The Universe Keeps Dying and Being Reborn, Claims Nobel Prize Winner

 

Hawking Points, eight times the Moon’s diameter, may be remnants of earlier universes.

Key Takeaways

1. Nobel laureate Sir Roger Penrose suggests the universe undergoes continuous cycles of rebirth.
2. His theory, “conformal cyclic cosmology” (CCC), posits that the Big Bang was not the beginning.
3. Evidence includes “Hawking Points” in the cosmic microwave background, remnants of past universes.
4. Penrose’s work connects evaporating black holes with cyclic universe models, aligning with Hawking’s theories.
5. The theory is controversial, challenging the mainstream view of the Big Bang as the universe’s true start.

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The Universe’s Endless Cycle of Rebirth

Sir Roger Penrose, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and mathematician, has proposed a groundbreaking theory that our universe is part of an infinite cycle of Big Bangs and cosmic rebirths. Known as “conformal cyclic cosmology” (CCC), his theory challenges the conventional view of the Big Bang as the universe’s starting point. According to Penrose, the universe will expand until all matter decays, leading to another Big Bang and the birth of a new cosmos.

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In an interview with The Telegraph, Penrose stated, “The Big Bang was not the beginning. There was something before the Big Bang, and that something is what we will have in our future.” His ideas are backed by observations of six unusual “Hawking Points” in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). These hot spots, about eight times larger than the Moon, could be remnants of black holes that evaporated in earlier universes, validating some of Stephen Hawking’s theories about black hole radiation.

Hot spots in Planck CMB data. Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration

Evidence and Controversy

Penrose’s recent studies, including a 2020 paper published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, cite data from the Planck satellite that highlights anomalous temperature spots in the CMB. These findings were supported by over 10,000 simulations. Earlier work in 2018 identified radiation hot spots in the CMB that may have originated from black holes evaporating at the end of previous universes. A 2010 paper co-authored with Vahe Gurzadyan proposed that concentric temperature rings in the CMB indicated gravitational waves caused by black hole collisions in past universes.

Despite the intriguing evidence, CCC remains controversial. Critics argue that reconciling an infinitely large universe at the end of one cycle with the super-condensed state of the next Big Bang is problematic. This would require all particles in the universe to lose mass as it ages. However, Penrose believes that the anomalous data in the CMB strongly supports his theory.

Penrose, who shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on black holes and general relativity, continues to explore radical ideas, including quantum-level origins of consciousness. His cyclic universe theory, if proven correct, could redefine our understanding of cosmology and the universe’s eternal nature.