Is there a reputable scientific theory yet about what existed more than a few seconds BEFORE the Big Bang?

Question

I am not looking for the 'God' answer. I am looking for an acredited scientific answer.

Answer 1

The simple answer to that question is the one I like the best.

Before the Big Bang there was the potential for the Big Bang. Exactly what that potential was is what the different theories try to explain. Personally I believe that there are many many different universes coming into existence all the time. Think of waves on the ocean. The water and wind are the potentials that create waves. Each wave has its own life and is defined by the surface of the water. The shape of the wave is caused by the energy below the surface of the water but that energy originated with the wind. This could be applied to the Brane theory or to some of the different String theories of existence. Before the wave there was the water and wind. Before the universe, its beginning marked by the Big Bang, there were the potentials, strings, branes, cosmic pool, whatever works for you.

Answer 2

There are arguments about whether this is a 'theory' or a 'hypothesis', but have you heard of Brane Cosmology? In which the Big Bang results from the collision between two branes in a higherdimensional space?

Try reading this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekpyrotic

I wouldn't go so far as to call this a theory, as it has yet to make any testable predictions.

Technically, though, there was no 'before' the Big Bang, even in this model. In the same way that there is nowhere north of the North Pole.

As for the God thing, there are many definitions of God - such as Spinoza's idea that God is the totality of existence. This kind of God is not a seperate entity from 'his' creation.

The Big Bang itself, although widely accepted, is a more tentative theory than many people would realise. There are still many problems in the standard cosmological model, and there are many assumptions made about how representative our astronomical data is of the whole Universe.

The theory of evolution is a good deal more solid than the Big Bang. At least all the evidence is right here in our backyard.

Answer 3

At one level, we simply don't have any evidence to answer this question one way or the other. However, theoretically there are three main answers:

1) Since time is part of the universe, it began at the Big Bang, so there simply is no 'before the Big Bang' any more than there is a 'north of the north pole'. This view is that predicted from General Relativity, which is the theory that first described the expansion of the universe.

2) There was a 'previous universe' that underwent a 'Big Crunch'. This view is seen in some theories of quantum gravity (like quantum loop gravity), where the singularity predicted from view #1 is smoothed out by quantum effects.

3) The universe itself resides in a multi-dimensional realm of 'strings' or 'branes' that can collide and produce 'big bangs'. THis is the view promoted by string or M-theories.

The views 2) and 3) are *pure* speculation since the theories they are based on have no other demonstrated predictions that have been tested. General Relativity is a very well-tested theory that leads to view #1, but doesn't mesh well with quantum phenomena, which we expect to be important for the very early universe. My own view is that #2 is the 'best bet', but let's see how the various versions of quantum gravity play out. In particular, it is possible that some versions also lead to view #1 (which I happen to be fond of also).

Answer 4

The Big Bang theory itself states that there was nothing beforethe Big Bang and that suddenly something of the size of an atom appeared from where they did not know and that it was with infinite density.
This is only a theory and a proposition. But the fact remains that nothing can come into beingform nothing and matter always existed in the form of energy particles and that it condensed to form atoms and molecules andthat it could never have been of he size of an atom . but shpould have been of a vast quantity several times greater than the universe itself which against the background of the immense boundless space could have been a spec.But extreme cold condense matter to a greatextent and this cindensation whould increase the densityof the mass which in turn should increasethe presure within the mass creating a temperature in its core to the extent of settingoff an nuclear explosion that should have shattered the mass in different direstions as the striker of a carrom boasrd disperses the peices on eing hit forcibley. Here the force has caused theexplosion form the centre dispersing the mass in all directions with equal force and tha iswhy the scientists were able toarrive at a conclusion that the masses of the univderse should hae startedmovoing apart form one cental place . By mathmatical calculation they haveextemnted it tothe point of a pin which on theoritical mathematics could be correct but byall practical means an impossiblity like the existence of a negative numbers .Which are useful for calculations only.Matter can not be made to grow ito an enormous size in a matter of few seconds fron the size of an atom.and no atom could ever be created with ifinite density even by the Gods.
For the simple reason that weight itself is a character that is created by the gravity which in turn depends on the immense mass of mattr and that the gravity itself is grows from the center of a mass and and radiates from onall sides by pulling all the adjacent atoms and molecules to the center with equal force on all sides . This should e very reasonfor matter asuming the shape of sphere in nature . the gravity emenates from the center of the mass and exerts the same amount of force on all sides and so aditional matter adds to the mass equally on all sides each accretion adding to the strength of the gravitational force thatis always directed to the center .
Thre were energy particleswhich condensed into matter before the Big Bang occureddue to the increase in theinternal pressure and temperature of the mass on account of its condensation and compression in the exterme cold conditon of the space , that set off the Big Bang .
What existed before the Big Bang should have taken several thousand million years for its accruel as a mass with infinite density to the extent of creating a pressure leading to the critical temperature suficient to set off a nuclear explosion.
accrued over several million millions of years.
there dose not ppear to be any reputed theory like this .Even the Big Bang theory is only an assumption that is considered to be the only possible way that can be scientifically acceptaed as the manner of the creation and coming into existence of the present universe .

Answer 5

I'm sorry to burst your bubble but, you cannot dismiss God because He's always been and always will be. God Created the Heavens and the Earth, the Big Bang Theory is just that, "A Theory, Not A Fact". God could have created everything by the big bang theory, but one thing is for certain, God always has and always will be in existence.

So to dismiss God is contrary to what many Christian scientists now believe. I wouldn't go looking for facts through science, because it changes (what they call facts, but are only theories) all the time. I have many books on Astronomy and not two agree about all things in the Universe, past, present and future.
God Bless You

Answer 6

Before the big bang there were no few seconds or even billionths of a second,
The point before thee big bang was zero. The big bang had to occur sometime after this.
Because space-time is a quontum entity it must have a minimum span. The span is probably approx. 10 to the minus ninety-five from zero.
If you try to go to a smaller number the space-time entity cannot exist.
Except for a quantum error this time span will not change!

Answer 7

Some excellent answers here (for once!). The main point is that if there was anything before the big bang, then any evidence of it would have been obliterated at that time. I would suggest that it is impossible to put forward a theory without the slightest shred of evidence or information.

So my theory that the world was a giant morass of shark infested custard istotally discredited.

Answer 8

No, because all the detectable information in the universe comes from the Big Bang so learning anything before that is impossible.

It is in the same way that a cat knows nothing about that world before it was born because it cannot absorb any knowledge from before that point.

This makes finding out about before the Big Bang very hard and we can only hypothosise

Answer 9

There is no way to know for sure what exactly came before the Big Bang, because there is no way to observe it.

Current physical theory states there may have been hyperdimansional membranes that collided and created the Big Bang. Frankly, I don't know what evidence that is based on.

Answer 10

My own simple theory about the big bang is that there have been numerous big bangs, each followed by a big contraction of matter. This sets off the next big bang, a sort of large ebb and flow.