Big Bang is often described as the explosive birth of the universe – when space, time, and matter have begun to exist. But what if this wasn’t, at all, the beginning? And if our universe has arisen of something else – something more… familiar?
In a new one, published in Physical Reviewa team of scientists proposes an alternative to the theory that Big Bang created the universe – the calculations suggest that it was not the beginning of everything, but rather the result of a crushing or gravitational collapse that formed a supermation black hole – Followed by a;
This idea, called Universe of black holesIt offers a radically different view of cosmic origins, but is based entirely on physics and known observations.
The current standard cosmological model, based on the Big Bang and the cosmic inflation (The idea that the primitive universe increased rapidly in size), has been a remarkable success in explaining the structure and evolution of the universe. But it has a price: it leaves some of the most fundamental questions unanswered.
On the one hand, the Big Bang model begins with a uniqueness – a infinite density point where the laws of physics break. This is not just a technical failure: it is a deep theoretical problem that suggests that we do not really understand the beginning.
To explain the structure of the universe on a large scale, physicists introduced a brief phase of rapid expansion into the primitive universe, called cosmic inflation, fed by an unknown field with foreign properties. Later, to explain the accelerated expansion currently observed, they added another “mysterious” component: dark energy.
In short, The default cosmology model works well – but only by introducing new ingredients we never observed directly. However, the most basic questions remain open: where did everything come from? Why did you start this way? And why is the universe so flat, smooth and big?
New model
The new model addresses these questions from a different angle – looking inside instead of looking out. Instead of starting with an expanding universe and trying to find out how it started, it is considered what happens when a too dense set of collapse matter under the action of gravity.
This is a family process: the stars collapse in black holes, which are among the best understood objects of physics. But what happens inside a black hole, beyond the horizon of events from which nothing can escape, remains a mystery.
In 1965, British physicist Roger Penrose proved that, under very general conditions, the gravitational collapse should lead to a uniqueness. This result, extended by the late British physicist Stephen Hawking and others, is the basis of the idea that singularities – such as Big Bang – are inevitable.
The idea helped Penrose gain part of the 2020 physics Nobel Prize and inspired the world Hawking world bestseller to Big Bang to black holes. But there is a caveat. These “Theorems of Singularity” are based on “classical physics”, which describes common macroscopic objects. If we include the effects of quantum mechanics, which governs the tiny microcosm of atoms and particles, as we do in extreme densities, this can change.
In the new article, it is shownand gravitational collapse does not have to end in a uniqueness. Scientists have found an exact analytical solution – a mathematical result without approximations. THE mathematics It shows that as we approach the potential uniqueness, the dimension of the universe changes as a (hyperbolic) function of cosmic time.
This simple mathematical solution describes the way a cloud of matter in collapse can reach a state of high density and then jump, making it a new phase of expansion.
But how do penrosis theorems prohibit such results? Everything is due to a rule called Quantum Exclusion Principlewhich states that there are no two identical particles, known as fermons, that can occupy the same quantum state (such as the angular moment, or “spin”).
This leap occurs entirely within the structure of general relativity, which applies to large scales, such as stars and galaxies, combined with the basic principles of quantum mechanics – No exotic fields, extra dimensions or speculative physical dimensions are required.
What emerges from the other side of the outburst is an extraordinarily universe like ours. Even more surprising is the fact that the emphasis naturally produces the two distinct phases of accelerated expansion – inflation and dark energy – driven not by hypothetical fields but by the physics of its own emphasis.
Testable forecasts
One of the strengths of this model is the fact that it makes predictions that can be tested. Provides a small amount, but unlike zero, positive spatial curvature – which means that The universe is not exactly flat, but slightly curved, like the surface of the earth.
These phenomena may also be linked to relics of compact objects – such as black holes – which formed during the collapse phase and survived to the point.
The universe of black holes also offers a new perspective on our place in the cosmos. In this context, our whole observable universe is within a black hole formed in a larger “father” universe.
