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Where did Time come from?

24 July 2010
Astronomy

At www.dailygalaxy.com July 22nd we also have a piece with the title, ‘Did we inherit Time from an earlier universe?’ (which includes a video clip). A team of physicists studying the cosmic microwave background, light emitted when the universe was a mere 400,000 years of age, have claimed our view of the early universe may contain the signature of a time before the Big Bang. Their discovery may help explain why we experience Time moving in a straight line from yesterday into tomorrow. The cosmic microwave background is relic radiation in their opinion, and fills the entire universe – and it is regarded as conclusive proof that the Big Bang really happened.

Caltech researchers have suggested that small fluctuation in the cosmic background radiation indicate our universe ‘bubbled off’ from a previous universe and they have developed a computer simulation into how this might have happened. The model indicates universes could be created spontaneously from empty space. The inspiration for the research was an attempt to explain a mystery of physics – why Time moves in a single direction. Physicists blame the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics for the arrow of time – always winging towards tomorrow. The rule is said to be fundamental, so much so Arthur Eddingto insisted that theories that countered the 2nd Law had no hope of success – and would fail dismally. However, the Law is also based on an assumption – as most ideas are, and that is that the universe began life in an ordered state. So, the Caltech researchers explained that by creating a Big Bang from empty cold space in a previous universe. The new universe began in an ordered fashion with the apparent direction of Time hierachical, or hardwired to repeat itself over and over again. Intriguingly, was the Big Bang theory one of many Big Bangs – and do they stretch into infinity?

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