Research Report 3

Ahmed Al-Sudani

February 16, 2017

The Origin of the Universe

Background

For millennia, humans have devised theories to explain how we have come
into existence and what lies beyond death. In the 20th century, science made
significant strides toward explaining both. We now have competing theories
that attempt to explain the origin of the universe, but no scientific consensus
behind any of them.

The modern story of the origin of the universe is widely known. It is

the Big Bang Theory, and it postulates that the universe started in a hot,
dense state, eventually expanding and cooling down [Turner, 2009]. That
eventually led to the world we know today.

What led to the Big Bang and whether something existed before it re-
mains a mystery that might be only solved if we reconcile Quantum Mechan-
ics and General Relativity [Turner, 2009]. There are four plausible theories
that enjoy some support among physicists:

Spontaneous emergence

Cyclic universe

Quantum emergence

Multiverse theory

Spontaneous emergence

This theory was the one of the first ideas put forth to explain the origin of
the universe when evidence for space inflation started to accumulate. It did
not attempt to explain how the universe came into being; it simply accepted
that there was a central location where matter and energy originated. What
distinguishes this theory from others below is that it considers the Big Bang
a one-time occurrence [Turner, 2009].

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Cyclic universe

Cyclic universe is another early theory, and one which perhaps has more
basis in our physics. The idea behind cyclic universe is that the universe is
going to expand up to a certain point and then start contracting eventually
reaching an ultra high density and setting off another Big Bang.

This theory does not require that we modify our understanding of the
universe, but recent evidence has pointed us in other directions. The rate of
acceleration does not seem to be decreasing quickly enough, so it is not likely
that we live in a cyclic universe [Moskowitz, 2014].

Quantum emergence

Quantum emergence is a recent idea that was recently published [Carroll and Chen, 2004].
It attempts to create a framework within which energy and matter can
emerge out of fluctuations in quantum state. Quantum emergence is similar
to spontaneous emergence but lays its foundations in quantum mechanics
[Turner, 2009].

Under quantum emergence, the creation of a universe is an event governed

by probability. Given an infinite amount of time, it is expected that there is
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going to be another Big Bang in 1010 years [Carroll and Chen, 2004].

Multiverse theory

Perhaps most intriguing in this group is the multiverse theory, which

posits that there are multiple, perhaps infinite, universes interacting with
each other, with new universes joining the existing ones regularly [Turner, 2009].

Each of those universes has its own parameters, which control what
type of energy is created and in what proportions [Turner, 2009].

The multiverse theory, however, is widely criticised as being unscientific

due to the impossibility of testing its conjectures [Linde, 2016].

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Modern (lack of ) consensus

The view taken by many scientists today is that the universe is going
to infinitely expand, which precludes cyclic universe. Multiverse theory is
usually cast aside for the impossibility of testing its hypotheses. That leaves
two similar theories that are least objected to in the scientific community:
spontaneous emergence and quantum emergence.

Closing remarks

The one thing that is certain is that this will be an incredibly exciting
question to watch as we try to arrive at the truth. In the past 300 years, we
have gone from invoking the Creator for creating every piece of this world
to explaining some of the intermediate complexity, and today were at the
point where we have theories that explain the majority of the universe we
can observe, and we have tools that allow us to infer that what we observe
is the tip of the iceberg.

The question of the origin of the universe will perhaps be one of the last
frontiers of human inquiry, but the answer to the question could well flip
what we know upside down and open up a new area for exploration just as
Newtons gravity, Maxwells electromagnetism led us to General Relativity
and Quantum Mechanics.

What emerges as the answer to this question if there ever will be such
an answer will pose some spiritual questions, if not scientific ones:

How likely is a universe similar to ours to emerge, with its tendency to

coalesce into galaxies and its ability to support life?

Is this going to be the only universe we are going to be part of?

What does the origin of our universe mean for its fate?

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References
[Carroll and Chen, 2004] Carroll, S. M. and Chen, J. (2004). Spontaneous
inflation and the origin of the arrow of time.

[Linde, 2016] Linde, A. (2016). A brief history of the multiverse. Rept. Prog.
Phys., 80(2):022001.

[Moskowitz, 2014] Moskowitz, C. (2014). Advances: Our inflated universe.

Scientific American, 310(5):1414.

[Turner, 2009] Turner, M. S. (2009). Cosmology: Origin of the universe.

Scientific American, 301(3):3643.