Scientists believe that our understanding of the origin of our universe may need updating. The scientists described their reasoning in a new paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. According to them, our universe could not have started with the Big Bang, but with the Big Bounce.
That is, the universe was not born as a result of the exponential expansion of space-time from a small point after the explosion, but appeared after the previous phase of its existence ended, that is, it contracted, and then there was a rebound and a new known cosmos appeared, writes Futurism.
“Theoretically, cosmic inflation is designed to explain various problems in the model of the hot universe at the time of the Big Bang. It suggests that there was a very rapid expansion of space. It also explains the origin of structure in our universe as a result of quantum fluctuations,” says Sunny Vagnozzi of the University of Cambridge.
Is the Big Bang theory wrong?
But, according to Vagnozzi, there is still a chance to prove the Big Bang theory wrong, and for this it is necessary to better study the relic radiation that remained after the birth of the universe. This electromagnetic radiation is evidence of the early stages of the existence of space.
The European Space Agency’s Planck spacecraft began measuring relic radiation more than 10 years ago, but the results of the study immediately seemed a little suspicious to scientists.
“The results were presented as proof of cosmic inflation. However, some of us argued that the results could show the opposite,” says Avi Loeb of Harvard University.
Was there another universe before the Big Bang?
According to Loeb, the actual observed edge of the universe is at the distance that any signal could have traveled at the speed of light in 13.8 billion years, since the universe was born. But due to the expansion of space, this region is now 46.5 billion light years away.
“It’s like an archaeological dig, but only in space. The more data we get, the earlier layer of cosmic history we uncover, before the Big Bang, which is the last horizon of excavation. What lies beyond this horizon is unknown,” says Loeb.
Therefore, scientists believe that it is necessary to look much further into the history of space to learn about the nature of the universe shortly after the Big Bang.
“But what happened before this event is very difficult to predict, because for this we need a probable theory of quantum gravity, which we do not have,” says Loeb.
Relic radiation that is difficult to detect
But this does not stop scientists and they suggest looking for relic radiation of gravitons. It is a hypothetical massless elementary particle that can explain gravitational interactions. Accordingly, this radiation will consist of freely moving gravitons.
Scientists believe that relic radiation from gravitons may have existed immediately after the universe began, but the Big Bang theory suggests that this radiation has dissipated and is undetectable.
According to the authors of the article, if it is possible to detect this radiation, it is possible to completely exclude the Big Bang as a theory of the birth of the universe. But so far this radiation is impossible to detect due to the insufficient development of technologies, but it may happen in the future, scientists believe.
