Cyclic Universe
A promising new theory of a “cyclic universe” has been proposed by Anna Ijjas of the Max Planck Institute and Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University. In a cyclic universe, periods of expansion alternate with periods of contraction. Such a universe would have no beginning and no end. Anna and Paul propose that the current expansion of the universe is driven by an omnipresent energy field (whose behaviour is currently attributed to dark energy). Then when the energy field weakens, the universe begins to gently deflate, but not all the way down to a singularity, because the contraction recharges the energy field and expansion begins again.
When I saw the above image in an article on QuantaMagazine.org, I felt excited because it bears some similarities to my own theory, which I will outline below. And who knows, it may even provide the scientists with some “new ideas”.
It would be pure arrogance to claim we have already figured out nearly everything. Quite the opposite – we need new ideas.
Anna Ijjas
Theoretical Physicist, Max Planck Institute
A Flash of Inspiration
I am not a physicist or a cosmologist, so this theory wasn’t conceived by studying data or devising complex formulas. I am an explorer of consciousness, and the idea came as a flash of inspiration while I was meditating and inquiring with a friend, Valerie. A few days beforehand, I saw the following image on the Wikipedia…
And we had been experiencing torus-shaped energy fields (like the one pictured below) during our meditations and self inquiries for several weeks…
Then, in a flash of inspiration, the two images came together (as pictured below) and we realised that the universe had toroidal geometry. This is not a new idea, but it was new to us, and we knew it was significant.
Torsion (twisting energy) within the central vortex of the torus prevents the inflowing energy-matter from forming a singularity, so it can emerge anew from the top of the torus in an eternal cycle of creation, existence and dissolution (or Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva).
Most scientists believe that the universe is flat and open, not curved and closed (like a torus is), but that could just be a matter of scale. After all, the earth seems to be flat from our everyday perspective, even though it is actually a giant curved sphere. So the observable universe could just be a very small area emerging from the top of the torus. But for that to be true, there would need to be some evidence for the universe being curved and closed, and there is…
Curved Closed Universe
An article on ScienceAlert.com describes how data from the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite suggests that the universe is “curved and closed, like an inflating sphere”. The research team, led by Eleonora Di Valentino of Manchester University, discovered that the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation is being curved more than would be expected if the universe was flat. “A closed universe can provide a physical explanation for this effect” and the data has a 99.8% confidence level.
The above research suggests that the universe is “curved and closed, like an inflating sphere”, but it doesn’t state that the universe is a sphere. So the universe could be a sphere or a torus, because both are curved and closed. The curved/closed model is generally assumed to be a hypersphere, which has a surface volume of 2π2r3. Interestingly enough, the surface volume of a torus is also 2π2r3, so the spatial geometry of a curved/closed universe could just as easily be toroidal. If the universe was spherical it would be expanding evenly in all directions, but if it was toroidal it would be expanding differently in different directions, due to the more complex geometry. So now we just need some evidence that the universe is expanding unevenly…
Uneven Expansion
The rate of expansion of the universe is known as the “Hubble Constant”. It has been measured many times but no two measurements agree, which could imply that the universe is expanding differently in different directions.
For years, most scientists have believed that space is expanding at a constant rate, everywhere and in all directions, but a recent article on ESA.int (the European Space Agency’s website) seems to suggest otherwise. The research was a joint project between the University of Bonn and Harvard University, and it suggests that the expansion of the universe isn’t isotropic, i.e. it is not the same in all directions. X-ray analysis of distant galactic clusters suggests that the universe may be expanding at different rates in different directions.
Based on our cluster observations we may have found differences in how fast the universe is expanding depending on which way we looked… This would contradict one of the most basic underlying assumptions we use in cosmology today.
Gerrit Schellenberger
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
This is not the first time that researchers have found evidence of the uneven expansion of the universe, but it is the most convincing evidence so far.
The generally accepted explanation is that dark energy (the assumed driving force behind the expansion of the universe) is not uniform. Or put simply, dark energy is stronger in some parts of the universe than others, which results in different expansion rates. But dark energy is only hypothetical – it has never been found. It is something that scientists use to fill a gap in their current understanding of the universe. The uneven expansion of the universe could also be explained by toroidal geometry.
Toroidal Universe Theory
The toroidal geometry of the Toroidal Universe Theory can account for the curved nature of space-time, the forward directionality of time, the closed nature of the universe and its uneven expansion. And it can do all this without the need for hypothetical, elusive and mysterious dark energy. Or another way of looking at it is that these toroidal energy fields are dark energy.
