The biggest question of the universe has always been: Where did everything come from? The Big Bang theory certainly explained that the universe expanded from a very dirty and hot state about 13.8 billion years ago, but the question remained, what was there before the big bang?
For centuries, man has been trying to figure out how “everything” came from “nothing”. Philosophy has given many answers, but in the field of science, this concept has not been opened yet. However, modern research now suggests that we may be getting closer to unraveling the mystery.
The Big Bang and the Limits of Science
The Big Bang model describes the origin of the universe, but at this point all equations fail. Einstein’s theory of general relativity explained the curvature of space and time, how matter and energy bend space and how the universe evolves, but the problem is that as soon as we try to travel back in time to the initial moment of the Big Bang, the equations begin to give infinite results. The density and temperature increase so much that the math becomes impractical. At this point, scientists found a new way called “Numerical Relativity”.
Numerical relativity and supercomputers
Numerical relativity is actually the step-by-step process of solving Einstein’s equations on a computer. The same technique was used in the study of black holes. When two black holes collide, they create gravitational waves. These waves were already predicted by the computer and when LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) discovered these waves in 2015, it was found that the computer prediction was not even a moment behind the reality.
This was the moment when man first tested Einstein’s theory with direct experience. Scientists are now using this technique to understand the origin of the universe. The question is, what happened before the Big Bang? Did the universe collapse to a point or was it actually the beginning of another cycle?
Cosmic Bounce Theory
Some scientists say that the universe was created by a “cosmic bounce”. That is, it first contracted, then burst at a certain limit and thus a new cosmic age began.
Astronomer Roger Penrose in his theory of “Conformal Cyclic Cosmology” has said that the universe is created and destroyed repeatedly and the Big Bang was actually the beginning of a new cycle.
The Multiverse
Some experts believe in a “multiverse”, where countless universes coexist and our universe is like a bubble in one of them. When these bubbles collide, their traces can be hidden in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In 2018, data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Planck satellite indicated that there may be spots in the CMB that are signs of collisions with other “cosmic bubbles.”
Cosmic Strings
So is the theory of “cosmic strings,” which are thought to be fine and infinite lines of energy that originated in the early universe. If they did exist, they would have left a unique signature of gravitational waves. A study published in 2023 (Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics) stated that next-generation gravitational wave detectors will be able to test the effects of these fictitious threads.
Cosmic inflation
Another great destination of human curiosity is the “extremity of the universe”. This is the theory, according to which the universe expanded millions of times in billionths of a second immediately after the Big Bang. This expansion made the universe smooth and uniform, and that’s why we see the sky today in almost every direction. Scientist Alan Guth proposed this theory in 1980.
But the question is, did this inflation really happen? Most theoretical studies assume that the universe was already smooth, then inflation made it more orderly. But through computer simulations, it is now possible to test whether the universe was disordered and chaotic to begin with, could inflation smooth it out?
And if it can, when and how? In 2014, the BICEP2 experiment claimed to have seen evidence of “Primordial Gravitational Waves” that are evidence of inflation, but it was later revealed that this was actually the effect of cosmic dust. It showed that this theory could not be proved definitively yet.
But a philosophical question also arises here. If there was something before the Big Bang, what was it? And if there was nothing, how did “nothing” come to be “everything”? Scientists can say that we are solving equations, creating models on computers, but the definition of “nothing” is the biggest challenge for science itself, because nothing means no space, no time, no laws, so where did it all come from?
This is the point where science and philosophy meet. Some experts like Lawrence Krauss wrote in his book A Universe from Nothing that nothing in “quantum mechanics” is actually not an empty state of space but a “quantum vacuum” full of energy fluctuations. Particles appear and disappear momentarily from this vacuum, and perhaps the creation of the universe was a result of such fluctuations.
The ideas about the creation of the universe have been changing throughout the ages. Sometimes it was considered eternal, sometimes it was believed to be the result of some supernatural force. Science today says that we can test, based on experiment and observation, how the universe came into existence.
The Big Bang is a wonderful model, but it is not the complete answer. Numerical relativity and supercomputers are giving us the opportunity to look back at the earliest moments and perhaps learn what was behind the Big Bang.
If this research is successful in the coming years, humanity will for the first time be close to giving a scientific answer to a question that has been on the human mind for thousands of years. The result of this search is that man is reaching these questions through his intellect and technology. This journey is not over yet. As computers become more powerful and mathematics more sophisticated, we will get closer and closer to the great secret of “nothing” to “everything”.