Graphical timeline from Big Bang to Heat Death

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This is the timeline of the Universe from Big Bang to 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.^{[citation needed]}

If protons decay:

If protons do not decay:

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.

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

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

• 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.