The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene [186]
Let's head toward this era by first seeing what the standard cosmological theory tells us about the universe before a hundredth of a second ATB, but after the Planck time.
From the Planck Time to a Hundredth of a Second ATB
Recall from Chapter 7 (especially Figure 7.1) that the three nongravitational forces appear to merge together in the intensely hot environment of the early universe. Physicists' calculations of how the strengths of these forces vary with energy and temperature show that prior to about 10-35 seconds ATB, the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces were all one "grand unified" or "super" force. In this state the universe was far more symmetric than it is today. Like the homogeneity that follows when a collection of disparate metals is heated to a smooth molten liquid, the significant differences between the forces as we now observe them were all erased by the extremes of energy and temperature encountered in the very early universe. But as time went by and the universe expanded and cooled, the formalism of quantum field theory shows that this symmetry would have been sharply reduced through a number of rather abrupt steps, ultimately leading to the comparatively asymmetric form with which we are familiar.
It's not hard to understand the physics behind such reduction of symmetry, or symmetry breaking, as it is more precisely called. Picture a large container filled with water. The molecules of H2O are uniformly spread throughout the container and regardless of the angle from which you view it, the water looks the same. Now watch the container as you lower the temperature. At first not much happens. On microscopic scales, the average speed of the water molecules decreases, but that's about all. When you decrease the temperature to 0 degrees Celsius, however, you suddenly see that something drastic occurs. The liquid water begins to freeze and turn into solid ice. As discussed in the preceding chapter, this is a simple example of a phase transition. For our present purpose, the important thing to note is that the phase transition results in a decrease in the amount of symmetry displayed by the H2O molecules. Whereas liquid water looks the same regardless of the angle from which it is viewed—it appears to be rotationally symmetric—solid ice is different. It has a crystalline block structure, which means that if you examine it with adequate precision, it will, like any crystal, look different from different angles. The phase transition has resulted in a decrease in the amount of rotational symmetry that is manifest.
Although we have discussed only one familiar example, the point is true more generally: as we lower the temperature of many physical systems, at some point they undergo a phase transition that typically results in a decrease or a "breaking" of some of their previous symmetries. In fact, a system can go through a series of phase transitions if its temperature is varied over a wide enough range. Water, again, provides a simple example. If we start with H2O above 100 degrees Celsius, it is a gas: steam. In this form, the system has even more symmetry than in the liquid phase since now the individual H2O molecules have been liberated from their congested, stuck-together liquid form. Instead, they all zip around the container on completely equal footing, without forming any clumps or "cliques" in which groups of molecules single each other out for a close association at the expense of others. Molecular democracy prevails at high enough temperatures. As we lower the temperature below 100 degrees, of course, water droplets do form as we pass through a gas-liquid phase transition, and the symmetry is reduced. Continuing on to yet lower temperatures, nothing too dramatic happens until we pass through 0 degrees Celsius, when, as above, the liquid-water/solid-ice phase transition results in another abrupt decrease in symmetry.
Physicists believe that between the Planck time and a hundredth of a second ATB, the universe behaved