Which Hawking paper? (no singularity at the beginning of the universe)

In summary, Stephen Hawking was referring to a paper he and John Penrose wrote in 1970 that proved there must have been a big bang singularity provided only that general relativity is correct and the universe contains as much matter as we observe. There was a lot of opposition to their work, partly from the Russians because of their Marxist belief in scientific determinism, and partly from people who felt that the whole idea of singularities was repugnant and spoiled the beauty of Einstein’s theory. However, one cannot really argue with a mathematical theorem. So in the end their work became generally accepted and nowadays nearly everyone assumes that the universe started with a big bang singularity.
  • #1
Cerenkov
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Hello.

I'm trying to pin down something Stephen Hawking was referring to in his book, A Brief History of Time.

During the next few years I developed new mathematical techniques to remove this and other technical conditions from the theorems that proved that singularities must occur. The final result was a joint paper by Penrose and myself in 1970, which at last proved that there must have been a big bang singularity provided only that general relativity is correct and the universe contains as much matter as we observe. There was a lot of opposition to our work, partly from the Russians because of their Marxist belief in scientific determinism, and partly from people who felt that the whole idea of singularities was repugnant and spoiled the beauty of Einstein’s theory. However, one cannot really argue with a mathematical theorem. So in the end our work became generally accepted and nowadays nearly everyone assumes that the universe started with a big bang singularity. It is perhaps ironic that, having changed my mind, I am now trying to convince other physicists that there was in fact no singularity at the beginning of the universe – as we shall see later, it can disappear once quantum effects are taken into account.

Ok, this is the 1970, Hawking - Penrose paper. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspa.1970.0021

But is there a paper where Hawking 'takes these quantum effects into account'?

Can it be found here... http://www.hawking.org.uk/publications.html ?

Any help given at a basic level would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Cernkov.
 
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  • #2
I think what you are looking for is this paper, which includes what is called the "Hartle-Hawking No Boundary Proposal".

Wave Function of the Universe. J.B. Hartle (Chicago U., EFI& Santa Barbara, KITP), S.W. Hawking (Cambridge U. & Santa Barbara, KITP). PRINT-83-0937 (CAMBRIDGE). Jul 983. 46 pp. Published in Phys.Rev. D28 (1983) 2960-2975, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.28.2960

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartle–Hawking_state
 
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Likes PeterDonis
  • #3
Thanks phyzguy!

I'll check these out asap.

Cerenkov.
 

FAQ: Which Hawking paper? (no singularity at the beginning of the universe)

1. What is the main idea behind Hawking's paper on the absence of a singularity at the beginning of the universe?

Hawking's paper proposes that the universe did not have a definite starting point or singularity, but instead has existed forever. This challenges the traditional belief that the universe began with a Big Bang singularity.

2. How did Hawking support his claim that there was no singularity at the beginning of the universe?

Hawking used mathematical equations and theories from quantum mechanics to show that the laws of physics break down at the singularity and therefore cannot be used to accurately describe the beginning of the universe. He also proposed the concept of imaginary time to explain the lack of a singularity.

3. What implications does Hawking's paper have on our understanding of the universe?

Hawking's paper challenges the traditional belief that the universe had a definite starting point and raises questions about the origin and nature of the universe. It also suggests that the universe may have existed forever and may continue to exist forever.

4. Has Hawking's paper been widely accepted by the scientific community?

Hawking's paper has sparked much debate and discussion among scientists. While some have accepted his ideas, others have criticized them and proposed alternative theories. The concept of a singularity at the beginning of the universe is still a topic of ongoing research and study.

5. How does Hawking's paper impact our understanding of the Big Bang theory?

Hawking's paper challenges the traditional interpretation of the Big Bang theory as the beginning of the universe. It suggests that the universe may have existed before the Big Bang and may not have had a singular starting point. This raises questions about the validity and accuracy of the Big Bang theory and may lead to new theories and explanations for the origin of the universe.

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