New theory says Big Bang was "big freeze"

[Hautlle]

How did the universe begin? The Big Bang is traditionally envisioned as the moment when an infinitely dense bundle of energy suddenly burst outward, expanding in three spatial directions and gradually cooling down as it did so.

 

Now, a team of physicists says the Big Bang should be modeled as a phase change: the moment when an amorphous, formless universe analogous to liquid water cooled and suddenly crystallized to form four-dimensional space-time, analogous to ice.In the new study, lead author James Quach and colleagues at the University of Melbourne in Australia say the hypothesis can be tested by looking for defects that would have formed in the structure of space-time when the universe crystallized.

 

The universe is currently about 13.7 billion years old."Think of the early universe as being like a liquid," Quach said in a statement. "Then as the universe cools, it 'crystallizes' into the three spatial and one time dimension that we see today. Theorized this way, as the universe cools, we would expect that cracks should form, similar to the way cracks are formed when water freezes into ice."If they exist, these cracks should be detectable, the researchers said, because light and other particles would bend or reflect off of them as they trek across the cosmos. (The History & Structure of the Universe (Infographic))

 

The notion that space and time are emergent properties that suddenly materialized out of an amorphous state was first put forth by physicists at Canada's Perimeter Institute in 2006. Called "quantum graphity," the theory holds that the four-dimensional geometry of space-time discovered by Albert Einstein is not fundamental; instead, space-time is more like a lattice constructed of discrete space-time building blocks, just like matter looks continuous, but is actually made of building blocks called atoms.

 

Originally, at extremely high temperatures, the building blocks were like liquid water: they contained no structure, "representing a state with no space," the researchers wrote in their paper. At the moment of the Big Bang, when the temperature in the universe dropped to the space-time building blocks' "freezing point," they crystallized to form the four-dimensional lattice we observe today.

 

The math describing the theory checks out, but "the challenge has been that these building blocks of space are very small, and so impossible to see directly," Quach explained. From the human vantage point, space-time looks smooth and continuous.

 

However, while the building blocks themselves might be too small to detect, the physicists hope to observe the boundaries that would have formed as regions of crystallizing building blocks butted against one another at the time of the Big Bang, creating "cracks" in the universe. More work is needed to predict the average distance between the cracks -- it isn't known whether they are microscopic, or light-years apart -- in order to characterize their effects on particles.The research by Quach and his team is detailed in this month's edition of the journal Physical Review D..

 

http://news.discover...nge-120822.html

 

No idea what this would mean for us, but it sounds cool

[J3FF3R00]

I always thought the Big Bang was bullshit.

[Cryptowen]

[Hoodie]

we're just another branch of the great fractal

[Guest dese manz hatin]

babar

[luke viia]

we're just another branch of the great fractal

 

i thought you said drugs were for losers. regardless, if that's true in some way, then the key is finding out what the equation looks like when you zoom all the way out

 

i'm not sure i fully grasp the water --> solid analogy these researchers are relying on, but that was an interesting article nonetheless, thanks haut.

 

anyway here's a space gif, have a nice day

 

[Guest sirch]

Bollocks TM

[luke viia]

you're the worst scientist in the history of cunts

[Guest sirch]

I always thought the Big Bang was bullshit.

 

I always knew Jesus was a motherfuckin Alien

[Guest sirch]

you're the worst scientist in the history of cunts

 

I respect that.

 

never been a scientist... not for real, yo.. we all chat shit on the internet... but I aint never mixed no shit with some other shit... and made a bang!

 

dawg.

 

i'll always be a cunt, though. for realzzz.

[luke viia]

lol, great response. was just checking to see if you're still reading my posts.

[gmanyo]

The notion that space and time are emergent properties that suddenly materialized out of an amorphous state was first put forth by physicists at Canada's Perimeter Institute in 2006. Called "quantum graphity," the theory holds that the four-dimensional geometry of space-time discovered by Albert Einstein is not fundamental; instead, space-time is more like a lattice constructed of discrete space-time building blocks, just like matter looks continuous, but is actually made of building blocks called atoms.

 

Nobody thought of this before 2006?

[Guest sirch]

well spotted! :) i do like to read you from time to time, master luke.

 

you're only a link-click away :)

 

as are a lot of people on here, lol... so don't feel special.

 

only BCM was special to me... i loved him so.........

[luke viia]

The notion that space and time are emergent properties that suddenly materialized out of an amorphous state was first put forth by physicists at Canada's Perimeter Institute in 2006. Called "quantum graphity," the theory holds that the four-dimensional geometry of space-time discovered by Albert Einstein is not fundamental; instead, space-time is more like a lattice constructed of discrete space-time building blocks, just like matter looks continuous, but is actually made of building blocks called atoms.

 

Nobody thought of this before 2006?

 

Yeah seriously, lol. Isn't Planck length / Planck time sort of like 'discrete units' of space and time? Even if that's not a good example, I'm pretty intuitively sure that a 'discrete universe' didn't first get talked about in 2006...

 

What I don't get is this idea of "cooling" that they are calling on. Does the idea of temperature even make sense without space and time?

[gmanyo]

The notion that space and time are emergent properties that suddenly materialized out of an amorphous state was first put forth by physicists at Canada's Perimeter Institute in 2006. Called "quantum graphity," the theory holds that the four-dimensional geometry of space-time discovered by Albert Einstein is not fundamental; instead, space-time is more like a lattice constructed of discrete space-time building blocks, just like matter looks continuous, but is actually made of building blocks called atoms.

 

Nobody thought of this before 2006?

 

Yeah seriously, lol. Isn't Planck length / Planck time sort of like 'discrete units' of space and time? Even if that's not a good example, I'm pretty intuitively sure that a 'discrete universe' didn't first get talked about in 2006...

 

What I don't get is this idea of "cooling" that they are calling on. Does the idea of temperature even make sense without space and time?

 

Temperature must also be an analogy. Can't tell if it's an accurate one or not because I don't understand it. I had always thought of the chaos -> order thing in the universe being like a whole bunch of values that were somewhat related changing seemingly at random until one of them stuck and replicated itself across all other values, creating the structure of space, time, and matter. I guess that kind of counts as "freezing" from a more liquid format, but not because it lost any sort of "energy" or "heat".

 

edit:

I've also wondered whether time and space are made out of the same stuff that makes matter and energy.

[luke viia]

It's this:

 

Originally, at extremely high temperatures, the building blocks were like liquid water: they contained no structure, "representing a state with no space," the researchers wrote in their paper. At the moment of the Big Bang, when the temperature in the universe dropped to the space-time building blocks' "freezing point," they crystallized to form the four-dimensional lattice we observe today.

 

that I'm not following. It just doesn't even sound accurate as an analogy. Liquid water contains no structure? Not as far as I can tell. Liquid certainly isn't a good analogy for "representing a state with no space," but again, I'm just gonna assume I'm missing something here. I also don't know why cooling would necessarily imply crystallization; we're not actually talking about a cooled liquid. I wonder if these scientists have a plan for how to measure these spacecracks...

 

And since we're expanding, what's happening to the discrete space units? Are they getting bigger? More plentiful? Are they stretching and will they rip apart eventually?

[gmanyo]

Maybe their theory is just stupid.

[Guest sirch]

it just went bang, dawg. just went, like, bang, 'n shit... and here were are, yo!

[Guest sirch]

It's this:

 

Originally, at extremely high temperatures, the building blocks were like liquid water: they contained no structure, "representing a state with no space," the researchers wrote in their paper. At the moment of the Big Bang, when the temperature in the universe dropped to the space-time building blocks' "freezing point," they crystallized to form the four-dimensional lattice we observe today.

 

that I'm not following. It just doesn't even sound accurate as an analogy. Liquid water contains no structure? Not as far as I can tell. Liquid certainly isn't a good analogy for "representing a state with no space," but again, I'm just gonna assume I'm missing something here. I also don't know why cooling would necessarily imply crystallization; we're not actually talking about a cooled liquid. I wonder if these scientists have a plan for how to measure these spacecracks...

 

And since we're expanding, what's happening to the discrete space units? Are they getting bigger? More plentiful? Are they stretching and will they rip apart eventually?

 

you talk a lot of shit.

 

1.)why aren't you in school talking this shit

2.)if you are in school talking this shit then why are you on the internet talking this shit

3.)do you really consider yourself a scientist

4.)do aliens exist

5.)are we the best there is in the universe

 

 

answer.

 

thank you.

 

signed...

 

science cunt.

[gmanyo]

science cunt 1 luke 0

whatre you gonna do now luke?????

[luke viia]

lol at sirch

[gmanyo]

sirch, you should make "science cunt" your member title.

[Guest sirch]

lol at sirch

 

lol @ 'scientists' like you.

[luke viia]

I'm not a scientist, lol, but I am in school for a science degree.

 

Why you're so appalled and insecure about people discussing science, I don't know, but unless you want to actually talk about this theory, I gotta stop entertaining your retardation.

[Guest sirch]

gmanyo... luke doesn't get it :) but that's ok.

 

 

Why you're so appalled and insecure , I don't know, but unless you want to actually talk about this , I gotta stop entertaining your retardation.

 

lol... right back atcha!