PRINCETON UNIVERSITY -- NEWS RELEASE
New Theory Explains Formation of Cosmic Structure
PRINCETON, N.J. -- In a new book, Quantum Origins of Cosmic Structure (A.A.
Balkema, Rotterdam & Brookfield, VT), Professor Erik VanMarcke introduces a theory,
embryonic inflation, to help explain the formation of cosmic structure across a broad
hierarchy of astronomical objects (clusters of galaxies, galaxies, stars, planets).
Inflation is the term astrophysicists use to refer to the very rapid expansion in the
first instant of the so-called Big Bang, when most believe the universe emerged in a state
of extremely high temperature and density at least 10 billion years ago. The new theory is
based on a hypothesis about the quantum-physical nature of inflation and the embryo-like
development of complex structure through a cascade of particle duplication. The theory
leads to a highly informative probabilistic description of the complex distribution of
particle energies just after inflation, providing the initial conditions for a specific
scenario of how cosmic structure forms and evolves.
VanMarcke's theory traces the origin of the precursor nebulae of different types of
cosmic objects to sequences of single energy units, quanta, produced in a random process
of proliferation of inflation-era particles. It predicts clustering and variability of
attributes of nebulae everywhere, along with a bubbly overall structure, and is consistent
with the data on the Microwave Background Radiation.
The theory generates many testable predictions, in particular about the formation,
evolution, internal structure and composition of collapsed objects such as stars and
planets. It implies a robust alternative to current theories about stellar energy and when
and how the nuclei of chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were formed,
integrating astrophysical and planetary sciences with galaxy formation in a coherent
evolutionary framework.
VanMarcke is a professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton
University. He was on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until 1985
since receiving his Ph.D. there in 1970. He held visiting appointments at Harvard
University and the University of Leuven in his native Belgium, and was the Shimizu
Corporation Visiting Professor at Stanford University. The author of Random Fields:
Analysis and Synthesis, published by the M.I.T. Press in 1983, he has since extended
his studies of complex random variation to modeling the early-universe density
fluctuations and their consequences, with results presented in Quantum Origins of
Cosmic Structure.
More information is available from the Web: http://www.princeton.edu/~evm/qocs.html.
Contact: Justin Harmon at (609) 258-5732 |
