We're not in the cat's collar, we're in the kid's marble collection.
Posted on 06/04/2012 1:01:23 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Inside Science Minds presents an ongoing series of guest columnists and personal perspectives presented by scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and others in the science community showcasing some of the most interesting ideas in science today.
(ISM) -- Our universe may exist inside a black hole. This may sound strange, but it could actually be the best explanation of how the universe began, and what we observe today. It's a theory that has been explored over the past few decades by a small group of physicists including myself.
Successful as it is, there are notable unsolved questions with the standard big bang theory, which suggests that the universe began as a seemingly impossible "singularity," an infinitely small point containing an infinitely high concentration of matter, expanding in size to what we observe today. The theory of inflation, a super-fast expansion of space proposed in recent decades, fills in many important details, such as why slight lumps in the concentration of matter in the early universe coalesced into large celestial bodies such as galaxies and clusters of galaxies.
But these theories leave major questions unresolved. For example: What started the big bang? What caused inflation to end? What is the source of the mysterious dark energy that is apparently causing the universe to speed up its expansion?
The idea that our universe is entirely contained within a black hole provides answers to these problems and many more. It eliminates the notion of physically impossible singularities in our universe. And it draws upon two central theories in physics.
Nikodem Poplawski displays a "tornado in a tube". The top bottle symbolizes a black hole, the connected necks represent a wormhole and the lower bottle symbolizes the growing universe on the just-formed other side of the wormhole.The first is general relativity, the modern theory of gravity. It describes the universe at the largest scales. Any event in the universe occurs as a point in space and time, or spacetime. A massive object such as the Sun distorts or "curves" spacetime, like a bowling ball sitting on a canvas. The Sun's gravitational dent alters the motion of Earth and the other planets orbiting it. The sun's pull of the planets appears to us as the force of gravity.
The second is quantum mechanics, which describes the universe at the smallest scales, such as the level of the atom. However, quantum mechanics and general relativity are currently separate theories; physicists have been striving to combine the two successfully into a single theory of "quantum gravity" to adequately describe important phenomena, including the behavior of subatomic particles in black holes.
A 1960s adaptation of general relativity, called the Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory of gravity, takes into account effects from quantum mechanics. It not only provides a step towards quantum gravity but also leads to an alternative picture of the universe. This variation of general relativity incorporates an important quantum property known as spin. Particles such as atoms and electrons possess spin, or the internal angular momentum that is analogous to a skater spinning on ice.
In this picture, spins in particles interact with spacetime and endow it with a property called "torsion." To understand torsion, imagine spacetime not as a two-dimensional canvas, but as a flexible, one-dimensional rod. Bending the rod corresponds to curving spacetime, and twisting the rod corresponds to spacetime torsion. If a rod is thin, you can bend it, but it's hard to see if it's twisted or not.
Spacetime torsion would only be significant, let alone noticeable, in the early universe or in black holes. In these extreme environments, spacetime torsion would manifest itself as a repulsive force that counters the attractive gravitational force coming from spacetime curvature. As in the standard version of general relativity, very massive stars end up collapsing into black holes: regions of space from which nothing, not even light, can escape.
Here is how torsion would play out in the beginning moments of our universe. Initially, the gravitational attraction from curved space would overcome torsion's repulsive forces, serving to collapse matter into smaller regions of space. But eventually torsion would become very strong and prevent matter from compressing into a point of infinite density; matter would reach a state of extremely large but finite density. As energy can be converted into mass, the immensely high gravitational energy in this extremely dense state would cause an intense production of particles, greatly increasing the mass inside the black hole.
The increasing numbers of particles with spin would result in higher levels of spacetime torsion. Therepulsive torsion would stop the collapse and would create a "big bounce" like a compressed beach ball that snaps outward. The rapid recoil after such a big bounce could be what has led to our expanding universe. The result of this recoil matches observations of the universe's shape, geometry, and distribution of mass.
In turn, the torsion mechanism suggests an astonishing scenario: every black hole would produce a new, baby universe inside. If that is true, then the first matter in our universe came from somewhere else. So our own universe could be the interior of a black hole existing in another universe. Just as we cannot see what is going on inside black holes in the cosmos, any observers in the parent universe could not see what is going on in ours.
The motion of matter through the black hole's boundary, called an "event horizon," would only happen in one direction, providing a direction of time that we perceive as moving forward. The arrow of time in our universe would therefore be inherited, through torsion, from the parent universe.
Torsion could also explain the observed imbalance between matter and antimatter in the universe. Because of torsion, matter would decay into familiar electrons and quarks, and antimatter would decay into "dark matter," a mysterious invisible form of matter that appears to account for a majority of matter in the universe.
Finally, torsion could be the source of "dark energy," a mysterious form of energy that permeates all of space and increases the rate of expansion of the universe. Geometry with torsion naturally produces a "cosmological constant," a sort of added-on outward force which is the simplest way to explain dark energy. Thus, the observed accelerating expansion of the universe may end up being the strongest evidence for torsion.
Torsion therefore provides a theoretical foundation for a scenario in which the interior of every black hole becomes a new universe. It also appears as a remedy to several major problems of current theory of gravity and cosmology. Physicists still need to combine the Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory fully with quantum mechanics into a quantum theory of gravity. While resolving some major questions, it raises new ones of its own. For example, what do we know about the parent universe and the black hole inside which our own universe resides? How many layers of parent universes would we have? How can we test that our universe lives in a black hole?
The last question can potentially be investigated: since all stars and thus black holes rotate, our universe would have inherited the parent black hole’s axis of rotation as a "preferred direction." There is some recently reported evidence from surveys of over 15,000 galaxies that in one hemisphere of the universe more spiral galaxies are "left-handed", or rotating clockwise, while in the other hemisphere more are "right-handed", or rotating counterclockwise. In any case, I believe that including torsion in geometry of spacetime is a right step towards a successful theory of cosmology.
Nikodem Poplawski is a theoretical physicist at Indiana University.
A "theory" isn't technically a theory unless it is capable of being disproven. Super String "theory" doesn't actually qualify as a theory because there is no test that can falsify it. There must be 'something' that if it is shown to be the case disproves it.
well ya know Dad must think he better keep them separated..let each develop in line with the dreams of the inhabitants...like bubbles in an ocean
Right. If we could only find the right balance of matter and anti-matter and channel it into our impulse engines we could go back in time, travel to other, less progressive, universes and uphold the prime directive.
Cut the funding.
I think the motivation behind the “infinite number of universes” theory has as much to do with providing a way to explain the existence of the universe without a need for a Creator as it does for any scientific purpose.
At the heart of the Big Bang theory is the premise that compressed matter reaches critical mass and explodes. OK.
But its an enormous stretch to think that the exact amount of matter required to reach critical mass is equal to the amount of matter in the theorized universe.
If there was a big bang, it is logical to assume that it occurred before the universe had completely collapsed on itself. This might also explain the existing problems with the intitial expansion without the “special faster than light” rules created to explain super fast expansion followed by rapid deceleration, followed by constant acceleration.
It would also then stand to reason the actual universe, far greater in size than the observed universe, is a series of expanding and contracting pockets of matter.
We're not in the cat's collar, we're in the kid's marble collection.
>All those stars out there generate a LOT of light—light doesn’t just disappear.
It doesn’t disappear, but it does have to fill a truly immense volume, so that’s why space is dark. It’s the cubic increase of volume thing. The space between galaxies is far far larger than the galaxies themselves.
The Democrats will tell you: Bush started the big bang; Obama's policies caused inflation to end...
So, microblackholes are little universes only a few parsecs wide?
The universe is in a black hole.
A black hole is always condensing.
Those galaxies that are "farther down" the black hole are moving faster toward the singularity than those "farther up."
Thus every galaxy appears to be accelerating from every other galaxy except for those few nearby galaxies which happen to be on the same geodesic and thus are nearing one another.
(varmintman, glennaro - You are wrong about multiverse concepts denying a Creator. When understood properly, they are pivotal to Him.)
“Wouldn’t each child universe have less matter and energy than its parent universe?”
Technically, no.
If you confine your thinking to a single universe, then the answer is “yes.” Once you break into thinking involving a multiverse, you begin to realize that the universes actually can’t be measured against each other (because they no longer share space) and, therefore, have *no relative size*.
You see, these scientists *almost* have it. I can give an analogy that explains how it works:
Imagine a giant three dimension grid of rubber bands. The rubber bands represent space. Vibration of the bands represent energy. Linear stretching represents gravity. And, distortion/clumping/knotting of the bands represents matter. (Remember, this is an analogy.)
Everything within our universe exists “on the grid,” so to speak, but there is also unbound “space” between the actual strands. Within those empty holes, things are not confined by the rubber band grid. You could shoot a pea through that space and it would travel unrestricted.
Now, interestingly, time is a measure of the relative movement through space. If the pea does not move *on the grid*, it is actually moving without consuming any time. In fact, off the grid, there is no time. There is only eternity - the “super-moment,” if you will. All points in time within the grid exist at once relative to anything outside the grid. (This, by the way, is where God exists - where he is able to observe all things and reach in and pluck the strands of our universe at will... but that’s another conversation altogether.)
Anyway, imagine if you reached into the grid with your hand and began to tangle and ball up the rubber bands. You are forming a black hole in the grid. You continued to smush more and more rubber bands together so that the rubber bands (space) around the ball you were making - the ones that connected the ball to the rest of the grid began to streeeeeeetch. Eventually, as more and more rubber bands were pulled in, the connecting rubber bands (space) have their breaking point and would begin to snap. Since the affect of black holes is largely spherical, the connecting rubber bands would snap almost simultaneously.
OK - now you have a fistful of rubber bands all smushed together in a giant hole within the grid, no longer connected to the grid. This is where things get REALLY interesting. This, my friend, is the moment of the Big Bang.
The ball of rubber bands is no longer contained within it’s previous space. It is no longer defined by the rules it once was forced to obey. It has the opportunity to redefine itself - create a completely new universe where the space, matter, and energy of the previous universe are no longer comparable in any way, shape, or form. It is able to reformat itself without any respect to the size of the previous universe.
Here is what is key to understanding this: you must realize that since the escaped ball and the previous grid no longer share ANY connection, there is no measuring stick you can take from one universe and measure the other. A measuring stick in one, simply would not EXIST in the other. It would have irrelevant parameters. A meter is not a meter, a gram is not a gram, and a second is not a second between the two universes. You *cannot* say one is smaller or bigger than the other because they DON’T EXIST RELATIVE TO ONE ANOTHER. (They actually only exist relative to the “super-moment.” Again, that’s another story.)
This is a very difficult concept to grasp. It involves putting aside the spatial thinking inherent to the single universe mindset. Once you get there, though, it really twists your noodle. You start to realize that, within eternity, there is no causality. You start to realize that, within eternity, there are infinitely many universes... and *infinitely none*. You start to realize that it is cool, vastly beyond our current ability to understand, and an amazing place for God to exist.
Try as we may we can only touch on an understanding of infinity because we are restricted by linear, temporal thinking. When we enter Heaven, we will truly understand that all finite things of this universe approach zero relative to the eternal. We will truly understand that ALL *measurable* things - including one universe relative to another - essentially become equal relative to the infinite.
Since the universe (time / space) requires a conscious observer to come into existence in any form (part of Quantum Theory that has been experimentally tested and confirmed) it begs the question: Whose consciousness are we talking about? Those multiple universes would require the same and the idea might lend a whole new meaning to the phrase “My Father’s house has many mansions”.
Well, no. It would SEEM that this would be the case, but it is not. You are counting the mass of the universe inside the black hole as part of the parent universe's mass, but that is incorrect. The mass of the universe inside the black hole is no longer part of the parent universe, but more importantly, it is far greater than the mass of the black hole as seen in the parent universe.
From the article: "Initially, the gravitational attraction from curved space would overcome torsion's repulsive forces, serving to collapse matter into smaller regions of space. But eventually torsion would become very strong and prevent matter from compressing into a point of infinite density; matter would reach a state of extremely large but finite density. As energy can be converted into mass, the immensely high gravitational energy in this extremely dense state would cause an intense production of particles, greatly increasing the mass inside the black hole.
The new universe inside the black hole is not identical to the black hole, is unseen and utterly disconnected from the parent universe, and would contain mass approximating that of the parent universe, assuming that the physics of the creation of universes operates consistently over time.
"Not only is it not right, it's not even wrong!"
Ping for reference
Interesting responses to my question, both of you. Thanks. Very thought provoking.
[ “Not only is it not right, it’s not even wrong!” ]
Kind of like the Dohbama Administration...
1) He not really white or black...
2) Not really American or Chicagoan..
3) Not really smart or dumb...
4) Not really marxist, socialist or maoist...
5) Not really male or female...
6) Not really democrat or republican...
7) But he is a one worlder...
Thank you for taking time to explain your thoughts. G
Turtles all the way down...
Ah. So the light really is there, but it's below our limit of detection (at least, our biological limit). Unless we look directly at a star, that is. Thanks.
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