The Big Bang as the Ultimate Traffic Jam

Abstract

We present a novel solution to the nature and formation of the initial state of the Universe. It derives from the physics of a generally covariant extension of Matrix theory. We focus on the dynamical state space of this background independent quantum theory of gravity and matter, an infinite dimensional, complex non-linear Grassmannian. When this space is endowed with a Fubini--Study-like metric, the associated geodesic distance between any two of its points is zero. This striking mathematical result translates into a physical description of a hot, zero entropy Big Bang. The latter is then seen as a far from equilibrium, large fluctuation driven, metastable ordered transition, a ``freezing by heating'' jamming transition. Moreover, the subsequent unjamming transition could provide a mechanism for inflation while rejamming may model a Big Crunch, the final state of gravitational collapse.

8 pages, This essay received an honorable mention in the Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition, 2009

References in corpus (3)

• Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
• Time and M-theory
• Why there is something so close to nothing: towards a fundamental theory of the cosmological constant

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• Using Neutrinos to test the Time-Energy Uncertainty Relation in an Extreme Regime