April 29, 2014

shutterstock_universeTwo University of Haifa researchers are attracting global interest for their innovative theory that explains how the Universe was created out of nothing. Dr. Maya Lincoln and Dr. Avi Wasser, both experts on information systems research principles, say their ‘Creation ex Nihilo’ theory finally offers an answer to one of the most intriguing mysteries of nature.

The most commonly accepted theory for the Universe creation is the Big-Bang theory, stating that the Universe has expanded from a dense singular point which contained all presently existing material and energy. But this theory is often deemed by scientists as incomplete as it lacks an explanation of what created the initial, pre-creation, conditions.

The new Israeli theory explains how the tangible reality has emerged from the nothingness. Lincoln and Wasser show how, in terms of information systems, it is possible to present “nothing” as a system which consists of infinite information elements and infinite anti-information elements that coexist simultaneously and therefore cancel each other. Such “nothing system” results in no material, no energy, and as a matter of fact, a no physical existence of anything in terms of information.

“There are theories which refer to the existing Universe as an independent information system that is operated by a software that writes itself. That is to say, it is possible to envision a ‘source code’ according to which the laws of physics are being managed,” explains Lincoln how she and Wasser came to think about the creation of the Universe.

According to the new theory, prior to the formation of the Universe, this system was symmetrical, with infinite items of information and anti-information nullifying one another. However, according to a commonly known phenomenon in physics, such systems are prone to a “Spontaneous Symmetry Break” (SSB), when the unequal number of bits at each bit group destabilizes the information balance. This breaking generates information which results in energy and by that transforms the information system from a “nothing system” into a material system. At this point the ‘Creation Ex Nihilo’ (CEN) theory converges with the Big-Bang theory and other common theories in this field, from the stage in which the Universe becomes material.

“Nowadays there are also physical phenomena in the Universe, which demonstrate creation ex nihilo, and by that reinforce our theory regarding the spontaneous breakings of symmetry among information and anti-information elements. According to our theory, the Universe is a self-excited machine that “produces” information and knows to read the ‘code of nature’ and in this way goes on manufacturing more and more changes and more and more new information'” says Lincoln.

The innovative theory explains additional phenomena of theoretical physics, part of which have been considered unsolvable until today, such as the sources of the second law of thermodynamics, the phenomenon related to quantum physics regarding the creation of virtual particles in the vacuum, the phenomenon of matter and anti-matter, and other phenomena the scholars intend to explain in further studies.

The study was recently published in the prestigious periodical Physics of the Dark Universe.

Illustration of the Universe during creation by Shutterstock.com.

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