Cyclocosmos

Cyclocosmos

A Poetic Essay, Both Integral and Derivative,
Concerning the Cyclic Universe of
Steinhardt and Turok

By Bill Robinson
http://wwwphy.princeton.edu/~steinh/
http://wwwphy.princeton.edu/~steinh/robinson.pdf



In Science, as Nature, what affects our hearts
Is not the exactness of peculiar parts;
`Tis not a number, or function, we beauty call,
But the joint force and full result of all.

So I'll tell the quaint tale in several quatrains
Of a vast Cosmology in Dueling Membranes.
Behold Figure One telling the whole Cycle's Tale
While I chant this long Poem at the pace of a Snail.

The common wisdom of Bang and Inflation
Must now deal with a serious Aberration
Of accelerated Expansion and an Inconstant Hubble.
Reviving Lambda papers over the trouble-
For Einstein, Triumph; but for Philosophers subtle,
The scenarios offered cause many to grumble.
Plucked out of nowhere, this new Scalar Potential
Powers the growth, but what is essential
Is a sense of Why? When? Whither? Wherefore?
Why does it happen? What happened before
The Big Bang? And the Numbers fine-tuned,
So many, so Vital; we're left to assume
Our little Bubble had it precisely all right.
The rest of the Cosmos, now lost in the Night
Beyond our Horizon (says Inflation) is boundless.
Right here is Special, though before it was groundless
To see ourselves Central in the Universal Order.
A privileged Place has a familiar Odor.
Something is rotten in the State of Denmark,
And not only Hamlet can make that remark
..
Now what can we do when faced with this Mystery?
Perhaps we do well with lessons from History.
A touch of Copernicus, one of Occam's close shaves,
Abandoning convention-to no Idea be Slaves.
For Steinhardt and Turok, well-versed in M Theory
(Which to most is Obtuse and makes our heads weary)
Four-D is no limit; the Five of Kaluza-Klein
Gives space for two Branes and a Solution sublime.
We live on one Brane with another nearby
Across that Fifth Dee o'r which nothing can fly.
While they're separate by Fermis, the Scalar Potential
Governs expansion and contraction in ways Providential.
It powers the Bang and gives rise to new Matter
And makes it all happen with Curvature flatter
Than could have been possible with earlier Theories.
It means that our own Universe is just one of a Series,
Born again and again in infinite Sequence
With increasing Entropy so dilute in appearance
That no one can see it and Nothing runs down.
The Specter of Einstein comes neigh with a frown;
"What gives with GR? You've made a Disaster
With Beta and Phi-dot and a custom Scale Factor.
My dear Proper Clock is now Conformal Time-
Sounds like a theory contrived for the Rhyme!"
Oh dear! After all, to be charged with a crime
Of Cosmic proportions by Doctor Einstein
Is serious business. Can the Variation stand test?
There's no direct way, but LISA is best
For choosing 'tween 'flation and Branes that are bouncing.
Left-over G-waves from the Bang are announcing
Guth's Inflation is right; while if there are none,
Then Cycles have favor and Steinhardt has won.

Recurring Big Bangs with no Singularities-
As wholesome as Shakespeare without the Vulgarities.
How do they manage? It's a little complex;
Metric dt squared is a-hat squared dx
Squared minus dt squared. It's a-hat that matters,
Staying finite while Everything crunches to tatters-
Clear down to Quark Soup, but not down all the way
Like Robertson-Walker's scale factor a.
(Don't grow to Infinity and don't shrink to Zero;
If your theory does this than you'll be a Hero.)
Why are things this way, and not something Other?
The cyclical Pattern is like an Attractor,
So that once it gets going it starts to converge
And all possible Variants in time nearly merge.
Not quite exactly, it's not just repeating-
Post-Bang in a second it's different, defeating
The problem of re-runs we all know too well;
This theory's of the Heavens and not one of Hell.


Compared to the data, the theory seems right-
Euclidean, with Galaxies accelerating in flight,
Infinitely large with smooth Microwave.
Those isotropic photons from the Bang is what gave
The reason for making Inflation in the first place.
If you look in directions opposite in Space,
Why are they similar? They haven't been talking!
No A to B contact, no matter how fast they're walking.
Inflation smoothes quickly and then disappears
Into Nowhere. But Cycles use a billion Years
Before the Crunch, so Regions now distant commune
Beyond their Horizons and become in tune
With the Spectrum of bumps that evolve to each Galaxy
And Cluster and Void that all can now see.

Let's tour the whole Cycle from Now to Now
Explaining each step, and then showing how
It depends on Potential V and Scalar Field Phi,
Skipping Math so complex that grown Scholars cry.
We contemplate the Gist, and communicate that Deed,
For Fools rush in where Angels fear to read.
With a ratio of one to a thousand, you'll agree
We need Pictures, not Words: see Figure Three.
With V as abscissa and Phi as the ordinate,
Energy both Kinetic and Potential coordinate
Along this strange curve from minus forever to One
Where we are now, as we'll be when we're done.
Our expansion grows quicker; soon we roll downhill.
V and Phi flow below zero, Expansion slows until
In Trillions of years it ceases-we're due for Collapse.
Conformal Time flips negative, so Normality snaps.
In only Ten Billion we're at Point number Four,
A second from Crunch. Everything onwards is more
Quickly evolving; to follow, our Minds suffer Strains.

Let me not to the meeting of two Branes
Admit impediment. V goes past its Minimum
And then back to Zero at the Death of the Continuum-
Or so it would seem when Phi is minus Infinity.
Scale factor a declines to Nothing. Only Divinity,
Or Beta, can save us from a point-like End.
But a-hat is Finite, and we pass through the Bend
With a flood of new Matter as the Branes pull apart
And Phi's back to Zero, giving all a fresh Start.
In a Zeptosecond we return to Point Eight;
Phi puts on the Brakes and becomes quite Sedate.
Fourteen Billion Years more marks our inhabited State,
An Unpreferred Place and Unpreferred Date.

The Cyclic Idea of Steinhardt and Turok in
Essence is Method, not settled and locked in
As Theory with everything set in its place.
It points to existence beyond Time and Space.
The proper study of Mankind is Physics,
If it be extended beyond the limits of Cynics.
This cyclical Cosmos is all mechanistic
Which compared to Experience, is not Realistic.
The Enlightenment of Pope, Voltaire and Swift
Gives us a dead World and throws out the Gift
Of something transcendent to Rock, Mud, and Clay.
Is there nothing that happens when we sit down to pray?
However advanced, these Cycles don't feature
Our Awareness, which exists-sayeth the Preacher.

So ends this long Poem with hopes you aren't bored
Or bewildered, and I forgive if you've snored.
The subject is Endless, beyond limits of Mind;
Shall we venture to look? And What shall we Find?
The World of the Senses and Logic tells Lies,
But it's what we have here, so a Physicist-tries!




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