Major discovery bolsters Big Bang theory of universe

Waves of gravity that rippled through space right after the Big Bang have been detected for the first time, in a landmark discovery that adds to our understanding of how the universe was born, US scientists said Monday.

The waves were produced in a rapid growth spurt 14 billion years ago, and were predicted in Albert Einstein's nearly century-old theory of general relativity but were never found until now.

The first direct evidence of cosmic inflation -- a theory that the universe expanded by 100 trillion trillion times in barely the blink of an eye -- was announced by experts at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

The detection was made with the help of a telescope called BICEP2, stationed at the South Pole, that measures the oldest light in the universe.

If confirmed by other experts, some said the work could be a contender for the Nobel Prize.

The waves that move through space and time have been described as the "first tremors of the Big Bang."

Their detection confirms an integral connection between Einstein's theory of general relativity and the stranger conceptual realm of quantum mechanics.

NASA said the findings "not only help confirm that the universe inflated dramatically, but are providing theorists with the first clues about the exotic forces that drove space and time apart."

John Kovac, leader of the BICEP2 collaboration at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said years of observations using the telescope at the South Pole preceded Monday's announcement.

"Detecting this signal is one of the most important goals in cosmology today. A lot of work by a lot of people has led up to this point."

All you need to know about gravitational waves

 http://www.nature.com/news/all-you-need-to-know-about-gravitational-waves-1.14886