- #1
Agrippa
- 78
- 10
Hawking and Hertog's new paper "A Smooth Exit from Eternal Inflation?" does away with the infinite multiverse of Hawking's previous theory and proposes a cosmology that predicts "a simpler and finite universe".
But I can't figure out the extent of this reduction to a "simpler and finite" universe. In the previous theory, the fundamental constants varied in that different pocket universes had different values for the masses of elementary particles, the fine-structure constant, and the cosmological constant. But what about the new theory?
I can't find any clear answer to this. Many pop sci followups are claiming that "the laws of nature are the same in each pocket universe" but it is not made clear what this means, nor is this claim explicitly found in the original paper.
Can anyone shed any light on this? Do the pocket universes in the new model still have different constants or not? Thanks!
But I can't figure out the extent of this reduction to a "simpler and finite" universe. In the previous theory, the fundamental constants varied in that different pocket universes had different values for the masses of elementary particles, the fine-structure constant, and the cosmological constant. But what about the new theory?
I can't find any clear answer to this. Many pop sci followups are claiming that "the laws of nature are the same in each pocket universe" but it is not made clear what this means, nor is this claim explicitly found in the original paper.
Can anyone shed any light on this? Do the pocket universes in the new model still have different constants or not? Thanks!