What does the omega sign mean in physics and cosmology?

D

Dylan T

New member
I have seen it talking about critical density and the ultimate fate of the universe. But what is the omega and how does it relate to the destiny of the universe?
 
Doesn't relate at all.

Omega is the last letter in the Greek alphabet. So it is the end. Some authors who like to use imagery simply equate the end of the universe to the omega letter as both are the ultimate end.

The movie "The Omega Man" was about the last human on Earth; all the others had turned into vampires after being infected by some virus.

The saying "We went through the alpha and omega of it" means we did the whole thing from beginning to end... alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet.
 
? = 2q0 = (2/3?)(c2/H2)

where …

? = density
q0 = Deceleration Parameter
? = Cosmological Constant
c = speed of light
H = Hubble Constant

Although we know the formula for omega, we are unable to determine the density of the universe. Solving the equation for omega requires knowing four numbers, three of which are currently not known with certainty. The only number that is known is the velocity of light. No one yet knows the value for the deceleration parameter or the cosmological constant and there are still disagreements over the Hubble constant. The deceleration parameter measures the rate at which the expansion is slowing down due to the gravitational attraction among all the clusters of galaxies. The Hubble constant denotes the rate at which the universe is expanding.

There you have it, the density of the universe
 
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