Infinite Vacuum Energy and the Shape of the Universe
It occurred to me that there are a number of different ways to look at the theoretical Big Bang Event and the Shape of the Universe that we observe. The traditional description is that the universe once existed as an unfathomably dense point of matter, compressed into what can only really only be described as a singularity (since it definitely would have obeyed the Schwarzschild Radius condition of a Black Hole).
This conclusion (among others) is the impetus for newer models that have been around for the last couple decades suggesting that the Universe originated in a Black Hole — or in an event related to Black Hole Dynamics — indicating a deeper shift in our understanding of the nature and origins of our universe.
For some reason that we don’t yet understand, the Big Bang event occurred. A cosmic explosion that radiated primordial light (CMB radiation) and all of the hydrogen atoms that exist, across virgin space — the universe had been birthed into being.
Again, for a reason that we don’t understand, the Big Bang radiated light and matter in a great plane; a massive, flat, disc-shape of cosmic size, that we observe our universe to be. At least that is its apparent shape from our perspective. However, our perception of “flat” may not be entirely trustworthy.
Lessons From Gravitational Lensing
One of the most illustrative phenomena of this idea (that as convincing as our observations of the shape of the universe might be from its light, they are not intrinsically valid) is Gravitational Lensing. In summary, Gravitational Lensing is the phenomenon where Gravity Bends Light in space. When we observe the heavens through a telescope, there are certain stars we see located behind massive cosmic objects which are not actually located in the direction that we see them.
As light from distant stars passes by massive objects that significantly curve the fabric of spacetime on its path towards us, the trajectory of the light of that star star is altered. The influence of the objects extreme mass warps spacetime (literally contracting space-time in all spherical directions towards the center of mass, by a greater degree the closer you are to the object) causing light to radiate along that curvature.
Since starlight is what we see from our perspective as the literal star itself, and is bent around that object, our eyes (or optical enhancement technology that increases the bandwidth of our eyes, so to speak) cannot be trusted to determine position of the star. We cannot see light bend, let alone the shape of the photons curve through space. The result is that there is a discrepancy between observed position and actual position. We “see” the star along one trajectory (its observed position) but if that light was bent along the way, its true location and direction from us (actual position) is hidden from us.
In some sense, this is like if you were to point towards China from California, you would point East along the horizon. However, in actuality, if you wanted to actually point towards China (let’s say Beijing specifically) you would still point towards the East, but into the ground. We travel along the curvature of the Earth to get there, but it is not actually located “due east” in a geometrical sense, only in a practical geographical one.
There is a possibility that a similar dynamic is at play in our understanding of the shape of the universe, which would also explain the discrepancy between observed and theoretical values of vacuum energy. In the case of our understanding of the shape of the universe, this could significantly effect the perceived shape of the universe, relative to its actual shape.
Dark Energy and the Discrepancy Between Theoretical Values of Zero-Point Energy and Observed Values Of Vacuum Energy
Quantum Field Theory (QFT) predicts a Zero-Point Energy (ZPE) that is essentially infinite, suggesting that empty space is infinitely dense with energy. Alluring ideas of tapping into this energy for so-called Free Energy aside, this prediction has caused a great deal of conflict in scientific theories because we only observe a fraction of the infinite ZPE that theory suggests.
Original estimates for this discrepancy were as high as 122 orders of magnitude, and has been called the Vacuum Catastrophe or the Cosmological Constant Problem. Although recent modern estimates are more conservative in their estimate of the order of magnitude of the discrepancy (correctly or incorrectly) the fact remains that this is an unresolved issue in physics. More importantly, we don’t know what to do with this infinity, and it has to be renormalized in order to make our equations work.
Ultra successful theories like QFT that predict an infinite energy density in the vacuum structure suggest that the vacuum structure is infinite mass-energy, due to Einstein’s Mass-Energy Equivalency. Therefore, if QFT is correct (and it is an incredibly accurate theory in practice) then the vacuum is infinite mass. This is the essence of the belief that we exist in the singularity of a black hole. Perhaps even that our universe exists within a singularity.
Following this line of thought, it would mean that any black holes we see in the observable universe, or our galaxy, are just gradients of infinity within that singularity. Somehow. It is paradoxical, abstract, and mind-bending (but, well, that is how reality appears when we don’t yet understand).
The infinite mass-energy of the vacuum structure — a potential candidate for Dark Energy — could (and would if this is accurate) bend the light emanating from the Big Bang event back inwards on itself over cosmic ages. We would perceive the light moving in radiating straight lines forming a flat disc-shape, but like the parallax phenomena we see with stars, that observation might be a mirage.
Light could even be bending inwards against the interior of an event horizon that encapsulates our universe. Accelerating away from our perspective, but actually falling inwards from a higher order of perception. Furthermore, it could be bending in different orientations in different directions that we choose to look, due to universal-scale black hole dynamics. Nor would it would it be obvious, any more than the actual position of a star experiencing parallax would be just by looking. It was only in the last century after the work of Einstein that this phenomenon has been understood. After all, why question what we can see with our eyes: its obviously right there, straight ahead, because we can see it.
Is there a way that we can tell if the light and matter of the observable universe is being bent by the gravitational force of an enormous source of mass? On a subtle gradient of infinite density from infinite density … to infinite density minus one?
This is an equivalent explanation for why the “expansion” of the universe appears to be accelerating. Perhaps we do not observe the same observed and theoretical values of Vacuum Energy and ZPE respectively, because of relativity. We calculate the value for vacuum energy because we only see small accelerations, while we are missing enormous torque and coriolis forces that are twisting this great “disc” of the known universe (all matter and light) due to the gravitation of an infinitely dense vacuum — or possibly a gravitational source at the center of the universe of cosmic proportions.
A good analogy for this is how we do not experience the fact that every human being on the equator is hurtling through space at around ~1,666 km/h as the Earth spins on its axis — but we don’t feel it. Everything is moving at that speed, so it is hidden. But if some cosmic giant were to hover beside the Earth and touch an enormous rod to the surface of the planet, holding it in place as the Earth continues to revolve on its axis … all of a sudden those hidden forces would become very, very apparent.
(Like Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s explanation of what would happen if superman actually caused the Earth to spin in the opposite direction — utter destruction of the Earth’s surface, and everyone living on it — due to a catastrophic change in the momentum of everything on Earth, and the Earth itself.)
More Questions Than Answers
From our perspective, the Big Bang (for some reason) radiated in a flat plane. However, there could certainly be universal dynamics, forces, and even higher dimensions beyond what we understand acting on observed reality in a way that is not perceptible.
Newton, in all his brilliance, never conceived that an abstract spacetime manifold could warp empty space, which is the deeper dynamic behind the gravitational force that he was the first human being to describe comprehensively with mathematics and theory. With the level of knowledge of his time, it just wasn’t in the realm of his comprehension. (Respect to Galileo Galilei of course, who himself made revolutionary strides to understand gravity that Newton expanded on).
This is not a properly formulated scientific idea, on my part, just an observation. One born from an acute awareness of how little we actually know and understand about the Universe. I am constantly floored every time my mind fixates on it (in literal internal fear) at the impossibility of existence at all. That reality somehow expands infinitely in all directions. How is it that existence can exist? In what space?
Therefore we should be careful to not overestimate what we think we know, while living in a reality that we have only just begun to comprehend.
