A Question to the Physics Community as a whole

Submitted by Himangsu Sekhar Pal on Sat, 06/13/2015 - 01:49

When scientists say that the universe can simply come out of nothing without any divine intervention, they think of the universe in terms of its energy content only. In the book ‘The Grand Design’, page 281, scientist Stephen Hawking has written that bodies like stars or black holes cannot just appear out of nothing, but a whole universe can. The message is very clear from this: The total energy of a whole universe is zero and that is why it can come out of nothing; but stars or black holes will fail to do so, because their total energy is not zero. But universe means not only its energy, universe means its space-time as well. So if we now apply the same logic to space-time as well, then we can say that the total space-time of a whole universe must also always have to be zero, because in that case only a whole universe can appear out of nothing. Here my question is: How does the total space-time of an ever-expanding universe always remain zero?
As the universe appeared out of nothing, so initially there was no space, no time, no matter and no energy. Scientists have successfully shown how the total matter-energy content of the universe has always remained zero. But we are not satisfied with that explanation, we want something more. We also want to know how the total space-time content of the universe has always remained zero. And it should always remain zero if the universe has actually appeared out of nothing. Otherwise scientists will have to explain as to whence appeared the extra residual space-time that was not already there at the beginning.
If stars or black holes cannot appear out of nothing simply because their total energy is not zero, then can a whole universe appear out of nothing if its total space-time is not zero?
The last question here will further boil down to this one: Do the physicists think that energy cannot just appear out of nothing, but space-time can, supposing that the total space-time of the present universe is not zero?
Or, do they think that like life, mind and consciousness, space and time are also emergent only, and therefore, not directly coming from big bang nothing?

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Comments

Himangsu Sekhar Pal

Sat, 06/20/2015 - 02:47

Something can appear out of nothing provided that the totality of that something always remains zero. Actually anything can come out of nothing if this condition is fulfilled. This is the principle which some scientists have relied upon when they have proposed that our universe could have arisen out of nothing due to a quantum energy fluctuation in a void. They have found that the total energy of the universe is exactly zero. STR has also shown that matter and energy are equivalent. Matter can be converted into energy; similarly, energy can be converted into matter. So, if the total energy is zero, then the total matter will also be zero. The total matter and the total energy being zero, they need not have to come from anything at all; they could have come from nothing as well. So these scientists have proposed that our universe has simply appeared out of nothing. But when they have proposed this theory, they remained totally oblivious of the fact that universe means not only its matter and energy, universe means its space-time as well. So, if the universe has actually appeared out of nothing, then just like matter and energy, space-time also has appeared out of that primordial nothing. So like matter and energy, the total space-time also should always remain zero.
However, if it is the case that space-time has not directly come out of nothing, then the total space-time need not have to be zero. No sane person on this earth will say that the total number of human beings in this universe must always have to be zero, because no sane person believes that human beings have directly appeared out of nothing. But if ‘x’ has directly come out of nothing, then logic and common sense dictates that the totality of that ‘x’ must always have to be zero.

Himangsu Sekhar Pal

Sat, 06/27/2015 - 01:54

At least two reasons can be given as to why the total space-time of the universe should always remain zero. One such reason we find in Einstein’s general theory of relativity. As per GTR space, time and matter are so interlinked that there cannot be any space-time without matter. Similarly there cannot be any matter without space-time. There is also a famous quote of Einstein on this: “When forced to summarize the general theory of relativity in one sentence: Time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter.” If time and space cannot have any separate existence from matter, then the total matter of the universe being zero, the total space-time of the universe should also always be zero.
Logic also entails that the total space-time of the universe should be zero. This is because like matter and energy, space and time also came into being only after big bang. So if total matter and energy remained zero because they have come from nothing, then total space-time should also remain zero because it has also come from nothing.
Here it may be objected that there is a law of conservation of matter and energy in science, but that there is no such conservation law for space-time. So there is no violation of conservation law if nothing generates so much of space-time. Granting this objection it can still be pointed out that GTR alone gives us sufficient reason to conclude that if total matter of the universe always remains zero, then the total space-time of the universe should also always remain zero.
So from GTR we come to know that the total space-time of an ever-expanding universe should always remain zero, but we do not know yet how it does actually remain zero.
If science cannot give any satisfactory answer to this question, then the atheistic, non-religious world-view of science will break down then and there.