infinitely expanding infinite universe?

A few weeks ago on PBS, Nova had a program about String theory. Well,
they hinted at something that got me thinking.

If you define the "Universe" as all matter and energy originating from
our big bang, then one could conclude that the Universe is finite.
(It may appear infinite but that could be an optical illusion.) (70
sextillion stars according to the Australian National University.)
According to classical big game theory, the finite "Universe" may
expand infinitely (forever); the "Universe" may expand slow down and
stop; or the "Universe" may expand, compress, and big crunch.

Back to the Nova program hint, the show (may have) hinted that the
above might be wrong. Perhaps the Universe is infinite and is
infinitely expanding(?). When enough "empty" space appears (as we
know it), the probabilities in Quantum mechanics "adds" up and creates
matter to fill it in. Hence there was not one big bang to create our
"Universe" but perhaps there are many many tiny big bangs that happen
occasionally - filling in voids that happen to get "too big"? So
perhaps the universe always was and always will be????

The following appears to hint at it(??):
"By correlating the results of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, astronomers have confirmed the
existence of dark energy. While gravity attracts, dark energy repels,
so by comparing the positions of millions of galaxies and their
red-shifts with the temperature map of the early universe, evidence
was found for dark energy on the scale of 100 million light years.
"Dark energy, whatever it is, is something that is not attracted by
gravity" said David Spergel, a Princeton University cosmologist and a
member of the WMAP science team. "We are finding that most of the
stuff in our universe is abnormal in that it is gravitationally
repulsive rather than gravitationally attractive," said Albert
Stebbins of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The universe is
expanding at an accelerating rate, a switch that happened about 6.3
billion years ago, before which the expansion was decelerating."

Please be aware I don't have any hard clung to beliefs on this
subject. I am just curious. Any comments or suggestions?

--
CB

"cgbusch" wrote in message
om...
A few weeks ago on PBS, Nova had a program about String theory. Well,
they hinted at something that got me thinking.

If you define the "Universe" as all matter and energy originating from
our big bang, then one could conclude that the Universe is finite.
(It may appear infinite but that could be an optical illusion.) (70
sextillion stars according to the Australian National University.)
According to classical big game theory, the finite "Universe" may
expand infinitely (forever); the "Universe" may expand slow down and
stop; or the "Universe" may expand, compress, and big crunch.

That should be "Big Bang Theory"

The classical "Big Game Theory" states that the universe is an ever
expanding buffalo.

(Sorry, couldn't resist :-)


Back to the Nova program hint, the show (may have) hinted that the
above might be wrong. Perhaps the Universe is infinite and is
infinitely expanding(?). When enough "empty" space appears (as we
know it), the probabilities in Quantum mechanics "adds" up and creates
matter to fill it in. Hence there was not one big bang to create our
"Universe" but perhaps there are many many tiny big bangs that happen
occasionally - filling in voids that happen to get "too big"? So
perhaps the universe always was and always will be????

The following appears to hint at it(??):
"By correlating the results of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, astronomers have confirmed the
existence of dark energy. While gravity attracts, dark energy repels,
so by comparing the positions of millions of galaxies and their
red-shifts with the temperature map of the early universe, evidence
was found for dark energy on the scale of 100 million light years.
"Dark energy, whatever it is, is something that is not attracted by
gravity" said David Spergel, a Princeton University cosmologist and a
member of the WMAP science team. "We are finding that most of the
stuff in our universe is abnormal in that it is gravitationally
repulsive rather than gravitationally attractive," said Albert
Stebbins of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The universe is
expanding at an accelerating rate, a switch that happened about 6.3
billion years ago, before which the expansion was decelerating."

Please be aware I don't have any hard clung to beliefs on this
subject. I am just curious. Any comments or suggestions?

--
CB