I just thought that if this FTL expansion phase occured before actual photons had formed, then technically it would not have broken any laws. Iam beginning to wonder if this event is what actually created fluidic spacetime; and if the universe is speeding up, maybe it is literally just evapourating into clean space with no matter, black or otherwise. Osmotic pressure. When the cosmos is so sparse, so disparate I think it will cease to function and die. Whats more I still think there is a superluminal shockwave travelling out there opening up space as it goes. :shrug:
The universe is infinite and has no edge. I has always been so. In the beginning it was infinite in size. It is space that is expanding and does not come under the laws that control the motion of matter/energy. There is no shock wave as there is no edge.
What do you mean by infinite size, yet space is expanding? Doesn't "size" imply spacial dimensions? If space is finite yet expanding, is matter within it infinite? "What" is infinite in size if neither the spacial dimensions nor the matter within them are infinite??
Matter and space are infinite. It may seen counter intuitive but space is expanding. The distance between objects is increasing constantly. This does not mean the universe is getting bigger. You cant multiply infinity. Spacial dimensions are human constructs. It is a measure of how long it takes for an object/force to move from one spot to the next. Quantum entanglement suggest that distance is a illusion.
We have evidence that space is expanding, but we have no evidence to suggest that the universe is infinite in size.
We have no evidence that it is not infinite. Some say it is a closed loop but that has no evidence either. I just go with the simplest, a infinite universe. We can only see the visible universe and that is getting smaller every day as space expands. Our visible universe only has a radius of around 13billion light years. Beyond that must be more. The thing I love about the infinite universe is that it puts us in the center.. But then everything else is also in the center... THink of a star at 13billion light years. They should see the same size universe as us, and at the edge of that visible universe will be another star that will see the same size universe, and so on, and so on........
Yes, we have no evidence that it is not infinite, but in that situation we say we have no evidence rather than making assertions. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_universe re the "particle horizon" which is circa 45 billion light years away. We can see further than 13 billion light years.
Opps silly me your right 45 billion.. But there are only two options we know of. Closed lopping on its self or infinite. An edge would completely change our understanding of the big bang and physics... Eg what happened to all the energy that meet the edge.
Other detonations in space create shockwaves. Supernovae are thought to produce shockwaves up to 10% lightspeed. Considering that we do not know how fast the superluminal expansion happened, it was still probably the most powerful explosion that ever occured. I know expansion is not explosion, but we consider an expansion of just 1000m/s-1 to be a high order explosion, it would easily come into this catagory. I do not consider the universe to be infinite. At the very least it should be expanding at lightspeed as photons escape, so we never will be able to see beyond it anyway so isn't the question is really moot?
We do have a large energy deficit, currently explained by dark energy / matter. We still don't have any direct evidence that this actually exists.
But photons can only travel in space. Space was created in the big bang. In your view what are we expanding into. It can not be space. Can a photon move outside space time. We do not have a deficit, we have a surplus that is why we have suggested the existence of dark matter to explain the surplus.
The virgin space we expand into has no matter in it, so as there is nothing there to measure time with, it does not yet paradoxically exist. If there was a superluminal shockwave, it may prime this space for matter. All pure conjecture of course! I was under the impression that dark matter was to explain where the "missing" energy could be found. I may need to re-evaluate things now in light of this. It is true however that an infinity can exist within a finite system. Is this what you had in mind?
There are many infinite systems in finite bounds. You can travel forever in one direction around the sphere of the earth. Some suggest that the universe has such a structure. Travel in one direction and you can go on forever but you will past the same spot over and over. There have been many experiments to try to prove this for the universe. None successful. Can we look into the universe and see ourself. We dont know. There is no virgin space. Space and time was created with the big bang. Space is as real as matter and energy. There is no outside, there is no before.
If no photons were allowed to exit the system, shouldn't there be evidence above the background radiation we know was caused by the big bang? Where did the energy of expansion go if it didn't leave the system?
CMB is a vast source of energy. Every corner of the universe is 3c above absolute zero. Its all around. We complain about a fraction of a degree increase in temp on the Earth due to global warming. The universe is awash with energy.
That's true. For a while I was very interested in zero-point energy as well. Apparantly, 1cc of "empty" space could literally boil all our oceans dry. I was trying how to figure accessing it, but on reflection I'm not sure if that would be such a good idea - there would be no way to regulate or store it I know of...even if it were possible.
photons were around and the expansion was of space not matter moving through space. we are not sure it is infinite atm. i believe WMAP results show a 96% +-2% that the universe is flat and so infinite. whilst space maybe infinite the matter within it isn't. the universe is not expanding into anything. there is no pre-existing space.
No. I don't accept that. Sorry. If space couldn't expand into anything then how come it's the size it is now, and still expanding. The expansion event is not over yet, and may never be. You can only go on what you observe at this time, and observations say space is expanding. So what do you suppose it is expanding into?
Why does it have to be expanding into anything? Are you saying that there must already be space for space to expand into?
What I am saying is this - Virgin space has nothing in it whatever, and as such, there is no time, and nothing to measure it by. Therefore it does not technically exist as we know it, but is there nontheless. This is the paradox of the existence of non-existence isn't it. I have been trying to explain this ever since I realised it, but it's not that difficult. Actually it's beautifully simple...just as it should be.
