Stephen Hawking's last paper: multiverses follow the laws of physics

[Onyx]

"If the universe has been expanding constantly, it is logical to suppose that it was smaller in the past than it is now, and that at some time in the distant past it began as a dense core of matter." Isaac Asimov, An Intelligent Man's Guide To The Physical Sciences.


"Einstein's mathematical treatment of energy shows that mass could be a form of energy - a very concentrated form, for a very small quantity of mass would be converted into an immense quantity of energy. Einstein's equation relating mass and energy is now one of the most famous equations in the world." (See post #153 above.) Isaac Asimov, An Intelligent Man's Guide To The Physical Sciences.

This is in no way an attempt to win an argument or parade falsehood as truth. I'm just trying to document the reasons I say some of the things I do. For those now focusing their crosshairs, don't forget to slip on your bib. Should give me the time I need to duck behind that big rock.

I don't think you're off base. It is relatively straight forward - energy can be directly converted to mass and vice versa. What is maybe the wrinkle is that there is no "pure energy" - if it hasn't coalesced into mass, it is a specific no-mass form like a photon. So it might be easier to think about energy existing as various forms of particles, and only some of those particles concentrating energy to bind it up as "mass" (whatever that is).

 

[RJM Corbet]

Thanks, good explanation.

Wild stuff:

Most Particles Decay — Yet Some Don’t!

"If the universe has been expanding constantly, it is logical to suppose that it was smaller in the past than it is now, and that at some time in the distant past it began as a dense core of matter." Isaac Asimov, An Intelligent Man's Guide To The Physical Sciences.

It was an INFINITELY small, infinitely dense 'something/nothing' where apparently physics breaks down?