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http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/3...-rebuts-a-big-bang-theory.html?_r=0&referrer=
One Big Bang origin theory confirmation is debunked temporarily. This was the biggest cosmic discovery of the century previously
Scientists will have to wait a while longer to find out what kicked off the Big Bang.
Last spring, a team of astronomers who go by the name of Bicep announced that they had detected ripples in space-time, or gravitational waves, reverberating from the first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second of time long-sought evidence that the expansion of the universe had started out with a giant whoosh called inflation.
The discovery was heralded as potentially the greatest of the new century, but after months of spirited debate, the group conceded that the result could have been caused by interstellar dust, a notion buttressed by subsequent measurements by the European Space Agencys Planck satellite that the part of the sky Bicep examined was in fact dusty.
Now a new analysis, undertaken jointly by the Bicep group and the Planck group, has confirmed that the Bicep signal was mostly, if not all, stardust, and that there is no convincing evidence of the gravitational waves. No evidence of inflation.
This analysis shows that the amount of gravitational waves can probably be no more than about half the observed signal, Clem Pryke of the University of Minnesota said Friday in an interview.
We cant say with any certainty whether any gravity wave signals remain, Dr. Pryke added. Obviously, were not exactly thrilled, but we are scientists and our job is to try and uncover the truth. In the scientific process, the truth will emerge.
When the galactic dust is correctly subtracted, the scientists said, there was indeed a small excess signal a glimmer of hope for inflation fans? but it was too small to tell if it was because of gravitational waves or just experimental noise.
The Bicep/Planck analysis was led by Dr. Pryke, one of the four Bicep principal investigators. Brendan Crill, of the California Institute of Technology and a member of Planck, acted as a liaison between the groups. They had planned to post their paper Monday, but the data was posted early, apparently by accident. It was soon taken down, but not before it set off an outburst of Twitter messages and hasty news releases.
One Big Bang origin theory confirmation is debunked temporarily. This was the biggest cosmic discovery of the century previously