Mathematics had laid out the history of the universe, and LeMaitre traces it backwards in his mind’s eye. The Entire History of the Universe e1: What Was the Big Bang? 2021
How did the universe begin? What was the trigger for its incredible expansion? And could our simple matter-brains ever even comprehend the real truth? ibid.
The Big Bang theory is now the accepted model for the cosmos - a picture of expansion over some 13.8 billion years. ibid.
What was there before? What is the universe expanding into? And why did it start at all? ibid.
Modern cosmologists have probed further and further back through our universe’s long history to try to understand the behaviour of matter, energy and space/time itself during these earliest moments. The Entire History of the Universe e2: What Was the Universe Like Immediately After the Big Bang
What then is time if not the inevitable march of disorder, the inevitable destruction of God’s structured universe into nothing more than an eternal pile of sand? The Entire History of the Universe e3: Why Did Time Start Going Forward?
Four fundamental irreducible forces: Gravity … Electromagnetism … Strong nuclear force … Weak nuclear force … A fifth force as yet undiscovered … Why are they fundamental to the universe and are they really as distinct as we think? The Entire History of the Universe e4: Is There One All Powerful Superforce Controlling the Universe?
There are no landmarks in the large scale structure of the cosmos, no major differences from place to place that help us find our way. The universe looks surprisingly similar wherever you happen to be looking from … The universe is remarkably uniform. The Entire History of the Universe e5: Why is the Universe the Same?
What is at its most fundamental level everything? Is any of it really real at all? The Entire History of the Universe e6: What Really is Everything?
There are twelve elementary particles that appear to make up everything … They alone cannot explain the processes in our dynamic universe. ibid.
The Fine Structure Constant: It sits at the heart of Feynman’s theoretical success … The strength of electromagnetism … Where does this number come from? And it is not alone … The constants of nature are clearly central to all physics … How are we here? The Entire History of the Universe e7: Why is the Universe Perfect?
Where does these constants come from? Does the universe have to be this way? ibid.
What if the rules of the universe were different? ibid.
The Fine Structure Constant: It sits at the heart of Feynman’s theoretical success … The strength of electromagnetism … Where does this number come from? And it is not alone … The constants of nature are clearly central to all physics … How are we here? The Entire History of the Universe e7: Why is the Universe Perfect?
Where does these constants come from? Does the universe have to be this way? ibid.
What if the rules of the universe were different? ibid.
What would happen if there were an inherent imbalance to the universe? The Entire History of the Universe e8: Why is the Universe Out of Balance?
A near identical twin: we call it antimatter. And there is almost none of it left. An obvious enormous imbalance stretching out across the cosmos. Yet without this imbalance we would not, and could not exist … Where did this imbalance come from? ibid.
Paul Dirac had proposed antimatter. But physical proof was still needed. ibid.
The astronomers were in for a shock: our universe is not slowing down. It is speeding up. The Entire History of the Universe e9: Where Did Dark Matter & Dark Energy Come From?
And to account for this accelerated expansion there was something else in the universe. Something unexpected driving the cosmos faster and faster. ibid.
What are these new components of our universe? How do they work? And where did they come from? ibid.
Most of the matter in our universe is completely dark. ibid.
Where did all this cosmic structure come from? ibid.
The other dark component – dark energy … Just what was this new dark mysterious stuff of the universe? ibid.
This universal expansion is accelerating. ibid.
Dark energy made up the remainder – 70% of the universe. ibid.
Dark energy has a tension that pulls. ibid.
You could be forgiven for thinking of gravity as vastly powerful. Indeed every moment of our lives is shaped and defined by gravity. The Entire History of the Universe e10: Why is Gravity So Weak?
It is weaker even than the so-called Weak Force. ibid.
Gravity’s relative weakness has baffled scientists for years. ibid.
The existence of gravitational waves implies that gravity is not simply a force between individual objects but a field that extends through all space and time. ibid.
Try to think of a true nothing. An absolute nothing. The Entire History of the Universe e11: Was the Universe Born from Nothing?
So what came before? … Our universe was born from ‘nothing’ … How does one get something from nothing? ibid.
Where did the universe come from? ibid.
Even empty space jiggles a residual energy in the vacuum that is always there. Known as the Quantum Vacuum, this fills the entire universe as virtual particles flicker in and out of existence. So in the quantum world empty space is not really empty. ibid.
A lot can happen in one second. But is it enough time to build a universe? The Entire History of the Universe e12: Was Our Current Universe Inevitable at One Second Old?
It certainly began, but the nature of that beginning is still a matter of debate. ibid.
A single second has passed: the cosmos is filled with matter. The raw building blocks of everything we see today. ibid.
‘We are probably nearing the limit of all we can know about astronomy.’ The Entire History of the Universe e13: How Many Multiverses Are There? Simon Newcombe
These are new universes born beyond our cosmic horizon in our distant cosmic past. ibid.
Multiverse theories have proliferated hoping to answer the deepest questions. ibid.
Just what is beyond the observable universe? ibid.
But how do you study or even detect the smallest known particle in the universe, a particle so small we don’t actually know how small it is? The Entire History of the Universe e14: What Happened to All the Neutrinos?
The physicist and mathematician Wolfgang Pauli had proposed the concept of the neutrino. ibid.
Neutrinos are the ultimate mutual particle. They are not composed of small pieces and are neither influenced by electric or magnetic fields. ibid.
Neutrinos it turned out did not travel faster than the speed of light. ibid.
This is the supermassive black hole and the centre of our galaxy. Sagittarius A Star. There now begins a subtle tug towards it. The Entire History of the Universe e15: What Was the First Black Hole?
It isn’t just time that warps … What you experience inside no-one can say. Certainly not you. ibid.
First mooted in 1783, the incomprehensible horror of these ultimate galactic predators has captured the imagination of scientists and pushed the boundaries of science for decades. ibid.
Just how did they get so big in the first place? ibid.
The possibility that there are extra as yet undiscovered dimensions to space. Additional hidden directions. The Entire History of the Universe e16: Where Are All the Hidden Dimensions?
What would this mean? Where would such dimensions exist and what would they look like? How could we ever detect them?
One obscure and oddball idea seemed to require for consistency the existence of extra dimensions. This idea was String Theory. String Theory has a justified reputation as a difficult and complex subject. ibid.
What does it even mean to talk about extra dimensions that we cannot see. ibid.
Time was not the same across the cosmos. And here within the immense gravity of the black hole time trickled more slowly. The Entire History of the Universe e17: What Actually Are Space and Time?
What is space made of? Does time exist? ibid.
Does time itself have properties? Or is it defined only by the events that run in its current? ibid.
What is time? … Unlike space, time has a direction, a distinct past and a coming future. ibid.