This makes me think of another question. The spectrum of the cmb includes those photons with an average wavelength corresponding to a 2.725 k temperature. But thinking through this my understanding is that at the time of decoupling there would have been many wavelengths of light emitted. First...
Great point. I wasn't really thinking of it that way but you're absolutely right of course. That's an interesting thing to think about. Planck is detecting older photons, actually the oldest, the ones originating in the BB. The key difference between Hubble and Planck is that Plank is...
The CMB is coming to us from everywhere. It is right next to us. WMAP and Planck are showing us the microwave radiation released at recombination that is right next to us and in us and going through us. It is NOT at the edge of the observable universe. Well it is, but that is not what they are...
Let me throw my 2 cents in. Sometimes a certain explanation will just ring true for different people. When i think about the flatness of the universe i try not to think of it as existing either as a sphere or a small cube in an otherwise gargantuan sphere, which may actually be what we live in...
I have a question about the interaction between photons and leptons prior to recombination
I understand that once the threshold temperature for electrons was reached early in the universe' history, the vast majority of the leptons and antileptons annihiliated into photons. Except for...