Extrait de la fascinante nouvelle:
Scientists have long known that miniscule particles, called virtual particles, come into existence from nothing all the time. But a team led by Prof Mir Faizal, at the Dept of Physics and Astronomy, at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada, has successfully applied the theory to the very creation of existence itself.
He said: “Virtual particles contain a very small amount of energy and exist for a very small amount of time. However what was difficult to explain was how did such a small amount of energy give rise to a big universe like ours?”
Enter 'inflation' theory.
(...) Under Inflation Theory the tiny energies and lifespan of the virtual particle become infinitely magnified, resulting in our 13.8 Billion-year-old universe.
Just to make things more complicated Dr Mir says we have been looking at the question ‘how did the universe come from nothing?’ all wrong.
According to the extraordinary findings, the question is irrelevant because the universe STILL is nothing.
Dr Mir said: “Something did not come from nothing. The universe still is nothing, it’s just more elegantly ordered nothing.”
He added that the negative gravitational energy of the universe and the positive matter energy of the universe basically balanced out and created a zero sum.
Asked if the remarkable findings and the convincing if complex solution removed the need for a God figure to kick start the universe Dr Mir said: “If by God you mean a supernatural super man who breaks his own laws then yes he’s done for, you just don’t need him.
(...) What Prof. Mir was referring to is known as inflation. According to inflation the total positive energy in the form of matter exactly balances the negative energy in form of gravity, such that the total energy of our universe is still zero.
Prof. Mir (...) further explained that by "nothing" he only meant absence of energy, and not the absence of laws of physics.
(...) "This uncertainty which occurs due to quantum mechanics can lead to the creation of small amount of energy from nothing as long as it exists only for a very small amount of time. Such particle created out of nothing are called virtual particles. The consequences of the existence of such virtual particles has been tested experimentally.
“The problem with this explanation is that such virtual particles can only have a small amount of energy for a very small amount of time.
"To get a universe the size of our universe from such small amount of energy, a theory called inflation is used.
"According to inflation the small amount of energy created from nothing underwent a rapid expansion, resulting in the formation of the universe as we see it today. During this time, the positive energy in the matter of the universe and negative energy in form of gravity was created such that they exactly balanced each other. The total energy of the universe still being zero.
“Even though inflation has been studied before, recently it has been studied using a new theory called doubly special relativity.