Non-scientific versions of the answer to this question have basically been the basis of all religions and most philosophies.
Now a team of mathematicians from Canada and Egypt have used cutting-edge scientific theories and a huge set of equations to figure out what predates the universe in which we exist. The universe did not start with a Big Bang
In their work, they applied the theories of the world of quantum mechanics and found that the universe basically goes through four different phases.
Just as importantly, they discovered that this universe was… another universe, or more accurately, another “cosmological phase”.
Although the universe is infinite in size, it is cyclical and has always existed in one of four phases.
The universe continues to expand, but a team of mathematicians believes that certain changes caused by quantum mechanics will eventually stop the expansion and return everything to a near-infinity point, after which the universe will start expanding again.
The theory of the cyclic universe was expounded by mathematicians from Canada and Egypt. It is very difficult to understand, but one of the participants in the study, Professor Mir Faisal, outlined its main provisions.
Professor Mir Faisal said: “In our cosmological model, the universe did not start with a Big Bang, but there was a phase transition from one phase of the universe to another.”
“This is possible, since the universe can exist in four different phases, just as ordinary water can exist in three different phases. Just as we can learn about the properties of ice by studying the water that formed from it, we can learn about pre-big bang cosmology by studying the physics of this universe.”
“Using the developed model, we can study the physics of the cosmological phase before the beginning of our universe.”
In their model, scientists were able to figure out the state of the universe before the Big Bang. The mathematical equations in their model show that the expansion of the universe will stop at some point, and then immediately followed by a contraction phase.
Professor Mir added: “Other researchers have proposed a big bang and big crunch scenario, but these models have their own quirks.
“Singularities are bad in physics because they indicate a place where the laws of physics are violated, and in such places one cannot use physics to get meaningful results. The new cosmological model eliminates this feature. Therefore, the big bang singularity can also be avoided.”
In the cosmological model of scientists, the cyclical nature of the universe arises as a result of adding quantum effects to the cosmological model of the universe.
Professor Faisal explained that while there are many different approaches to quantum gravity, such as string theory and loop quantum gravity, what most of these different approaches have in common is that there is a minimum length below which space does not exist.
Many of these approaches also predict that there is also a maximum energy, and no object in the universe can have an energy greater than this maximum energy.
The research team incorporated the effect of minimum length and maximum energy into the cosmological model, after which they came up with a cyclic universe.
