New Theory Provides Alternative to Big Bang

[thegsg]

A new theory of the universe suggests that space and time may not have begun in a big bang, but may have always existed in an endless cycle of expansion and rebirth.

Princeton physicist Paul Steinhardt and Neil Turok of Cambridge University described their proposed theory in an article published April 25 in an online edition of Science.

The theory proposes that, in each cycle, the universe refills with hot, dense matter and radiation, which begins a period of expansion and cooling like the one of the standard big bang picture. After 14 billion years, the expansion of the universe accelerates, as astronomers have recently observed. After trillions of years, the matter and radiation are almost completely dissipated and the expansion stalls. An energy field that pervades the universe then creates new matter and radiation, which restarts the cycle.

The new theory provides possible answers to several longstanding problems with the big bang model, which has dominated the field of cosmology for decades. It addresses, for example, the nagging question of what might have triggered or come "before" the beginning of time.

So what you guys think about this? will the big bang happen again and again and again?

[Gordon Freynman]

Please pass the sauce.

[thegsg]

Oh c'mon you could at least try

[Gordon Freynman]

Fine, I guess I have to get up and grab the sauce myself.

http://www.rense.com/general24/bg.htm

It definitely sounds like an interesting and reasonable alternative to the Big Bang model. I'm curious as to whether this model relies on M-theory or can work without it.

Edit: I love how on Paul Steinhardt's website the "short" introduction to cyclic cosmology is 12 pages, and the long version is 4 times longer.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

(that equals 48 pages, for the biologists among us)

[Phier]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

(that equals 48 pages, for the biologists among us)

Ouch man, ouch.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

But its true.

[Vagn]

It doesn't really dispell the big bang does it though, it simply changes the rules a bit. It is also not a particularly new suggestion Steinhardt and Turok first suggested it in 2001. In fact the model is a possible consequence of M-theory according to wikipedia, which in other words, means we don't really know how valid it is.

[thegsg]

It only says that universe will shrink to a dense spot after its done expanding and then explode again as happened in the big bang this theory is supported by astronomers that recently found a new type of radiation that they assume was before the big bang.

[Vagn]

It only says that universe will shrink to a dense spot after its done expanding and then explode again as happened in the big bang this theory is supported by astronomers that recently found a new type of radiation that they assume was before the big bang.

If you are talking about Penrose's claim then that isn't necessarily true, Penrose claimed to find circles in the WMAP CMB data, however his first paper did not have any statistical reasoning within it, part of the claim has since been refuted.


Here are all the main papers on Penrose's claim for anyone interested.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1011.3706v1
http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1268
http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1305
http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1486
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/...012.1656v1.pdf

[Juvenal]

Some extracts of a recent article in Nature casting doubt on Vahe Gurzadyan and Roger Penrose's proposition:

No evidence of time before Big Bang

Our view of the early Universe may be full of mysterious circles — and even triangles — but that doesn't mean we're seeing evidence of events that took place before the Big Bang. So says a trio of papers taking aim at a recent claim that concentric rings of uniform temperature within the cosmic microwave background — the radiation left over from the Big Bang — might, in fact, be the signatures of black holes colliding in a previous cosmic 'aeon' that existed before our Universe.

Now Gurzadyan and Penrose's idea is being challenged by three independent studies, all posted on the arXiv server within the past few days, by Ingunn Wehus and Hans Kristian Eriksen of the University of Oslo2; Adam Moss, Douglas Scott and James Zibin of the University of British Columbia3 in Vancouver, Canada; and Amir Hajian of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics in Toronto, Ontario4.
All three groups reproduced Gurzadyan's analysis of the WMAP data and all agree that the data do contain low-variance circles. Where they part company with the earlier work is in the significance that they attribute to these circles.

To gauge this significance, Gurzadyan compared the observed circles with a simulation of the cosmic microwave background in which temperature fluctuations were completely scale invariant, meaning that their abundance was independent of their size. In doing so, he found that there ought not to be any patterns. But the groups who are critical of his work say that this is not what the cosmic microwave background is like.

They point out that the WMAP data clearly show that there are far more hot and cold spots at smaller angular scales, and that it is therefore wrong to assume that the microwave sky is isotropic. All three groups searched for circular variance patterns in simulations of the cosmic microwave background that assume the basic properties of the inflationary Universe, and all found circles that are very similar to the ones in the WMAP data.

Here are the studies (followed by Gurzadyan and Penrose's original theory):

1. Gurzadyan, V. G. and Penrose, R. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1011.3706 (2010).
2. Wehus, I. K. and Eriksen, H. K. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1268 (2010).
3. Moss, A., Scott, D. and Zibin, J. P. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1305 (2010).
4. Hajian, A. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1656 (2010).
5. Gurzadyan, V. and Penrose, R Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1486 (2010).

[Gordon Freynman]

It only says that universe will shrink to a dense spot after its done expanding and then explode again as happened in the big bang this theory is supported by astronomers that recently found a new type of radiation that they assume was before the big bang.

In Steinhardt and Turok's model the universe never shrinks, it only goes through periods of expansion and stagnation.

Quote from the article I posted:

Under these theories, the universe would exist as two infinitely large parallel sheets, like two sheets of paper separated by a microscopic distance. This distance is a extra, or fifth dimension, that is not apparent us. At our current phase in the history of the universe, the sheets are expanding in all directions, gradually spreading out and dispersing all the matter and energy they contain. After trillions of years, when they become essentially empty, they enter a "stagnant" period in which they stop stretching and, instead, begin to move toward each other as the fifth dimension undergoes a collapse.

The sheets meet and "bounce" off each other. The impact causes the sheets to be charged with the extraordinarily hot and dense matter that is commonly associated with the big bang. After the sheets move apart, they resume their expansion, spreading out the matter, which cools and coalesces into stars and galaxies as in our present universe.

[CamilleBonparte]

This can't be a new theory as I read about it in school last year (Fall '09).

[Theseus1234]

This can't be a new theory as I read about it in school last year (Fall '09).

I've heard about it even before then. In fact, I am drawn to this conclusion rather than a finite beginning and an eventual end but I don't have evidence to support that.

[PointOfViewGun]

So what you guys think about this? will the big bang happen again and again and again?

So the proposed models says that every certain time interval a new big bang happens like a pulsating universe? What is the proposed source of matter(though the question can be asked for Big Bang also)?

[Agent Miles]

Well it is not a “new theory”, it’s a new paper about an idea Turok, Steinhardt and another cosmologist or string theorist had in the ‘90s when they were free associating during a train trip. If strings can form branes (membranes of energy) and if the branes float in an extra-dimensional space, then they would have angular momentum (they would wiggle) and move. Then gravity would cause them to move toward each other and then the ripples of two branes would collide or “bang”. If the universe expands as the ripples in our brane expand, then the branes recoil. Then you would eventually get a big chill as the ripples die out (without the need for a big crunch). The branes would again move toward each other and bang again (and again). Turok proposed that it should be possible to make a prediction about how this happened that would be reflected in the CMB left over from the Big Bang. The CMB should be a sort of fingerprint (such as Penrose’s rings). They just have to get some proof for all of the “if” and “then” statements.

[Jack04]

So the proposed models says that every certain time interval a new big bang happens like a pulsating universe? What is the proposed source of matter(though the question can be asked for Big Bang also)?

You don't necessarily need a source. Assuming current understanding of matter and general relativity is reasonably accurate, it isn't necessary for the universe to have any (net) energy. The universe could simply be viewed as a quantum fluctuation.

[eric2min]

I still don't understand how something can have no beginning...

[Armatus]

A new theory of the universe suggests that space and time may not have begun in a big bang, but may have always existed in an endless cycle of expansion and rebirth.

I'm pretty sure this is not new. I believe it's referred to as Buddhism.

[Angrychris]

Sounds like the universe is alive man.

[thegsg]

Sounds like the universe is alive man.

Oh he is and hes coming to getc'ha no but seriously yes its sounds like its a living thing and heres where the god references come up

[Tim Buck II]

A new theory of the universe suggests that space and time may not have begun in a big bang, but may have always existed in an endless cycle of expansion and rebirth.

New?