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No Big Bang? Quantum equation predicts universe has no beginning [View all]
This is an artist's concept of the metric expansion of space, where space (including hypothetical non-observable portions of the universe) is represented at each time by the circular sections. Note on the left the dramatic expansion (not to scale) occurring in the inflationary epoch, and at the center the expansion acceleration. The scheme is decorated with WMAP images on the left and with the representation of stars at the appropriate level of development. Credit: NASA
13 hours ago by Lisa Zyga
(Phys.org) The universe may have existed forever, according to a new model that applies quantum correction terms to complement Einstein's theory of general relativity. The model may also account for dark matter and dark energy, resolving multiple problems at once.
The widely accepted age of the universe, as estimated by general relativity, is 13.8 billion years. In the beginning, everything in existence is thought to have occupied a single infinitely dense point, or singularity. Only after this point began to expand in a "Big Bang" did the universe officially begin.
Although the Big Bang singularity arises directly and unavoidably from the mathematics of general relativity, some scientists see it as problematic because the math can explain only what happened immediately afternot at or beforethe singularity.
"The Big Bang singularity is the most serious problem of general relativity because the laws of physics appear to break down there," Ahmed Farag Ali at Benha University and the Zewail City of Science and Technology, both in Egypt, told Phys.org.
http://phys.org/news/2015-02-big-quantum-equation-universe.html
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I hope the graphic is wrong, because a theory predicting stars first formed 400 million years ago
struggle4progress
Feb 2015
#1
Relgion and Cosmology are two major sources of theories about the origin of the univese.
Agnosticsherbet
Feb 2015
#18
The degree to which a layperson can really understand this is questionable, imo.
cbayer
Feb 2015
#23
Seeing as how both Time and Space were a function of the BB, there was no "before" it
Vincardog
Feb 2015
#54