New Theory to Replace the Big Bang Model

An associate professor at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan has recently proposed a new model of explaining the Universe, one that may be more suited for the job than the current Big Bang theory. According to expert Wun-Yi Shu, mass, time, and length, some of the most basic aspects of the Cosmos, can be converted into each other as evolution takes place within the Universe. The explanation removes the necessity of accounting for the ever-increasing acceleration in the Cosmos by using the notion of dark energy, PhysOrg reports.

The flatness and horizon problems also receive solutions with this new approach, which is precisely why the international scientific community is giving this new idea so much consideration. In a paper Shu published in the online journal arXiv, the expert explains that the main innovation his idea brings is a new type of view on common and basic elements such as length, space, mass and time. For example, he proposes, time and space can be converted into each other by using a basic conversion factor, and namely the speed of light.

Similarly, mass and length can be converted into each other by using a varying gravitational “constant” and a varying speed of light (G/c2) as factors. What Shu is proposing is that the expansion of the Universe makes time convert into space, whereas mass changes into length. When the Cosmos will begin to contract, the exact opposite will take place. “We view the speed of light as simply a conversion factor between time and space in spacetime. It is simply one of the properties of the spacetime geometry. Since the universe is expanding, we speculate that the conversion factor somehow varies in accordance with the evolution of the universe, hence the speed of light varies with cosmic time,” the expert says.

The model also has significant implications for some basic philosophical concept. It basically states that time has no beginning and no end, and that singularities such as the Big Bang and the Big Crunch (Universal contraction) cannot and did not exist. Another effect is that the Universe passes through alternating stages of acceleration and deceleration, similar to the way Earth experiences alternative reversals of its magnetic poles.

“Essentially, this work is a novel theory about how the magnitudes of the three basic physical dimensions, mass, time, and length, are converted into each other, or equivalently, a novel theory about how the geometry of spacetime and the distribution of mass-energy interact. The theory resolves problems in cosmology, such as those of the big bang, dark energy, and flatness, in one fell stroke,” Shu concludes.