New String-Theory Notion Redefines the Big Bang

PhysOrg.com ^ | 31 March 2006 | Laura Mgrdichian

[VadeRetro]

But, either way, if it was unstable it must have been unstable before.

Not if there's no before. Which is a problem in itself, the way my brane brain works.

[RightWhale]

If something is unstable it must have existence in time. If time began with the Big Bang, then instability would not have been a factor.

[taxesareforever]

I'll be pondering the string theory of bikinis at the beach.......What would happen if I pulled that string?........

Sure hope its not the same as when you pull my finger.:)

[VadeRetro]

If time began with the Big Bang, then instability would not have been a factor.

Then nothing was unstable and nothing happened. Never mind.

[RightWhale]

Nothing happened. That's probably correct. Inflation and quantum microvariation probably explain some present observations, but that wouldn't imply that is necessarily what actually happened.

[DeFault User]

Reading about string theory will give a guy a serious headache.

You're not kidding. How many dimensions are we up to now to make the math work, 10?, 11? I have enough trouble with 4 and that time dimension keeps speeding up.

[PatrickHenry]

Here's a link to the abstract in Physical Review Letters, which isn't very informative. Getting the article itself requires a subscription:
Brane Decay and an Initial Spacelike Singularity.

[RightWhale]

It's 26 and time is not a dimension.

[theFIRMbss]

>The only string theory I know about is ...

I'm looking for grants
for string bikini research . . .
Big bang theory rules!

[MooseMan]

String theory hurts my brane!

[LibWhacker]

Hoo, boy... Okay, how big was this brane before it decomposed? As big, or nearly as big, as the present universe -- or are they sticking with the mathematical point beginnings of the universe and superluminal expansion? Why was the brane unstable? Exactly HOW did it ("it" presumably being pure "unstable" space but not matter) decompose into an innumerable bunch of tiny closed strings (i.e., actual matter), etc.? Not annoyed at this new theory. Just fascinated and awed at it all.

[VadeRetro]

A spacelike singularity at t₀. Yes. That would do it, obviously.

[llevrok]

No mention of the black hole as this is a family site.

[King Prout]

this stuff always makes my head hurt

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Not brand brand new...I've been stumbling over the occasional article leading in this direction.

We will see.

String theory. So much promise. So much frustration. It ties one up in knots.

[No2much3]

Would someone explain where the Void came from for all of this to occur in. If our Universal space has no boundary then how can anything else outside our universe exist? If there are borders to our universe, what happens when we reach the limit. One last question. Does time differ on a Universe, Galaxy, Solar System if it is expanding or contracting.

[Wiz]

ping