B What Does Hawking Mean by Negative Energy at the Big Bang?

Physics Slayer
Messages
26
Reaction score
8
IMG-20220529-WA0000.jpg

I was reading "Brief answers to big questions" By Hawking, the above pic is from a page of the book, it says that at the time of the big bang there was an equal amount of positive and negative energy, and that the negative energy never went anywhere, the space-time itself is a store of negative energy! I don't really understand what he means by this. In all fairness he does go on to admit that without mathematics this idea is hard to grasp.
can someone try to explain the above in the best way they can (with or without math) or lead me to resources to further dwell into.

Thanks
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Hawking did here the best that he could to express without mathematics something that cannot be properly expressed without mathematics. What you are looking at, even though it was written by a respected scientist is a popularization. It is an attempt to give you a taste. Popularizations, generally, are not usable as a basis upon which to reason one's way to a proper understanding of the subject matter. Better to work from a textbook.

The idea of energy conservation that is being relied upon here is on shaky ground to begin with.

https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/energy_gr.html
 
  • Like
Likes vanhees71 and Physics Slayer
Thread 'Can this experiment break Lorentz symmetry?'
1. The Big Idea: According to Einstein’s relativity, all motion is relative. You can’t tell if you’re moving at a constant velocity without looking outside. But what if there is a universal “rest frame” (like the old idea of the “ether”)? This experiment tries to find out by looking for tiny, directional differences in how objects move inside a sealed box. 2. How It Works: The Two-Stage Process Imagine a perfectly isolated spacecraft (our lab) moving through space at some unknown speed V...
Does the speed of light change in a gravitational field depending on whether the direction of travel is parallel to the field, or perpendicular to the field? And is it the same in both directions at each orientation? This question could be answered experimentally to some degree of accuracy. Experiment design: Place two identical clocks A and B on the circumference of a wheel at opposite ends of the diameter of length L. The wheel is positioned upright, i.e., perpendicular to the ground...
According to the General Theory of Relativity, time does not pass on a black hole, which means that processes they don't work either. As the object becomes heavier, the speed of matter falling on it for an observer on Earth will first increase, and then slow down, due to the effect of time dilation. And then it will stop altogether. As a result, we will not get a black hole, since the critical mass will not be reached. Although the object will continue to attract matter, it will not be a...
Back
Top