Was the Universe Born in a Black Hole?
Posted on: Friday, 19 September 2003, 06:00 CDT
University of California, Davis -- The universe may have been created by an explosion within a black hole, according to a new theory by two mathematicians recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.
"It's a mathematically plausible model which refines the standard model of the Big Bang," said Blake Temple, professor of mathematics at UC Davis and co-author of the paper with Joel Smoller, professor of mathematics at the University of Michigan.
In the standard model of cosmology, the universe burst into existence with the Big Bang about 13 billion years ago. Since then, the universe, which contains an infinite amount of matter and is infinite in extent, has been expanding in all directions.
In the new model, the Big Bang is an actual explosion within a black hole in an existing space. The shock wave of the explosion is expanding into an infinite space, leaving behind it a finite amount of matter. The universe is emerging from a white hole. The opposite of a black hole, a white hole throws matter out instead of sucking it in.
The shockwave and the universe beyond the black hole lies in our future. Eventually, the universe will emerge from the black hole as something like a supernova, but on an enormously large scale, Temple said.
The equations that describe a black hole were written by Albert Einstein as part of the General Theory of Relativity. Einstein's equations work equally well if time runs forward or backwards. But explosive shockwaves, which include an increase in entropy, are time-irreversible. The new theory satisfies Einstein's equations while allowing the universe to expand.
Whether the matter emerging from the white hole came from matter that previously fell into another black hole is an open question, Temple said.
"It is natural to wonder if there is a connection between the mass that disappears into black hole singularities and the mass that emerges from white hole singularities," Smoller and Temple wrote.
-----
On the Net:
University of California Davis
More science, space, and technology from RedNova
Related Articles
- Penn steps out with swimsuit model White
- Zilog Introduces ZBASE Live!(TM) Web Portal for Universal Remote Control Model Search and Download
- Mormon Temples Get White Powder Envelopes
- At Black Colleges, Door Open for Whites
- ION Media Networks, Scholastic, NBC Universal, Corus Entertainment, and Classic Media/Big Idea Unite to Launch Groundbreaking Multi-Platform Network for Children
- Mormon Temple Almost Ready for Big Crowds
- Chattanooga, Tenn., University Inaugurates 'Temple of Excellence'
- Black University Admissions Drop
- Black Women Less Likely Than Whites to Receive Genetic Counseling About Breast Cancer, Study Finds
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds