Genesis: The origin of the universe

National Forum, Winter 1996 by Wersinger, J-M

The Planck Era & Quantum Behavior

A key feature of quantum physics is the loss of the cause-effect relationship as we know it. The quantum world is described by statistical laws, like the outcomes of slot-machines at a casino. People occasionally win at slot machines, but we know that statistically casinos always make money. Identically, when a large collection of particles is studied, physicists know the exact outcome of an experiment, but when an individual particle is considered, the laws of chance govern its behavior. The statistical quantum rules allow energy or matter to pop up from nothing, provided they disappear quickly. The vacuum is thus teeming with activity, particles popping up and disappearing constantly. If energy were available to allow these particles a definite existence, they would stay in our world. This phenomenon occurred at the end of inflation when the energy locked in the Higgs field was released and bestowed o the elusive particles of the vacuum. Maybe tiny universes made of space, time, and energy constantly pop up out of the vacuum to disappear as fast as they appear. Maybe quantum physics governs the behavior of these mini-universes as it governs the world of subatomic particles. Edward Tryon of City College in New York proposed such a model in 1973, suggesting that the universe may have appeared as a quantum fluctuation of vacuum. The central part of his argument is that the total energy of the universe being close to zero, quantum uncertainty allows it to survive a long time. If it is exactly zero the universe could, on quantum grounds, be there forever.

Another basic question deals with the existence of a very moment of creation. Moving back to the time when the universe was a mere 10 sup -43 seconds old, we hit another interesting transition, a transition into an era where the whole universe was dominated by quantum effects. This is the Planck era, named after the father of the quantum theory. The temperature of the universe is now a staggering 10 sup 32 K and the size of the horizon (about 10 sup -35 m) is about a billion trillion times smaller than the size of a proton. No consistent theory of the universe has yet been established for these conditions. However, the application of known principles of quantum physics can guide our adventurous incursion into this fantastic realm. Quantum uncertainty now affects not only particles and energy but also space and time. At this scale space and time become discontinuous and foamy. The very concepts of space and time may actually break down. The quest for a beginning would then become meaningless. There may be no definite time zero, no real moment of creation. Causality would necessarily also break down. There would be no first cause, no first event within our bubble of space and time. Such concepts are so foreign to our habitual world that they seem meaningless. However, efforts in such directions may hold the clues for the ultimate questions about the universe.

The Big Bang Chronology