Posted on 08/04/2006 4:26:21 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
The question of what happened before the Big Bang long has frustrated cosmologists, both amateur and professional.
Though Einstein's theory of general relativity does an excellent job of describing the universe almost back to its beginning, near the Big Bang matter becomes so dense that relativity breaks down, says Penn State physicist Abhay Ashtekar. "Beyond that point, we need to apply quantum tools that were not available to Einstein."
Now Ashtekar and two of his post-doctoral researchers, Tomasz Pawlowski and Parmpreet Singh, have done just that. Using a theory called loop quantum gravity, they have developed a mathematical model that skates right up to the Big Bang -- and steps through it. On the other side, Ashtekar says, exists another universe with space-time geometry similar to our own, except that instead of expanding, it is shrinking. "In place of a classical Big Bang, there is in fact a quantum Bounce," he says.
Loop quantum gravity, one of the leading approaches to the unification of general relativity with quantum physics, was pioneered at the Institute of Gravitational Physics and Geometry at Penn State, which Ashtekar directs. The theory posits that space-time geometry itself has a discrete "atomic" structure, Ashtekar explains. Instead of the familiar space-time continuum, the fabric of space is made up of one-dimensional quantum threads. Near the Big Bang, this fabric is violently torn, and these quantum properties cause gravity to become repulsive, rather than attractive.
While the idea of another universe existing prior to the Big Bang has been proposed before, he adds, this is the first mathematical description that systematically establishes its existence and deduces its space-time geometry.
"Our initial work assumes a homogenous model of our universe," Ashtekar acknowledges. "However, it has given us confidence in the underlying ideas of loop quantum gravity. We will continue to refine the model to better portray the universe as we know it and to better understand the features of quantum gravity."
***
Abhay Ashtekar is holder of the Eberly family chair in physics and director of the Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry in the Eberly College of Science. He can be reached at ava1@psu.edu.
The finding reported above was published in Physical Review Letters in May 2006. The research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Penn State Eberly College of Science.
God was busy planning His design phase.
Wouldn't the specs for Jesus the Son have been the model God was shooting for? Would lend credence to the Anthropic notion, don'tchaknow. (John1:1 and Genesis 1:3)
I tend to side with God since a 60" Grand Wega Sony appeared in my family room after my eye surgery. ;^)
Seriously grey_whiskers, I have tremendous faith in the Lord God. He has kept me on this side of the grass for a long time.
Depends on how you mean it.
If you mean "first fruits" or "first born among many bretheren", ok: we are designed (or re-designed, depending) after His image.
But also bear in mind the "begotten, not made" and "one in being with the Father" -- The Son and the Father (as well as the Spirit) are co-existent from eternity: so I'm not sure you can say there were "specs" for the Son...
Cheers!
*oops!*
The anisotropy itself would presumeably be expressed in units of temperature (representing the black body radiation temperature of the CMBR) per unit of angular area (sterradian?). It represents the deviation in CMBR black body temperature as a function of angular distribution in the sky. In the case of this graph, they are showing the Angular Power Spectrum of the CMBR anisotropy, and hence they use units of microKelvins squared, as the power is (apparently) proportional to the square of the radiation temperature.
Time to run off to work.
Cheers!
Time might be multi-dimensional. This is not favored now since it would eliminate the main conception of causality and put scientists out of business, not to mention making BP managers somewhat more complacent about the necessity of regular pipeline inspection. Time will for the present stick to the straight and narrow.
What happened before the Big Bang?
If you could manipulate time's several dimensions you could probably eliminate the need for maintenance on anything.
If that were possible you wouldn't need oil or anything else since you would already be everywhere you needed to be, and you could remain 21 (assuming that was a good year) as long as you wanted, and freshly fed, too.
Like the Time Cube...? ;-)
...all joking aside, any suggestions as to the geometry of time? a plane? a Riemann sheet? fractal (which would explain Mondays...)?
Cheers!
I have no idea if time has any geometrical basis in its reality. But, today there is frost on the windshield, and on the veggies in the garden. Also, they found which star a recently discovered planet belongs to, which is remarkable since they usually know the star first then the planet. This might relate to the nature of time (being something we have no valid idea of.)
Mark
http://www.uah.edu/News/newsread.php?newsID=480
In case the above link doen't post, use the address below and replace the XX w tt.
hXXp://www.uah.edu/News/newsread.php?newsID=480
Cheers!
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