• social media
    • facebook
    • twitter
    • youtube
    • flickr
    • instagram
Astrophsyics

PhysCOS Science Goals

Precisely measure the cosmological parameters governing the evolution of the universe and test the inflation hypothesis of the Big Bang

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) originated just 380,000 years after the Big Bang, when the Universe was dense, hot, and opaque. As the Universe cooled, the light was decoupled and escape from the matter. We observe that same light today, stretched by the expansion of the universe to a cold 2.7K glow. Observations of the CMB have driven our understanding of the early Universe, and are one of the few probes of the inflationary epoch. Inflation describes the brief period of extraordinary expansion where the Universe went from the atomic scale to visible scales, and where small density fluctuations ultimately led to the large-scale structure—galaxies and clusters of galaxies—that we observe today. Maps of the CMB provide a precise measurement of the geometry of the Universe, and show that it is "flat," governed by Euclidean geometry on cosmic scales. The detailed spatial and statistical properties of CMB maps are consistent with the predictions of inflation. However, the physical process behind inflation remains unknown. New measurements of the polarization properties of the CMB will help uncover this process, which lies at energies and densities beyond standard particle physics, and beyond terrestrial particle accelerators. By searching for a characteristic polarization signal from a background of gravitational waves produced by inflation, we can infer the energy scale of inflation, which may lie at the scale of grand unification of the forces of nature.


NASA Missions Study What May Be a 1-In-10,000-Year
Gamma-ray Burst

On Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, a pulse of intense radiation swept through the solar system so exceptional that astronomers quickly dubbed it the BOAT – the brightest of all time. The source was a gamma-ray burst (GRB), the most powerful class of explosions in the universe. Read more.


PhysCOS News

See our new Events Calendar

Program News and Announcements

  • Sign up for PhysCOS News and Announcements

  • 23 March
    Physics of the Cosmos Activities at HEAD 2023 »  Details.
    23 March
    High Energy X-ray Probe Splinter Session at HEAD 2023 »  Details.
    23 March
    STAR-X Special Community Session at HEAD Meeting in Hawaii, 28 March 2023 »  Details.
    23 March
    ROSES-22: Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science Proposal Due Date Delay »  Details.
    23 March
    National Academies’ Space Science Week 28–29 March 2023 »  Details.
    23 March
    NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee Spring Meeting 29–30 March 2023 »  Details.
    21 March
    Science Mission Directorate Budget Community Town Hall 23 March 2023 »  Details.
    21 March
    NOIRLab Call for Proposals for Semester 2023B, Including NN-EXPLORE Proposals »  Details.
    21 March
    Call for Proposals for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility »  Details.
    21 March
    Arcus Probe Community Science Meeting 4-5 May »  Details.
    21 March
    NASA SMD Seeking Volunteer Reviewers for Research Proposals »  Details.
    6 March
    First COSI Data Challenge Released »  Details.
    6 March
    Stellar Intensity Interferometry Workshop 22–24 May 2023 »  Details.
    6 March
    Habitable Worlds Observatory hybrid workshop 8–10 August 2023 »  Details.
    1 March
    The AGN Vision Series »  Details.
    1 March
    ROSES-23 Released »  Details.
    7 February
    NASA Astrophysics Division Statement of Principles »  Details.
    7 February
    Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Women’s Colleges and Universities (MUREP WCU) »  Details.
    25 January
    Upcoming Student/Postdoc Opportunities at NASA »  Details.
  • PhysCOS News Archive
  • Project News

    Related News


    Links

    NASA logo
    • NASA Official: Phil Newman
    • Web Curator: Pat Tyler
    Goddard Space Flight Center
    privacy