There's a lot of evidence to suggest that, just a tiny fraction of a
second after the Big Bang, the infant universe went through a fantastic
growth spurt. The phase itself lasted only a fraction of a second, but
it’s responsible for the universe we see now. Even the particles that
make up stars and humans alike were created from its energy.
The trouble is, according to most theories of cosmic inflation, the growth spurt never really stopped. Though our pocket of space, what we call our universe, might have stopped its exponential expansion, the overall universe never stopped stretching.
Now, in a paper published by Stephen Hawking (posthumously) and his colleague Thomas Hertog (University of Leuven, Belgium) in the Journal of High Energy Physics, the scientists turn that picture on its head, arguing that we need to rethink our universe’s beginnings. Applying quantum and string theory to a simplified mathematical model of the universe, Hawking and Hertog conclude that cosmic inflation isn’t eternal after all.
The trouble is, according to most theories of cosmic inflation, the growth spurt never really stopped. Though our pocket of space, what we call our universe, might have stopped its exponential expansion, the overall universe never stopped stretching.
Now, in a paper published by Stephen Hawking (posthumously) and his colleague Thomas Hertog (University of Leuven, Belgium) in the Journal of High Energy Physics, the scientists turn that picture on its head, arguing that we need to rethink our universe’s beginnings. Applying quantum and string theory to a simplified mathematical model of the universe, Hawking and Hertog conclude that cosmic inflation isn’t eternal after all.