taking place, are taking place, and always will take place in the Universe.

This cosmic soup is the omnipresent fluid in the Universal Cosmic Womb that gives birth to all life through the different forces and movements of infolding and outfolding creation in the Womb.

Just like the process when a sperm cell gives movement to an egg cell and a child is unfolded in it´s mothers womb and later on the mother unfolds the child into the World.

@pikestaff asked above: "Could these particles account for dark energy"? I think they very well could! In fact, I think they very well could account for both dark and light energy.

In my opinion, it is only a matter of having matter that not yet is lit up or accelerated by some explosive force. That is: The Universe is mostly filled by dark matter that not yet is lit up. Furthermore, all particles in the Universe have at least basically 2 properties, namely the "in rest" or "dark" and "as accelerated" or "lit up".

Natural Philosopher Ivar Nielsen, Denmark
www.cosmology-unified.net
nielsen.ivar(at)gmail.com

[SEROM]

wow! nothing wrong to speculate, its free!
may i add, the entire universe is within or inside the infinite empty space (or nothingness). this infinite empty space must be all-powerful, all-knowing, and of course everywhere, since the universe is inside it, the one that started the universe (whether big bang or not). this speculation is absolutely free. its up to the reader on how to use this knowledge.

[TiagoTiago]

hm, so the aether actually exists? woah! 0.0

[Justin]

That picture almost looks like neurons.