Hawking's Position on Repeating Big Bang

AI Thread Summary
Hawking's discussion on the repeating Big Bang asserts that the universe's singularity marks the beginning of time, supported by the universe's age of approximately 13.8 billion years and the observed number and maturity of galaxies. He and Penrose demonstrated that the universe cannot "bounce" back after contraction, contradicting models suggesting multiple Big Bangs. Their framework relies on two assumptions: gravity follows general relativity (GR) and matter/energy adheres to specific energy conditions, although inflation challenges the second assumption. Quantum theories of gravity propose alternative models that could allow for a bounce, but Hawking maintains that the universe's physics is consistent with a singular start. The ongoing debate includes various models, including Penrose's recent cyclic universe concept, which does not violate the original assumptions.
David_Baratheon
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
What is the evidence for Hawking's statement here:

"After giving a brief historical background on relativistic physics and cosmology, Hawking discussed the idea of a repeating Big Bang. He noted that in the 1980s, he and physicist Roger Penrose proved the universe could not “bounce” when it contracted, as had been theorized.

Therefore, time began at the moment of singularity, and this has likely occurred only once, Hawking said. The age of the universe — now believed to be about 13.8 billion years — fits that model, as the number and maturity of observed galaxies seem to fit in the general scheme."


http://www.space.com/20710-stephen-hawking-god-big-bang.html
 
Space news on Phys.org
He tells you the evidence: "The age of the universe ... the number and maturity of observed galaxies ...".

To get the details you've have to hunt through Hawking and Penrose published papers from the 80's.
He's basically asserting that the Universe has physics consistent with being bounded at "the start".
The model he was addressing appears to be the Lynds or Poplawski style one where the Universe never reaches the singualrity.
Hawking has his own ideas about the start of time.
There are other models.
 
Last edited:
Hawking and Penrose have two assumptions 1 , gravity is described by GR and 2 matter/energy satisfies certain energy conditions.
Assumption 2 is violated by inflation, although Borde Guth and Vilenkin argue that you will still get a singularity despite this.
But assumption 1 is challenged by quantum theories of gravity that do predict a bounce.
Intersentingly Penrose now thinks the universe is cyclic but via neither assumptions being violated , rather its through a novel affect he calls rescaling.
 
Simon Bridge said:
He tells you the evidence: "The age of the universe ... the number and maturity of observed galaxies ...".

To get the details you've have to hunt through Hawking and Penrose published papers from the 80's.
He's basically asserting that the Universe has physics consistent with being bounded at "the start".
The model he was addressing appears to be the Lynds or Poplawski style one where the Universe never reaches the singualrity.
Hawking has his own ideas about the start of time.
There are other models.

How does the age of the universe of the number and maturity of observed galaxies prove that the big bang only occurs once?

Telling me to hunt through his papers isn't very helpful :-)

So what your saying is that he assumes that the universal constants are the same from t=0 to now? Why would that mean that the big bang is a singular occurrence?

I appreciate that there are other models but that doesn't help me with my question :-) nor does it discredit his view
 
skydivephil said:
Hawking and Penrose have two assumptions 1 , gravity is described by GR and 2 matter/energy satisfies certain energy conditions.
Assumption 2 is violated by inflation, although Borde Guth and Vilenkin argue that you will still get a singularity despite this.
But assumption 1 is challenged by quantum theories of gravity that do predict a bounce.
Intersentingly Penrose now thinks the universe is cyclic but via neither assumptions being violated , rather its through a novel affect he calls rescaling.

How does a nonrecurring big bang assume gravity = GR? I haven't heard of g=GR to be honest, that is new to me. 2 Which certain conditions?

How is assumption 1 challenged by quantum theories and how do quantum theories predict a bounce?
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombination_(cosmology) Was a matter density right after the decoupling low enough to consider the vacuum as the actual vacuum, and not the medium through which the light propagates with the speed lower than ##({\epsilon_0\mu_0})^{-1/2}##? I'm asking this in context of the calculation of the observable universe radius, where the time integral of the inverse of the scale factor is multiplied by the constant speed of light ##c##.
The formal paper is here. The Rutgers University news has published a story about an image being closely examined at their New Brunswick campus. Here is an excerpt: Computer modeling of the gravitational lens by Keeton and Eid showed that the four visible foreground galaxies causing the gravitational bending couldn’t explain the details of the five-image pattern. Only with the addition of a large, invisible mass, in this case, a dark matter halo, could the model match the observations...
Why was the Hubble constant assumed to be decreasing and slowing down (decelerating) the expansion rate of the Universe, while at the same time Dark Energy is presumably accelerating the expansion? And to thicken the plot. recent news from NASA indicates that the Hubble constant is now increasing. Can you clarify this enigma? Also., if the Hubble constant eventually decreases, why is there a lower limit to its value?
Back
Top