In theoretical physics, the Hartle–Hawking state (named after James Hartle and Stephen Hawking) is a proposal concerning the state of the Universe prior to the Planck epoch.[1][2]
Hartle and Hawking suggest that if we could travel backwards in time towards the beginning of the Universe, we would note that quite near what might otherwise have been the beginning, time gives way to space such that at first there is only space and no time. According to the Hartle–Hawking proposal, the Universe has no origin as we would understand it: the Universe was a singularity in both space and time, pre-Big Bang. However, Hawking does state "...the universe has not existed forever. Rather, the universe, and time itself, had a beginning in the Big Bang, about 15 billion years ago.", but that the Hartle-Hawking model is not the steady state Universe of Hoyle; it simply has no initial boundaries in time or space.[3][4][5]
Technical explanation
The Hartle–Hawking state is the wave function of the Universe—a notion meant to figure out how the Universe started—that is calculated from Feynman's path integral.
More precisely, it is a hypothetical vector in the Hilbert space of a theory of quantum gravity that describes this wave function.
It is a functional of the metric tensor defined at a (D − 1)-dimensional compact surface, the Universe, where D is the spacetime dimension. The precise form of the Hartle–Hawking state is the path integral over all D-dimensional geometries that have the required induced metric on their boundary. According to the theory, time, as it is currently observed, diverged from a three-state dimension after the Universe was in the age of the Planck time.[6]
Such a wave function of the Universe can be shown to satisfy, approximately, the Wheeler–DeWitt equation.
See also
Imaginary time
Multiple histories
Signature change
Universal wavefunction
Notes
Staff (University of Cambridge) (2 May 2018). "Taming the multiverse—Stephen Hawking's final theory about the big bang". Phys.org. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
Hawking, Stephen; Hertog, Thomas (20 April 2018). "A smooth exit from eternal inflation?". Journal of High Energy Physics. 2018 (4): 147. arXiv:1707.07702. Bibcode:2018JHEP...04..147H. doi:10.1007/JHEP04(2018)147. S2CID 13745992.
Hawking, Stephen. "The Beginning of Time". Retrieved 10 March 2014.
Dastidar, Samriddhi (3 March 2018). "Stephen Hawking Claims To Know What Happened Before The Big Bang". TechTimes.com. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
Specktor, Brandon (2 March 2018). "Stephen Hawking on What Happened Before the Big Bang". LiveScience. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
John D. Barrow, The Origin of the Universe: To the Edge of Space and Time, Basic Books, 1997.
References
Hawking, S.; Hertog, T.; Reall, H. (2000). "Brane new world". Physical Review D. 62 (4): 043501. arXiv:hep-th/0003052. Bibcode:2000PhRvD..62d3501H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.62.043501. S2CID 7180487.
Hartle, J.; Hawking, S. (1983). "Wave function of the Universe". Physical Review D. 28 (12): 2960. Bibcode:1983PhRvD..28.2960H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.28.2960.
vte
Stephen Hawking
Physics
Hawking radiation Black hole thermodynamics Micro black hole Chronology protection conjecture Gibbons–Hawking ansatz Gibbons–Hawking effect Gibbons–Hawking space Gibbons–Hawking–York boundary term Hartle–Hawking state Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems Hawking energy
Books
Science
The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time (1973) A Brief History of Time (1988) Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays (1993) The Nature of Space and Time (1996) The Universe in a Nutshell (2001) On the Shoulders of Giants (2002) A Briefer History of Time (2005) God Created the Integers (2005) The Grand Design (2010) The Dreams That Stuff Is Made Of (2011) Brief Answers to the Big Questions (2018)
Fiction
George's Secret Key to the Universe (2007) George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt (2009) George and the Big Bang (2011) George and the Unbreakable Code (2014) George and the Blue Moon (2016)
Memoirs
My Brief History (2013)
Films
A Brief History of Time (1991) Hawking (2004) Hawking (2013) The Theory of Everything (2014)
Television
God, the Universe and Everything Else (1988) Stephen Hawking's Universe (1997 documentary) Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe (2008 documentary) Genius of Britain (2010 series) Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking (2010 series) Brave New World with Stephen Hawking (2011 series) Genius by Stephen Hawking (2016 series)
Family
Jane Wilde Hawking (first wife) Lucy Hawking (daughter)
Other
In popular culture Black hole information paradox Thorne–Hawking–Preskill bet
Hellenica World - Scientific Library
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