I Is it time to take the 'bang' out of the Big Bang?

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Paul Steinhardt proposes a cyclic, bouncing universe model as an alternative to the inflationary model of cosmology. He argues that a slow contracting universe may better explain the observed flatness of the universe compared to inflation. The discussion raises questions about the explanatory power of the cyclic model versus inflation and its compatibility with cosmological data. Participants express interest in academic papers supporting Steinhardt's ideas, indicating a desire for more rigorous scientific discussion. The conversation highlights the ongoing debate in cosmology regarding the best model to explain the universe's origins.
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Video lecture by Paul Steinhard, one of cofounders of the theory of cosmological inflation, who now works on an alternative cosmological model, namely cycling universe. In this lecture he compares a slow contracting cosmological model to an inflationary model, and discusses the effects this has on the overall flatness of the universe.

Paul Steinhardt: Time to Take the ‘Big Bang’ out of the Big Bang Theory?


Paul Steinhard, who co-founded inflationary cosmology, is working on alternatives for inflation in the form of a cyclic, bouncing universe model. In this lecture he compares his model with the inflationary model, and argues that a slow contracting universe would better explain the flatness of the universe as inflation can.

What do you think of a cyclic model versus inflationary model, has a cyclic universe more explenatory power and does it fit better with the cosmological data as inflation?

For some more background on this cyclic cosmological model, I add some more videos on this and a scietific paper:

Paul Steinhardt and the New Big Bounce Cosmology

Paul Steinhardt: Introduction to Bouncing Cosmology


Link to the paper:

A Cyclic Model of the Universe


PS. I am not an advocate for a cyclic universe (or any other) model, and I guess ultimately precission meausurements can decide what model best fits the data. As for any scientific theory.
 
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elcaro said:
Summary:: Video lecture by Paul Steinhard, one of cofounders of the theory of cosmological inflation, who now works on an alternative cosmological model, namely cycling universe. In this lecture he compares a slow contracting cosmological model to an inflationary model, and discusses the effects this has on the overall flatness of the universe.

What do you think of a cyclic model versus inflationary model, h
It is inevitable that someone will name it the big boing, and that name will stick.
 
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elcaro said:
Summary:: Video lecture by Paul Steinhard, one of cofounders of the theory of cosmological inflation, who now works on an alternative cosmological model, namely cycling universe. In this lecture he compares a slow contracting cosmological model to an inflationary model, and discusses the effects this has on the overall flatness of the universe.

What do you think of a cyclic model
It's hard to base discussion on videos. Do you have any links to actual papers on Steinhard's cyclic model?
 
PeterDonis said:
It's hard to base discussion on videos. Do you have any links to actual papers on Steinhard's cyclic model?
Yes. I will add that te link to the paper in the original post.
 
Excellent post and really helps, would have liked to see the whole lecture with his associates.
 
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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...
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