THE BEGINNING AND THE COSMIC
EVOLUTION ( Page 4 ) |
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| To get an idea of the immensity of this force, what
we call antigravity or dark energy, another fact also must be understood.
Consider the total mass of all the ordinary matter in our cosmos,
the billions upon billions of stars, with all the planets, the dust
and cloud, the gases hydrogen, helium, the strange massive objects
like quasars and even more massive black holes. In normal sense of
the term one could describe this as infinite. But wait a while; this
is still finite. According to the latest assessment by the cosmologists,
the combined mass of all the stars together make up only 1 % of the
total mass of the universe. The stars together with the loose gases,
dust and all forms of ordinary matter still make up only 5 % of the
total mass of the mass-energy conglomerate that keep our universe
in its present state of flatness. 30% of the mass is made up of what
is termed invisible matter, something that cannot be detected. This
is called dark matter. The scientists still do not know anything about
the nature of this dark matter or dark energy other than that they
are there. According to David Cline, the names, dark matter and dark
energy are “expressions of our ignorance.” (Scientific
American: Feb. 2003). The dark matter and dark energy together make
up 95% of the mass of the universe. If all the known forms of matter
of the universe make up only 5%, then the 95% is what one can call
infinite. This infinite force with a consciousness that controls the
shape and fate of the universe is what our forefathers called Omnipotent
Force, Parasakthi (Sanskrit for supreme force) or in simple language,
God. I am not implying that this force of antigravity or dark energy
is identical to God. Far from it. What I mean in this context is that
this almost infinite force is one of the ways in which the infinite
God controls the cosmic evolution. |
| We are faced with one more problem of a different nature.
If our universe were made of one-third matter and two-third dark energy,
this repulsive energy would have prevented the matter from gathering
together into galaxies, stars and planets. The sun and the earth should
not be here and we should not be here. Yet, here we are! Some explain
this by attributing more supernatural powers to the dark energy. According
to them this energy knows when and how to increase or decrease in
magnitude, when to maximise or minimise. It was a maximum during the
first phase of cosmic evolution, a minimum during the period when
galaxies and stars formed and again a high right now. This will explain
why I termed this antigravity or dark energy ‘a force with consciousness’.
Some other scientists explain away this problem by bringing in the
‘anthropic principle’ and yet others the ‘principle
of quintessence’. |
| I do not claim to have understood these principles,
but I have the suspicion that here we are passing from the realm of
physics to that of metaphysics. Not that I have any problem with the
metaphysical explanations of cosmology. In fact that is my very goal.
I fully agree with the view that the present state of the universe
cannot be explained by physical laws, that the expansion of the universe
is controlled by a supernatural force, that the solar system, the
earth and living beings are here, not by chance but by divine design.
To make sense of these data and principles crowding in as we try to
learn more about our world we have to correlate physics with metaphysics,
complement cosmology with theology, supplement science with religion. |
| The Great Inflation |
| In the beginning, when God created the world, all that
is in the universe - time, space, energy and matter - was contained
in an infinitesimally small point known as singularity. The density,
pressure and temperature of this singularity were infinite. This is
the only instance where the term infinite can be aptly applied except
in reference to God himself. 10-44 seconds after the creation, this
point of singularity was still smaller in size than a proton. Next
instant the great inflation started, the point expanding madly to
the size of a mustard seed to tennis ball to football to a ball of
radius of thousands of kilometres, to one of thousands of light years.
The matter had not yet accreted to stars or galaxies. There was no
explosion or Big Bang, only inflation. This is the view of the cosmologists
at the start of the twenty-first century. Big Bang is replaced by
inflation. |
| During the first nanosecond (one billionth fraction
of a second), matter was in its fifth state known as quagma or quark-gluon
plasma – no ions, protons or neutrons yet. (The five phases
of matter are solid, liquid gas, plasma and quagma). The four forces
- gravity, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force and electromagnetic
force - were united as one force. Radiation had not started, and the
cosmos was dark. After the first phase of inflation, about 100 million
years after the origin of inflation, the radiation era started and
there was light. (This is not from the Bible but from an article in
the Time: 25 June 2001). And it was much later that matter somehow
began to condense into galaxies and stars. |
| In the past we just assumed that it was only natural
for matter in the universe to accrete into stars and planets by the
action of gravity. But today, in the twenty-first century we know
that it wasn’t as simple as that. It was not a natural process.
If the dark energy were doing then what it is doing now and at the
beginning of times – causing acceleration or inflation - the
matter of the universe would never have formed into stars and galaxies.
Hence we have to assume that the Almighty who guides and controls
the evolution of the universe directly intervenes in these matters
and that most happenings in our world are not just by chance but be
divine design. |
| Alternate Theories |
| The preceding pages of this chapter were written at
a time when the Big-Bang/Inflation theory was having the reign of
the field of cosmology and astronomy. Half a century ago there were
other theories such as the steady state theory and the oscillating
universe theory. Carl Sagan, in his book ‘The Cosmos’
and the television series of the same title, had favoured the oscillating
universe theory and compared it to the Cycles of creation and destruction
as found in the Indian/Hindu Mythology. At the turn of the new millennium
newest discoveries in the fields of cosmology and astronomy have confirmed
the Big-bang model for the evolution of the universe. But this does
not in any way mean that the scientists had the final say in the matter.
It is not impossible that new discoveries and new theories could topple
the Big-Bang theory or the ‘flat’ nature of the universe.
The present assumption about the destiny of the universe is based
on the assumption of the role of dark energy acting as antigravity
and causing the universe to accelerate. But how far can we depend
on this assumption? We have seen that the dark energy was a maximum
during the early inflation era, a minimum when the galaxies and stars
were formed and again a maximum now. What if the antigravity is to
become a minimum again sometime in the future? Could it not cause
the gravity to take over, put a break on the acceleration and start
a deceleration to end in a big crunch? Could we reach the state of
singularity again and start the process again with another inflation?
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