3 ms·
> Don't forget that the universe itself has undergone a phase transition, after (or during, depending on who's lecturing) the inflation period (very shortly aft
by Filligree 5y ago
> Don't forget that the universe itself has undergone a phase transition, after (or during, depending on who's lecturing) the inflation period (very shortly after the big bang).
I prefer calling it a vacuum collapse, 'cause that's what it was. "Phase transition" sounds too clinical.
Always wondered if there's any chance there may have been some form of life existing prior to reheating. It's not as though we have any way to find out, unfortunately.
- dotancohen 5y ago> "Phase transition" sounds too clinical. I never liked the term either, but physicists use it because that is exactly what happened. I'm not going to argue with physicists. What does "vacuum collapse" mean? No matter how I try to interpret it, I cannot come up with anything that resembles the cosmic inflation.
- Filligree 5y agoThis, more or less: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum_decay#Inflation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum_decay#Inflation The problem is we're not sure that's what caused reheating. There's been other suggestions, some of them quite exotic -- a collision with a neighbouring brane, for instance. Still, my bet's on false vacuum decay.