Something a bit more brainy...

The world of science is an absolute fascinating world. New things, new ideas happen all the time. Old theories get banished, new theories spring up. For most people the word Quantum is alike to ‘acrabadabra’ or perhaps ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’. Yet, today it has become the ‘In’ word. An article in the Independent newspaper about new research what the Big Bang is or maybe was. Usually described as the ‘Explosive birth of the Universe’, it might turn out not particularly true at all. Personally I have believed there was no beginning and there is by association of that word no end either. This newer research seems to point out that view. Basically saying we are the result of an ‘evaporation’ of a black hole. Black holes are not just an infinite point in space from which there is no escape. Black holes apparently do radiate gamma rays or even perhaps more. Humans are always looking for the easy answers. The question of ‘Where do we come from’, and ‘I had a beginning so everything else must have as well’ for a while had as the answer viewing the way stars come into being or even end their radiant lives, the Big Bang started it all.

As the article pointed out - The Big Bang model begins with a singularity – a point of infinite density where the laws of physics break down. This is not just a technical glitch; it’s a deep theoretical problem that suggests we don’t really understand the beginning at all. To explain the universe’s large-scale structure, physicists introduced a brief phase of rapid expansion into the early universe called cosmic inflation, powered by an unknown field with strange properties. Later, to explain the accelerating expansion observed today, they added another “mysterious” component: dark energy.

Obviously an answer that seems easy but actually is not. The question however remains – how then did the Universe begin. We know stars can and do collapse into dark holes. If there is enough matter to do so. The process is known, a star with enough mass radiates its energy off and when the balance of mass and gravity shifts and gravity ‘wins’ the star rapidly ‘contracts’. Forming an entity from which not even light can escape. In the end we view a ‘singularity’. But what then? The new theory as explained mentions that gravitational collapse does NOT have to end in a singularity (an infinite point in space and time). Mathematics show that approaching the potential singularity, the size of the universe changes as a (hyperbolic) function of cosmic time. Describing how a collapsing cloud of matter can reach a high-density state and then bounce, rebounding outward into a new expanding phase. Crucially, this bounce occurs entirely within the framework of general relativity, which applies on large scales such as stars and galaxies, combined with the basic principles of quantum mechanics – no exotic fields, extra dimensions or speculative physics required. What emerges on the other side of the bounce is a universe remarkably like our own. Even more surprisingly, the rebound naturally produces the two separate phases of accelerated expansion – inflation and dark energy – driven not by a hypothetical fields but by the physics of the bounce itself.

The Universe is a living entity and we are just a minute possibly insignificant, part of it. The word ‘eternal’ is difficult but yes, I think the Universe is eternal, no beginning, no end. Within that it means time is only something used by us to measure our existence. For the Universe it has no meaning. It also means that the ‘old’ gets destroyed and the ‘new’ begins. Forever and ever. It may even mean that there are more Universes, all within a measureless dark void. Like lights in absolute darkness blinking on and off in a never-ending dance.