Expert: Jane Tang - 8/9/2006

Question
Hello Jane,

In quantum cosmolgy, does absolute nothingness exist? I am told that it does and that even Hawkins ZPE in a vacuum is merely a quantum foam of virtual particles.Absolute nothingness is better understood I am told if I imagine it existing between two objects. The original object becomes/is a singularity point. In nothingness the quantum event occurs resulting in the new object or the universe.

Is my understanding of a quantum fluctuation in absolute nothingness being the trigger to BB causality correct?

Answer
Hi there!
     Your understanding is quite right. But vacuum doesn't mean absolute nothing. One of top problems of Modern Cosmology is to study the property of vacuum energy.
 By the way,  the early universe is not well known by cosmologists. Most recently, they believe that the very early universe is a field which is embedded in higher dimensional space. Actually, singularity point does not go with quantum theory. The concept of Big Bang is out of date. Inflation is well developed to explain the growth of the early universe. If you are interested in this topic, please check
http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/qg_qc.html

  
   Hopefully it will help.

     Cheers,
       Jane