Monday, May 16, 2005
Not So Big Bang
This story makes no sense to me.
If you go on to read the rest of the story you find these UC scientists are really just proposing a big bang variant that is, as best as I can tell from a popular press piece, different in the mathematics, but not so different in the actual affects in the physical universe. Without reading their papers, I can't judge for sure, but this looks to me like a reporter looking for a "big" story, and maybe some grant seekers pulling some mathematical sleight-of-hand as opposed to some huge shift in our understanding of the universe.
"We like to say that the Big Bang is nothing special in the history of our universe," said Sean Carroll, an assistant professor in physics at the University of Chicago.Old news, depends ont eh dark matter question and the final determination of the mass of the universe, been debated for years. So why am I reading this story? -- especially this
The Big Bang could be a normal event in the natural evolution of the universe that will happen repeatedly over incredibly vast time scales as the universe expands, empties out and cools off, say Carroll and graduate student Jennifer Chen.
The duo wondered why time flows in only one direction, and whether the Big Bang ? a theory that has not been proven ? arose from an energy fluctuation in empty space that conforms to the known laws of physics.NOT PROVEN?! Then why did Penzias and Wilson and Kapitsa get the Nobel in '78? Why is NASA doing this?
If you go on to read the rest of the story you find these UC scientists are really just proposing a big bang variant that is, as best as I can tell from a popular press piece, different in the mathematics, but not so different in the actual affects in the physical universe. Without reading their papers, I can't judge for sure, but this looks to me like a reporter looking for a "big" story, and maybe some grant seekers pulling some mathematical sleight-of-hand as opposed to some huge shift in our understanding of the universe.
