Which Came First: Hawking Radiation or the Big Bang?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the relationship between Hawking radiation and the Big Bang, questioning the sequence of their emergence and the implications of singularities in cosmology. Participants explore the foundational theories of Quantum Mechanics (QM) and General Relativity (GR), their historical development, and their conceptual implications in understanding the universe's origins.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants question whether the Big Bang was caused by a black hole, suggesting that a singularity could have created an event horizon.
  • Others assert that the Big Bang was not caused by a black hole, emphasizing that the singularity is an artifact of General Relativity and not necessarily a real entity.
  • A participant highlights the historical context of QM and GR, noting that both theories were developed in similar timeframes, with QM emerging earlier in the form of Planck's work.
  • Some argue that the question of which theory came first is nonsensical, as both QM and GR serve as tools for modeling nature rather than having a temporal precedence.
  • One participant speculates on a cyclical universe model, where the universe expands and contracts, leading to singularities that may explode rather than dissipate due to Hawking radiation.
  • Several participants express skepticism about the Big Bang theory, with some stating they only accept it as a theory and not as established fact, citing unanswered questions.
  • There are challenges to the validity of rejecting the Big Bang, with some participants arguing that such a stance requires substantial justification or alternative hypotheses.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the relationship between Hawking radiation and the Big Bang, nor on the validity of the Big Bang theory itself. Multiple competing views remain regarding the nature of singularities and the historical precedence of QM and GR.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying degrees of acceptance regarding the Big Bang theory, indicating a lack of agreement on its status as a fact versus a theory. The discussion also reflects uncertainty about the implications of singularities and the compatibility of GR with quantum field theory.

Terry Giblin
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Which came first Quantum Mechanics or General Relativity?

Or to rephase it another way,

Which came first Hawking radiation or the Big Bang.

Why did the singularity or black hole, which we assume caused the big bang, not simply evaporate instead of exploding, as currently accepted?

Regards

Terry Giblin
 
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The big bang was not caused by, or accompanied by, a black hole.
 
selfAdjoint said:
The big bang was not caused by, or accompanied by, a black hole.

This is true, but since I do not accept or believe in the big bang does it matter. The singularity which is meant to have caused the big bang, must have created an event horizon of sorts...

The question still remains which came first Quantum Mechanics or General Relativity?
 
What are you talking about with all this black hole and singularity mumbo jumbo? Please remember that idle speculation is not welcome on this site.

Do you just want to know which theory was invented first, QM or GR?

The two fields developed in rather similar time-frames. The first paper on general relativity was published by Einstein in 1915. The first glimmer of quantum theory was seen by Planck in 1900, but the first real formulation of quantum mechanics recognizable by modern standards was the matrix mechanics published by Heisenberg in 1925.

- Warren
 
Terry Giblin said:
This is true, but since I do not accept or believe in the big bang does it matter. The singularity which is meant to have caused the big bang, must have created an event horizon of sorts...
We don't know if Big Bang started out from a singularity. The singularity is an artefact of GR, but since we know GR cannot hold at the very earliest times (since GR isn't compatible with QFT) we can only speculate about it at this moment.
And anyway, the Big Bang singularity araising in GR isn't quite the same as black hole singularities.
 
Dear chroot,

thank you for your history lesson, but I was asking a serious physics question.

I have expressed my own options several times, in the past.

[link to crackpot theory deleted - Zz]

But I am now simply trying to continue a serious conversation, which I started last week discussing the Fundamental Structure of Space and Time.

http://www.Newton.cam.ac.uk/webseminars/pg+ws/2006/ncg/ncgw02/0906/penrose/030-frame.html

Following a previous discussion started last November.

http://www.Newton.cam.ac.uk/webseminars/pg+ws/2005/gmr/gmrw04/1107/penrose/

When was the last open and frank discussion regarding the fundamental principles in maths and physics.

If science is described as the tree of knowledge, but we are only allowed to discuss each individual leaf, we will never discover if there was a problem with the roots of the original tree. Sometimes it is better to look outside the box.

In light of the new discussion, can I ask the very important and serious question, which came first QM or GR and I don't need a history lesson, I simply wish to discuss the maths and physics implications.

Regards

Terry Giblin
 
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Terry Giblin said:
In light of the new discussion, can I ask the very important and serious question, which came first QM or GR and I don't need a history lesson, I simply wish to discuss the maths and physics implications.
Since QM and GR are both manmade tools for modeling nature, the only answer to this question is a "history lesson".

If your question is different from "which of these tools was first developed", please be clear about what exactly you are asking for an answer to.
 
The question is nonsense. Neither theory 'came first'. Nor did they 'come second'. The 'singularity' is probably not a 'real' entity; it's an artifact resulting from the incompleteness of both QM and GR.
 
Unlike most on this thread I think I understand your question. I think you are using the theory that once the universe has expanded as far as it can it will contract until it becomes a singularity and then will explode to create another universe, theoretically a process that will continue for infinity.
The answer as to why the singularity explodes rather than dissipates with Hawking radiation is because it has nothing to dissipate into, being that space no longer exists, only the singularity.
If this theory is correct though, I am still waiting to hear an answer as to why the singularity becomes so unstable it finds itself in a situation where it needs to explode,.
 
  • #10
Terrible awful thread from 4 years ago. The question is a history question, that is the only way it makes any sense whatsoever. This thread sucks, why is it not locked or (preferably) deleted. What a waste of my life.
 
  • #11
Phyisab**** said:
Terrible awful thread from 4 years ago. The question is a history question, that is the only way it makes any sense whatsoever. This thread sucks, why is it not locked or (preferably) deleted. What a waste of my life.

lol, cheer up..maybe the big bang theory is a waste of everyboys life lol.
 
  • #12
Well I fell into a bad mood upon reading, "This is true, but since I do not accept or believe in the big bang does it matter." :bugeye::rolleyes::mad::cry:
 
  • #13
You can disagree with some aspects of the big bang, fine. But to say you do not believe in the Big Bang is just nonsense. It reveals a complete, utter and nearly all encompassing incompetence on the part of the issuer of such a statement. From Wikipedia:

"As used by cosmologists, the term Big Bang generally refers to the idea that the Universe has expanded from a primordial hot and dense initial condition at some finite time in the past (best available measurements in 2009 suggest that the initial conditions occurred around 13.3 to 13.9 billion years ago[3][4]), and continues to expand to this day."

If you are going to disagree with this in a public forum of physicists, then you had better have some groundbreaking argument in favor of such a position. Or at the least, be bold enough to show your support for one of the alternative ideas, and their consequences.
 
  • #14
Well I hate to depress you further but I only accept the "big bang" as a theory not fact. Too many unanswered questions for me to accept it as fact.
 
  • #15
Ok but there is no fact in science. What is your alternate hypothesis?
 
  • #16
Phyisab**** said:
You can disagree with some aspects of the big bang, fine. But to say you do not believe in the Big Bang is just nonsense. It reveals a complete, utter and nearly all encompassing incompetence on the part of the issuer of such a statement. From Wikipedia:

"As used by cosmologists, the term Big Bang generally refers to the idea that the Universe has expanded from a primordial hot and dense initial condition at some finite time in the past (best available measurements in 2009 suggest that the initial conditions occurred around 13.3 to 13.9 billion years ago[3][4]), and continues to expand to this day."

If you are going to disagree with this in a public forum of physicists, then you had better have some groundbreaking argument in favor of such a position. Or at the least, be bold enough to show your support for one of the alternative ideas, and their consequences.

I will accept this as fact when someone can tell me where this "primordial hot and dense initial condition" came from, or do physicist's believe it was put there by a "god".
 
  • #17
Does fried chicken taste good even though I don't know why?
 
  • #18
Phyisab**** said:
Ok but there is no fact in science. What is your alternate hypothesis?
For anybody to give anything resembling a good answer to that question they would have to have a greater understanding of matter and energy than anybody currently has. I sit squarely in the "I don't know" corner, but I think that matter, antimatter and time are crucial ingredients in understanding this universe, in a couple of weeks the LHC will be colliding at 7 TeV, maybe that will give a good insight to everything, maybe not.
 
  • #19
I think we agree more than we disagree actually. Can you agree that
1. the visible universe is currently expanding
2. following from 1, as we begin to go back in time that means the universe was smaller than it is currently.

The cosmic microwave background is pretty darn convincing to me that this expansion has been going on for roughly 13 billion years. Whatever happened before that is significantly less clear to me. But can you see how our discussion depends heavily on what you mean by "Big Bang"? The point I was originally trying to make is that there is significant evidence that the universe has been expanding for roughly 13 billion years. That is a huge part of the idea of the big bang, so when you say "I don't believe in the big bang" you are making a massively sweeping and general statement.

I don't take anything to be fact. I certainly don't take the idea of inflation to be "fact". I don't deny the possibility that better ideas will come about. I believe that to make statements regarding the universe before the time of decoupling, you are quickly getting into very murky waters. And I am really definitely not saying the universe was at any time a mathematical singularity.

I just believe strongly that the universe has been expanding for some time, probably a very very long time, probably for 13 billion years.Edit: Perhaps you would like to say what you mean when you say big bang. Also some mods will not like us carrying on this kind of discussion in this thread, but maybe that will bring about my original desire anyway :).
 
  • #20
You are putting words into my mouth, I don't believe that I have said "I don't believe in the big bang", I merely say that I only accept it as a theory. There are other explanations for redshift other than expansion and with current theory, the speed of expansion is increasing which I find hard to accept, an increase in the speed of expansion would require an enormous amount of additional energy, which from what I can make out is supposed to be sourced from a mystical material called "dark matter", it sounds all very much like hokus pokus to me, and all very unscientific.
I believe that once the universe was a lot smaller than it is now, but I don't believe there is any undeniable proof that the speed of expansion is increasing or even that it is still expanding, and I don't believe there is any proof the C is constant throughout the universe.
 
  • #21
1. Sorry I did not mean to put words in your mouth, I was mistaken. We both agree that the big bang is only a theory, but I am dismayed by the unprovoked confrontational tone you have now taken.
2. Like I said there is no fact in science. Your opinion that the big bang is theory: nobody can disagree with that statement, I don't disagree with it. There is only theory in science, except for explicit observations, as I have already said.
3. You are confusing dark matter with dark energy, a critical error. You have revealed yourself to be quite ignorant with respect to the topic at hand, there is no "hocus pocus."
4. I tried find some common ground with you and said I think we agree more than we disagree. I still think that is true, yet you decided to take an increasingly confrontational tone, which I don't understand.
5. I don't know why this thread was in "Beyond the Standard Model" in the first place. Our discussion here will be considered off topic, the mods will likely frown upon it, and I am done with this thread.
 
  • #22
Phyisab**** said:
1. Sorry I did not mean to put words in your mouth, I was mistaken. We both agree that the big bang is only a theory, but I am dismayed by the unprovoked confrontational tone you have now taken.
2. Like I said there is no fact in science. Your opinion that the big bang is theory: nobody can disagree with that statement, I don't disagree with it. There is only theory in science, except for explicit observations, as I have already said.
3. You are confusing dark matter with dark energy, a critical error. You have revealed yourself to be quite ignorant with respect to the topic at hand, there is no "hocus pocus."
4. I tried find some common ground with you and said I think we agree more than we disagree. I still think that is true, yet you decided to take an increasingly confrontational tone, which I don't understand.
5. I don't know why this thread was in "Beyond the Standard Model" in the first place. Our discussion here will be considered off topic, the mods will likely frown upon it, and I am done with this thread.

Please excuse my ignorance, but could you please explain what "dark matter and dark energy" are (if you know the answer), or are you saying that you feel "confronted" and calling me "ignorant" as a conveinent way of backing out of the discussion because you have no real answers to the questions I've brought up?

I think physics theory and evolution theory have a lot in common, if I found a gold watch in an empty field I wouldn't assume that it had "evolved" lol, and if I found something that I had no explanation for, I certainly wouldn't give it a name and pretend that I knew everything about it.
 
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  • #23
chroot said:
What are you talking about with all this black hole and singularity mumbo jumbo?

Early in the universe when the size of the universe was say 1 micron and it contained the entire mass of the universe what was the Schwarzschild radius?

If you do not like asking about the whole universe OK what was the Schwarzschild radius of a sub section 0.1 microns in extent?

Yes the OP is vague.
 
  • #24
yes this thread should be in SR+GR not Standard Model
 

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