The Universe is like a glass of water sitting in a freezer.
No, this is not a Zen koan. It is a metaphor rooted in the fundamental physics for how cosmic evolution, starting from the first instant after the Big Bang, is expected to proceed. In going from the ultra-hot, ultra-dense, ultra-smooth beginning that was the Big Bang to its current cold, clumpy state, the cosmos had to pass through a series of phase transitions, each akin to water solidifying into ice. And like water molecules locking into place as ice crystals, each cosmic phase transition had consequences for the structure of the Universe. Those consequences, it turns out, may be a big problem that our best cosmological models have not resolved.
Welcome to another installment in our series exploring emerging and potentially serious challenges to the standard model of cosmology — humanity’s best and most expansive scientific understanding of the Universe. In a recent paper, astrophysicist Fulvio Melia articulated a list of problems that to him indicate something fundamental is wrong with the standard model. Melia is not alone in wondering whether the standard model’s time might be up. Today we will take a look at another on Melia’s list of cosmological fault zones: the electroweak horizon.
To read more, click here.