Origin of matter

wasteofo2

Is there any theory offering an explination as to the origin of all matter? I'm not talking about the big bang, but where the matter which went bang originiated from.

And I know the one theory about 10 dimensions and all the matter going into 4 and the others collapsing, but I'm more looking for how it was created.

mathman

There is lots of speculation, like it was there all the time, oscillating universes, mutiple universes, etc. But be careful - it is all guessing now.

meteor

Shortly after Big Bang existed a quark-gluon plasma, that is, quarks and gluons wandering freely. Then occurred what is called the QCD phase transition, is a first-order phase transition where quarks and gluons joined to form hadrons

hellfire

The current explanation for the origin of matter is given by inflation. There was (an instant after big-bang) a scalar field (inflaton) which accumulated energy due to its constant energy density (and due to an exponential expansion of space). This energy was taken from the gravitational potential and was transferred to the matter fields during a process called reheating. My understanding of the whole thing is only qualitative, may be someone could confirm or elaborate.

wasteofo2

To restate my question more clearly:
Where did the material/energy which went "bang" in the big bang come from?

Eh

Why would it need to come from anywhere? Maybe it was always there.

wasteofo2

That's just a lazy answer, with that logic no one would have ever thought of the big bang theory or evolution.

Ambitwistor

It's not a lazy answer; in fact, there are theories in which the universe is eternal. One can debate why the laws of physics have matter and radiation fields to begin with, but that's not necessarily a question that science can answer.

Eh

This ignores the fact that something in nature may be fundemental, and as such could not have been created by something else prior. Energy may be a fundemental property of the universe, and if so the question is moot. If you must insist that the physical universe must have been created, then you're looking at an infinite regress of causes or some grand metaphysical speculations, at which point you're no longer asking scientific questions.

The big bang on the other hand, has nothing to do with such speculation. The theory was derived from GR and observational evidence. IOW, that the universe emerged from a hot dense state in the past has nothing to do with whether or not energy has always been around.

Phobos

That's one of the biggest unknowns in science. Try looking into things like Inflation theory, M-theory, etc. for some of the latest thoughts on that.

UltraPi1

Although you will likely not be happy with any answer given - I shall put one forth anyway.

First off - I believe there was no big to buttress the bang. The material of the universe came from nothing, or better yet - It is nothing. Go figer.

[:D] Funny part about this ..... is that I'm serious.

ranyart

Lets say you are seeking the "for how it was created"..then would you be interested in 'back-engineering' it for destruction purpose's? lets say if you got out of bed the wrong side one morning, or had a minor disagreement with some unsuspecting Human, would not you be able to 'dictate' your every COMMAND?

Behind every Question is an Answer, behind every Person asking questions is a reason..

meteor

Perhaps you would like to read about Loop quantum Cosmology. In this theory, there was a contraction phase of the universe prior to the Big bang, and is possible that matter existed in this prior phase

Jeebus

Somehow, within a fraction of a nanosecond after the big bang, matter gained the upper hand. Physicists believe subtle differences in the behavior of matter and antimatter led to a slight excess of matter in the very early universe. While most of the matter and antimatter created in the big bang quickly disappeared in a blaze of mutual annihilation, about one out of every billion particles of matter survived. So to answer your question or at least my opinion matter was already existant.

meteor

The Pre-Big Bang Scenario in string cosmology also postulates the existance of the universe prior to the Big Bang, so in this case matter could also exist before Big Bang

ALS

So matter and anti-matter existed together?

meteor

They exist together even now. It's possible to observe things like charmonium (a charm quark-anticharm quark pair) or bottonium (a bottom quark-antibottom quark pair)