Top-down cosmology
In theoretical physics, top-down cosmology is a proposal to regard the many possible histories of a given event as having real existence.[1] This idea of multiple histories has been applied to cosmology, in a theoretical interpretation in which the universe has multiple possible cosmologies, and in which reasoning backwards from the current state of the universe to a quantum superposition of possible cosmic histories makes sense. Stephen Hawking has argued that the principles of quantum mechanics forbid a single cosmic history,[1] and has proposed cosmological theories in which the lack of a past boundary condition naturally leads to multiple histories, called the 'no-boundary proposal', the proposed Hartle–Hawking state.[2]
According to Hawking and Thomas Hertog, "The top-down approach we have described leads to a profoundly different view of cosmology, and the relation between cause and effect. Top down cosmology is a framework in which one essentially traces the histories backwards, from a spacelike surface at the present time. The noboundary histories of the universe thus depend on what is being observed, contrary to the usual idea that the universe has a unique, observer independent history".[3]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Spoon, M. (2021, February 22). How Stephen Hawking Worked. HowStuffWorks. https://science.howstuffworks.com/dictionary/famous-scientists/physicists/stephen-hawking3.htm
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).