Is the Universe simultaneously contracting and expanding?

[Brian]

I think using modern physical cosmology might be helpful...

 

We start with nothing. What that means, exactly, we can't really say because our rules and concepts and language break down, but that doesn't (and shouldn't, really) stop speculation.

 

Through some process or event we don't understand and probably never will, something suddenly appeared from nothing. That something was in the form of energy beyond comprehension (both in terms of magnitude and frequency, as well as in its very nature). We can try to affix numbers to it but we really can't wrap our heads around those numbers because the scale is so far beyond our familiarity. This energy was undistinguished -- there was no part unique from any other because differentiation had not yet begun. The framework of time & space began here but were an infinitesimal backdrop for a singularity which was both infinitesimal and all that is.

 

This homogenous uniformity began to expand and drop in frequency. After a very brief period (less than 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 seconds), this uniform oneness first differentiated. Gravity emerged. Matter didn't yet, however, so we are talking about quantum gravity (which we don't yet even have a theoretical understanding of). Gravity and the other thing -- that's two.

 

Fast-forward to about 0.000000000000000000000000000000000001 seconds from the initial "whatever happened" event and a second differentiation occurred. During this period, the universe grows about 26 orders of magnitude in size and cools by a factor of ten. The "other thing" I mention above, the portion of the universal energy which is not gravity, differentiates into two things. One of these two is what we currently call the strong nuclear force and it is what binds energy into matter. We are only talking protons and neutrons at this point, though, and the energy levels are still WAY too high for such binding to occur but the mechanics are in place. The other energy has not yet differentiated.

 

At roughly 0.000000000001 seconds from the start of our clock, the energy has cooled from somewhere over 100000000000000000000000000000000 degrees Kelvin (but we really don't know just how hot) at the very beginning to "only" 100000000000 degrees and another differentiation occurs. That undifferentiated energetic component cools enough to distinguish into the electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force. The electromagnetic force is what will manifest as light and the weak nuclear force is what will allow subatomic particles to bind into atoms but we are getting ahead of ourselves. This, BTW, is the approximate energy level and state we are currently able to replicate with the Large Hadron Collider.

 

Just for reference, we call the strong nuclear force "strong" because it is about a million times stronger than the weak nuclear force. To help put them in perspective, the strong force is about 137 times stronger than electromagnetic force and is 10³⁸ times stronger than gravity. (That's 100000000000000000000000000000000000000 times stronger (and, yes, I could have used exponential notation for the timeframes I identified above but the scale is more dramatic written out, I think.)) It is worth pointing out, I think, that gravity is almost inconceivably less powerful than the other three forces, and it is the only one which is purely attractive. The other three -- electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force -- are encompassed in our model of quantum electrodynamics. From a physical cosmology perspective, I think they are analogous to "the three" in Taoist cosmology, and collectively they are one of "the two" -- with gravity being the other side of the couplet. Gravity is the "Earth" force, the coalescing of matter, while the others are the generative aspect. It feels right to me.

 

OK, so now at roughly 0.000000000001 seconds after it all started, we have gravity and the other forces. The other forces are distinguished into three distinct forces. The building blocks are in place for everything we know in the material world -- the ten thousand things are ready to begin emerging.

 

Beginning roughly 10 seconds after the clock started ticking, photons emerge. Soon, as the universe continues to cool, protons and neutrons form, and then they join together to for atomic nuclei. As cooling continues, electrons start binding to nuclei and elemental matter starts to appear.

 

This, of course, is the simplified version -- the point I'm trying to make is the basic sequence. Nothing, something, something splits into two, one of these two splits twice more. Fundamentals in place, the manifest universe begins to emerge.

 

Models are always simplifications and two models originating from completely different perspectives are unlikely to match perfectly but I find the similarities to be striking.

Edited February 10, 2017 by Brian

[Brian]

As an aside, that first ridiculously small time interval I mentioned is what is called the Planck time, what we believe is the smallest interval of time -- sort of one tick of the universe's clock.

[dwai]

I saw an attempt to explaining the universe's evolution from nothing into everything back to nothing using thermodynamics. Was a pretty good show - called "Order and Disorder". Wasn't complete but came close enough - discerning minds can find the gaps...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_zrKyLemfg