AstroNuclPhysics ® Nuclear Physics - Astrophysics - Cosmology - Philosophy | Gravity, black holes and physics |
Chapter 5
GRAVITATION
AND THE GLOBAL STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE :
RELATIVISTIC COSMOLOGY
5.1. Basic
starting points and principles of cosmology
5.2. Einstein's
and deSitter's universe. Cosmological
constant.
5.3. Fridman's
dynamic models of the universe
5.4. Standard
cosmological model. Big
Bang.
5.5. Microphysics
and cosmology. Inflationary
universe.
5.6. The
future of the universe
5.7. Anthropic principle and existence of multiple universes
5.8. Cosmology
and physics
5.7. Anthropic principle and the existence of multiple universes
Finally, we will mention
another more or less speculative "information channel"
about the global structure and evolution of the universe, which
is the so-called anthropic principle [67], [40], [57]. Some experts
in astrophysics and cosmology (especially Dicke, Carter, Hawking,
Collins, Wheeler, and others) in the 1960s and 1970s pointed out
that the very fact of our human
existence
imposes some important limitations on the initial conditions and
course of evolution of the universe, as well as the values of
"constants" and parameters in the laws of physics *).
Indeed, we live in a globally homogeneous and isotropic universe
(but showing on a smaller scale significant inhomogeneities such
as galaxies), containing a predominance of matter over antimatter
and an expanding velocity close to critical, simply because in an inhomogeneous,
anisotropic, baryon symmetric, or strongly closed or open
universe, life would not be
possible.
*) The beginnings of the anthropic principle were foreshadowed by
reflections on the wonderful relationships and relations between
the "big numbers" characterizing the
physical constants of the universe and the microworld. (e.g. the
ratio of the size of the universe and the atomic nucleus, and the
ratio of binding constants of the interacting species),
which is already in the 30s Dirac point out. These
are dimensionless numbers expressing the ratios between the
electromagnetic and gravitational force (between electrons and
protons), between the dimension of the visible universe and the
dimension of the atomic nucleus, or between the mass of the
observable universe and the mass of the proton. Whether certain
conspicuous coincidences in the proportions of
these numbers (differing by tens of orders) are they random, or
do they have a deeper meaning? The very name Anthropic
Principle first used in 1968 by B.Carter.
After all, the term " principle " is
perhaps somewhat unfortunate and misleading - it
is not a central principle in physical, astronomical or
scientific knowledge in general. The anthropic
"principle" is rather a kind of
"conglomerate" of specific ideas, concepts and
contexts, having something to say to the mystery of the origin
and development of our so specific universe.
Why is
there "something" and
not "nothing" ?
Our world is filled with a lot of interesting things -
billions of galaxies, nebulae, trillions of stars, planets and
other structures in space. On our planet (and
perhaps some of it on other planets) are
beautiful natural formations - mountains, rivers, sea, trees and
countless other plants and animals, we humans. Why do all these
interesting and complex things even exist ?: "Why is
there 'something' instead of
'nothing'..?.." - this is
the most serious question of fundamental physics.
The basic laws of physics, including the
theory of relativity, quantum and particle physics, suggest that
the universe should most likely be a rather boring place - it
should be dark, inhospitable, without macroscopic structures and
therefore, of course, without life... We cannot explain the
special properties of the universe. A certain way to understand
this would be the hypothesis, that we live in a multiverse.
In most individual universes there is almost nothing, in
complete emptiness and darkness the fluctuating fields
incoherently propagate and only a quantum of fields and particles
move, without any structures. But we live in one of the few
universes, where the laws of physics allow 'something'
to exist - so that more complex
structures can be created and evolved (see "Multi-universe
concept" below).
Very
precise tuning !
The physically possible states that the universe can acquire
allow the origin of life only in a very narrow
range; a
slight deviation is enough and the universe will continue to
exist physically, but life will no longer be possible in it.
The origin and development of life is possible only in situations where the rate of expansion of the universe lies in a narrow "allowable range" around the critical rate. |
In particular, the rate
of expansion cannot be too different from the critical (escape)
rate. If the rate of expansion were significantly less than
critical, the expansion of the universe would soon stop and turn
into a contraction, so that there would not
be enough time for the origin and development of life. Conversely, if the universe is expanding at a rate,
substantially higher than the escape, the matter would be too quickly diluted and dissipated, so that gravitationally coupled
structures such as galaxies and stars could not form, which are
needed for the formation of more complex elements and eventually
life. In the time immediately after the creation of the universe,
the ratio of particles and antiparticles had to be such that,
after their mutual annihilation, exactly as many particles
remained as were needed as the building material of matter for
the present universe. This matter should not be too dense,
otherwise the universe would quickly collapse back into
singularity, nor too sparse - matter would disperse very quickly.
The density had to be such that stars (1st generation) could
form, which formed heavier chemical elements that could become
the building material of the planetary systems around the stars.
Some of these planets must have the optimal distance from the
central star and other necessary properties, see below "Stars, planets, life".
Similarly, if the physical
constants had slightly different values, resp. ratios of values
(just a few percent) than it is in reality, the evolution of the
universe would also take place otherwise and would not lead to
the emergence of life *) - at least not in
the forms known to
us based on organic carbon compounds **). The
exact setting of all these necessary values and specific
conditions seems like a very unlikely coincidence; all the more
so when it is necessary to "chain" individual
improbable states into a continuous sequence of conditions, which
results in the emergence of life and ultimately an intelligent
observer. Or is there something behind it that
escapes astrophysics and cosmology? This is exactly what the
anthropic principle seeks to answer.
*) Truth be told, we reach this conclusion
when we changeone of the physical laws, or its
parameters, while leaving the others unchanged. Then, indeed,
only a slight change in one of the laws of physics would change
the evolution of the universe so much that it would make life
impossible. If we change the parameters in the standard model of
particle physics, for example, so that a strong nuclear
interaction would be somewhat stronger or weaker, nuclear
nucleosynthesis inside stars would produce too little carbon,
oxygen, nitrogen and other biogenic elements (as discussed in more detail in §4.1 , part "Thermonuclear reactions inside stars"). Similarly, if the masses
of the quarks were somewhat different, for example, a proton
could become slightly heavier than a neutron, protons would decay
into neutrons, and no atoms would be formed.
Change of force weak interactions
would alter the course of the initial nucleosynthesis at the
beginning of the universe (and later the
thermonuclear reactions inside the stars),
which could also change the representation of elements to the
detriment of the more complex elements of organic chemistry and
the origin of life. If the strength of the weak interaction were
smaller, neutrons would decay more slowly and most of them would
merge with helium protons in the lepton-era (a
similar effect would occur if the rate of expansion of the
universe were lower at the beginning). This
would lead to a proton deficiency - matter in
the universe would consist mainly of helium, there would
not be enough hydrogen to later form the water and
hydrocarbons necessary for life (primordial
nucleogenesis for the conditions of our universe is discussed in
more detail in §5.4 "Standard cosmological model. The Big Bang.
Shaping the structure of the universe.", passage "Primordial nucleosynthesis").
So far, the situation where we would simultaneously
change two or more
parameters or laws of physics at the same time has not been
sufficiently explored (this may be the task of future research in
nuclear astrophysics). We can imagine such
"clever" changes in two or more parameters, in which it
could happen that their consequences for the chemical evolution
of the universe are in a sense "compensated". In
addition to specific physical laws with parameter values, as we
observe in our anthropic universe, there may be other
"sets" of laws with different parameter values that may
result in the evolution of a universe other than ours, but still
allowing complex reactions and formation of life... It is
even possible to hypothetically imagine a universe with such a
combination of physical laws-constants-parameters, in which the
conditions for the origin and development of life would be even
more suitable than in ours..?!.. And such alternative
universes may indeed arise and there are..?.. - within the
concept of more universes ...
**) Carbon - a basic biogenic element
Carbon, which has 6 protons in its nucleus and therefore 6
electrons in its envelope, has significant chemical properties
that allow it to form a huge range of complex molecules,
including chaining of macromolecules (proteins, RNA,
DNA). Chemists and biochemists are very skeptical
about the possibility of a silicon- based life
(instead of carbon). Silicon does not provide by far as rich
possibilities of easy bonds with other light elements (H, O, N,
P, ...) as carbon. No significant amount of more complex silicon
compounds was observed in space, while relatively large amounts
of complex carbon compounds (eg alcohols, amino acids, ...) were
observed.
An interesting alternative, however, could be the possibility of
the creation and evolution of a purely electric one
processing of information signals on an inorganic basis ...
Stars,
planets, life
A phenomenon as complex as life in the universe,
can hardly develop in any empty place in space. At the very
least, a source of energy and a suitable material
carrier of life must be present. The sources of radiant
energy in the universe are stars, and the planets
orbiting the stars are suitable material carriers capable of
providing long-term stable conditions for the
time-consuming process of origin and evolution of life.
We know intimately one such place where life evolved. It is a
system: [star = Sun] + [planet = Earth]. However, there is
nothing special about our solar system that cannot occur
elsewhere in the universe. There are only billions of Sun-like
stars in the Milky Way alone, the planetary systems around the
stars are a natural consequence of their formation from a
rotating germ nebula (planetary systems
have already been demonstrated around some stars). However, in order for life to evolve
on a planet orbiting a particular star, the star and the planet
must have some specific properties :
Even with these very specific requirements,
there are probably millions of stars in our Galaxy with suitable
properties, around which they orbit at appropriate distances the
planets of the required sizes. And if life originated about 4
billion years ago from inanimate matter on the tiny cosmic
"powder" that our Earth is from the cosmic scale, there
is no reason why it could not have originated elsewhere
in the universe, albeit at a different time and in a
different form. After all, the natural laws by
which matter is governed are the same everywhere
in the universe. So we can assume that life is perhaps in
many places in the distant universe..?.. So far no one
knows ...
Global "zones
of life" in space
In which parts of the vast and diverse universe is the origin,
maintenance and development of life likely? It turns out that
this is not everywhere, that from a global point of view there
are only relatively small delimited "zones of life"
in the universe, while outside these areas, for astrophysical
reasons, there are no conditions for a more complex life. Either
there is not enough concentration of stars, which led a low
probability of the occurrence of "life-giving" stars
and planets. Or, conversely, places with high concetration of
stars, especially massive stars that can explode as supernovae,
are potentially dangerous to life because the
supenova's intense high-energy radiation "sterilizes" a
wide range of decades of light years (see
"Biological
significance of cosmic radiation", pasage "Deadly cosmic rays"). On the other hand, suitable material for building
planets and building life occurs only where enough stars have
already exploded and enriched gas clouds with heavier elements. Thus,
in galaxies, life will initially not be able to occur in the
central parts, where "every moment" (every million
years), a devastatingly explode the supernova, or
entirely on the periphery, where there is not enough
"building material". But rather somewhere "in the
middle" in the spiral arms.
Note.: More
complicated situation is in colliding galaxies,
where the rapid formation of massive stars, exploding like
supernovae, is likely to cancel potential zones of life even at
greater distances from the galaxy's center.
Habitable zones (around stars and in outer
space) are not static, but as the astrophysical situation
evolves, the size and distribution of habitable zones change.
Some disappear, in other places new ones emerge - again only temporary.
Whether life really develops, there is a matter of the complex
interplay of many conditions and circumstances. And to what
complexity this life could develop, is largely determined by the duration
of the life zone.
The questions of the origin and
evolution of life are discussed in more detail in the work "Anthropic
Principle or Cosmic God", the
passage "Origin and
Evolution of Life".
Anthropic principle
Namely on the basis of the question why the real
universe is so specific, when the laws of physics allow
the existence of the universe with completely different
properties with the same right, that the anthropic principle
arose. What laws and phenomena have made it
possible for creatures, capable of thinking
about their origin to have evolved here on Earth (and
perhaps in many biospheres elsewhere in the universe) ? During
many discussions about the relationship between the universe,
life and human consciousness, several conceptions of the
anthropic principle have emerged, which can be divided into
roughly three groups (the other two
variants will be presented at the end) :
1. Weak anthropic principle |
"The physical properties of the universe must be such that it is compatible with the origin of life." |
This is a sober physical formulation of the anthropic principle, which in this sense is a certain selection principle, selecting from all theoretically possible cosmological models those that lead to the universe as it is, especially, to the universe in which life could have originated. The name "anthropic principle", after all, is not very apt here; cosmology does not require the existence of man, but the existence of stars such as the Sun is sufficient.
2. Strong anthropic principle |
"Even when the universe was created, it had to 'know' that life (and people) was to be created in the future", resp. "Our universe is the best of all possible universes in the sense that life must necessarily arise in it, while in no other would it arise". |
Alternativelly, universe must inevitably create the conditions for the existence of observers - in every real universe, the observer must necessarily appear once. From a physical point of view, this seems to be too "philosophically colored" a formulation that sounds somewhat metaphysical. The anthropic principle conceived in this way is, in a sense, an antithesis of the philosophically generalized Copernican principle; it is in accordance with the religious concept that the universe was created by God so that it would be maximally purposeful and that the ultimate goal would be the origin and development of man. There is no physical justification for such a concept.
"There are many different universes, whereas life arises where the conditions are suitable." |
Indeed, the anthropic principle in trying to answer the question "Why is the world built just like and not differently?" it implicitly offers the assumption of the existence of many differently arranged universes coexisting with our universe, which, however, are (at least now) fundamentally unobservable.
Until recently, the idea
of many universes was purely speculative *). Now, however, a
relatively realistic conception of several different universes is
emerging on the basis of cosmological applications of modern
unitary theories. In connection with the inflationary model was
in §5.5 "Microphysics and cosmology" noted, that due
to the quantum fluctuations could spontaneously arise more
independent universes, that as a result of various amplitudes
and scope of quantum fluctuations and various types of
spontaneous symmetry breaking will have a different structure and
global properties of physical fields and matter (more detailed discussion of the possibility of more
universes in §5.5, part "Chaotic inflation",
passage "Origin of more universes"). In some of these
universes, then, according to the anthropic principle, it can develop
life.
*) We will not discuss here
the hypothesis of parallel existence of infinitely
many universes with various
course of physical processes based on physically not completely
justified application of stochastic quantum laws to the whole
universe. According to this hypothesis (expressed by Everett and
Wheeler [79] in the 1950s), in each interaction leading to a
certain quantum-mechanical state in a given universe, even
all other possible states are
actually realized, but in other universes. Figuratively speaking,
in other universes, all "wasted chances" from our
universe are realized. Each historical event took place
differently in all possible variants in different parallel
worlds. So these are not different universes in terms of
space-time, but the space of states; in this configuration space, the individual
universes are orthogonal to each other, so that from the
classical point of view there is no possibility of
interconnection between them.
Considerations about the possibility of the existence of more
universes also arose in connection with some
geometric-topological properties of space-time around black
holes - see §3.5 and 4.4,
especially the passage "Black holes -
bridges to other universes?".
According to these
concepts, our entire universe is just a "bubble" in a
bubble multiverse made up of lots of bubbles; each "bubble" is a different
universe with different fundamental constants and
different physical laws. Or another analogy: our universe is just
a "grain of sand" on the gigantic "beach" of
the multiverse. The key to the mystery of the uniqueness of our
anthropic universe could be statistical laws in
the multiverse ...
Quantum fluctuations of the
vacuum may everywhere and are constantly "spewing" new
and new universes with various properties. The whole Universe
thus appears to be a bubbling "foam" of expanding
"bubbles" - separate universes, each governed by its own laws of physics, he lives his
"own life". Our entire visible universe is just a small
area in one of these bubbles. Otherwise,
very few bubbles have physical and geometric properties suitable
for creating more complex structures - galaxies, stars, planets
and ultimately life.
For little refreshment, we can
mention the charming Indian legend of the creation of many
universes.
In connection with the
concept of many universes, the anthropic principle can also help
to solve the problem of the dimension
of our spacetime, ie
the question of why space-time is just
four-dimensional
(and space three-dimensional). The question of the
dimension of physical space and spacetime (which previously
seemed entirely academic, even almost scholastic) was raised more
seriously after the creation of multidimensional unitary
theories, namely Kaluz-Klein's five-dimensional theory (see
Appendix B, §B.2). The original Kaluz and Klein unitary
theories were not successful and for a long time they practically
fell into oblivion. Recently, interest in them began to rise
again because it turned out that extended supergravity theories
can be built geometrically in spaces of dimension n = 10 or n =
11 [59], [283].
In generalized unitary theories of
the Kaluz-Klein type (see also §B.2 and B.6), a space of
dimension n> 4 is considered, while all dimensions n-4
spontaneously "compactifying" - closing in
on themselves, so
that the radius of curvature of space in their directions it is
very small (of the order lp » 10-33 cm), so no macroscopic object can
move in these directions and spacetime effectively appears to be
four-dimensional. However, the question remains unclear why they
compacted the dimensions n-4 and not n-3, n-2, n-5 or the like,
ie why the resulting continuum is not three-dimensional,
two-dimensional, 5-dimensional, etc.?
However, within the co-production
of the inflation model of the universe and the anthropic
principle, a certain possibility opens up to solve this problem
even under the general assumption that spontaneous compaction can
transform the original n-dimensional space not only into
4-dimensional space, but also into spaces with other number of dimensions. Such compaction will then take place independently in distant
causally unrelated parts of the universe, so that after the
compaction the effective dimension of space
may be different in different parts of
the universe (although microscopically the dimension of space will be equal to the default
value of n everyvhere). If inflationary
expansion of the universe occurs after (or during) compaction,
the variously compacted regions will strongly expand and move
away, so that upon completion, the universe will consist of many
separate "mini-universes" with different dimensions,
including dimension 4 corresponding to our spacetime. And here comes the word anthropic
principle: it turns out that the existence of atoms and planetary
systems (necessary for the origin and development of life) is
possible only within four-dimensional space-time. This problem was
already dealt with by P.Ehrenfest in 1917, who showed that in
spaces of dimension higher than 4, gravitational and
electromagnetic forces would decrease too quickly with distance**) and could not lead to the formation of
stable bound systems such as atoms or planetary systems.
According to GTR, in spaces of dimension smaller than 4,
gravitational action between bodies would not occur at all.
According to this concept, we live in that metagalaxy (in one of
the many "mini-universes"), in which the 3 +
1-dimensionality of space enabled the origin and development
of life.
**) In n-dimensional space
(n+1-dimensional spacetime), the equation of the gravitational
potential generated by a point source would have the form (in
Newtonian approximation) Nn2j =
G.M.dn(r), where Ñn is the n-dimensional Hamiltonian
operator, dn(r) s d(x1).d(x2)....d(xn) is an
n-dimensional Dirac function, r is a position vector in n-dimensional
space. For a spherically symmetric case, the n-dimensional Gauss
theorem gives a solution in the form j(r) ~ 1/rn-2, so
that the force action depends on the distance according to the
law F(r) ~ 1/rn-1.
Analogous to electrostatic field. In §1.2 we have shown that the
existence of stable orbits is conditioned by the shape of the
effective potential (1.14); the equation of motion d2r/dt2 = -Nnj has
a solution in the form of stable orbits only if the effective
potential Vef(r) has a minimum at r ¹ 0,
r ¹ ¥ . Ehrenfest showed that the equation of
motion d2r/dt2 = -Nnj
has no solution in the form of
closed orbits at n> 3 - the test body either falls on the
attractive center or moves
away from it to infinity.
Although the considerations we
have just outlined are somewhat speculative, in addition to the
traditional notion of a globally homogeneous and isotropic
universe, the idea of a heterogeneous island universe consisting
of many locally homogeneous and
isotropic "mini-universes" - metagalaxies - is increasingly emerging in
contemporary cosmology. In each such "miniverse"
properties of elementary particles, fundamental
interactions (and thus the size of the vacuum energy) and even the
dimension of the space, may be different . Although current experimental
and theoretical knowledge does not provide any direct evidence
for the existence of other metagalaxies ("universes"),
this possibility cannot be ruled out a priori. Observable universe (our
metagalaxy) from physical point of view is not so
exclusive, that had to be considered unique.
Physically, they could exist, resp. coexist, other metagalaxies (causally separated "universes") with different properties
different from our metagalaxy. Interestingly, these concepts
are in line with the views of I.Kant, who dealt with the question
of the dimension of space from a philosophical point of view:
"If there can be formations with
other dimensions, God has probably actually placed them somewhere" (1746).
So there are some indications
that we live in a multiverse, but other universes are forever beyond our reach. We can't get there in any way (physically or by signals), there is no way to know if they exist or
not..?..
For the sake of completeness, let us mention two more speculative versions of the (strong) anthropic principle, which emphasize the role of the observer :
4. Participatory anthropic principle |
"Intelligent life (the observer) must arise in order to give the universe real meaning and real existence by observing (measuring) it and thus participating in its evolution." |
From a philosophical point of view, the participatory anthropic principle, originated by J.A.Wheeler, is justified by the theory of knowledge - gnoseology, noetics. From the physical point of view, it is partially supported by the so-called Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, according to which a certain state of the physical system is creaded only by measuring it. General: No phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is observed. And so is the universe. Therefore, if the universe is to be real, its properties must allow the existence of an observer. In a sense, the universe and the observer are placed on the same level here, their existence is conditioned by each other. However, this overestimation of the role of the observer is highly debatable from a physical and philosophical point of view..?..
5. Final anthropic principle |
"Intelligent life in the universe not only must necessarily arise, but once it is created, it will never disappear." |
The intelligent observer is a goal
that makes sense of the existence of the universe.
Any physical justification for the final anthropic
principle is currently lacking; it even contradicts
current cosmological concepts, according to which no structures
in the universe can be eternal - they end in either the collapse
or the infinite dilution and decay in the open universe - see
§5.6 (cf. also the passage "Astrophysics and Cosmology - Human Hopelessness?"). The
final anthropic principle is only a product of our faith,
respectively pious desire ...
From a philosophical point of view, the role of the anthropic principle is discussed in the work the Anthropic Principle or the Cosmic God.
Different meanings of the
term "universe"
To at least partially clarify some terminological ambiguities in
philosophical considerations of cosmology, it is be useful to
realize that the term "universe" is used in several
senses, the basic three of which are :
Gravity, black holes and space-time physics : | ||
Gravity in physics | General theory of relativity | Geometry and topology |
Black holes | Relativistic cosmology | Unitary field theory |
Anthropic principle or cosmic God | ||
Nuclear physics and physics of ionizing radiation | ||
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