[PmbPhy (OP)]

I've learned that there's some experimental evidence of the inflationary model of cosmology. If so then it appears that Alan Guth might just win the Nobel Prize.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this? I.e. should he win it next or should Peter Higgs?

Note: I'm conceding that Guth might share the Nobel Prize with the other physicists who postulated the idea.

[chris]

I've learned that there's some experimental evidence of the inflationary model of cosmology.

Sounds interesting; can you tell us more?

[timey]

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/march/physics-cosmic-inflation-031714.html

I think this is what Pete is referring to...

I wonder if their 'theoretical reasoning' has been inclusive of the cosmic microwave background 'axis of evil' observations on the R scale?

I will have to read the journal which I will do this-evening, but to say so, Pete, have you any knowledge as to how Alan Guth approaches the the 'axis of evil' observations of preferred direction?

[timey]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25293-space-time-ripples-hint-at-physics-beyond-the-big-bang/

Starobinsky’s model was a better fit for our observations of the early universe until last week’s sighting of gravitational waves. Now it is unclear which of the competing theories of inflation will reign (see main story).
If the BICEP2 data are confirmed, apostles of inflation may celebrate the dramatic confirmation of the general idea of inflation, but not of any concrete simple model of it,” says Starobinsky. Stuart Clark

[PmbPhy (OP)]

Pete, have you any knowledge as to how Alan Guth approaches the the 'axis of evil' observations of preferred direction?

No. Sorry. Contrary to popular belief, I don't know everything. Lol!

[timey]

Pete, have you any knowledge as to how Alan Guth approaches the the 'axis of evil' observations of preferred direction?

No. Sorry. Contrary to popular belief, I don't know everything. Lol!

But you are aware that Alan Guth's model of inflation has no explanation for any preferred direction?

[PmbPhy (OP)]

But you are aware that Alan Guth's model of inflation has no explanation for any preferred direction?

What are you talking about with these "preferred direction" comments? There are no preferred directions in the universe so no need to account for them. Please don't tell me that you're speaking about the anisotropy of the 3k background radiation because that's not a preferred direction in the universe. That's a sole result of the fact that we're in motion relative to the background radiation. The zero net momentum frame of the 3K radiation is at rest in the rest frame of the matter of the universe. Unless you don't understand that or are going to confuse that fact with the fact that there's no absolute rest frame of reference in the universe?

timey - You're in my ignore list because I can't be bothered with the never ending stream of baseless claims that you keep posting. I tried to help you and tried to get you to argue your cases rather than merely and only making assertions. But you showed me that you either don't understand that or don't know how to and so you ignore all my requests. Please know that in no way am I trying to insult you or insinuate that you're not intelligent. I was trying to get you to learn how scientists think. Clearly that's not going to happen. Especially since you fail to learn anything about the philosophy of science and not knowing that means not understanding science.

I will no longer read or respond to your posts. And when you respond to this post with accusations readers will know that you're posting a comment to someone who clearly stated that it won't be read. Let them wonder who your audience is.

[timey]

That is the worst reply to a question I have ever seen.

If you had opportunity to ask Alan Guth about the 'axis of evil' observations of preferred direction in the CMB at the R scale, he would tell you that either he is ignoring the data, or that he, like everyone else, doesn't know what to make of it, but is aware that it casts aspersions on his model of inflation, and because so much of cosmology is based on the inflation model, that it also casts aspersions on cosmological considerations.

You actually owe me an apology Pete.  It is a disgrace to treat another member the way you are treating me in any case, but more so in that you dear sir clearly do not know what you are talking about.

[timey]

For anyone who can discuss without displaying such self appointed superiority.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.newscientist.com/article/mg23230970-700-cosmic-coincidences-everything-points-in-one-direction/amp/

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.newscientist.com/article/dn25293-space-time-ripples-hint-at-physics-beyond-the-big-bang/amp/

:link 2
If the Planck team does see gravitational waves, but at a lower strength than BICEP2, the models get more complex. One solution is to have inflation that starts out fast and slows down abruptly, says Marco Peloso at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Another is to assume that inflation was faster in one direction (arxiv.org/abs/1403.4596v1). This could explain an anomaly in the Planck data that suggests the universe has a “preferred” direction, nicknamed the axis of evil.

:link 1
But it’s not just the microwave ripples that seem odd. Wen Zhao, a physicist at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, has been collecting a host of other observations that appear to line up with the axis of evil.

It could very well be that Alan Guth does have some theory on the axis of evil observations of preferred direction.  I thought it a completely reasonable question to raise, and expected a much more intellectual response in line with the information that I have read from physicists working in the field.

I have not heard the response that Pete has put forward before, (if one can actually call that response as putting information forward, because it seemed more like a personal attack to me.)
Has anybody else heard Pete's description of the observations of preferred direction before, and if so, who is he quoting please? - that I may look them up and read it.

(BTW, I am not seeking an audience here.  I am not an actor on a stage.  I am a person who is seeking to meet a mathematician who will calculate my idea, and failing that, a decent conversation would be ok as nobody in my family or friends is interested in physics)

[timey]

Please don't tell me that you're speaking about the anisotropy of the 3k background radiation because that's not a preferred direction in the universe. That's a sole result of the fact that we're in motion relative to the background radiation. The zero net momentum frame of the 3K radiation is at rest in the rest frame of the matter of the universe. Unless you don't understand that or are going to confuse that fact with the fact that there's no absolute rest frame of reference in the universe?

Can anyone please tell me if they have heard of this explanation for the 'axis of evil' observations?  And if so, could you please provide me with citation?

[timey]

I have heard that the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) consists of the small temperature fluctuations in the blackbody radiation left over from the Big Bang, and of course it is an obvious fact that we will be in motion relative to these fluctuations.  But as I understand the situation, the 'axis of evil' is the observation of a pattern within these fluctuations that implies a 'preferred direction' of the inflation process itself.

:Lee Smolin
An oscillation at a wavelength of the scale R takes up a huge part of the sky - about 60 degrees; consequently we see only a few wavelengths, and there are only a few pieces of data, so what we are seeing may just be a random statistical fluctuation.  The chances of the evidence for a preferred direction being a statistical anomaly have been estimated at less than 1 part in 1000.  But is may be easier to believe in this unlikely bad luck than to believe that the predictions of inflation are breaking down.

[Walterhurley56]

He deserves