Theory big bang has become almost as widely accepted a cosmological model as the rotation of the Earth around the Sun. According to the theory, about 14 billion years ago, spontaneous vibrations in absolute emptiness led to the emergence of the Universe. Something comparable in size to a subatomic particle expanded to unimaginable sizes in a fraction of a second. But there are many problems in this theory that physicists are struggling with, putting forward more and more new hypotheses.
What's wrong with the Big Bang Theory
From the theory it follows that all planets and stars were formed from dust scattered throughout space as a result of an explosion. But what preceded it is unclear: here our mathematical model of space-time stops working. The universe arose from an initial singular state, to which modern physics cannot be applied. The theory also does not consider the causes of the singularity or the matter and energy for its occurrence. It is believed that the answer to the question of the existence and origin of the initial singularity will be provided by the theory of quantum gravity.
Most cosmological models predict that the complete Universe is much larger than the observable part - a spherical region with a diameter of approximately 90 billion light years. We see only that part of the Universe, the light from which managed to reach the Earth in 13.8 billion years. But telescopes are getting better, we are discovering more and more distant objects, and there is no reason to believe that this process will stop.
Since the Big Bang, the Universe has been expanding at an accelerating rate. The most difficult riddle modern physics is the question of what causes acceleration. According to the working hypothesis, the Universe contains an invisible component called “dark energy.” The Big Bang theory does not explain whether the Universe will expand indefinitely, and if so, what will this lead to - its disappearance or something else.
Although Newtonian mechanics was supplanted by relativistic physics, it cannot be called erroneous. However, the perception of the world and the models for describing the Universe have completely changed. The Big Bang theory predicted a number of things that were not known before. Thus, if another theory comes to replace it, it should be similar and expand the understanding of the world.
We will focus on the most interesting theories describing alternative models of the Big Bang.
The Universe is like a mirage of a black hole
The Universe arose due to the collapse of a star in a four-dimensional Universe, according to scientists from the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics. The results of their study were published by Scientific American. Niayesh Afshordi, Robert Mann and Razi Pourhasan say that our three-dimensional Universe became a kind of “holographic mirage” when a four-dimensional star collapsed. Unlike the Big Bang theory, which posits that the universe arose from an extremely hot and dense space-time where the standard laws of physics do not apply, the new hypothesis of a four-dimensional universe explains both the origins and its rapid expansion.
According to the scenario formulated by Afshordi and his colleagues, our three-dimensional Universe is a kind of membrane that floats through an even larger universe that already exists in four dimensions. If this four-dimensional space had its own four-dimensional stars, they would also explode, just like the three-dimensional ones in our Universe. The inner layer would become a black hole, and the outer one would be thrown into space.
In our Universe, black holes are surrounded by a sphere called the event horizon. And if in three-dimensional space this boundary is two-dimensional (like a membrane), then in a four-dimensional universe the event horizon will be limited to a sphere that exists in three dimensions. Computer simulations of the collapse of a four-dimensional star showed that its three-dimensional event horizon will gradually expand. This is exactly what we observe, calling the growth of the 3D membrane the expansion of the Universe, astrophysicists believe.
Big Freeze
An alternative to the Big Bang is the Big Freeze. A team of physicists from the University of Melbourne, led by James Kvatch, presented a model of the birth of the Universe, which is more reminiscent of the gradual process of freezing amorphous energy than its release and expansion in three directions of space.
Formless energy, according to scientists, like water, cooled to crystallization, creating the usual three spatial and one temporal dimensions.
The Big Freeze theory challenges Albert Einstein's currently accepted assertion of the continuity and fluidity of space and time. It is possible that space has components - indivisible building blocks like tiny atoms or pixels in computer graphics. These blocks are so small that they cannot be observed, however, following the new theory, it is possible to detect defects that should refract the flow of other particles. Scientists have calculated such effects using mathematics, and now they will try to detect them experimentally.
Universe without beginning and end
Ahmed Farag Ali of Benha University in Egypt and Saurya Das of the University of Lethbridge in Canada have proposed a new solution to the singularity problem by abandoning the Big Bang. They introduced the ideas of the famous physicist David Bohm into the Friedmann equation describing the expansion of the Universe and the Big Bang. “It's amazing that small adjustments can potentially solve so many issues,” says Das.
The resulting model combined general relativity and quantum theory. It not only denies the singularity that preceded the Big Bang, but also does not admit that the Universe will eventually collapse back into its original state. According to the data obtained, the Universe has a finite size and an infinite lifetime. In physical terms, the model describes a Universe filled with a hypothetical quantum fluid, which consists of gravitons - particles that provide gravitational interaction.
The scientists also say their findings correlate with latest results measurements of the density of the Universe.
Endless chaotic inflation
The term “inflation” refers to the rapid expansion of the Universe, which occurred exponentially in the first moments after the Big Bang. The inflation theory itself does not disprove the Big Bang theory, but only interprets it differently. This theory solves several fundamental problems in physics.
According to the inflationary model, shortly after its birth, the Universe expanded exponentially for a very short time: its size doubled many times over. Scientists believe that in 10 to -36 seconds, the Universe increased in size by at least 10 to 30 to 50 times, and possibly more. At the end of the inflationary phase, the Universe was filled with superhot plasma of free quarks, gluons, leptons and high-energy quanta.
The concept implies what exists in the world many universes isolated from each other with different device
Physicists have come to the conclusion that the logic of the inflationary model does not contradict the idea of the constant multiple birth of new universes. Quantum fluctuations - the same as those that created our world - can arise in any quantity if the conditions are right for them. It is quite possible that our universe has emerged from the fluctuation zone that formed in the predecessor world. It can also be assumed that someday and somewhere in our Universe a fluctuation will form that will “blow out” a young Universe of a completely different kind. According to this model, daughter universes can bud off continuously. Moreover, it is not at all necessary that the same physical laws are established in new worlds. The concept implies that in the world there are many universes isolated from each other with different structures.
Cyclic theory
Paul Steinhardt, one of the physicists who laid the foundations of inflationary cosmology, decided to develop this theory further. The scientist, who heads the Center for Theoretical Physics at Princeton, together with Neil Turok from the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, outlined an alternative theory in the book Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang ("The Infinite Universe: Beyond the Big Bang"). Their model is based on a generalization of quantum superstring theory known as M-theory. According to it, the physical world has 11 dimensions - ten spatial and one temporal. Spaces of lower dimensions, the so-called branes, “float” in it. (short for "membrane"). Our Universe is simply one of these branes.
The Steinhardt and Turok model states that the Big Bang occurred as a result of the collision of our brane with another brane - an unknown universe. In this scenario, collisions occur endlessly. According to the hypothesis of Steinhardt and Turok, another three-dimensional brane “floats” next to our brane, separated by a tiny distance. It is also expanding, flattening and emptying, but after a trillion years the branes will begin to move closer together and eventually collide. This will highlight great amount energy, particles and radiation. This cataclysm will trigger another cycle of expansion and cooling of the Universe. From the model of Steinhardt and Turok it follows that these cycles have existed in the past and will certainly repeat in the future. The theory is silent about how these cycles began.
Universe
like a computer
Another hypothesis about the structure of the universe says that our entire world is nothing more than a matrix or a computer program. The idea of what the universe is digital computer, first put forward by German engineer and computer pioneer Konrad Zuse in his book Calculating Space (“Computational space”). Among those who also considered the Universe as a giant computer are physicists Stephen Wolfram and Gerard 't Hooft.
Digital physics theorists propose that the universe is essentially information, and therefore computable. From these assumptions it follows that the Universe can be considered as the result of a computer program or a digital computing device. This computer could be, for example, a giant cellular automaton or a universal Turing machine.
Indirect evidence virtual nature of the universe called the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics
According to the theory, every object and event physical world comes from asking questions and recording yes or no answers. That is, behind everything that surrounds us, there is a certain code, similar to the binary code of a computer program. And we are a kind of interface through which access to the data of the “universal Internet” appears. An indirect proof of the virtual nature of the Universe is called the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics: particles of matter can exist in an unstable form, and are “fixed” in a specific state only when they are observed.
Digital physicist John Archibald Wheeler wrote: “It would not be unreasonable to imagine that information resides in the core of physics as in the core of a computer. Everything is from the bit. In other words, everything that exists - every particle, every force field, even the space-time continuum itself - receives its function, its meaning and, ultimately, its very existence."
« For me, life is too short to worry about things beyond my control and maybe even unrealizable. So they ask: “What if the Earth is swallowed up by a black hole, or a distortion of space-time occurs - is this a reason for concern?” My answer is no, because we will only know about it when it reaches our... our place in space-time. We get jolts when nature decides the time is right: be it the speed of sound, the speed of light, the speed of electrical impulses - we will always be victims of the time delay between the information around us and our ability to receive it»
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Time is an amazing thing. It gives us the past, present and future. Because of time, everything around us has an age. For example, the age of the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years. About the same number of years ago, the closest star to us, the Sun, also caught fire. If this figure seems mind-blowing to you, do not forget that long before the formation of our native solar system the galaxy in which we live appeared - the Milky Way. According to the latest estimates by scientists, the age of the Milky Way is 13.6 billion years. But we know for sure that galaxies also have a past, and space is simply huge, so we need to look even further. And this reflection inevitably leads us to the moment when it all began - the Big Bang.
Einstein and the Universe
People's perception of the world around them has always been ambiguous. Some people still don’t believe in the existence of a huge Universe around us, others believe the Earth is flat. Before the scientific breakthrough in the 20th century, there were only a couple of versions of the origin of the world. Adherents of religious views believed in divine intervention and creation higher intelligence, those who disagreed were sometimes burned. There was another side that believed that the world around us, as well as the Universe, is infinite.
For many people, everything changed when Albert Einstein gave a speech in 1917, presenting his life's work - the General Theory of Relativity - to the general public. The genius of the 20th century connected space-time with the matter of space using the equations he derived. As a result, it turned out that the Universe is finite, unchanged in size and has the shape of a regular cylinder.
At the dawn of the technical breakthrough, no one could refute Einstein’s words, since his theory was too complex even for the greatest minds of the early 20th century. Since there were no other options, the model of a cylindrical stationary Universe was accepted by the scientific community as the generally accepted model of our world. However, she was able to live only a few years. After physicists were able to recover from scientific works Einstein and began to take them apart, in parallel with this, adjustments began to be made to the theory of relativity and the specific calculations of the German scientist.
In 1922, the journal Izvestia Physics suddenly published an article by Russian mathematician Alexander Friedman, in which he stated that Einstein was mistaken and our Universe is not stationary. Friedman explains that the German scientist’s statements regarding the invariability of the radius of curvature of space are misconceptions; in fact, the radius changes with respect to time. Accordingly, the Universe must expand.
Moreover, here Friedman gave his assumptions regarding exactly how the Universe could expand. There were three models in total: a pulsating Universe (the assumption that the Universe expands and contracts with a certain periodicity in time); the expanding Universe from mass and the third model – expansion from a point. Since at that time there were no other models, with the exception of divine intervention, physicists quickly took note of all three Friedman models and began to develop them in their own direction.
The work of the Russian mathematician slightly stung Einstein, and in the same year he published an article in which he expressed his comments regarding Friedman’s work. In it, a German physicist tries to prove the correctness of his calculations. This turned out to be rather unconvincing, and when the pain from the blow to self-esteem subsided a little, Einstein published another note in the journal Izvestia Physics, in which he said:
« In a previous post I criticized the above work. However, my criticism, as I was convinced from Friedman's letter, communicated to me by Mr. Krutkov, was based on an error in the calculations. I think Friedman's results are correct and shed new light».
Scientists had to admit that all three Friedman models of the appearance and existence of our Universe are absolutely logical and have the right to life. All three are explained with clear mathematical calculations and leave no questions asked. Except for one thing: why would the Universe begin to expand?
The theory that changed the world
The statements of Einstein and Friedman led the scientific community to seriously question the origin of the Universe. Thanks to the general theory of relativity, there was a chance to shed light on our past, and physicists did not fail to take advantage of it. One of the scientists who tried to present a model of our world was astrophysicist Georges Lemaitre from Belgium. It is noteworthy that Lemaitre was a Catholic priest, but at the same time he studied mathematics and physics, which is real nonsense for our time.
Georges Lemaitre became interested in Einstein's equations, and with their help he was able to calculate that our Universe appeared as a result of the decay of a certain superparticle, which was outside of space and time before the fission began, which can actually be considered an explosion. At the same time, physicists note that Lemaitre was the first to shed light on the birth of the Universe.
The theory of an exploded superatom satisfied not only scientists, but also the clergy, who were very dissatisfied with modern scientific discoveries, under which we had to come up with new interpretations of the Bible. The Big Bang did not come into significant conflict with religion; perhaps this was influenced by the upbringing of Lemaître himself, who devoted his life not only to science, but also to serving God.
On November 22, 1951, Pope Pius XII made a statement that the Big Bang Theory does not conflict with the Bible and Catholic dogma about the origin of the world. Orthodox clergy also stated that they view this theory positively. This theory was also relatively neutrally received by adherents of other religions, some of them even said that there were references to the Big Bang in their sacred scriptures.
However, despite the fact that the Big Bang Theory is this moment is a generally accepted cosmological model, it has led many scientists to a dead end. On the one hand, the explosion of a superparticle fit perfectly into the logic of modern physics, but on the other hand, as a result of such an explosion, mainly only heavy metals, in particular iron, could be formed. But, as it turned out, the Universe consists mainly of ultra-light gases - hydrogen and helium. Something didn’t add up, so physicists continued to work on the theory of the origin of the world.
Initially, the term “Big Bang” did not exist. Lemaître and other physicists offered only the boring name “dynamical evolutionary model,” which caused yawns among students. Only in 1949, at one of his lectures, the British astronomer and cosmologist Freud Hoyle said:
“This theory is based on the assumption that the Universe arose in the process of a single powerful explosion and therefore exists only for a finite time... This idea of a Big Bang seems to me completely unsatisfactory.”.
Since then, the term has become widely used in scientific circles and the general public’s understanding of the structure of the Universe.
Where did hydrogen and helium come from?
The presence of light elements has baffled physicists, and many adherents of the Big Bang Theory set out to find their source. For many years they failed to achieve special success, until in 1948 the brilliant scientist George Gamow from Leningrad was finally able to establish this source. Gamow was one of Friedman's students, so he gladly took on the development of his teacher's theory.
Gamow tried to imagine the life of the Universe in the opposite direction, and rewinded time to the moment when it just began to expand. By that time, as we know, humanity had already discovered the principles of thermonuclear fusion, so the Friedmann-Lemaitre theory gained the right to life. When the Universe was very small, it was very hot, according to the laws of physics.
According to Gamow, just a second after the Big Bang, the space of the new Universe was filled with elementary particles that began to interact with each other. As a result of this, thermonuclear fusion of helium began, which the Odessa mathematician Ralph Asher Alpher was able to calculate for Gamow. According to Alpher's calculations, just five minutes after the Big Bang, the Universe was filled with helium so much that even staunch opponents of the Big Bang Theory will have to come to terms with and accept this model as the main one in cosmology. With his research, Gamow not only opened up new ways to study the Universe, but also resurrected Lemaître's theory.
Despite the stereotypes about scientists, they cannot be denied romanticism. Gamow published his research on the theory of the Superhot Universe at the time of the Big Bang in 1948 in his work “The Origin of Chemical Elements.” As fellow assistants, he indicated not only Ralph Asher Alpher, but also Hans Bethe, an American astrophysicist and future laureate Nobel Prize. On the cover of the book it turned out: Alpher, Bethe, Gamow. Doesn't remind you of anything?
However, despite the fact that Lemaître’s works received a second life, physicists still could not answer the most exciting question: what happened before the Big Bang?
Attempts to resurrect Einstein's stationary Universe
Not all scientists agreed with the Friedmann-Lemaître theory, but despite this, they had to teach the generally accepted cosmological model at universities. For example, astronomer Fred Hoyle, who himself coined the term “Big Bang,” actually believed that there was no explosion, and devoted his life to trying to prove it.
Hoyle has become one of those scientists who in our time offer an alternative view of modern world. Most physicists are rather cool about the statements of such people, but this does not bother them at all.
To put Gamow and his rationale for the Big Bang Theory to shame, Hoyle and like-minded people decided to develop their own model of the origin of the Universe. As a basis, they took Einstein’s proposals that the Universe is stationary, and made some adjustments suggesting alternative reasons expansion of the Universe.
If adherents of the Lemaitre-Friedmann theory believed that the Universe arose from one single superdense point with an infinitesimal radius, then Hoyle suggested that matter is constantly being formed from points that are located between galaxies moving away from each other. In the first case, the entire Universe, with its infinite number of stars and galaxies, was formed from one particle. In another case, one point provides enough substance to produce just one galaxy.
The failure of Hoyle's theory is that he was never able to explain where the very substance that continues to create galaxies containing hundreds of billions of stars comes from. In fact, Fred Hoyle suggested that everyone believe that the structure of the universe appears out of nowhere. Despite the fact that many physicists tried to find a solution to Hoyle's theory, no one succeeded in doing this, and after a couple of decades this proposal lost its relevance.
Unanswered Questions
In fact, the Big Bang Theory does not give us answers to many questions either. For example, in the mind ordinary person We cannot comprehend the fact that all the matter around us was once compressed into one singularity point, which is much smaller in size than an atom. And how did it happen that this superparticle heated up to such an extent that an explosion reaction started.
Until the mid-20th century, the theory of the expanding Universe was never confirmed experimentally, and therefore was not widespread in educational institutions. Everything changed in 1964, when two American astrophysicists - Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson - decided to study radio signals from the starry sky.
Scanning radiation celestial bodies, namely Cassiopeia A (one of the most powerful sources of radio emission in the starry sky), scientists noticed some extraneous noise that constantly interfered with recording accurate radiation data. Wherever they pointed their antenna, no matter what time of day they began their research, this characteristic and constant noise always followed them. Angered to a certain extent, Penzias and Wilson decided to study the source of this noise and unexpectedly made a discovery that changed the world. They discovered relict radiation, which is an echo of that same Big Bang.
Our Universe is cooling much more slowly than a cup of hot tea, and the CMB suggests that the matter around us was once very hot, and is now cooling as the Universe expands. Thus, all theories related to the cold Universe were left behind, and the Big Bang Theory was finally adopted.
In his writings, Georgy Gamow assumed that in space it would be possible to detect photons that have existed since the Big Bang; all that was needed was more advanced technical equipment. The relict radiation confirmed all his assumptions regarding the existence of the Universe. It was also possible to establish that the age of our Universe is approximately 14 billion years.
As always, with the practical proof of a theory, many alternative opinions immediately arise. Some physicists ridiculed the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation as evidence of the Big Bang. Even though Penzias and Wilson won the Nobel Prize for their historic discovery, there were many who disagreed with their research.
The main arguments in favor of the failure of the expansion of the Universe were inconsistencies and logical errors. For example, the explosion equally accelerated all the galaxies in space, but instead of moving away from us, the Andromeda Galaxy is slowly but surely approaching the Milky Way. Scientists suggest that these two galaxies will collide with each other in just 4 billion years. Unfortunately, humanity is still too young to answer this and other questions.
Equilibrium theory
Nowadays, physicists offer various models of the existence of the Universe. Many of them cannot stand even simple criticism, while others receive the right to life.
At the end of the 20th century, American astrophysicist Edward Tryon, together with his Australian colleague Warren Kerry, proposed a fundamentally new model of the Universe, and did so independently of each other. Scientists based their research on the assumption that everything in the Universe is balanced. Mass destroys energy and vice versa. This principle began to be called the principle of the Zero Universe. Within this Universe, new matter arises at singularity points between galaxies, where the attraction and repulsion of matter are balanced.
The theory of the Zero Universe was not torn to smithereens because after some time scientists were able to discover the existence of dark matter - a mysterious substance of which almost 27% of our Universe consists. Another 68.3% of the Universe is made up of the more mysterious and mysterious dark energy.
It is the gravitational effects of dark energy that are credited with accelerating the expansion of the Universe. By the way, the presence of dark energy in space was predicted by Einstein himself, who saw that something in his equations did not converge; the Universe could not be made stationary. Therefore, he introduced the cosmological constant into the equations - the Lambda term, for which he then repeatedly blamed himself and hated himself.
It so happened that the theoretically empty space in the Universe is nevertheless filled with some special field, which puts Einstein’s model into action. In a sober mind and according to the logic of those times, the existence of such a field was simply impossible, but in fact the German physicist simply did not know how to describe dark energy.
***
We may never know how and from what our Universe arose. It will be even more difficult to establish what happened before its existence. People tend to fear what they cannot explain, so it is possible that until the end of time, humanity will also believe in divine influence in the creation of the world around us.
They say that time is the most mysterious matter. No matter how much a person tries to understand its laws and learn to control them, he always gets into trouble. Taking the last step towards solving the great mystery, and considering that it is practically already in our pocket, we are always convinced that it is still just as elusive. However, man is an inquisitive creature and the search for answers to eternal questions for many becomes the meaning of life.
One of these secrets was the creation of the world. Followers of the “Big Bang Theory,” which logically explains the origin of life on Earth, began to wonder what happened before the Big Bang, and whether there was anything at all. The topic for research is fertile, and the results may be of interest to the general public.
Everything in the world has a past - the Sun, the Earth, the Universe, but where did all this diversity come from and what came before it?
It is hardly possible to give a definite answer, but it is quite possible to put forward hypotheses and look for evidence for them. In search of the truth, researchers have received not one, but several answers to the question “what happened before the Big Bang?” The most popular of them sounds somewhat discouraging and quite bold - Nothing. Is it possible that everything that exists came from nothing? That Nothing gave birth to everything that exists?
Actually, this cannot be called absolute emptiness and are some processes still happening there? Was everything created by nothing? Nothingness is the complete absence of not only matter, molecules and atoms, but even time and space. Rich soil for the activity of science fiction writers!
Scientists' opinions about the era before the Big Bang
However, Nothing can be touched; ordinary laws, which means either speculate and build theories, or try to create conditions close to those that resulted in the Big Bang, and make sure that your assumptions are correct. In special chambers from which particles of matter were removed, the temperature was lowered, bringing it closer to space conditions. The observational results provided indirect confirmation of scientific theories: scientists studied the environment in which the Big Bang could theoretically arise, but calling this environment “Nothing” turned out to be not entirely correct. The mini-explosions that occur could lead to a larger explosion that gave birth to the Universe.
Theories of universes before the Big Bang
Adherents of another theory argue that before the Big Bang there were two other Universes that developed according to their own laws. What exactly they were is difficult to answer, but according to the theory put forward, the Big Bang occurred as a result of their collision and led to the complete destruction of the previous Universes and, at the same time, to the birth of ours, which exists today.
The “compression” theory says that the Universe exists and has always existed; only the conditions of its development change, which lead to the disappearance of life in one region and the emergence in another. Life disappears as a result of the “collapse” and appears after the explosion. No matter how paradoxical it may sound. This hypothesis has a large number of supporters.
There is another assumption: as a result of the Big Bang, a new Universe arose from nothingness and inflated, like a soap bubble, to gigantic proportions. At this time, “bubbles” budded from it, which later became other Galaxies and Universes.
The theory of “natural selection” suggests that we are talking about “natural cosmic selection”, like the one Darwin talked about, only on a larger scale. Our Universe had its own ancestor, and it, in turn, also had its own ancestor. According to this theory, our Universe was created by a Black Hole. and are of great interest to scientists. According to this theory, in order for a new Universe to appear, “reproduction” mechanisms are necessary. The Black Hole becomes such a mechanism.
Or maybe those who believe that as our Universe grows and develops is expanding, heading towards the Big Bang, which will be the beginning of a new Universe, are right. This means that once upon a time, an unknown and, alas, disappeared Universe became the progenitor of our new universe. The cyclical nature of this system looks logical and this theory has many adherents.
It is difficult to say to what extent the followers of this or that hypothesis came close to the truth. Everyone chooses what is closer in spirit and understanding. Religious world gives his answers to all questions and puts the picture of the creation of the world into a divine framework. Atheists are looking for answers, trying to get to the bottom of things and touch this very essence with their own hands. One may wonder what caused such persistence in searching for an answer to the question of what happened before the Big Bang, because it is quite problematic to derive practical benefit from this knowledge: a person will not become the ruler of the Universe, according to his word and desire, new stars will not light up and existing ones will not go out . But what is so interesting is what has not been studied! Humanity is struggling to solve mysteries, and who knows, maybe sooner or later they will fall into man’s hands. But how will he use this secret knowledge?
Illustrations: KLAUS BACHMANN, GEO magazine
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Mysteries of the Big Bang
Our Universe began 13.7 billion years ago with the Big Bang, and scientists have been trying to understand this phenomenon for generations.
At the end of the 20s of the 20th century, Edwin Hubble discovered that all the galaxies we see are flying apart - like fragments of a grenade after an explosion, at the same time the Belgian astronomer and theologian Georges Lemaitre put forward his hypothesis (in 1931 it was published in the pages of Nature ). He believes that the history of the universe began with the explosion of the “primary atom”, and this gave birth to time, space and matter (earlier, in the early 1920s, the Soviet scientist Alexander Friedman, analyzing Einstein’s equations, also came to the conclusion that “The universe was created from a point” and it took “tens of billions of our ordinary years”).
At first, astronomers decisively rejected the reasoning of the Belgian theologian. Because the Big Bang theory was perfectly combined with the Christian belief in God the Creator. For two centuries, scientists prevented the penetration into science of any religious speculation about the “beginning of all beginnings.” And now God, expelled from nature under the measured rocking of the wheels of Newtonian mechanics, unexpectedly returns. He is coming in the flames of the Big Bang, and it is difficult to imagine a more triumphant picture of his appearance.
However, the problem was not only in theology - the Big Bang did not obey the laws of the exact sciences. The most important point history of the Universe was beyond knowledge. At this singular (special) point located on the space-time axis, the general theory of relativity ceased to operate, because pressure, temperature, energy density and space curvature rushed to infinity, that is, they lost all physical meaning. At this point, all these seconds, meters and astronomical units disappeared, turned not into zero, not into negative values, but into their complete absence, into absolute meaninglessness. This point is a gap that cannot be overcome on the stilts of logic or mathematics, a hole right through in time and space.
It was not until the late 1960s that Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking convincingly showed that, within Einstein's theory, the Big Bang singularity was inevitable. However, this could not make the work of theorists easier. How to describe the Big Bang? What, for example, caused this event? After all, if there was no time before it at all, then it seems that there could not be a reason that gave birth to it.
As we now understand, to create a complete theory of the Big Bang, it is necessary to connect together Einstein’s teaching, which describes space and time, with quantum theory, which deals with elementary particles and their interactions. Probably, more than one decade may pass before it is possible to do this and derive a single “formula of the universe.”
Where, for example, could that enormous amount of energy come from that gave rise to this explosion of incredible power? Perhaps our Universe inherited it from its predecessor, which collapsed into a singular point? However, then where did she get it from? Or was the energy spilled in the primordial vacuum, from which our Universe slipped out like a “bubble of foam”? Or do the Universes of the older generation transfer energy to the Universes of the younger generation through those singular points - in the depths of which, perhaps, new worlds are born that we will never see? Be that as it may, the Universe in such models appears as an “open system,” which does not quite correspond to the “classical” picture of the Big Bang: “There was nothing, and suddenly the universe was born.”
The universe at the time of its formation was in an extremely dense and hot state.
Or is it possible, as some researchers believe, that our Universe is generally... devoid of energy, or rather, its total energy is zero? The positive energy of radiation emitted by matter is superimposed on the negative energy of gravity. Plus and minus equals zero. This notorious "0" seems to be the key to understanding the nature of the Big Bang. From it - from “zero”, from “nothing” - everything was instantly born. Accidentally. Spontaneously. Just. An insignificant deviation from 0 gave rise to a universal avalanche of events. The following comparison can be made: stone ball, balancing on a thin, spire-like peak of some Chomolungma, suddenly swayed and rolled down, generating an “avalanche of events.”
1973 - physicist Edward Tryon from America tried to describe the process of the birth of our Universe using the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, one of the foundations of quantum theory. According to this principle, the more accurately we measure energy, for example, the more uncertain time becomes. So, if the energy is strictly zero, then the time can be arbitrarily large. So large that sooner or later a fluctuation will arise in the quantum vacuum from which the Universe will be born. This will lead to the rapid expansion of space, seemingly out of nothing. “It’s just that Universes are sometimes born, that’s all,” Trion simply explained the background of the Big Bang. It was a big random explosion. That's all.
Could the Big Bang happen again?
Oddly enough, yes. We live in a universe that can still bear fruit and give birth to new worlds. Several models have been created that describe the “Big Bangs” of the future.
Why, for example, not new fluctuations appear in the same vacuum that gave birth to our Universe? Perhaps over these 13.7 billion years, countless worlds have appeared next to our universe, without any contact with each other. Different laws of nature operate in them, there are different physical constants. On most of these worlds, life could never have arisen. Many of them die immediately and experience collapse. But in some Universes - by pure chance! – conditions arise under which life can arise.
But the point is not only in the vacuum that exists before the beginning of “all times and peoples.” Fluctuations fraught with future worlds can also arise in the vacuum that is diffused in our Universe - more precisely, in the dark energy that fills it. This kind of model of a “renewing Universe” was developed by an American cosmologist, a native Soviet Union, Alexander Vilenkin. These new “big explosions” pose no threat to us. They will not destroy the structure of the Universe, will not burn it to the ground, but will only create a new space beyond the limits accessible to our observation and understanding. Perhaps similar “explosions”, marking the birth of new worlds, occur in the depths of the numerous black holes that dot the cosmos, believes American astrophysicist Lee Smolin.
Another native of the USSR living in the West, cosmologist Andrei Linde, believes that we ourselves are capable of causing a new Big Bang by collecting at some point in space a huge amount of energy exceeding a certain critical limit. According to his calculations, future space engineers could take an invisible pinch of matter - just a few hundredths of a milligram - and compact it to such an extent that the energy of this bunch would be 1015 gigalectronvolts. A tiny black hole is formed and begins to expand exponentially. This is how a “daughter Universe” will arise with its own space-time, rapidly separating from our Universe.
...There is a lot of fantastic stuff in the nature of the Big Bang. But the validity of this theory proves whole line natural phenomena. These include the expansion of the Universe that we observe, the distribution of chemical elements, as well as cosmic background radiation, which is called the “relic of the Big Bang.”
The world doesn't exist forever. It was born in the flames of the Big Bang. However, was this a unique phenomenon in the history of space? Or a recurring event, like the birth of stars and planets? What if the Big Bang is only a phase of transition from one state of Eternity to another?
Many physicists say that initially there was Something, not Nothing. Perhaps our Universe, like others, was born from an elementary quantum vacuum. But no matter how “minimally simple” such a state is—and the laws of physics do not allow it to be less than a quantum vacuum—it still cannot be called “Nothing.”
Perhaps the Universe we see is just another state of aggregation Eternity? And the bizarre arrangement of galaxies and galaxy clusters - something like a crystal lattice, which in the n-dimensional world that existed before the birth of our Universe had a completely different structure and which was possibly predicted by the “formula of everything” sought by Einstein? And will it be found in the coming decades? Scientists are intensely peering through the wall of the Unknown that has fenced off our universe, trying to understand what happened a moment before, according to our usual ideas, there was absolutely nothing. What forms of the Eternal Cosmos can be imagined, endowing time and space with those qualities that are unthinkable in our universe?
Among the most promising theories into which physicists are trying to squeeze an entire Eternity, perhaps the theory of quantum geometry, quantum spin dynamics or quantum gravity. The greatest contributors to their development were Abey Ashtekar, Ted Jacobson, Jerzy Lewandowski, Carlo Rovelli, Lee Smolin and Thomas Tiemann. All these are the most complex physical structures, entire palaces built from formulas and hypotheses, just to hide the abyss hidden in their depths and darkness, the singularity of time and space.
Age of Singularity
The circuitous paths of new theories force us to step over truths that are obvious at first glance. Thus, in quantum geometry, space and time, previously infinitely crushed, suddenly break up into separate islands - portions, quanta, smaller than which there is nothing. All singular points can be embedded in these “blocks of stone.” Space-time itself turns into an interweaving of one-dimensional structures - a “network of spins”, that is, it becomes a discrete structure, a kind of chain woven from individual links.
The volume of the smallest possible loop of space is only 10-99 cubic centimeters. This value is so small that in one cubic centimeter there are much more quanta of space than those same cubic centimeters in the Universe we observe (its volume is 1085 centimeters per cube). Inside the quanta of space there is nothing, neither energy nor matter - just as inside a mathematical point - by definition - one cannot find either a triangle or an icosahedron. But if we apply the "submicroscopic fabric of the universe" hypothesis to describe the Big Bang, we get startling results, as Abey Ashtekar and Martin Bojowald of the University of Pennsylvania have shown.
If we replace the differential equations in the Standard Theory of Cosmology, which assume the continuous flow of space, with other differential equations following from the theory of quantum geometry, then the mysterious singularity will disappear. Physics does not end where the Big Bang begins - this is the first encouraging conclusion of cosmologists who refused to accept the properties of the universe that we see as the ultimate truth.
The theory of quantum gravity suggests that our Universe (like all others) was born as a result of a random fluctuation of the quantum vacuum - a global macroscopic environment in which there was no time. Every time a fluctuation of a certain size occurs in the quantum vacuum, a new Universe is born. It “splits off” from the homogeneous environment in which it was formed and begins its own life. Now it has its own history, its own space, its own time, its own arrow of time.
In modern physics, a number of theories have been created that show how from an eternally existing environment, where there is no Macro-time, but at certain points in which micro-time flows, such a huge world as ours can arise.
For example, physicists Gabriele Veneziano and Maurizio Gasperini from Italy, within the framework of string theory, suggest that initially there was a so-called “string vacuum”. Random quantum fluctuations in it led to the energy density reaching a critical value, and this caused a local collapse. Which ended with the birth of our Universe from vacuum.
Using the theory of quantum geometry, Abey Ashtekar and Martin Bojowald showed that space and time can emerge from more primitive fundamental structures, namely “networks of spins.”
Eckhard Rebhan of the University of Düsseldorf and – independently – George Ellis and Roy Maartens of the University of Cape Town are developing the idea of a “static universe”, which was considered by Albert Einstein and the British astronomer Arthur Eddington. In their quest to bypass the effects of quantum gravity, Rebhan and his colleagues came up with a spherical space in the middle of an eternal void (or, if you prefer, an empty eternity), where there is no time. Due to some instability, an inflationary process develops here, which leads to a hot Big Bang.
Of course, the listed models are speculative, but they fundamentally correspond modern level development of physics and results astronomical observations the last few decades. In any case, one thing is clear. The Big Bang was more of an ordinary, natural event, and not the only one of its kind.
Will these kinds of theories help us understand what could have happened before the Big Bang? If the Universe was born, what gave birth to it? Where in modern theories of cosmology does the “genetic imprint” of her parent appear? 2005 - Abey Ashtekar, for example, published the results of his new calculations (Tomasz Pawlowski and Parampreet Singh helped to do them). From them it was clear that if the initial premises were correct, then the same space-time existed before the Big Bang as after this event. The physics of our universe, as if in a mirror, is reflected in the physics of the other world. In these calculations, the Big Bang, like a mirror screen, cut through Eternity, placing nearby the incompatible - nature and its reflection. And what is authenticity here, what is a ghost?
The only thing that can be seen “from the other side of the mirror glass” is that the Universe was not expanding at that time, but was contracting. The Big Bang became the point of its collapse. At this moment, space and time stopped for a moment in order to be reflected again - to continue - to rise like a phoenix in the world already familiar to us, the universe that we measure with our formulas, codes and numbers. The universe literally turned itself inside out, like a glove or a shirt, and has been steadily expanding ever since. The Big Bang was not, according to Ashtekar, “the creation of the entire Universe from Nothing,” but was only a transition from one dynamic form of Eternity to another. Perhaps the Universe is experiencing an endless series of “big bangs”, and these tens of billions (or whatever) years separating its individual phases are only periods of the “cosmic sine wave”, according to the laws of which the universe lives?
Even modern scientists cannot say with certainty what was in the Universe before the Big Bang. There are several hypotheses that lift the veil of secrecy over one of the most complex issues of the universe.
Origin of the material world
Until the 20th century, there were only two supporters of the religious point of view, who believed that the world was created by God. Scientists, on the contrary, refused to acknowledge the man-made nature of the Universe. Physicists and astronomers were supporters of the idea that space has always existed, the world was static and everything will remain the same as billions of years ago.
However, accelerated scientific progress at the turn of the century led to the fact that researchers had opportunities to study extraterrestrial spaces. Some of them were the first to try to answer the question of what was in the Universe before the Big Bang.
Hubble Research
The 20th century destroyed many theories of past eras. In the vacated space, new hypotheses appeared that explained hitherto incomprehensible mysteries. It all started with the fact that scientists established the fact of the expansion of the Universe. This was done by Edwin Hubble. He discovered that distant galaxies differed in their light from those cosmic clusters that were closer to Earth. The discovery of this pattern formed the basis of Edwin Hubble's law of expansion.
The Big Bang and the origin of the Universe were studied when it became clear that all galaxies “escape” from the observer, no matter where he was. How could this be explained? Since galaxies move, it means that they are pushed forward by some kind of energy. In addition, physicists have calculated that all worlds were once located at one point. Due to some push, they began to move in all directions with unimaginable speed.
This phenomenon was called the “Big Bang”. And the origin of the Universe was explained precisely with the help of the theory of this ancient event. When did it happen? Physicists determined the speed of movement of galaxies and derived a formula that they used to calculate when the initial “push” occurred. No one can give exact numbers, but approximately this phenomenon took place about 15 billion years ago.
The emergence of the Big Bang theory
The fact that all galaxies are sources of light means that the Big Bang released a huge amount of energy. It was she who gave birth to the very brightness that the worlds lose as they move away from the epicenter of what happened. The Big Bang theory was first proven by American astronomers Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias. They discovered electromagnetic cosmic microwave background radiation, the temperature of which was three degrees on the Kelvin scale (that is, -270 Celsius). This find supported the idea that the Universe was initially extremely hot.
The Big Bang theory answered many questions formulated in the 19th century. However, now new ones have appeared. For example, what was in the Universe before the Big Bang? Why is it so homogeneous, while with such a huge release of energy the substance should scatter unevenly in all directions? The discoveries of Wilson and Arno cast doubt on classical Euclidean geometry, as it was proven that space has zero curvature.
Inflationary theory
New questions posed showed that modern theory the origin of the world is fragmentary and incomplete. However, for a long time it seemed that it would be impossible to advance beyond what was discovered in the 60s. And only very recent research by scientists has made it possible to formulate a new important principle for theoretical physics. This was the phenomenon of ultra-fast inflationary expansion of the Universe. It was studied and described using quantum field theory and Einstein's general theory of relativity.
So what was in the Universe before the Big Bang? Modern science calls this period “inflation.” In the beginning there was only a field that filled all imaginary space. It can be compared to a snowball thrown down the slope of a snowy mountain. The lump will roll down and increase in size. In the same way, the field, due to random fluctuations, changed its structure over an unimaginable time.
When a homogeneous configuration was formed, a reaction occurred. It contains the biggest mysteries of the Universe. What happened before the Big Bang? An inflationary field that was not at all like current matter. After the reaction, the growth of the Universe began. If we continue the analogy with a snowball, then after the first one, other snowballs rolled down, also increasing in size. The moment of the Big Bang in this system can be compared to the second when a huge block fell into the abyss and finally collided with the ground. At that moment, a colossal amount of energy was released. It still can't run out. It is due to the continuation of the reaction from the explosion that our Universe is growing today.
Matter and field
The Universe now consists of an unimaginable number of stars and other cosmic bodies. This aggregate of matter exudes enormous energy, which contradicts the physical law of conservation of energy. What does it say? The essence of this principle comes down to the fact that over an infinite period of time the amount of energy in the system remains unchanged. But how can this fit in with our Universe, which continues to expand?
Inflationary theory was able to answer this question. It is extremely rare that such mysteries of the Universe are solved. What happened before the Big Bang? Inflationary field. After the emergence of the world, matter familiar to us took its place. However, in addition to it, there is also something in the Universe that has negative energy. The properties of these two entities are opposite. This compensates for the energy coming from particles, stars, planets and other matter. This relationship also explains why the Universe has not yet turned into a black hole.
When the Big Bang first happened, the world was too small for anything to collapse. Now, when the Universe has expanded, local black holes have appeared in certain parts of it. Their gravitational field absorbs everything around them. Not even light can get out of it. This is actually why such holes become black.
Expansion of the Universe
Even despite the theoretical justification of the inflationary theory, it is still unclear what the Universe looked like before the Big Bang. The human imagination cannot imagine this picture. The fact is that the inflation field is intangible. It cannot be explained by the usual laws of physics.
When the Big Bang occurred, the inflation field began to expand at a rate that exceeded the speed of light. According to physical indicators, there is nothing material in the Universe that could move faster than this indicator. Light spreads across the existing world with incredible numbers. The inflationary field spread with even greater speed, precisely due to its intangible nature.
Current State of the Universe
The current period in the evolution of the Universe is ideally suited for the existence of life. Scientists find it difficult to determine how long this time period will last. But if anyone undertook such calculations, the resulting figures were no less than hundreds of billions of years. For one human life such a segment is so large that even in mathematical calculus it has to be written using powers. The present has been studied much better than the prehistory of the Universe. What happened before the Big Bang will, in any case, remain only the subject of theoretical research and bold calculations.
In the material world, even time remains a relative value. For example, quasars (a type of astronomical object), existing at a distance of 14 billion light years from Earth, are 14 billion light years behind our usual “now”. This time gap is enormous. It is difficult to define even mathematically, not to mention the fact that it is simply impossible to clearly imagine such a thing with the help of human imagination (even the most ardent).
Modern science can theoretically explain the entire life of our material world, starting from the first fractions of seconds of its existence, when the Big Bang just occurred. Full story The universe is still being replenished. Astronomers are discovering new amazing facts with modernized and improved research equipment (telescopes, laboratories, etc.).
However, there are also phenomena that are still not understood. Such a white spot, for example, is its dark energy. The essence of this hidden mass continues to excite the consciousness of the most educated and advanced physicists of our time. In addition, no single point of view has emerged about the reasons why there are still more particles in the Universe than antiparticles. Several fundamental theories have been formulated on this matter. Some of these models are the most popular, but none of them has yet been accepted by the international scientific community as
On the scale of universal knowledge and colossal discoveries of the 20th century, these gaps seem quite insignificant. But the history of science shows with enviable regularity that the explanation of such “small” facts and phenomena becomes the basis for humanity’s entire understanding of the discipline as a whole (in this case we are talking about astronomy). Therefore, future generations of scientists will certainly have something to do and something to discover in the field of knowledge of the nature of the Universe.