Strange world: Big Bang and broken eggs

Published on Sunday 8 June 2008 22:10

A TEAM of physicists has claimed that our view of the early universe may contain the signature of a time before the Big Bang. The discovery comes from studying the cosmic microwave background (CMB), light emitted when the universe was just 400,000 years old.

Their model may help explain why we experience time moving in a straight line from yesterday into tomorrow. Details of the work have been submitted to the journal Physical Review Letters.

The CMB is relic radiation that fills the entire universe and is regarded as the most conclusive evidence for the Big Bang. Although this microwave background is mostly smooth, the Cobe satellite in 1992 discovered small fluctuations that were believed to be the seeds from which the galaxy clusters we see in today's universe grew.

"Every time you break an egg or spill a glass of water you're learning about the Big Bang," Professor Carroll explained.

He added that by creating a Big Bang from the cold space of a previous universe, the new universe begins its life in just such an ordered state.

The apparent direction of time – and the fact that it's hard to put a broken egg back together – is the consequence.