Related papers: The eternal recurrence today
The recent discovery that Einstein once attempted - and quickly abandoned - a steady-state model of the expanding universe sheds new light on his philosophical journey from static to dynamic cosmologies.
After a survey of the present state of cosmological theory and observations, this article discusses a series of major themes underlying the relation of philosophy to cosmology. These are: A: The uniqueness of the universe; B: The large…
It is a remarkable fact that all processes occurring in the observable Universe are irreversible, whereas the equations through which the fundamental laws of physics are formulated are invariant under time reversal. The emergence of…
Time can be defined as the duration between events. It is irreversible. When used as a variable in quantifying the changing properties of matter, this irreversibility of time is incompatible with Newton's deterministic mechanics and with…
We propose a cosmological model in which the universe undergoes an endless sequence of cosmic epochs each beginning with a `bang' and ending in a `crunch.' The temperature and density are finite at each transition from crunch to bang.…
The evolution of theoretical physics in the XX century differs significantly from that in XVII-XIX centuries. While continuous progress is observed for theoretical physics in XVII-XIX centuries, modern physics contains many questions that…
WMAP and Planck open the way to unprecedented Big Bang phenomenology, potentially allowing to test the standard Big Bang model as well as less conventional approaches including noncyclic pre-Big Bang cosmologies that would incorporate a new…
From a modern perspective cosmology is a historical science in so far that it deals with the development of the universe since its origin some 14 billion years ago. The origin itself may not be subject to scientific analysis and…
We present a historical review of Einstein's 1917 paper 'Cosmological Considerations in the General Theory of Relativity' to mark the centenary of a key work that set the foundations of modern cosmology. We find that the paper followed as a…
We explore a cyclic universe due to phantom and quintessence fields. We find that, in every cycle of the evolution of the universe, the phantom dominates the cosmic early history and quintessence dominates the cosmic far future. In this…
We overview our recent studies of cosmological models with expansion and global rotation. Problems of the early rotating models are discussed, and the class of new viable cosmologies is described in detail. Particular attention is paid to…
We track the evolution of entropy and black holes in a cyclic universe that undergoes repeated intervals of expansion followed by slow contraction and a smooth (non-singular) bounce. In this kind of cyclic scenario, there is no big crunch…
We "explain", using a Classical approach, how the Universe was created out of "nothing", i.e., with no input of initial energy. This is a Universe with no-initial infinite singularity of energy density.
It is only human nature to be reluctant to accept something new and different. This feeling is exacerbated given the success of the Big Bang model. However, there are cogent reasons for considering this new model. Some of the advantages of…
I examine some recent findings in cosmology and their potential implications for the emergence of life in the universe. In particular, I discuss the requirements for carbon-based life, anthropic considerations with respect to the nature of…
``One could imagine that as a result of enormously extended astronomical experience, the entire universe consists of countless identical copies of our Milky Way, that the infinite space can be partitioned into cubes each containing an…
The implications of the original misunderstanding of the etymology of the word "ergodic" are discussed, and the contents of a not too well known paper by Boltzmann are critically examined. The connection with the modern theory of Ruelle is…
Is the universe digital or analog? In this essay I argue that both classical and quantum physics include limits that prevent us from definitively answering that question. That quantum physics does so is no surprise. That classical physics…
The need for revolution in modern physics is a well known and often broached subject, however, the precision and success of current models narrows the possible changes to such a great degree that there appears to be no major change…
New Planck scale physics may solve the singularity problems of classical general relativity and may lead to interesting consequences for very early Universe cosmology. Two approaches to these questions are reviewed in this article. The…