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One thing is clear in our framing of questions such as `How did the
Universe get started?' is that the Universe was self-creating. This
is not a statement on a `cause' behind the origin of the Universe,
nor is it a statement on a lack of purpose or destiny. It is simply
a statement that the Universe was emergent, that the actual of the
Universe probably derived from a indeterminate sea of potentiality
that we call the quantum vacuum, whose properties may always remain
beyond our understanding.
Extrapolation from the present to the moment of Creation implies an origin
of infinite density and infinite temperature (all the Universe's mass and
 energy pushed to a point of zero volume). Such a point is called the
cosmic singularity.
The cosmic singularity, that was the Universe at the beginning of
time, is shielded by the lack of any physical observers. But the
next level of inquiry is what is the origin of the emergent
properties of the Universe, the properties that become the mass of
the Universe, its age, its physical constants, etc. The answer
appears to be that these properties have their origin as the
fluctuations of the quantum vacuum.
The properties of the Universe come from `nothing', where nothing is
the quantum vacuum, which is a very different kind of nothing. If we
examine a piece of `empty' space we see it is not truly empty, it is
filled with spacetime, for example. Spacetime has curvature and
structure, and obeys the laws of quantum physics. Thus, it is filled
with potential particles, pairs of virtual matter and anti-matter
units, and potential properties at the quantum level.
- the activity of the quantum vacuum allows for the creation of virtual pairs, a source of properties
- the quantum vacuum acts as the blackboard for the Universe, a vast ocean of potential that we extract our
properties, laws and relationships from
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The creation of virtual pairs of particles does not violate the law of
conservation of mass/energy because the only exist for times much less
than the Planck time. There is a temporary violation of the law of
conservation of mass/energy, but this violation occurs within the
timescale of the uncertainty principle and, thus, has no impact on
macroscopic laws.
The quantum vacuum is the ground state of energy for the Universe, the lowest
possible level. Attempts to perceive the vacuum directly only lead to a
confrontation with a void, a background that appears to be empty. But, in
fact, the quantum vacuum is the source of all potentiality. For example,
quantum entities have both wave and particle characteristics. It is the
quantum vacuum that such characteristics emerge from, particles `stand-out'
from the vacuum, waves `undulate' on the underlying vacuum, and leave their
signature on objects in the real Universe. In this sense, the Universe is
not filled by the quantum vacuum, rather it is `written on' it, the substratum
of all existence.
With respect to the origin of the Universe, the quantum vacuum must have been
the source of the laws of Nature and the properties that we observe today.
How those laws and properties emerge is unknown at this time. The fact that
the Universe exists should not be a surprise in the context of what we know
about quantum physics. The uncertainty and unpredictability of the quantum
world is manifested in the fact that whatever can happen, does
happen (this is often called the principle of totalitarianism, that if a
quantum mechanical process is not strictly forbidden, then it must occur).
The same principles were probably in effect at the time of the Big Bang
(although we can not test this hypothesis within our current framework
of physics). But as such, the fluctuations in the quantum vacuum
effectively guarantee that the Universe would come into existence. |
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