Ultimate fate of the Universe Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Many religions have postulated an end to the Universe. According to some, the end of the world will cause the end of the Universe. See the article on eschatology for discussion of these issues. This article is about scientific theories of the end of the Universe.
Either the Universe will exist forever, or it will cease to exist at some time. It is unknown which of these possibilities will hold true. It is also not known whether the Universe will continue to support life.
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2 Infinite time, but finite lifespan 3 Finite time and lifespan 4 Life in a mortal Universe 5 Popular culture 6 See also 7 External links 8 Recommended reading |
Scientific theories
Until fairly recent times, the scientific view of the Universe was of an eternal and unchanging existence. After Edwin Hubble's discovery of universal expansion, however, the notion of a beginning and a possible end became an important subject of scientific investigation.
The beginning of the Universe is most commonly referred to as the Big Bang. Theories about the end can be divided into five major groups:
- Despite observations, the Universe is eternal as believed before.
- The Big Bang was preceded by a Big Crunch and the Universe will eventually undergo another Big Crunch and Big Bang.
- Our universe may end, but it is only one amongst numerous others which are not, as a collection, subject to physical laws that could cause a total end.
- The Universe will not end, but its contents will reach a uniform equilibrium which renders life impossible.
- The Universe will end in some way.
The first three groups are not discussed in this article, as they nullify the very concept of an "ending of the Universe". In such theories, some kind of meaningful activity can last forever.
Infinite time, but finite lifespan
In an open Universe, General Relativity shows that the Universe can exist indefinitely in the future, but will settle down into a state where life as we know it will cease to exist; for a possible timeline based on current physical theories, see 1 E19 s and more.
In 2003, New Scientist magazine reported a preprint by Robert R. Caldwell, Marc Kamionkowski and Nevin N. Weinberg which puts forward the hypothesis that the end of the Universe may occur as a "Big Rip", which will shred the physical structure of the Universe.
In this model, a cosmological constant causes the Universe's rate of expansion to accelerate. Taken to the extreme, an ever-accelerating expansion means that all physical objects in the Universe, starting with galaxies and down to individual human beings, bacteria, and grains of sand, will eventually be torn to pieces and then to elementary particles. The Universe will be then reduced to single elementary particles forever accelerating away from one another.
The Big Crunch theory is a symmetrical view of the life of the Universe. Just as the Big Bang started a cosmological expansion, this theory postulates that the average density of the Universe is enough to stop its expansion and begin a cosm-wide contraction.
It is unknown what the end result would be: a simple extrapolation would have all the matter and space-time in the Universe collapse into a dimensionless singularity, but at these scales quantum effects should be considered. Some people use this opportunity to postulate an oscillatory Universe, that starts again to expand. Indeed, if symmetry is to be followed, it is meaningless to make a distinction between a Big Crunch and a Big Bang, and so any endpoint may progress to a new universe.
The reverse is true for a civilization finding itself in the middle of the Big Crunch. Here, an effectively infinite amount of subjective time can be extracted from the finite remaining time, using the enormous energy of the Crunch to "speed up" life faster than the limit is approaching. (see Frank J. Tipler's Omega point)
Even if possible in theory, it is unclear whether these possibilities could practically be developed by any civilization, regardless of technological advancement. However, effective solutions may become indistinguishable from the present state of our universe.
Recent work in fields such as inflationary cosmology, string theory, and quantum mechanics has pushed the debate into an entirely distinct realm from the scenarios discussed in Dyson's and Tipler's hypotheses. Physicists such as Eric Chaisson and David Layzer have noted that an increasing "entropy gap" arises in an expanding spacetime, casting doubt on the heat death hypothesis. In conjunction with work by Ilya Prigogine on far-from-equilibrium thermodynamics, their analysis suggests that the gap itself may contribute to information and the formation of structure.
Meanwhile, physicists such as Andrei Linde, Alan Guth, Edward Harrison, and Ernest Sternglass have demonstrated that inflationary cosmology strongly suggests the presence of a multiverse, and that it would be practical even with today's knowledge for intelligent beings to de novo generate and transmit information into a distinct universe. Moreover, recent theoretical work on the unresolved quantum gravity problem and the Holographic Principle has indicated that traditional physical quantities may possibly themselves be describable in terms of exchanges of information, which in turn raises questions about the applicability of older cosmic models.
This is an Article on Ultimate fate of the Universe. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Ultimate fate of the Universe Finite time and lifespan
Life in a mortal Universe
Some well-known physicists have speculated that an advanced civilization could use a finite amount of energy to survive for an effectively infinite amount of time. The strategy is to have brief periods of activity, alternated by longer and longer periods of hibernation (see Dyson's eternal intelligence for more information).Popular culture
Several science fiction authors and humorists have written parodies involving the end of the Universe.See also
External links
Recommended reading