Graphical timeline from the Big Bang to the heat death of the universe

This is a timeline of the Universe from the Big Bang to the heat death scenario. The different eras of the universe are shown. The heat death will occur in around 1.7×10¹⁰⁶ years, if protons decay.

If protons decay

If protons do not decay

Scale

Usually the logarithmic scale is used for such timelines but it compresses the most interesting Stelliferous Era too much as this example shows. Therefore, a double-logarithmic scale s (s*100 in the graphics) is used instead. The minimum of it is only 1, not 0 as needed, and the negative outputs for inputs smaller than 10 are useless. Therefore, the time from 0.1 to 10 years is collapsed to a single point 0, but that does not matter in this case because nothing special happens in the history of the universe during that time.

$s={\begin{cases}\log _{10}\log _{10}year&{\mbox{if }}year>10{\mbox{ , corresponding to }}year=10^{10^{s}}\\0&{\mbox{if }}0.1\leq year\leq 10\\-\log _{10}(-\log _{10}year)&{\mbox{if }}year<0.1{\mbox{ , corresponding to }}year=10^{-10^{-s}}\end{cases}}$

Comparison of log₁₀ and log₁₀log₁₀ scales

year	log10 year	combination of log10log10 year and -log10(-log10 year)
1010000	10000	4
101000	1000	3
10100	100	2
1010	10	1
102	2	0.30
101	1	0
100	0	undefined but here forced to 0
10−1	-1	0
10−2	-2	-0.30
10−10	-10	-1
10−100	-100	-2
10−1000	-1000	-3

The seconds in the timescale have been converted to years by $second/31557600$ using the Julian year.

See also

• Big Crunch – Hypothetical scenario for the ultimate fate of the universe
• Big Freeze – Future scenario in which the expansion of the universe continues forever
• Big Rip – Cosmological model
• Chronology of the universe – History and future of the universe
• False vacuum decay – Hypothetical vacuum, less stable than true vacuumPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Graphical timeline of the Big Bang – Logarithmic chronology of the event that began the Universe
• Graphical timeline of the Stelliferous Era
• Heat death of the universe – Possible fate of the universe
• List of other end scenarios than Heat Death – Theories about the end of the universe
• Tiny Graphical timeline from Big Bang to Heat Death – Future scenario in which the expansion of the universe continues forever - Timeline uses the log scale for comparison with the double-logarithmic scale in this article.

References

• Fred C. Adams; Greg Laughlin (19 June 2000). The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-86576-8.