Annual Lecture Series (in-person)
Lunchtime Talks (in-person)
Conferences (in-person)
Online-Only Events
- This event has passed.
CBS Seminar: F. Dowker
March 10, 2021 @ 9:15 am - 11:00 am EST
If Time Had No Beginning
ABSTRACT: Could the universe have had no beginning? I don’t mean, in raising this question, to deny or throw doubt on Big Bang cosmology and the existence in the past of a hot, dense state of Planckian curvature and temperature. But, in that case, how is the question to be interpreted given that—if we accept the standard cosmology— the Lorentzian manifold structure of spacetime breaks down at the Big Bang? Certainly, the continuum concept of time in our cosmological epoch “begins” at the Big Bang. Can we even ask what happened “before” that? The causal set approach to the problem of quantum gravity provides an arena in which to address the question of origins, in which it makes sense to ask what happened before the Big Bang and in which a clear distinction can be made between models of the universe which are “past infinite” and “past finite”. I will describe work with Stav Zalel and Bruno Bento in which we construct a framework for dynamics for causal sets which can result in past infinite universes.
Part of our ongoing Cosmology Beyond Spacetime online seminar series. See the full list of talks here.
Talks in this series will be held in Zoom webinar format and pre-registration is required.
REGISTER HERE: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BYAmu_RxTeCCSU7JXYk_Ig
Details
- Date:
- March 10, 2021
- Time:
-
9:15 am - 11:00 am EST
- Event Categories:
- Conferences 2020-21, Conferences, Workshops and Programs
Venue
- Online Lecture