QnAs with Alan Guth.

Abstract

The announcement in March 2014 that a telescope near the South Pole had detected possible evidence of gravitational waves brought renewed attention to inflationary theory, which describes the earliest moments of the universe. According to inflationary theory, exotic matter present at the birth of the universe exerted repulsive gravitational effects, driving extremely rapid expansion of the universe and leaving behind traces of gravitational waves in the cosmic background radiation. National Academy of Sciences member Alan Guth, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, first outlined inflationary theory in 1981 and has since been working out the details and implications of the theory with his colleagues. The South Pole experiment, called BICEP2 (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization 2), is undergoing further scrutiny to assess the possible influence of cosmic dust on the gravitational wave signal. Guth, however, points to other evidence that illustrates how inflationary theory can accurately describe the earliest moments of matter and energy in the universe. In May 2014 Guth, along with fellow inflationary theorists Andrei Linde and Alexei Starobinsky, was awarded the Kavli Prize in astrophysics. To commemorate the honor, PNAS spoke with Guth. Alan Guth. Image courtesy of Jenny Guth. > PNAS: What …