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Black Crunch jams Universal cycle [Cosmology]
Nature Magazine ^ | 23 Decemeber 2002 | PHILIP BALL

Posted on 12/22/2002 6:07:08 PM PST by 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]


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: bigbang; bigcrunch; blackhole; cosmology; crevolist
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To: VadeRetro; longshadow
Yes. MacDorcha, this is God. Stop trying to shout down the scientists. I did it MY way ...

That is all.
LOL. Another year of interesting reading on the net concludes.

Happy Holidays to both of you gentlemen. VadeRetro, I lurk in the evolution threads and am always interested in what you say. Longshadow, you somehow have connections to both Vermont and science (as do I), and again I've been a somewhat quiet fan of your posts. You guys keep posting in the new year, you hear?

Sincerely,

Oh -- and God Bless,

Nancy
201 posted on 12/23/2002 10:25:53 PM PST by FreeTheHostages
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To: PatrickHenry; RadioAstronomer
Some of us know you.

And I can tell you he's terribly cute, too! ;-)

202 posted on 12/24/2002 5:46:49 AM PST by Aracelis
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To: MacDorcha
. . . dont smear your almighty babble on me if you want me to listen.

Hmmm . . . Okay, that's it . . . You know what? . . . I suddenly don't care if you go to college, study hard, or work in a car wash the rest of your life. You are one dumb, pridefully ignorant, boorish little skunk.

203 posted on 12/24/2002 6:00:07 AM PST by LibWhacker
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To: PatrickHenry
Space might end up dark, thick and boring.

Oh no, not like Maxine Waters, John Lewis and Shirley Jackson Lee I hope.

204 posted on 12/24/2002 6:03:36 AM PST by from occupied ga
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To: LibWhacker
You are one dumb, pridefully ignorant, boorish little skunk.

Well said!

205 posted on 12/24/2002 6:05:51 AM PST by Aracelis
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To: PatrickHenry
How thoughtful. A ping list exclusively for the bigots of materialism.
206 posted on 12/24/2002 6:07:03 AM PST by Kevin Curry
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To: Physicist
no wonder i think your methods are bunk.

Oh dear! Looks like your job may just be in jeopardy if the Wunderkind is ever recognized for his mental prowess, Physicist.< /sarcasm>

ROFLMAO, sorry couldn't resist.

207 posted on 12/24/2002 6:12:32 AM PST by Aracelis
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To: Piltdown_Woman
Thank you, PW! Sheesh, what was I thinking, lol? I was actually feeling sorry for little McDorka there for a while. No more. What a loser.
208 posted on 12/24/2002 6:14:16 AM PST by LibWhacker
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To: Scully
From MacDorcha's postings, it is obvious the average college student has little or no concept of written English.
209 posted on 12/24/2002 6:14:55 AM PST by Junior
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To: Piltdown_Woman
You would know.
210 posted on 12/24/2002 6:16:39 AM PST by Scully
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To: Scully
It's Christmas...don't start.

Which reminds me, Merry Christmas, formaldehyde-queen

211 posted on 12/24/2002 6:20:11 AM PST by Aracelis
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To: Kevin Curry
A ping list exclusively for the bigots of materialism.

Or, conversely, for the people most capable of understanding the subject.

212 posted on 12/24/2002 6:20:46 AM PST by Junior
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To: LibWhacker
What a loser.

The scary thing is that many kids his age feel the same way...and they will be the "leaders" of tomorrow. Parents and public school teachers have filled their heads with so much feel-good-about-yourself fluff without the real substance of education.

213 posted on 12/24/2002 6:24:17 AM PST by Aracelis
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To: Piltdown_Woman
Parents and public school teachers have filled their heads with so much feel-good-about-yourself fluff without the real substance of education.

Yep, I used to tutor kids in math to help them get ready for their SATs. A lot of them had had algebra in high school but weren't familiar with the commutative, associative and distributive laws. Consequently, they couldn't solve the simplest of problems. And many didn't want to learn, either.

They told me that they had been taught from the first grade onward that there were no right or wrong answers, and that everybody's approach to problem solving was equally valid. So why learn some stupid "laws?"

It's pitiful.

214 posted on 12/24/2002 6:39:42 AM PST by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker
Ahh, but competition will sift these fluff-brained pansies. The current state of uneducation in American schools is but one of the heinous crimes of liberalism. Sanctioning laziness is another. It is an oddity of this age that 'lieberals' expect science to rescue and sustain a nation of designed mediocrity, yet science cannot be sustained in mediocrity. Thankfully, most people devoting their lives to scientific endeavors do so because they love the pursuit of knowledge and are thus likely to pursue science with zeal rather than mediocrity. And such minds tend to acquire the fundamentals in spite of our public education paradigm that champions mediocrity.
215 posted on 12/24/2002 6:55:53 AM PST by MHGinTN
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To: FreeTheHostages
Always nice to hear from the lurkers. The water's fine! Jump in anytime.

Oh, and enjoy the holidays! Looking at a white Christmas here. Hoping I can get out of doing much driving in it.
216 posted on 12/24/2002 7:17:27 AM PST by VadeRetro
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To: Piltdown_Woman; Scully; RadioAstronomer
And I can tell you he's terribly cute, too!

If only the walls of that control room could talk!

217 posted on 12/24/2002 11:40:10 AM PST by PatrickHenry
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To: PatrickHenry
To my very great relief, they cannot ;-)
218 posted on 12/24/2002 12:06:34 PM PST by Aracelis
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To: All
Time to start hanging my stockings by the fireplace with care. I'll be lurking, but not too much, until Thursday. Here's my Christmas placemarker:


The Night Before Christmas 1776

219 posted on 12/24/2002 1:54:02 PM PST by PatrickHenry
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To: Piltdown_Woman; Scully
Which reminds me, Merry Christmas, formaldehyde-queen

Oooo! Ooooo! CAT FIGHT!

Somebody get some popcorn; this should be good.....

220 posted on 12/24/2002 2:16:58 PM PST by longshadow
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