ICY SCIENCE: SCIENCE SPACE ASTRONOMY Spring 2014 | Page 81

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After the Nuclear Epoch came Recombination. This is where a
proton captures an electron, allowing the first neutral atoms
to form. Although no light was yet being emitted, recombi-

Photo: Steffen Richter/Harvard University

nation would have lifted the veil on the early Universe allowing it to become clear and visible for the first time. Radiation
was also now being forced to decouple from the matter it
had always been paired with which allowed gravity to take
over as the dominating force in the Universe. Gravity then
began forcing particles of elements together, which was the
beginning of all gas, star, and planet formation which we see
today. It is the leftover radiation from this process that we
see today as the CMB.
So if the discovery of the CMB was the trigger of proof needed
to suggest that the idea of inflation shortly after the Big Bang
was correct, gravitational waves could be the smoking gun.
The amplification of gravitational waves through inflation
causing polarization of the radiation emitted from the CMB
could be the proof we needed to usher in a new era in par-

WORDS: DAN LUCAS

ticle physics.

@dan__lucas

ICY SCIENCE | QTR 2 SPRING 2014