[Snail]

Thing is, in physics, it's possible that the parent could be somewhere within a child

[/quote]
One part of me is thinking that this is uber cool and that the human mind could never truly understand the complexities of the universe.

The other part of me is just being really stupid and immature.

[Angelus]

Thing is, in physics, it's possible that the parent could be somewhere within a child

One part of me is thinking that this is uber cool and that the human mind could never truly understand the complexities of the universe.

The other part of me is just being really stupid and immature.

I c wat yu did thar, and this makes me think, that i spend way to much time in tha interwebs.

[Mikes]

One part of me is thinking that this is uber cool and that the human mind could never truly understand the complexities of the universe.

The other part of me is just being really stupid and immature.

The same molecules that make up our bodies once burst out of a supernova and formed new stars, planets and life... and finally us.
What are we? We are part of the universe. And as a part of the universe that can observe and understand... what we are really is a chance for the universe to understand itself.

[Herra Tohtori]

This topic is relevant to my interests.

Particularly the concept of torsion as a force that would prevent true singularities from forming, as well as the follow-up question about what exists inside event horizons if not a singularity, and how the size of the space inside an event horizon would be affected by the strange space-time occurrences. Specifically, inflation of the space inside event horizon, and a differentiation between the space observable from outside the event horizon (parent universe) and the inside of the event horizon.

Recursive universes is a problem though in the sense that it pushes the problem of First Cause further back much in the same way as any other hypothesis that doesn't offer the universe from being born of nothingness.

The concept of us living inside a supermassive black hole event horizon, is intriguing, but it is also somewhat depressing in the sense that we wouldn't really have much in the way of receiving information from the parent universe, which could potentially hinder our deeper understanding of the nested multiverse system to an extent that we might never get any further than finding out stuff about our own universe and its existence.

[watsisname]

Relevant to my interests, as well!  

If this theory indeed rectifies the problems of inflation, arrow of time, singularities, etc then this would be a breakthrough in physics and cosmology comparable to the birth of GR.  Actually, it's probably greater.

One subject I didn't quite get deals with the experimental implications -- that there ought to be certain properties of the mother universe that trickle down into the child universes like ours. 

From article:
"That said, some properties of the mother universe could trickle through to its daughters, and detecting some of these properties could actually provide experimental proof of the theory. In fact Poplawski speculates this inheritance of properties could solve another great mystery of cosmology."

Interesting, but I wonder what sort of "properties" do they propose we could be looking for, and what conclusions would we be able to draw from them?

Thing is, in physics, it's possible that the parent could be somewhere within a child, we think linearly, thanks to the arrow of time, and the very words used can be confusing, but for all we know, the Universe that we spawned from may not even have been created yet. Cause and Effect doesn't apply if Time is all over the place. This universe could as much be an echo backwards as an echo forwards.

Possibly stupid question, but this is bugging me.  How can we make the assumption that time might not need to be linear in the mother universe?  Especially considering that we know that it'd have to be passing forwards in order for a black hole within it to birth our own universe.  (Otherwise it'd be a proverbial "white hole", which wouldn't create a child universe inside.)

Are my thoughts correct here or am I just grossly confused?

[Herra Tohtori]

Following the reasoning, it follows that:

Black hole has universe inside. White hole is the big bang.

Reversion of time could potentially switch the parent/child relation of universes, although I hesitate to think what that would do to entropy.

Mindbogglingest possibility is that there is a chain or network of linked universes that would (grossly simplified) be like a bunch of snakes eating each others' tails. In such universe, there wouldn't actually be either beginning or end of time as such, only universe-specific time. In this scenario, the chains of universes would not be recursive, but then again it also does not answer to the question of First Cause.

And THEN there's the possibility of many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics being true, which would mean the existence of parallel universes in a chained/networked multiverse...

[Flipside]

Possibly stupid question, but this is bugging me.  How can we make the assumption that time might not need to be linear in the mother universe?  Especially considering that we know that it'd have to be passing forwards in order for a black hole within it to birth our own universe.  (Otherwise it'd be a proverbial "white hole", which wouldn't create a child universe inside.)

The most honest answer I can give is 'I don't know' to be honest, time might work exactly the same in all Universes, it might work differently in each, we don't even really understand Time, and certainly the effects of relativity when passing through the event horizon of a black hole is based purely on speculation of what we know. You may well be correct and time can only flow through Black Holes in a linear fashion, kind of like a valve, but massive levels of Gravity can play all sorts of tricks, and Quantum mechanics can do odd things at times, there's a variation of the double-slit experiment that states that events in the future can alter what happens in the past, mix all that up with the other factors and I honestly couldn't tell you what the outcome would be

Edit: Would a snake-chain universe supply it's own solution to entropy via Gravity in that case Herra, each universe constantly pouring matter and energy into the next in a kind of never-ending hourglass effect?

[StarSlayer]

Herra I did not know Xzibit was a proponent of the chained universe theory

Does anybody actually have a link to Poplawski's actual paper?

[watsisname]

Does anybody actually have a link to Poplawski's actual paper?

Yes.

http://arxiv4.library.cornell.edu/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1007/1007.0587v1.pdf

[Herra Tohtori]

Edit: Would a snake-chain universe supply it's own solution to entropy via Gravity in that case Herra, each universe constantly pouring matter and energy into the next in a kind of never-ending hourglass effect?

Now THAT depends on whether they're a closed system or not.

Assuming thermodynamics even applies in the chained multiverse. For all we know it could be specific to our universe (though I doubt it).

Entropy and temperature of a black hole are defined thermodynamic quantities, however it is uncertain how close the thermodynamics of a black hole corresponds with thermodynamics of the more normal parts of observable universe.

I guess that theoretically something like this could be possible:

[Flipside]

Yup, that was the sort of image I had in my mind, of course, it creates a lot of questions, because I 'think' that every universe in the chain would effectively contain every other Universe, like the wierdest Russian Doll in history, where the outside Doll is inside the central one...which pretty much fries my noodle

[watsisname]

So the universe is just a giant and delicious cruller!?    
Oh God!  


Somewhere, somehow, extra-dimensional Homer Simpson is salivating profusely.

[Mongoose]

Mindbogglingest possibility is that there is a chain or network of linked universes that would (grossly simplified) be like a bunch of snakes eating each others' tails. In such universe, there wouldn't actually be either beginning or end of time as such, only universe-specific time. In this scenario, the chains of universes would not be recursive, but then again it also does not answer to the question of First Cause.

Great, then we'd have a bloody Wheel of Time going on.

[Flipside]

Heh, it could be worse, imagine a Universe that is inside a Black Hole that is inside that Universe...

Kind of like the Aboriginal story of the man who carried the entire Universe in a sack on his back

[chief1983]

Hmm, I think my thought process has already been reflected in some of the more recent posts.  But I'm reminded of speculation that blackholes are somehow connected to other places, it'd be strange if blackholes are actually all connected and are our universe, feeding itself, as matter gets sucked in it gets spit back out to go into another black hole.  So instead of thinking cruller, think dog chasing its tail

[StarSlayer]

I don't suppose this means there's a universe composed of Ray Butts, a SA-43 Hammerhead and Johnny Cash music?

[General Battuta]

I don't suppose this means there's a universe composed of Ray Butts, a SA-43 Hammerhead and Johnny Cash music?

where are the pancakes?

[Angelus]

I don't suppose this means there's a universe composed of Ray Butts, a SA-43 Hammerhead and Johnny Cash music?

I has eated them in one universe.
No actually i'm going to eat them in the other universe.

[redsniper]

Heh, it could be worse, imagine a Universe that is inside a Black Hole that is inside that Universe...

Kind of like the Aboriginal story of the man who carried the entire Universe in a sack on his back

Oh God, It's like that one episode of Futurama!

[Nuke]

I don't suppose this means there's a universe composed of Ray Butts, a SA-43 Hammerhead and Johnny Cash music?

that had to be the best scene in all of scifi
hail cash! emperor of blackness!