Abstract
In the ‘standard’ hot big bang, fluctuations which give rise to galaxies and galaxy clusters must be present in the initial conditions; that is, they are already present at the earliest epoch when general relativity is valid. In a structureless big bang there seems to be only one way that the necessary fluctuations can be explained within the scope of conventional physics: a uniform universe with low specific entropy (S ≲ 1) can spontaneously generate fluctuations by shattering into macroscopic fragments. Such a critical point probably occurs at nuclear density during the transition from pion condensate to nucleon gas; shattering at this epoch would create fragments of the order of a Chandrasekhar mass, providing both the lumpiness necessary to produce galaxy clusters and a potential energy source for the microwave background radiation.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Harrison, E. R. Phys. Rev. D. 1, 2726 (1970); Nature 215, 151 (1967).
Peebles, P. J. E. Nature 220, 227 (1968).
Press, W. H. Phys. Scr. 21 (1980).
Sato, K. Preprint (Nordita, Copenhagen, 1980).
Lasher, G. Phys. Rev. Lett. 42, 1646 (1979).
Layzer, D. in Galaxies and the Universe (eds Sandage, A., Sandage, M. & Kristian, J.) (University of Chicago Press, 1976).
Zel'dovich, Ya.B. Soviet Phys. JETP 16, 1395 (1963); JETP 43, 1982 (1962).
Peebles, P. J. E. Cosmology: Physics of Large-Scale Structure (Princeton University Press, 1980).
Hawking, S. W. & Ellis, G. F. R. The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time (Cambridge University Press, 1973).
Zel-dovich, Ya. B. Adv. Astr. Astrophys. 3, 241 (1965).
Peebles, P. J. E. Astr. Astrophys. 32, 391 (1974).
Press, W. H. & Vishniac, E. T. Astrophys. J. (submitted).
Weinberg, S. Gravitation and Cosmology (Wiley, New York, 1972).
Zel'dovich, Ya. B. & Novikov, I. D. Relativistic Astrophysics, Vol. 1 (eds Thorne, K. S. & Arnett, W. D.) (Midway, University of Chicago Press, 1978).
Weinberg, S. Phys. Scr. 21, 773 (1980).
Carr, B. J. & Rees, M. J. Astr. Astrophys. 16, 705 (1977).
Carr, B. J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 181, 293 (1977).
Irvine, M. Neutron Stars (Clarendon, Oxford, 1978).
Layzer, D. & Hively, R. M. Astrophys. J. 179, 361 (1973).
Rees, M. J. Nature 275, 35 (1978).
Carr, B. J. Preprint (University of Cambridge, 1980).
Kaufman, M. Astrophys. J. 160, 459 (1970).
Hogan, C. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. (in the press).
Woody, D. P. & Richards, P. L. Phys. Rev. Lett. 42, 925 (1979).
Rowan-Robinson, M., Negroponte, J. & Silk, J. Nature 281, 635 (1979).
Puget, J. L. & Heyvaerts, J. Astr. Astrophys. 83, L10 (1980).
Epstein, R. I. Astrophys. J. 212, 595 (1977).
Zee, A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 44, 703 (1980).
Landau, L. D. & Lifshitz, E. M. Statistical Physics (Pergamon, Oxford, 1969).
Doroshkevich, A. G., Zel'dovich, Ya. B. & Novikov, I. D. Soviet Astr. 11, 233 (1967); Astr. Zh. 44, 295 (1967).
Shuryak, E. V. Phys. Rep. 61, 71–158 (1980).
Bardeen, J. M. Preprint (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 1980).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hogan, C. Spontaneous production of cosmological fluctuations. Nature 286, 360–362 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/286360a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/286360a0
This article is cited by
-
Universal fragmentation
Astrophysics and Space Science (1986)
-
Cosmological consequences of grand unified theories on density fluctuations
Nature (1981)
