Despite the use of modern instruments and the latest methods of studying the Universe, the question of its appearance is still open. This is not surprising, given its age: according to recent data, it is from 14 to 15 billion years. It is obvious that since then there is very little evidence of the once grandiose processes of the universal scale. Therefore, no one dares to say anything, limiting themselves to hypotheses. However, one of them has recently received a very significant argument - relict radiation.
In 1964, two employees of a well-known laboratory, who performed radio monitoring of the Echo satellite, having access to the corresponding ultra-sensitive equipment, decided to test some of their theories regarding their own radio emission from certain space objects.
In order to filter out possible interference from ground sources, it was decided to use a wavelength of 7.35 cm. However, after turning on and tuning the antenna, a strange phenomenon was recorded: some noise was recorded in the entire Universe, a constant background component. It did not depend on the position of the Earth relative to other planets, which immediately eliminated the assumption of radio interference of these space objects, or on the time of day. Neither R. Wilson nor A. Penzias even guessed that they had discovered the relict radiation of the universe.
Since none of them expected this, attributing the “background” to the features of the equipment (just remember that the microwave antenna used was the most sensitive at that time), almost a year passed until it became obvious that the recorded noise is part of the Universe itself. The intensity of the captured radio signal turned out to be almost identical to the radiation intensity of a completely black body with a temperature of 3 Kelvin (1 Kelvin is -273 degrees Celsius). For comparison: zero according to Kelvin corresponds to the temperature of an object of fixed atoms. The radiation frequency ranges from 500 MHz to 500 GHz.
At this time, two theoreticians from Princeton University - R. Dicke and D. Pibbles, based on new models of the development of the Universe, mathematically calculated that such radiation should exist and permeate all space. Needless to say, Penzias, accidentally learning about lectures on this topic, contacted the university and reported that such relict radiation had been detected.
Based on the theory of the Big Bang, all the matter and energy of the universe arose as a result of a huge explosion. The first 300 thousand years after this, space was a combination of elementary particles and radiation. Subsequently, due to the expansion of temperature, they began to fall, which made it possible for atoms to appear. Registered relict radiation is an echo of those distant times. As long as the universe had boundaries, the density of particles was so high that the radiation turned out to be “bound”, since the mass of particles reflected any kind of waves, preventing them from propagating. And only after the start of atom formation did space become “transparent” to the waves. It is believed that relict radiation appeared that way. Currently, each cubic centimeter of space contains about 500 initial quanta, however, their energy has decreased by almost 100 times.
Relic radiation in different parts of the Universe has a different temperature. This is due to the location of the primary substance in the expanding universe. Where the atomic density of future matter was higher, the fraction of radiation, and therefore its temperature, is reduced. It was in these directions that large objects (galaxies and their clusters) subsequently formed.
The study of relict radiation lifts the curtain of suspense over many processes that take place at the beginning of time.