8. ABOUT THE BLOG READING PATTERN

This research blog site of mine was created in 2009 when I was in the last year of my engineering college life. But later I deleted my blog posts created in 2009 and rearranged those in 2010 to make everything in order by numbering those because I did not know how blogger site worked back then. For those who are interested in reading this blog site - the reading pattern to be followed in this blog is - starting from 1.THE BEGINNING – A COSMOLOGICAL MODEL, follow an ascending order while reading the posts. That is- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Please never start from the last one and then go backwards or start reading from between. Please follow this order while reading - start from 1, then 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and so on.

7. ABOUT THE NAME VFT (VACUUM FIELD THEORY)

                         The hypothetical concepts given in this blog in the name “Vacuum Field Theory” are my own (Jyothiraj. R’s) concepts and are not taken from or copied from anywhere. These are the fruits of my own research in cosmology. It must be mentioned here because another concept by the name “Vacuum Field Theory” by Mr. G. Gemedjiev exists which is about a field theory regarding two basic states of vacuum, published in 2004. My concept named “Vacuum Field Theory” is actually related to the origin of the universe and bears no resemblance to Mr. Gemedjiev’s theory. It is such that just the names coincide because I could not find a better name for my concept and I was unaware of the existence of a concept named “Vacuum Field Theory”. It must also be mentioned here that my concept is hypothetical in nature, the validity of which will be clarified in the future only…

6. PREDICTIONS OF VFT

The main predictions of VFT are given as follows:

1) The concept of No Space (absence of space) before big bang is wrong. Space was present before the big bang or to say space was present before the beginning of time.

2) Energy was existent in the universe before the big bang or before the beginning of time. It was potential energy and existed mainly in the form of vacuum fields.

3) There were two types of space present in the pre-big bang universe. They were:

 a) space without vacuum energy density, also called no-energy space and               

 b) space with vacuum energy density, also called the normal space.

Today also these two types of space exist in the universe. But the no-energy space exists only outside the normal space with energy.

4) Law of Conservation of Space – “Space cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be compressed or expanded (both not possible manually). On compression, its energy content increases (inbuilt energy like vacuum energy or to say its energy density increases) and on expansion, its energy content decreases but both these changes are negligible and observable on cosmic scales only.” It can also be stated as – “In a cosmic event involving the compression or expansion of space, the amount of space is always conserved.”

5) As matter and energy are equivalent (by the relation E=mc^2), if matter is able to exert gravity then so must energy.

6) If matter is able to exert gravity then so must energy which means that energy must also be able to curve space (spacetime) like matter. Example of this is Quasars which are very high energy sources and which can actually curve the space (spacetime) around them.

7) Gravity was present in the pre-big bang universe. But it was not the ordinary kind of weak gravity that we observe today but a strong and more dominant form of interaction.

8) In the pre-big bang universe, energy could exert gravitational pull on energy surrounding it and condense that region to increase its energy density thus making energy-energy interaction possible.

9) Total energy of the universe before big bang is equal to the total energy of the universe after big bang. It is nothing but the application and consequence of the law of conservation of energy. This universal law implies that our universe is essentially a zero-energy universe with the positive energy of all matter and radiations being balanced by an equal amount of negative gravitational energy. Since the total energy of our universe is zero, the problem of appearance of energy out of nothing which seems to violate the law of conservation of energy is avoided.

UPDATED CONCEPTS-INCLUDING SOME NEW CONCEPTS

EXISTENCE OF SPACE BEFORE BIG BANG

                             We all know the Law of Conservation of Energy which is a universal law applicable to all phases of the universe. It states that – “Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. It can only be converted from one form to another.” The initial singularity of the universe had an enormous amount of energy within it which was the total energy of the universe. The present day cosmology assumes that the total energy of the universe along with space, time, fundamental interactions including gravity, matter and radiations were all “created out of nothing.”

                              According to VFH, this assumption is wrong as it assumes the existence of space before big bang. This space existed in the absence of time and so in the absence of spacetime continuum. It was space only, not spacetime. So we will call it as the pre-big bang space or the pre-big bang vacuum.

                       Space was present in the universe before the big bang. It was not created from anywhere. A similar law like Law of Conservation of Energy must be applicable to space also which will be called the “Law of Conservation of Space.” The latest and the most important concept – “Law of Conservation of Space” is introduced here to account for the existence of space prior to big bang. It is also a hypothetical concept like VFH.

LAW OF CONSERVATION OF SPACE

                             Space is not a quantity to be measured. But if we consider the amount of space (density of space) as a quantity that can be measured, we can state the Law of Conservation of Space just like the Law of Conservation of Energy. It can be stated as – “Space cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be compressed or expanded (both not possible manually). On compression, its energy content increases (inbuilt energy like vacuum energy or to say its energy density increases) and on expansion, its energy content decreases but both these changes are negligible and observable on cosmic scales only.” It can also be stated as – “In a cosmic event involving the compression or expansion of space, the amount of space is always conserved.”

TYPES OF SPACE – UPDATED

                                     One of the predictions of VFT was about the two types of space – a) Space without vacuum energy density also called no-energy space and b) Space with vacuum energy density also called the normal space.

                                      Of these, normal space is that space which is supposed to begin with the big bang singularity. It is that space which is curved by the presence of matter. But it was present before the big bang itself (but this space with energy existed only in other universes that existed outside our universe). The type of space for which the Law of Conservation of Space is applicable is the normal space or space with vacuum energy density. The normal space or space with energy was present before the big bang (in other universes before the creation of our universe) and it was the type of space inside the big bang singularity which had almost an infinite curvature and energy density. After the big bang, it expanded and that expansion is continuing now also at an accelerated pace.

                                      The no-energy space or the space without energy is that type of space which existed outside the big bang singularity. The region outside the big bang singularity can be called as ‘emptiness’ or ‘nothing’. It was devoid of space (normal space) and energy. That’s why it is called space without energy or no-energy space. Still it is called space because spatial dimensions can be taken or measured in that type of space also.

CREATION OF THE INITIAL SINGULARITY – UPDATED

                                Earlier I assumed that the singularity or the primordial patch of spacetime was created by the action of gravity on vacuum fields containing energy. But that assumption is unnecessary and actually violates the law of conservation of energy instead of obeying it. This is because existence of vacuum fields containing energy before the big bang will require an explanation for creation/appearance of those vacuum fields. Therefore we cannot assume that the vacuum fields simply existed indefinitely but were also created once according to the law of conservation of energy. The solution for this problem here is the most important notions of a zero-energy universe and that of existence of multiverses (multiple universes). Both will be explained in later blogposts.

Our universe is a zero-energy universe and initially our big bang singularity or the primordial patch of spacetime was created from no-space or space with zero energy, the mechanism of that creation we don't know yet and for explaining which the formalism of Quantum Gravity is required. Actually from the initial zero energy universe, the spacetime patch containing a finite amount of energy in the form of scalar fields was created. The rest of the events are explained by inflation theory as given in the first two blogposts are - the initial singularity or the primordial patch of spacetime contained vacuum fields within it which fluctuated and temporarily got stuck at a value. These stuck scalar fields gave rise to a bubble of false vacuum which contained within it a huge amount of anti-gravitational energy. This antigravitational  energy was actually cancelled by the build up of an equal amount of gravitational energy so that the net effect was zero. As the bubble expanded the energy density within it remained constant. So, as the bubble expanded in size its energy content increased. This energy thus formed is the total energy of our universe containing matter and radiations. Later the bubble decayed releasing the energy contained within in the form of an exploding fireball which then banged to create the universe.

CONCLUDING REMARKS ON VFT

                                  VFT assumes that space was present in the universe before the big bang and time began only later. This assumption actually takes into account that- the ‘emptiness’ (nothing) surrounding the primordial patch to be space itself (space without inbuilt energy content) since spatial dimensions can be taken or measured in that ‘emptiness’ also.

                                   According to the present day cosmology, space and time came together as a patch of spacetime which was the beginning of time. There must be “something special” which makes that space different from the surrounding ‘emptiness’ (nothing). That “something special” must be like the good old ‘ether’ (just for comparison, not actually) which was supposed to fill the entire universe but was later proved non-existent. That “something special” must be something like the presence of ‘Higgs field’ or some other similar object or parameter which actually differentiates the primordial patch of spacetime from the surrounding emptiness. Actually that “something special” must now remain everywhere throughout the space of the universe which is continuing its expansion.

5. THE BEGINNING OF TIME – REVISED

                   The previous blog posts have already explained the origin and evolution of the universe which include the creation of the primordial patch of spacetime, changes (events) that occurred in the primordial patch which led to the big bang and the universe after the big bang. But in those blog posts, the beginning of time is not clearly pinpointed even though it has generally been described about. The purpose of this blog post is to describe clearly about the beginning of time. When was the actual beginning of time?

                    As mentioned in the first blog post, the possible answers are – with the creation of the primordial patch of spacetime, with the nucleation of the bubble of false vacuum, with the decay of the bubble releasing the enormous amount of energy contained in it and with the very instant of the bang.

                 Time is relative. There must be an observable reference for the measurement of time. We cannot determine the age of an object or an event if it is unobservable. So the beginning of time must be the first observable change that took place in the universe – which of course was the creation of the primordial patch of spacetime.

                  Before big bang there was space and there was energy but these were in the absence of time. The normal space that we observe has a vacuum energy density associated with it i.e. the ground state energy of that space is not zero or to say the vacuum expectation value of normal space is not zero. This simply means that for normal space, the lowest energy state is not zero. In VFT, there are two types of space – 1) space with vacuum energy density (non-zero ground state energy) called the normal space with energy and 2) space without vacuum energy density called no-energy space or space without energy. In the pre-big bang phase, space with energy got condensed by the action of gravity to form the initial singularity. The region outside the singularity was no-energy space or space without energy. In the post-big bang phase, space with energy expands into the regions of no-energy space.                 

SOME IMPORTANT QUERIES AND ANSWERS

1)  The universe cannot be oscillatory which existed for an infinite time. Why?

                   An oscillatory universe which expands and contracts in continuous cycles, existing for almost an infinite time is not possible as it contradicts the second law of thermodynamics which states that entropy (measure of disorder) increases with time. In an oscillatory universe, entropy increases with each oscillation and reaches the maximum so that it cannot oscillate further. Thus it is not possible for the universe to be oscillatory i.e. oscillating for an infinite period of time.

2) Events before the big bang have no observational consequences. Why?

                    The beginning of the universe was a singularity of infinite density where all the laws of physics (except the law of conservation of energy) would break down. So what was present before the big bang cannot actually influence the post-big bang universe because at the singularity all the laws of the pre-big bang universe and generally speaking, all the laws of physics broke down. So to explain what happened before big bang one must explain the singularity, the physics governing it and also the creation of the singularity from the pre-big bang vacuum fields.

3) The laws of the pre-big bang universe or what was present in the pre-big bang universe could not influence the post-big bang universe. Why?                    

                     This is because there was a break (discontinuity) in between in the form of a singularity at which all the known laws of physics (except the law of conservation of energy) broke down so that there were no laws or to say unknown laws that could govern the singularity. Laws of physics could be applied only after the big bang to create all the matter and radiations now seen in this world. Thus the laws of physics which applied to the pre-big bang universe (special set of laws as time was absent during those events) broke down at the singularity and so could not affect the post-big bang universe. For this reason what was there before big bang had no observational consequences in the post-big bang universe. But the laws of the pre-big bang universe could have affected the singularity. To understand more about that we need to develop the formalism of Quantum Gravity for which active research is going on. We can hope that this mystery will be solved soon…