Big Bang? Maybe...Maybe not....

In keeping with my promise to let you know whenever an article appears that touches on the holographic principle… there was one in yesterday’s news. Published on LiveScience.com, the article is titled “A new tweak to Einstein’s relativity could transform our understanding of the Big Bang,” written by Andrey Feldman.

It immediately got my attention in the first paragraph: “The Big Bang is often described as the moment everything began — a point of infinite density where the laws of physics broke down. But what if that picture is incomplete?”

Having never been a believer in the Big Bang (see numerous Substack essays I wrote on the subject), I am always interested in contrary theories about the beginning of our universe. Of course, if it really IS a holographic universe, then it probably started when some advanced coder typed RUN and hit Enter. I guess that could be considered a “Big Bang” as well.

Anyway, here are some excerpts from that LiveScience article….

“A new study proposes a different account of the universe’s birth: Instead of an abrupt beginning from a singularity, as predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, the early cosmos may have passed through a more controlled high-energy phase governed by a modified theory of gravity known as QQG.

“’QQG stands for quadratic quantum gravity,’ study co-author Niayesh Afshordi, a professor of physics at the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, told Live Science via email. ‘In simple terms, it is an extension of Einstein’s theory of gravity that includes additional terms which become important at extremely high energies, such as those that would have existed near the beginning of the universe.’

“Einstein’s theory of general relativity has been extraordinarily successful in describing gravity on large scales. It explains the motion of planets, the behavior of black holes, and the expansion of the universe. However, it struggles to explain the ultra-small world of quantum mechanics and is widely believed to contain some fundamental inconsistencies.

“’The main problem is that Einstein’s general relativity predicts its own failure under extreme conditions, most famously at the Big Bang singularity,’ Afshordi said. At that point, densities and space-time curvature become infinite—a clear indication that the theory is incomplete.

“What makes [quadratic quantum gravity] interesting is that it may provide a mathematically consistent way to describe gravity at very short distances and very high energies, where ordinary general relativity is expected to break down,” Afshordi said. “In that sense, it offers a possible conservative route toward a quantum theory of gravity, while still remaining close to Einstein’s theory at ordinary scales.”

“In this new study, the researchers explored how QQG would reshape the earliest moments of the cosmos if it is indeed a correct completion of Einstein’s theory. Their results suggest that the universe may not have started from a singular point at all.

“’Our main result is that, within quadratic gravity, the very early universe can avoid the usual Big Bang singularity and instead pass through a better-controlled high-energy phase,’ Afshordi said.

“One striking feature of QQG is that it behaves very differently depending on the energy scale. At extremely high energies, it follows new quantum rules. But as the universe expands and cools, it transitions back to the familiar physics described by Einstein.”

“Rather than emerging from an infinitely dense state, the universe would have begun in a smoother, more stable configuration with finite density and finite temperature, with its precise properties depending on the particles and fields present at extremely high energies and temperatures. This avoids one of the most troubling predictions of standard cosmology.

“The theory also offers a fresh perspective on cosmic inflation, the brief period of extremely rapid expansion thought to have occurred just after the Big Bang.”

Food for thought….