Access

News and Views

Nature 443, 637-638 (12 October 2006) | doi:10.1038/443637a; Published online 11 October 2006

Open Innovation Challenges

naturejobs

Particle physics: Did the Big Bang boil?

Frank Wilczek1

Top

Standard theories tell us that, at some point in the Universe's evolution, free quarks and gluons must have become bound together into the hadronic matter we see today. But was this transition abrupt or smooth?

The idea of phase transitions — abrupt changes in the state of matter — is familiar from such common sights as the bubbling water in a boiling kettle. Phase transitions on a grand scale may have taken place in the early Universe, both enriching and complicating Big Bang cosmology.

  1. Frank Wilczek is in the Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
    Email: wilczek@mit.edu

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Particle physics Liberating quarks and gluons

Nature News and Views (22 Jan 1998)

Beryllium and the Big Bang

Nature News and Views (28 Nov 1991)

See all 38 matches for News And Views