The Beginning of Time The instant in which the universe began rapidly expanding from a singularity is called the

Big Bang. This expansion began 13.798 0.037 billion years ago. This is the zero point of our time line and we will count forward from that time to the present. Time 0 to 10-43 seconds Size of Universe Infinitely small to 10-35 meters (1 Planck length) Temperature Infinitely hot to 1032K (Planck temperature) [i.e, hot, very hot] Description The Planck Epoch The very earliest universe was so hot that no particles existed or could exist. The four fundamental forces (electromagnetism, weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force and gravity) all had the same strength and were unified into one fundamental force, held together by perfect symmetry. Only when the temperature dropped did these forces separate from each other, with gravity separating first. (The process of the forces separating is called spontaneous symmetry breaking.) Time 10-43 to 10-36 seconds Size of Universe 10-35 meters to 10-27 meters Temperature 1032K (1019 GeV) Description Grand Unification Epoch This epoch began when the force of gravity separated from the other fundamental forces (which remain unified). The earliest elementary particles (and antiparticles) appeared in a hot, dense quark-gluon plasma, sometimes known as quark soup. This epoch ended when the strong force separated from the electromagnetic and weak forces. Time 10-36 to 10-32 seconds Size of Universe 10-27 meters to 0.1 meters Temperature 10 27K (1014 GeV) Description The Inflationary Epoch Triggered by the separation of the strong nuclear force, the universe underwent an extremely rapid expansion, known as cosmic inflation. Cosmic inflation caused the early universe to increase by a factor of at least 1078 in volume, driven by a negative-pressure vacuum energy density. The linear dimensions of the early universe increased to the size of a grapefruit during this tiny fraction of a second. The elementary particles remaining from the Grand Unification Epoch became distributed very thinly across the universe. Following the inflationary period, the universe continued to expand, but at a slower rate. 10-36 to 10-12 seconds

Time

Size of Universe up to 1 meter Temperature 10 27K (1014 GeV) to 1015K (100 GeV) Description The Electroweak Epoch As the strong nuclear force separated from the other two forces, particle interactions created large numbers of exotic particles, including W and Z bosons and the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson field slowed some of the particles down and conferred mass on them, allowing particles with mass to exist in a universe of radiation. This epoch ended as cooling of the universe allowed the weak force to separate from the electromagnetic force, resulting in the four separate forces observed today. At this point in time, the full range of complex and composite particles observed today became possible and the quark epoch began. Time 1 picosecond to 1 microsecond (10-12 to 10-6 seconds) Size of Universe less than 1 mile Temperature Below 10 quadrillion degrees (1015 K) Description The Quark Epoch Quarks, electrons and neutrinos formed in large numbers as the universe cooled off and the four fundamental forces assumed their present forms. Quarks and antiquarks annihilated each other upon contact, but a surplus of quarks (about one for every billion pairs) survived. When these quarks became confined within hadrons, the Hadron Epoch began. Time 10-6 seconds to 1 second (1 microsecond to 1 second) Size of Universe less than 1 million miles Temperature 1012 K (1 trillion degrees) Description The Hadron Epoch The temperature of the universe became cool enough to allow quarks to combine to form hadrons (like protons and neutrons). Electrons colliding with protons fused to form neutrons and gave off massless neutrinos. These neutrinos continue to travel freely through space today, at or near to the speed of light. Some neutrons and neutrinos also recombined into new proton-electron pairs. The Hadron Epoch led to a matter dominated universe.

Time Size of Universe Temperature: Description The Lepton Epoch

1 second to 3 minutes < 50 million miles 10 billion degrees

After most of the hadrons and antihadrons had annihilated each other at the end of the Hadron Epoch, leptons (such as electrons) and antileptons (such as positrons) dominated the mass of the universe. As electrons and positrons collided and annihilated each other, energy in the form of photons (particles of light) was released. Colliding photons in turn created more electron-positron pairs. At this time neutrinos ceased to interact with other particles.

Time 3 minutes to 20 minutes Size of Universe 4 25 light minutes Temperature: 109K (1 billion degrees) Description Nucleosynthesis The temperature of the universe dropped to the point where atomic nuclei began to form. At this temperature, protons and neutrons could combine through nuclear fusion to form the nuclei of the simple elements like hydrogen, helium and lithium. This epoch ended after about 20 minutes when the temperature and density of the universe had fallen to the point where nuclear fusion could not continue.

Time 3 minutes to 240,000 years Size of Universe 4 light minutes to 800,000 light years Temperature 10 billion degrees Kelvin 3,000 Kelvin Description The Photon Epoch During this period of gradual cooling, the universe was filled with plasma, a hot, opaque soup of atomic nuclei and electrons. Most of the leptons and antileptons had annihilated each other at the end of the Lepton Epoch. For this reason the energy of the universe was dominated by photons or particles of light, which continued to interact frequently with the charged protons, electrons and nuclei.

Time 240,000 to 379,000 years (or just 300,000 years) Size of Universe 800,000 light years Temperature 3,000 Kelvin Description Recombination/Decoupling As the temperature of the universe fell to that of the Suns visible surface and its density continued to drop, ionized hydrogen and helium atoms captured electrons, thus neutralizing their electric charge and creating stable atoms. (This process is known as recombination.) With the electrons now bound to atoms, the universe finally became transparent to light, making this the earliest epoch observable today. Photons, which had been interacting with electrons and protons in an opaque photon-baryon fluid, could now travel freely (This process is known as decoupling). These photons became the Cosmic Background Radiation that we detect as microwave radiation today at a blackbody

temperature of 2.73Kelvin. By the end of this period, the universe was about 75% hydrogen and 25% helium, with just traces of lithium.

Time 300,000 to 150 million years Size of Universe 700,000 to 500 million light years Temperature 3,200 50 Kelvin Description The Dark Age This is the period after the formation of the first atoms and before the first stars. Although photons existed, the universe was literally dark with no stars to give off light. With matter very spread out, activity in the universe had dropped dramatically. At this time, the universe was dominated by dark matter.

Time 150 million to 1 billion years Size of Universe - 3 billion light years Temperature 54 20 Kelvin Description Reionization The first quasars formed from gravitational collapse. The intense radiation they emitted reionized the surrounding universe and neutral hydrogen atoms became hadron ions once again. From this point on, most of the universe changed from neutral atoms back to ionized plasma.

Time 300-500 million years to the present Size of Universe 1 billion light years Temperature 25 Kelvin Description Star and Galaxy Formation Gravity amplified slight irregularities in the density of the primordial ionized gas. These pockets of gas became more and more dense, while the universe continued to expand rapidly. These small, dense clouds of cosmic gas started to collapse under their own gravity. When they became hot enough at the center to trigger nuclear fusion of hydrogen, they became the first stars. The first stars were short-lived supermassive stars, a hundred or so times the mass of the Sun. These larger stars burned out quickly and exploded in massive supernova events. Their ashes were enriched with heaver elements like carbon, oxygen and nitrogen that had formed within these stars. These heavier elements became a component of subsequent generations of stars. Exotic examples of the death throes of these stars are gamma-ray bursts.

Large volumes of matter collapsed to form galaxies and gravitational attraction pulled galaxies toward each other to form groups, clusters and superclusters. The expansion of the universe and recycling of star materials into new stars continues to the present.

Time

Size of Universe Temperature Description Solar System Formation The Sun is a late-generation star, incorporating the heavier elements from many generations of earlier stars. The Sun and solar system of planets, moons, and smaller objects formed about 4.5 to 5 billion years ago.

8.5 to 9 billion years to the present (or 4.5 to 5 billion years ago to the present) 45 billion light years 2.7 Kelvin