Stephen Hawking’s final theory predicts universe isn’t infinite

  

Stephen Hawking’s final research paper detailing his last theory on the origin of the universe has just been published.

Not only does the study resolve some of the cosmic conundrums the late physicist was grappling with, but it also suggests a path to finding the existence of parallel universes.

The paper sees Hawking and his research partner on the project, US physicist Thomas Hertog, turning their backs on the eternal inflation theory.

This idea posits that our local universe came into existence with a brief burst of inflation that occurred a fraction of a second after the big bang and saw the universe expand at a rapid pace.

Further analysis suggested that this theory carried with it the implication that in some regions the universe is still expanding and will continue to grow infinitely.

In doing so, it creates multiverses: an endless supply of universes much like our own, populated with Earth-like planets, societies and even individuals that resemble us.

Others would be slightly different, perhaps with earth-like planets where extinction events like the Ice Age didn’t take place.

But while it puts forward an idea on how the universe began, it also raises a multitude of questions of its own.

The biggest of these paradoxes concerns the kind of universe we find ourselves in.

And the new paper, submitted just 10 days before Hawking’s death, sets out to solve this problem.

Scrapping the idea of internal inflation, it instead turns to string theory to predict that the universe is actually finite and far simpler than many current big bang theories indicate.

“The usual theory of eternal inflation predicts that globally our universe is like an infinite fractal, with a mosaic of different pocket universes, separated by an inflating ocean,” said Hawking in an interview last autumn.

“The local laws of physics and chemistry can differ from one pocket universe to another, which together would form a multiverse. But I have never been a fan of the multiverse. If the scale of different universes in the multiverse is large or infinite the theory can’t be tested. ”

String theory enables researchers to approach physics from a different angle.

And the breakthrough in the new Hartle-Hawking theory attempts to restore order to an otherwise chaotic view of the multiverse. It indicates that there can only be universes that match the laws of physics of our own.

Hertog claims that this idea will help physicists develop new observations of how other universes emerged.

And it could even help them to detect the presences of other universes by studying the microwave radiation left over by the Big Bang.

“We are not down to a single, unique universe, but our findings imply a significant reduction of the multiverse, to a much smaller range of possible universes,” said Hawking before his death.

The Sun/NY Post