Sunday, July 1, 2007

Before the Big Bang?

Theoretical physicist Martin Bojowald has recently published a paper with some interesting findings. This is something very complex, but I will try to boil it down to make it simple. Basically, the Universe and everything in it was once all condensed into a very small point. Researchers believe that the energy and density of the Universe at that time were infinite, but Bojowald suggests that although the energy and density was extremely high, they were finite.

Einstien failed to successfully combine his theories of relativity and quantum mechanics, which are essential to look back to the very first moments of the Universe; and possibly even time 0, or even before that. Bojowald has worked on Loop Quantum Gravity to combine the two concepts and used a 'new type of math' to look back almost at time 0. His 'new math' still works where math always seems to break down when scientists try to look back to the exact moment of the Big Bang.
Image Credit: Space.com

If Bojowald's findings are correct, it may help to learning more about a Universe that existed before. A Universe that was once spread out, condensed, and then expanded as the Big Bang. Whether or not Bojowald's results are completely valid or not is still left to the scientific community, but it never hurts to wonder about what happened before the Big Bang.

*This article is just a small bit of the whole finding. Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy wrote an absolutely terrific article on this. Although it's long I highly suggest you read it here*

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