[asa] What happened before the Big Bang?

In case some of you haven't seen this yet.

Probing Question: What happened before the Big Bang?
Pennsylvania State University ^ | 03 August 2006 | Barbara Kennedy
Posted on 08/04/2006 7:26:21 AM EDT by PatrickHenry
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1677590/posts [refresh browser]

The question of what happened before the Big Bang long has frustrated
cosmologists, both amateur and professional. Though Einstein's
theory of general relativity does an excellent job of describing the
universe almost back to its beginning, near the Big Bang matter
becomes so dense that relativity breaks down, says Penn State
physicist Abhay Ashtekar. "Beyond that point, we need to apply
quantum tools that were not available to Einstein."

Now Ashtekar and two of his post-doctoral researchers, Tomasz
Pawlowski and Parmpreet Singh, have done just that. Using a theory
called loop quantum gravity, they have developed a mathematical model
that skates right up to the Big Bang -- and steps through it. On the
other side, Ashtekar says, exists another universe with space-time
geometry similar to our own, except that instead of expanding, it is
shrinking. "In place of a classical Big Bang, there is in fact a
quantum Bounce," he says. [snip] Click above link to read more.

~ Janice ... whose post is here for those interested:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1677634/posts?page=78#78

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Received on Fri Aug 4 14:01:13 2006