On Apr 17, 8:42 pm, Yousuf Khan wrote:
On 17/04/2013 5:10 PM, Steve Willner wrote:

There are other sources of gravitational radiation in the early
Universe, but those all lead to E-mode polarization. It's
specifically the B-mode polarization that is the signature of
inflation.

What do the E- and B-mode polarizations mean anyway? B-mode I'm guessing
is the type that is caused by Inflation only, and it's expected to have
a wavelength as large as the observable universe. How do you detect a
wave that big that you may be sitting right on top of?

If Yousuf has bothered to study GR, he will realize GR has nothing to
do with E&M. That means the hypothetical gravity waves, which are the
same **** as the gravitational waves, cannot be produced out of E&M.
shrug

There's an overview at
http://www.b-pol.org/bpol-science.php
and more illustration at
http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/~yuki/CMBpol/CMBpol.htm
(Read "gravitational waves" where these sites write "gravity waves.)

Good stuff, I'm reading through the first one, I'll get to the second a
bit later.

Well, tell us what you think of these analyses based on the basic
assumptions of current cosmological model turn out. Koobee Wublee
couldn’t wait. shrug

The short answer (as far as I can tell, not being an expert on this
subject) is that the origin of the polarization is quantum
fluctuations, which are initially tiny but magnified by inflation.
Without inflation, there's no such magnification or at least not
enough to make the signature observable.

So far this thread has been occupied mostly by kooks, hopefully somebody
in the field can see this and answer?

Maybe Yousuf can become an expert in cosmology just like everybody
else by staring at these two articles since he does not know anything
about the mathematics of gravity waves in the first place. Of course,
since he knows nothing about the subject, somehow he is very good at
spotting kooks who he thinks also know nothing about the subject.
Yes, this is a typical the idiot calling another idiot an idiot. The
rest is a typical poker game and nothing to do with the discussion of
physics. What else is new? shrug