In an expanding universe, can the universe ever be expanded faster than the speed of light ever?

Question

Objects moving through space are limited to moving by the speed of light... but since space expands, can space be expanded ever faster than the speed of light

at creation perhaps?

Answer 1

http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0009F0CA-C523-1213-852383414B7F0147
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmo_01.htm

yes, the universe is expanding faster than light, and we can see parts of the universe regardless of the fact that they are receding faster than light.

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

there are three causes of redshift: rapid recession of a light source, a very massive and dense light source, and the stretching of light due to the expansion of the universe. cosmic redshift is given by 1+z = e^(v/c). this is not the same as redshift due to rapid recession of a light source.

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

the inflationary period also had an extremely fast rate of expansion. inflation seems to have begun when the Universe was 10^(-35) seconds old and continued for
10^(-3) seconds until it was 10^(-32) seconds old. during that time, the Universe seems to increased its linear dimensions by at least 10^26.

Answer 2

Yes, that indeed possible and in fact space expanding much faster than light is the only way for the Big Bang theory to make sense. There is an echo from the Big Bang, red shifted all the way down to the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum that shows the universe was fearsomely hot in it's infancy. However, this radiation background is almost perfectly uniform in every direction. There is no way for the universe to reach a vast size and have time to equalize it's temperature if it expanded slower than light with large variations in temperature throughout at the beginning. But if it expanded slowly at first while still very small, it would have had a chance to reach near perfect uniformity in temperature, then when runaway inflation took hold the universe would remain nearly uniform in temperature. I don't know if it's still expanding faster than light today, but there's no laws of physics I've heard of that prohibit this from happening.

Answer 3

the theory is that in the early universe expansion was so rapid that it moved faster than the speed of light. this is very possible because back then it was all energy no matter, so it took a little while for it to cool into matter, so it could go faster than the speed of light.

and light was created until a few hundred thousand years after the big bang, so idk if it applys.

and! in the beginning of the universe things were very different then they are today, the laws of physics may not have applied. for example, there are 4 true forces in the universe; gravity, electromagnetism, and strong and weak nuclear force. but back at the time of the big bang most scientists agree that those 4 forces were combined into one super force, causing the laws of physics to be slightly different than today.

Answer 4

The Universe has already expanded faster than the speed of light for a brief period of time very early in its life time. Google "Inflation Theory." However, it has slowed down since. Eistein's relaivity only applies to materials in spacetime, not spacetime itself. Google the warp drive used in Star Trek and you will find that it warps space and not actually accelerate the ships themselves. The rate of expansion is not faster than the speed of light as some have stated. However, there is proof that the rate of expansion is accelerating so who knows what happens in the future.

Answer 5

What shape is the Universe? Nobody knows. We only know that we are in it.

Now if you are in it, and something is moving away from you going (say East) at the speed of light, and something else over there (say West) is also moving away from you at the speed of light, what is the total expansion rate of the universe? Who knows? But it has to be al least twice the speed of light - right?

Now, I am not saying that this is the rate of expansion, but I am saying that this is how the Universe could expand faster than the speed of light.

Answer 6

yes... and no.

The expansion is driven by the creation of more space between objects. The galaxy that is at 8 billion light years from us and appears, to us, to recede from us at half the speed of light, might be immobile compared to its section of space.
The galaxy is not moving at half the speed of light; it is space in between us and that galaxy that is getting longer.

If there was anything to see at around 13 and a half billion light years, it would appear to move away from us at (almost) the speed of light.

If the universe is infinite (and it appears, from the latest observations, that it might be), and if the expansion is the same everywhere, then we cannot see any object that is more than 15 billion light years away: a photon that leaves that object can only travel at the speed of light; the space between the object and us is getting longer at a rate greater than the speed of light (which is not a contradiction, since nothing actually moves -- it is only the "quantity of space" that increases); therefore, the distance between the photon and us increases even though it is moving our way at the speed of light.

Go figure.

Because the speed of apparent recession is relative to the distance between objects, an object that is infinitely far from us (possible in an infinite universe) would appear to move away from us at an infinite speed. We would never, ever see any photon from that object.

And they would not see us either.

But the key is: relative to space around them, these objects are almost stopped. Well, maybe they move around a little bit if they are around other stuff, like our Milky Way Galaxy moves around a bit within the Local Group and the neighbourhood galaxy clusters -- a few hundreds of km per second (a tiny speed compared to the speed of light).

Answer 7

the a lot interior the Universe strengthen their radii via fact as they flow they benefit mass this technique happens as a manner to maintain gravitational equilibrium . The Universe as an entire is in suitable equilibrium and does no longer could strengthen any the place. If a mass shape improve into to go on the fee of light its elemental factors could purely glide away.

Answer 8

Yes cosmologist and atronomers have indicated that the Recession velolcities of the Galaxies are exceeding the Speed of light.
Relativity theory has indicated that the velocity of light cannot be exeeded in this Universe.
However physists have reavealed to us that those velocities exceeding that of of light in no ways violate the first postulae of Einstein in his special theory of relativity.
We belive what the physist teachers have told us ;hence they must be correct.

Answer 9

Only if there were nothing in the universe. Since anything can go at the speed of light EXCEPT for mass, the universe will be able to as long as there is nothing in it.

Answer 10

Nothing can move faster than the speed of light. It's physically impossible. Absolutely nothing.