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24 votes
3 answers
7k views

Is the Big Bang a theory or a model?

I ask this because someone mentioned ‘it isn't a theory, it's a model’ in the comments in an old question of mine: Is the expansion of the universe proof of the big bang? I guess defining terms is ...
Kilise's user avatar
  • 435
17 votes
1 answer
3k views

Why do cosmologists assume that inflation began shortly after the Big Bang, rather than at the exact start?

Somehow, I have never come across an explanation of why cosmologists claim that the alleged inflation of the very early universe occurred not at the Big Bang, but very shortly afterwards (~10^-36 to ...
Kurt Hikes's user avatar
  • 5,177
1 vote
0 answers
32 views

How can scientists deduce the number of types of neutrinos, or 'effective number', from Planck satellite data?

Is it related to the way they deduce the Hubble constant from Planck data? Would more types of oscillating and mixing neutrinos mean faster or slower expansion of the universe? Would a fourth mass ...
Kurt Hikes's user avatar
  • 5,177
2 votes
1 answer
849 views

What is the 'scale factor' equation for a dark-matter dominated universe?

The Friedmann equations can be solved exactly in presence of a perfect fluid with equation of state $${\displaystyle p=w\rho c^{2}} \qquad p=w\rho c^2$$ where ${\displaystyle p}$ is the pressure, ${\...
Kurt Hikes's user avatar
  • 5,177