What if our universe didnt emerge from nothing,

but is a recycled version of one that went before?

Anil Ananthaswamy investigates

From big bang

to big bounce

ABHAY ASHTEKAR remembers his

reaction the first time he saw the
universe bounce. I was taken aback,
he says. He was watching a simulation of
the universe rewind towards the big bang.
Mostly the universe behaved as expected,
becoming smaller and denser as the galaxies
converged. But then, instead of reaching
the big bang singularity, the universe
bounced and started expanding again.
What on earth was happening?
Ashtekar wanted to be sure of what he was
seeing, so he asked his colleagues to sit on the
result for six months before publishing it in
2006. And no wonder. The theory that the
recycled universe was based on, called loop
quantum cosmology (LQC), had managed to
illuminate the very birth of the universe
something even Einsteins general theory
of relativity fails to do.
LQC has been tantalising physicists since
2003 with the idea that our universe could
conceivably have emerged from the collapse
of a previous universe. Now the theory is poised
to make predictions we can actually test. If they
are verified, the big bang will give way to a big
bounce and we will finally know the quantum
structure of space-time. Instead of a universe
that emerged from a point of infinite density,
we will have one that recycles, possibly
through an eternal series of expansions and
contractions, with no beginning and no end.
LQC is in fact the first tangible application
of another theory called loop quantum gravity,
which cunningly combines Einsteins theory
of gravity with quantum mechanics. We need
theories like this to work out what happens
when microscopic volumes experience an
extreme gravitational force, as happened near
the big bang, for example. In the mid 1980s,
32 | NewScientist | 13 December 2008 

Ashtekar rewrote the equations of general

relativity in a quantum-mechanical
framework. Together with theoretical
physicists Lee Smolin and Carlo Rovelli,
Ashtekar later used this framework to show
that the fabric of space-time is woven from
loops of gravitational field lines. Zoom out
far enough and space appears smooth and
unbroken, but a closer look reveals that space
comes in indivisible chunks, or quanta,
10-35 square metres in size.
In 2000, Martin Bojowald, then a postdoc
with Ashtekar at the Pennsylvania State
University in University Park, used loop
quantum gravity to create a simple model
of the universe. LQC was born.
Bojowalds major realisation was that
unlike general relativity, the physics of LQC
did not break down at the big bang.

Einsteins relativity fails

to explain the very birth
of the universe
Cosmologists dread the singularity because
at this point gravity becomes infinite, along
with the temperature and density of the
universe. As its equations cannot cope with
such infinities, general relativity fails to
describe what happens at the big bang.
Bojowalds work showed how to avoid the hated
singularity, albeit mathematically. I was very
impressed by it, says Ashtekar, and still am.
Jerzy Lewandowski of the University of
Warsaw in Poland, along with Bojowald,
Ashtekar and two more of his postdocs,
Parampreet Singh and Tomasz Pawlowski,

went on to improve on the idea. Singh and

Pawlowski developed computer simulations
of the universe according to LQC, and thats
when they saw the universe bounce. When
they ran time backwards, instead of becoming
infinitely dense at the big bang, the universe
stopped collapsing and reversed direction.
The big bang singularity had truly disappeared
(Physical Review Letters, vol 96, p 141301).
But the celebration was short-lived. When
the team used LQC to look at the behaviour
of our universe long after expansion began,
they were in for a shock it started to collapse,
challenging everything we know about the
cosmos. This was a complete departure from
general relativity, says Singh, who is now at
the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
in Waterloo, Canada. It was blatantly wrong.
Ashtekar took it hard. I was pretty
depressed, he says. It didnt bode well
for LQC. However, after more feverish
mathematics, Ashtekar, Singh and Pawlowski
solved the problem. Early versions of the
theory described the evolution of the universe
in terms of quanta of area, but a closer look
revealed a subtle error. Ashtekar, Singh
and Pawlowski corrected this and found
that the calculations now involved tiny
volumes of space.
It made a crucial difference. Now the
universe according to LQC agreed brilliantly
with general relativity when expansion was
well advanced, while still eliminating the
singularity at the big bang. Rovelli, based at
the University of the Mediterranean in
Marseille, France, was impressed. This
was a very big deal, he says. Everyone
had hoped that once we learned to treat the
quantum universe correctly, the big bang
singularity would disappear. But it had
never happened before.
Physicist Claus Kiefer at the University
of Cologne in Germany, who has written
extensively about the subject, agrees. It is
really a new perspective on how we can view
the early universe, he says. Now, you have a
theory that can give you a natural explanation
for a singularity-free universe. He adds that
while competing theories of quantum gravity,
such as string theory, have their own insights
to offer cosmology, none of these theories has
fully embraced quantum mechanics.
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33rpm for dutch uncle

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13 December 2008 | NewScientist | 33

If LQC turns out to be right, our universe

emerged from a pre-existing universe
that had been expanding before contracting
due to gravity. As all the matter squeezed
into a microscopic volume, this universe
approached the so-called Planck density,
5.1 1096 kilograms per cubic metre. At this
stage, it stopped contracting and rebounded,
giving us our universe.
You cannot reach the Planck density. It is
forbidden by theory, says Singh. According
to Bojowald, that is because an extraordinary
repulsive force develops in the fabric of spacetime at densities equivalent to compressing
a trillion solar masses down to the size of
a proton. At this point, the quanta of spacetime cannot be squeezed any further. The
compressed space-time reacts by exerting
an outward force strong enough to repulse
gravity. This momentary act of repulsion
causes the universe to rebound. From then on,
the universe keeps expanding because of the
inertia of the big bounce. Nothing can slow it
down except gravity.
LQC also illuminates another mysterious
phase of our universe. In classical cosmology,
a phenomenon called inflation caused the
universe to expand at incredible speed in the
first fractions of a second after the big bang.
This inflationary phase is needed to explain
why the temperature of faraway regions of the
universe is almost identical, even though heat
should not have had time to spread that far
the so-called horizon problem. It also explains
why the universe is so finely balanced between
expanding forever and contracting eventually
under gravity the flatness problem.
Cosmologists invoke a particle called the
inflaton to make inflation happen, but
precious little is known about it.

Will our universe bounce?

According to the big bounce picture
formulated by theoretical physicist
Abhay Ashtekar and others, the
cosmos grew from the collapse of
a pre-existing universe. Will the
same fate await us?
It depends. We used to think
that the universe was dominated
by the gravity of its stars and other
matter: either the universe is dense
enough for gravity to halt the
expansion from the big bang
and pull everything back, or else it
isnt, in which case the expansion
would carry on forever. However,
observations of distant supernovae
in the past 10 years have challenged

that view. They show not just that

the universe is expanding, but also
that the expansion is speeding up
due to a mysterious repulsive force
that cosmologists call dark energy.
So if the universe fails to contract, has
it already bounced its last bounce?
Perhaps not. Cosmologists are
still very much in the dark about
dark energy. Some theoretical
models speculate that the nature
of dark energy could change over
time, switching from a repulsive
to an attractive force that behaves
much like gravity. If that happens,
the universe will stop expanding
and the galaxies will begin to rush

together. A question mark also

hangs over the universes matter
and energy density, which we
have not measured with sufficient
accuracy to be sure that the universe
will not eventually stop expanding.
If it turns out to be a smidgen
greater than current observations,
then it is a recipe for cosmic collapse.
According to the big bounce,
in both scenarios the universe will
eventually collapse until it reaches
the highest density allowed by
the theory. At this point, the
universe will rebound and begin
expanding again the ultimate
in cosmic recycling.

33rpm for dutch uncle

Cosmic recall

34 | NewScientist | 13 December 2008 

More importantly, even less is known about

the pre-inflationary universe. Cosmologists
have always assumed that they could ignore
quantum effects and regard space-time as
smooth at the onset of inflation, as general
relativity requires. This had always been an
educated guess until now. LQC shows that
at the time inflation begins, space-time can be
treated as smooth. This is not an assumption
any more, says Singh. Its actually a
prediction from loop quantum cosmology.
The models developed by Ashtekar, Singh,
Bojowald and Pawlowski represent an
enormous step forward. This is the first time
that a theory is able to make predictions about
what was happening prior to inflation, while
correctly predicting what happens postinflation. To do both of these things at the
same time has been difficult, says Ashtekar.
If the universe we inhabit emerged from a
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previous cosmos, can we know something

about the universe that preceded ours? LQC
simulations show that it too would have had
stars and galaxies. But opinions differ when it
comes to the quantum phase just before and
after the big bounce, when it is impossible to
pin down the volume of the universe due to
quantum fluctuations. Bojowalds calculations
show that some of the information about the
earlier universe is wiped out as it goes through
the big bounce. In other words, there is no
cosmic recall (Nature Physics, vol 3, p 523).
In contrast, another detailed analysis done
by Singh and Alejandro Corichi, of the

The pre-existing universe

was squeezed into a
microscopic volume
Autonomous National University of Mexico
in Michoacn, suggests otherwise (Physical
Review Letters, vol 100, p 161302).
Ashtekar likens the spirited spat among
his former postdocs and students to watching
his children squabble. Its much ado about
nothing, he says. Though arguments about
the universe possibly having a cosmic recall
may be of philosophical interest, they are
premature. We should be worrying about
making contact with experiments today.
That day may be near. The researchers
first target is the cosmic microwave
background (CMB), a radiation released long
after the universes quantum phase. Even

though the CMB originated 370,000 years

after the big bang, its seeds were laid out
much earlier, says Bojowald. That could
be a period when quantum gravity effects
might play a role.
Bojowald has discovered that such effects
would have dominated when, according to
LQC, the universe went through a short phase
of accelerated expansion before the onset of
inflation. Dubbed superinflation, it occurred
due to the immense repulsive forces of the
high-density quantum universe rather than
the presence of inflatons. Exactly how this
phase might affect the CMB is unclear, but
already there are hints that LQC might predict
something different from classical cosmology.
This is what we are going to work on in the
next two years. We are going to find robust
predictions, says Singh.
Meanwhile, Ed Copeland of the University
of Nottingham, UK, and his colleagues have
shown that superinflation can produce the
kind of quantum fluctuations in the fabric of
space-time that eventually became seeds for
the formation of galaxies and clusters of
galaxies. This suggests that superinflation
might make inflation unnecessary, thus
removing what has essentially always been an
add-on to standard cosmological theory. It is
early days for superinflation, though, because
it cannot yet solve the horizon and flatness
problems that inflation so elegantly resolves.
Copeland says that future experiments
might reveal whether our universe underwent
inflation or superinflation by looking for
a pattern of gravitational waves that only
inflation could have created. These ripples

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in the fabric of space-time would have

polarised the CMB, though the effect is too
faint for todays instruments to detect. Things
might change next year, however, when the
European Space Agency launches the Planck
satellite, promising the most detailed view of
the microwave background to date. Copelands
work suggests that superinflation would
suppress the production of gravitational
waves at cosmological scales, and that there
would be no such imprint in the CMB. If you
do detect them, it would probably count
against LQC, he says.
Kiefer cautions that all the predictions
of LQC are subject to one big caveat. The
predictions of classical cosmology come
from solving the equations of general
relativity, albeit with certain simplifying
assumptions about the universe. Ideally, LQC
should be put on the same footing all its
equations should be derived from loop
quantum gravity. Instead, Bojowald and
others obtained LQC by starting with an
idealised universe derived from general
relativity and then using techniques from
loop quantum gravity to quantise gravity in
the model. From a physicists point of view, it
is fully justified, says Kiefer. Mathematicians
perhaps would not be amused.
Rovelli agrees. To put LQC on a firmer
foundation, he and his colleague Francesca
Vidotto have been working to reconcile it
with loop quantum gravity (www.arxiv.org/
abs/0805.4585v1). The conclusion is very
positive, says Rovelli. We are able to recover
the equations of LQC, starting with something
much closer to loop quantum gravity.
No wonder Rovelli is looking forward to
upcoming experiments that could vindicate
the theory. I hope before dying to know
whether loop quantum gravity is correct or
not, he says. For a man who turned 50 only
recently, he is being unduly pessimistic. A
raft of experiments, of which Planck is only
the first, will soon be measuring the CMB and
looking for gravitational waves. A revolution
in our notions of how our universe began may
be closer than he thinks. l
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13 December 2008 | NewScientist | 35