Black Crunch jams Universal cycle [Cosmology]

Nature Magazine ^ | 23 Decemeber 2002 | PHILIP BALL

[PatrickHenry]

Space might end up dark, thick and boring.

The Universe is not as bouncy as some think, say two physicists. If a Big Crunch follows the Big Bang, it may get stuck that way for ever¹.

A fluid of black holes would bung up space. There would be nothing to drive another Big Bang, and nowhere else to go. The Universe would be, you might say, stuffed.

In a bouncing universe, all the matter currently flying apart slows until it reverses and falls towards a Big Crunch. Some physicists think this could ignite another Big Bang, in an unending sequence of expansion and contraction.

An idea called M-theory suggests how the switch from crunch to bang could happen². The details depend on the shape of space: whether it is infinite and flat, or finite and curved like the surface of a balloon or a doughnut.

Thomas Banks of Rutgers University, New Jersey, and Willy Fischler of the University of Texas at Austin have considered a flat, infinite space in which particles get ever closer and ever denser.

In a space with such features, the smallest kinks in density are amplified into black holes, the densest objects in the Universe. So the whole of space-time would congeal into a very lumpy soup - a black crunch.

"We don't really know what this fluid is made out of," Fischler admits. But he and Banks argue that it may reach a pressure at which it cannot become any denser. At this point, the speed of sound equals the speed of light. Deadlock results.

No theory can cope with a Big Crunch. Because of this, says Fischler, the analysis that he and Banks have performed remains speculative. And a doughnut-shaped Universe could meet a quite different fate, he adds.

References:

1. Banks, T. & Fishler, W. Black Crunch. Preprint http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/hep-th/0212113, (2002). |Article|
2. Khoury, J., Ovrut, B. A., Seiberg, N., Steinhardt, P. J. & Turok, N. From Big Crunch to Big Bang. Preprint http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/hep-th/0108187, (2002). |Article|
[See the original article for links in the footnotes]

[MacDorcha]

i iterate. what's the universe expanding into? if the universe is indeed expanding, it must be going somewhere. and for what we know, travel requires energy. the further it goes, the less it has to create another reaction. the less energy per reaction, the less distance traveled. etc. etc. until nothing. but this theory that is being presented would seem to create an alternate spark of sorts. this other source would make enough energy to keep the explosion and crunching constant. but that's according to the theories presented.

[Sentis]

a simpler X-factor would be the universe always existed becuaue if we have God we again have the problem that somehow he appeared out of nothing or always existed. The simpler explaination is to cut out that extra step called God. We know the universe exists.

[friendly]

No Big Crunch. The rate of expansion of the universe is increasing. Recent research 3 years ago into supernovas has shown that the most distant galaxies are accelerating; the more distant the galaxy, the faster the speed away from us.

The force producing this?: Dark Energy, also called Quintessence.

Dark Energy's nature?; A complete mystery.

[MacDorcha]

if there is an explosion of universal proportion that is causing us to fly into oblivion at untol speeds, it must have a center. but of course, my point is, that the theory is filled with holes, so why would i support it?

[LibWhacker]

what is the universe expanding into?

There is nothing "outside" of the universe for the universe to "expand into."

[Sentis]

MacDorcha wrote "ok, you measure the speed of light, then measure the amount of energy required to capture it. but wait, you cant. you can only speculate. you CANT measure something that you cant get a direct reading from, only an assumption"

I was very careful to state what I said was a speculation and nothing more did you read that ? You do not state that in your posts, thus are you stating that what you posted is absolute truth? Don't try to play that silly word game with me.

[PatrickHenry]

No Big Crunch. The rate of expansion of the universe is increasing.

I know, I know. Yet the oscillating universe theories keep on coming. Whatcha gonna do?

[friendly]

dark, thick and boring...

Jesse Jackson!

[Poohbah]

Where, precisely, do you think the "center" of the Universe is?

Wherever I happen to be at any given moment. :o)

[MacDorcha]

We know the universe exists.

im not even going to get into phisiology, but a simple quick question... PROVE the universe exists. the point of God is the unexplaned. we dont know the capabilities of God, nor the standards or boundries there-of. but if we are going to accept that the universe is expanding, what initiated it? there are things we aren't meant to know

[MacDorcha]

Sentis wrote "MacDorcha wrote "if something wont allow things traveling as fast as light to excape, how can we speculate how spinning would effect it?"

MATH"

i dont see the word "speculation" in there anywhere. you quoted me, then made a statement. dont you play word games with me.

[VadeRetro]

There's no outside surface of the universe. It isn't a ball. You can't fly to the surface of expansion, there being no such place. Thus, the surface provides no resistance to be overcome.

Everywhere in the universe probably looks something just like what we see here in our part. Stars and galaxies. Odd, but there you are.

[PatrickHenry]

there are things we aren't meant to know

Then we won't know them.

[LibWhacker]

if there is an explosion of universal proportion that is causing us to fly into oblivion at untol speeds, it must have a center.

Consider the two-dimensional surface of an expanding balloon. Where is the center (on the surface, of course) of this space?

[MacDorcha]

you dont know that. ;)

[Consort]

Which results the bigger bang, cosmetology or cosmology?

[Scully]

Jesse Jackson!

While your comment is meritorious, I was referring to ambience of my lab and my perceived immediate future...

[Godebert]

"what is the universe expanding into?"

That's what I'm wondering. Is it possible that there are many other universes beyond ours that cannot be seen. Could all these universes be some sort of super-sub-atomic particles in an even bigger universe?

[MacDorcha]

draw a circle on a paper. find halfway between any two points that are exactly opposite the other. center of a flat, round universe. wow, so hard.

[Sentis]

what is the universe expanding into?

It is expanding into what Michio Kaku calls Hyperspace. This is basically a higher dimensional space which can only be seen at the quantum level.