{"id":18541,"date":"2018-05-03T01:05:08","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T17:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/stephen-hawkings-final-theory-goes-into-publication-but-its-not-the-final-word\/"},"modified":"2018-05-03T01:05:08","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T17:05:08","slug":"stephen-hawkings-final-theory-goes-into-publication-but-its-not-the-final-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/stephen-hawkings-final-theory-goes-into-publication-but-its-not-the-final-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Hawking\u2019s \u2018Final Theory\u2019 goes into publication \u2013 but it\u2019s not the final word"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hertog
Belgian physicist Thomas Hertog meets with Stephen Hawking in 2015. (KU Leuven \/ Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Weeks after the death of British physicist Stephen Hawking, his final research paper on the nature of our universe and its place in the wider multiverse was published today in the Journal of High-Energy Physics.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s up to his co-author, Belgian physicist Thomas Hertog, to keep an eye out for observational evidence for or against Hawking\u2019s \u201cFinal Theory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pre-print version of the paper \u2014 titled \u201cA Smooth Exit From Eternal Inflation?\u201d \u2014 has been circulating for months. It addresses the rather mind-blowing idea that our universe is merely one of the many possible manifestations in a multiverse.<\/p>\n

Some theorists say universes could be spawning off each other eternally, creating a virtually infinite array of fractal possibilities. They say our universe just happens to be one of the manifestations where the laws of physics allow for stars, galaxies, planets and life.<\/p>\n

Hawking and Hertog say the possibilities aren\u2019t as infinite as those theorists would claim, because eternal inflation is bounded by a smooth, featureless, timeless state of existence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we trace the evolution of our universe backwards in time, at some point we arrive at the threshold of eternal inflation, where our familiar notion of time ceases to have any meaning,\u201d Hertog said in a news release.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/vimeo.com\/267131639<\/p>\n

The idea runs counter to Hawking\u2019s previously held view that the history of the universe has no boundary. \u201cNow we\u2019re saying that there is a boundary in our past,\u201d Hertog said.<\/p>\n

If the hypothesis holds up, it would suggest that our universe is perhaps a little more special than the multiverse concept might otherwise imply.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not down to a single, unique universe, but our findings imply a significant reduction of the multiverse, to a much smaller range of possible universes,\u201d Cambridge University quoted Hawking as saying before his death in March.<\/p>\n

The \u201cFinal Theory\u201d isn\u2019t a slam-dunk, as indicated by the question mark in its title. Some scientists say there\u2019s no way to subject the paper\u2019s claims to observational tests, but Hertog insists it\u2019s possible to find evidence backing up (or knocking down) the hypothesis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most promising observable [phenomena], when it comes to our universe, are gravitational waves \u2026 that are probably generated at the big bang, basically,\u201d he said in a video explaining the paper.<\/p>\n

Hertog said details in the patterns of primordial gravitational waves could show whether Hawking\u2019s Final Theory is on the right track. Such waves would have to have extremely long wavelengths, which means they\u2019re beyond the range detectable by ground-based instruments such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory.<\/p>\n

The European Space Agency\u2019s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA, \u201cshould be ideally suited to capture those gravitational waves from the big bang,\u201d Hertog said.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t hold your breath waiting for the answer: LISA isn\u2019t scheduled to launch until 2034.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belgian physicist Thomas Hertog meets with Stephen Hawking in 2015. (KU Leuven \/ Facebook) Weeks after the death of British physicist Stephen Hawking, his final research paper on the nature of our universe and its place in the wider multiverse was published today in the Journal of High-Energy Physics. Now it\u2019s up to his co-author, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2050,4570,3755],"class_list":["post-18541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-cosmology","tag-physics","tag-stephen-hawking"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}