RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR

The tale of the origins of the universe, as John Barrow, the noted cosmologist, put it, began 13.8 million years ago, in the Big Bang, when the universe was substantially dense and hot. This was also nothing short of an alarm bell - for scientists like him. He, therefore, explained that making any prediction of something as infinite is often a signal that such a theory has touched the bounds of its applicability.

This is also why most scientists extend Albert Einstein's theory of gravity to billet quantum theory, while giving a more precise narrative of the beginning of the universe.

What's more, for anyone who has been 'initiated' into the etymologies of science would know that the universe, at the beginning of time, was a blaze of radiation, too hot for any atoms to survive. In the first few moments, thereafter, it cooled down somewhat for the nuclei of the lightest elements to form. Yet, it wasn't enough for whole atoms to appear. It was only millions of years later that the cosmos became cool enough for simple molecules to form. After that, the wait was almost eternal.

Of billions of years for a complex sequence of events to take place - one that led to the condensation of material into stars and galaxies.

It was an extraordinary cosmic act, which was followed by the appearance of a stable planetary environment, replete with the biochemical process so complicated that we still have difficulty in understanding them, notwithstanding our scientific and technological advance. So much so, one big question remains: how and why did this elaborate chain of events begin in the first place? There are as many theories as there are models. Yet, a majority of such theories reveal nothing new about the structure of the world. All they do is simply efface the spectre of the unknown from our own imaginings.

Our biggest, and most profound, challenge today is not only a need to achieve much more than explaining what-is-whatas-it-is, but also bringing in coherence, a strong sense of unity to collections of disconnected facts - and, not merely broad accounts, or directions. That such a method would be handy, sans hyperbole, but not as justifiably obvious as it may sound, is passé. Not that it could be 'flawed,' because of its appropriate assumption that the laws governing the workings of the living planet earth apply throughout the universe - until one is coerced to conclude with just the opposite view.

Our exploration of the universe has been loaded with myriad assays, even information- from telescopes, satellites, spacecraft and atom-smashers to computers and human thinking. This is also one reason why we have begun to appreciate the labyrinthine subtlety within the depths of inner space.

As Barrow, again, explained, 'We have not only explored the world of outer space, the stars, galaxies, and great cosmic structures, but also the subatomic world.' In other words - the world of the nucleus and its parts - the basic building blocks of matter. He also suggested that the early gush of expansion was self-propagating in each bit of the universe.

In simple terms, a region would swell and within it will be another 'bantam' bit that abruptly swells again. One could think of it as a fluff of bubbles, where each bubble 'crafts' more bubbles that expand.

Barrow also observed that the secret of how galaxies came into being may well be comprehended by the study of the most elementary particles of matter in particle detectors buried deep underground. Of classy precepts that have given us some speculative theories about the nature of time, yes. Of the 'inflationary universe' and 'wormholes,' not to speak of the significance of COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) satellite observations - all of which have led us to the realm of new dimensions, a 'Theory of Everything'. This is also, in essence, the elementary of the basics -and, the cardinal of the rudiments.

It explains, no less, why several researchers have given importance to alternative theories. To draw one such theory: no matter how the universe began, there would have been some region small enough to be kept smooth by interactions between matter and radiation, juxtaposed by a period of accelerated expansion. To draw another - one which investigates whether there are principles that dictate the initial state of the universe, a new sort of a law of nature governing the initial conditions as a whole. This leads us to yet another celebrated example - the no-boundary condition proposed by James Hartle and Stephen Hawking.

There are others too - of rival specifications, including Roger Penrose's 'composition' to measure the level of chaos in the gravitational field of the universe, a universal 'gravitational entropy.' While Penrose's 'disorder' principle is likely to exist, Hawking's work shows that the gravitational fields of black holes are not expanding in time, as our universe is. However, it goes without saying that we do not, as yet, know what determines the gravitational entropy of an expanding universe. All the same, Hawking's axiom is an advance. A black hole is different, even simple: the surface area of the boundary of a black hole determines its gravitational entropy. Yet, it is complex.

This more than explains why one cannot recommend any one particular principle, among the many, concerning the origins of the universe.

'The structure of the universe today,' as Barrow outlined, 'is just the expanded image of conditions in some tiny region of the initial state. (What) we need to know is about the particular local state of affairs that existed in the tiny region of the initial state that grew into our universe'. He concurred that the task isn't easy - thanks to the restriction of our empirical knowledge about the universe that has allowed us to perceive the evolutionary consequences of just a small part of that nascent state.

'The structure of the universe today,' as Barrow outlined, 'is just the expanded image of conditions in some tiny region of the initial state. (What) we need to know is about the particular local state of affairs that existed in the tiny region of the initial state'

A version of this article appears in the print on May 15, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.