34.7 Some questions we know to ask

Learning objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify sample questions to be asked on the largest scales.
• Identify sample questions to be asked on the intermediate scale.
• Identify sample questions to be asked on the smallest scales.

Throughout the text we have noted how essential it is to be curious and to ask questions in order to first understand what is known, and then to go a little farther. Some questions may go unanswered for centuries; others may not have answers, but some bear delicious fruit. Part of discovery is knowing which questions to ask. You have to know something before you can even phrase a decent question. As you may have noticed, the mere act of asking a question can give you the answer. The following questions are a sample of those physicists now know to ask and are representative of the forefronts of physics. Although these questions are important, they will be replaced by others if answers are found to them. The fun continues.

On the largest scale

1. Is the universe open or closed ? Theorists would like it to be just barely closed and evidence is building toward that conclusion. Recent measurements in the expansion rate of the universe and in CMBR support a flat universe. There is a connection to small-scale physics in the type and number of particles that may contribute to closing the universe.
2. What is dark matter ? It is definitely there, but we really do not know what it is. Conventional possibilities are being ruled out, but one of them still may explain it. The answer could reveal whole new realms of physics and the disturbing possibility that most of what is out there is unknown to us, a completely different form of matter.
3. How do galaxies form ? They exist since very early in the evolution of the universe and it remains difficult to understand how they evolved so quickly. The recent finer measurements of fluctuations in the CMBR may yet allow us to explain galaxy formation.
4. What is the nature of various-mass black holes ? Only recently have we become confident that many black hole candidates cannot be explained by other, less exotic possibilities. But we still do not know much about how they form, what their role in the history of galactic evolution has been, and the nature of space in their vicinity. However, so many black holes are now known that correlations between black hole mass and galactic nuclei characteristics are being studied.
5. What is the mechanism for the energy output of quasars ? These distant and extraordinarily energetic objects now seem to be early stages of galactic evolution with a supermassive black-hole-devouring material. Connections are now being made with galaxies having energetic cores, and there is evidence consistent with less consuming, supermassive black holes at the center of older galaxies. New instruments are allowing us to see deeper into our own galaxy for evidence of our own massive black hole.
6. Where do the $\gamma$ bursts come from ? We see bursts of $\gamma$ rays coming from all directions in space, indicating the sources are very distant objects rather than something associated with our own galaxy. Some $\gamma$ bursts finally are being correlated with known sources so that the possibility they may originate in binary neutron star interactions or black holes eating a companion neutron star can be explored.