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Cyclic Universe
A cyclic model (or oscillating model) is any of several cosmological models in which the universe follows infinite, or indefinite, self-sustaining cycles. For example, the oscillating universe theory briefly considered by Albert Einstein in 1930 theorized a universe following an eternal series of oscillations, each beginning with a Big Bang and ending with a Big Crunch; in the interim, the universe would expand for a period of time before the gravitational attraction of matter causes it to collapse back in and undergo a bounce. Overview In the 1920s, theoretical physicists, most notably Albert Einstein, noted the possibility of a cyclic model for the universe as an (everlasting) alternative to the model of an expanding universe. In 1922, Alexander Friedmann introduced the Oscillating Universe Theory. However, work by Richard C. Tolman in 1934 showed that these early attempts failed because of the cyclic problem: according to the second law of thermodynamics, entropy can only i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmological Model
Physical cosmology is a branch of cosmology concerned with the study of cosmological models. A cosmological model, or simply cosmology, provides a description of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and allows study of fundamental questions about its origin, structure, evolution, and ultimate fate.For an overview, see Cosmology as a science originated with the Copernican principle, which implies that celestial bodies obey identical physical laws to those on Earth, and Newtonian mechanics, which first allowed those physical laws to be understood. Physical cosmology, as it is now understood, began in 1915 with the development of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, followed by major observational discoveries in the 1920s: first, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe contains a huge number of external galaxies beyond the Milky Way; then, work by Vesto Slipher and others showed that the universe is expanding. These advances made it possi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, world's third-oldest university in continuous operation. The university's founding followed the arrival of scholars who left the University of Oxford for Cambridge after a dispute with local townspeople. The two ancient university, ancient English universities, although sometimes described as rivals, share many common features and are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge. In 1231, 22 years after its founding, the university was recognised with a royal charter, granted by Henry III of England, King Henry III. The University of Cambridge includes colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 semi-autonomous constituent colleges and List of institutions of the University of Cambridge#Schools, Faculties, and Departments, over 150 academic departm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horizon Problem
The horizon problem (also known as the homogeneity problem) is a cosmological fine-tuning problem within the Big Bang model of the universe. It arises due to the difficulty in explaining the observed homogeneity of causally disconnected regions of space in the absence of a mechanism that sets the same initial conditions everywhere. It was first pointed out by Wolfgang Rindler in 1956. The most commonly accepted solution is cosmic inflation. Different solutions propose a cyclic universe or a variable speed of light. Background Astronomical distances and particle horizons The distances of observable objects in the night sky correspond to times in the past. We use the light-year (the distance light can travel in the time of one Earth year) to describe these cosmological distances. A galaxy measured at ten billion light-years appears to us as it was ten billion years ago, because the light has taken that long to travel to the observer. If one were to look at a galaxy ten bill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monopole Problem
In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation, or just inflation, is a theory of exponential expansion of space in the very early universe. Following the inflationary period, the universe continued to expand, but at a slower rate. The re-acceleration of this slowing expansion due to dark energy began after the universe was already over 7.7 billion years old (5.4 billion years ago). Inflation theory was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with notable contributions by several theoretical physicists, including Alexei Starobinsky at Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Alan Guth at Cornell University, and Andrei Linde at Lebedev Physical Institute. Starobinsky, Guth, and Linde won the 2014 Kavli Prize "for pioneering the theory of cosmic inflation". It was developed further in the early 1980s. It explains the origin of the large-scale structure of the cosmos. Quantum fluctuations in the microscopic inflationary region, magnified to cosmic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Energy
In physical cosmology and astronomy, dark energy is a proposed form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales. Its primary effect is to drive the accelerating expansion of the universe. It also slows the rate of structure formation. Assuming that the lambda-CDM model of cosmology is correct, dark energy dominates the universe, contributing 68% of the total energy in the present-day observable universe while dark matter and Baryon#Baryonic matter, ordinary (baryonic) matter contribute 27% and 5%, respectively, and other components such as neutrinos and photons are nearly negligible.Sean Carroll, Ph.D., Caltech, 2007, The Teaching Company, ''Dark Matter, Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe'', Guidebook Part 2. p. 46. Retrieved 7 October 2013, "...dark energy: A smooth, persistent component of invisible energy, thought to make up about 70 percent of the energy density of the universe. Dark energy is smooth because it doesn't accumulate preferentially in galaxi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantum Fluctuation
In quantum physics, a quantum fluctuation (also known as a vacuum state fluctuation or vacuum fluctuation) is the temporary random change in the amount of energy in a point in space, as prescribed by Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. They are minute random fluctuations in the values of the fields which represent elementary particles, such as electric and magnetic fields which represent the electromagnetic force carried by photons, W and Z fields which carry the weak force, and gluon fields which carry the strong force. The uncertainty principle states the uncertainty in energy and time can be related by \Delta E \, \Delta t \geq \tfrac\hbar~, where ≈ . This means that pairs of virtual particles with energy \Delta E and lifetime shorter than \Delta t are continually created and annihilated in ''empty'' space. Although the particles are not directly detectable, the cumulative effects of these particles are measurable. For example, without quantum fluctuations, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Branes
In string theory and related theories (such as supergravity), a brane is a physical object that generalizes the notion of a zero-dimensional point particle, a one-dimensional string, or a two-dimensional membrane to higher-dimensional objects. Branes are dynamical objects which can propagate through spacetime according to the rules of quantum mechanics. They have mass and can have other attributes such as charge. Mathematically, branes can be represented within categories, and are studied in pure mathematics for insight into homological mirror symmetry and noncommutative geometry. The word "brane" originated in 1987 as a contraction of "membrane". ''p''-branes A point particle is a 0-brane, of dimension zero; a string, named after vibrating musical strings, is a 1-brane; a membrane, named after vibrating membranes such as drumheads, is a 2-brane. The corresponding object of arbitrary dimension ''p'' is called a ''p''-brane, a term coined by M. J. Duff ''et al.'' in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Membrane (M-Theory)
In string theory and related theories (such as supergravity), a brane is a physical object that generalizes the notion of a zero-dimensional point particle, a one-dimensional String (physics), string, or a two-dimensional membrane to higher-dimensional objects. Branes are dynamical system, dynamical objects which can propagate through spacetime according to the rules of quantum mechanics. They have mass and can have other attributes such as Charge (physics) , charge. Mathematically, branes can be represented within Category (mathematics) , categories, and are studied in pure mathematics for insight into homological mirror symmetry and noncommutative geometry. The word "brane" originated in 1987 as a contraction of "membrane". ''p''-branes A point particle is a 0-brane, of dimension zero; a string, named after vibrating string (music), musical strings, is a 1-brane; a membrane, named after acoustic membrane, vibrating membranes such as drumheads, is a 2-brane. The correspond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orbifold
In the mathematical disciplines of topology and geometry, an orbifold (for "orbit-manifold") is a generalization of a manifold. Roughly speaking, an orbifold is a topological space that is locally a finite group quotient of a Euclidean space. Definitions of orbifold have been given several times: by Ichirō Satake in the context of automorphic forms in the 1950s under the name ''V-manifold''; by William Thurston in the context of the geometry of 3-manifolds in the 1970s when he coined the name ''orbifold'', after a vote by his students; and by André Haefliger in the 1980s in the context of Mikhail Gromov's programme on CAT(k) spaces under the name ''orbihedron''. Historically, orbifolds arose first as surfaces with singular points long before they were formally defined. One of the first classical examples arose in the theory of modular forms with the action of the modular group \mathrm(2,\Z) on the upper half-plane: a version of the Riemann–Roch theorem holds after the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loop Quantum Cosmology
Loop quantum cosmology (LQC) is a Wikt:finite, finite, symmetry (physics), symmetry-reduced model of loop quantum gravity (Loop quantum gravity, LQG) that predicts a "quantum bridge" between contracting and expanding cosmology, cosmological branches. The distinguishing feature of LQC is the prominent role played by the quantum geometry effects of loop quantum gravity (LQG). In particular, quantum geometry creates a brand new repulsive force which is totally negligible at low space-time curvature but rises very rapidly in the Planck scale, Planck regime, overwhelming the classical gravitational attraction and thereby resolving General relativity#Singularities, singularities of general relativity. Once singularities are resolved, the conceptual paradigm of cosmology changes and one has to revisit many of the standard issues—e.g., the "horizon problem"—from a new perspective. Since LQG is based on a specific quantum theory of Riemannian geometry, geometric observables display a fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conformal Cyclic Cosmology
Conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC) is a cosmological model in the framework of general relativity and proposed by the theoretical physicist Roger Penrose. In CCC, the universe iterates through infinite cycles, with the future timelike infinity (i.e. the latest end of any possible timescale evaluated for any point in space) of each previous iteration being identified with the Big Bang singularity of the next. Penrose popularized this theory in his 2010 book ''Cycles of Time: An Extraordinary New View of the Universe''. Basic construction Penrose's basic construction is to connect a countable sequence of open Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric (FLRW) spacetimes, each representing a Big Bang followed by an infinite future expansion. Penrose noticed that the past conformal boundary of one copy of FLRW spacetime can be "attached" to the future conformal boundary of another, after an appropriate conformal rescaling. In particular, each individual FLRW metric g_ is mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795, making it the oldest public university in the United States, oldest public university in the United States. The university offers degrees in over 70 courses of study and is administratively divided into 13 separate professional schools and a primary unit, the College of Arts & Sciences. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU). The National Science Foundation ranked UNC–Chapel Hill ninth among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2023 with $1.5 billion. Its Financial endowment, endowment is $5.7 billion, making it the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
