Roger Penrose on gravitational waves from before the 'big bang'

Recorded at TEDx event at the University of Warwick, March 6th 2010. Roger Penrose , renowned mathematical physicist, famous for his works on the big bang theory, talks about his new theory about the conformal cyclic nature of the universe and the implications of the 2nd law of thermodynamics with regards to cosmology.
A predicted consequence of Penrose's theory, as established by himself, are gravitational waves as produced from merging black holes from the previous 'aeon', creating a specific pattern in the cosmic microwave background of our universe.

A complete lecture on this subject can be found elsewhere on youtube and on the website of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (see links below). This recording shows part of the Q&A session given after the TEDx talk, where he elaborates on potential evidence for his theory.

I was privileged to have a brief chat with him after the event. If he his right or, I find his work truly inspirational.

As you have probably noticed, this is not one of my regular episodes, but something I am very happy to share. I do hope I can legally do this.
Anyways, I apologise for the poor audio quality.


For more information see:

Lecture by Penrose on 'Before the Big Bang', November 2005:
http://www.newton.ac.uk/webseminars/pg+ws/2005/gmr/gmrw04/1107/penrose/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ-D5AUGVcI&NR=1

Also see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OutKE3tyG94

for a similar, more extensive talk, given at Coventry University.

News paper article on the TEDx event, including interview with Penrose:
http://theboar.org/features/2010/mar/16/tedx-warwick-2010-interviews/

TEDx at Warwick:
http://www.tedxwarwick.com/index.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ask physicist
• black holes
• gravitational waves
• Penrose
• Big Bang
• Cyclic Universe
• 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
• Weyl Curvature
• Physics

[Zantorc]

watch?v=OutKE3tyG94

[ASKaPHYSICIST]

@Zantorc thats fantastic, thanks. I'll add it to the links. My talk was more recent, but he didn't seem to cover any more stuff. I talked to him Afterwards though and he is apparently close to an explanation for the change in the distribution with sky angle.

[theguy2560]

could you make a video about photons emited by a heated body ? i wanted to know how the whole process works and from where do the photons themselves appear.

[ASKaPHYSICIST]

@theguy2560 @theguy2560 I shall make a video on black body radiation at some point.

[SayYESon69]

Could you please explain the Higgs mechanism and a Higgs boson. I am very intrigued by it and i believe that it would make a grat episode! Best regards

[cosmicordering1]

*.peace¸¸.*☆*.health¸¸.*♡*.joy­¸¸.*☆* Be Cosmic ....

[rushianokun]

@ASKaPHYSICIST =3 Thank you!! I think I get more of it now! ^_^ your videos break down complex concepts into visually friendly ideas! I´m so greatfull!

[ASKaPHYSICIST]

by mere probability the path will end up in a greater area, i.e. a more disordered state. So, as the universe move forwards in time It is getting more disordered.

I hope that made some sense.

Now in his theory I think he suggests that when the next 'aeon' starts, this thing is somehow rescaled and we're back in the smallest area of phase space. but I'm not sure. He didn't really explain.

[ASKaPHYSICIST]

However, while there are only few possible states in which the blocks are build in a tower, there are many possible ways in which they could be scattered all over the floor (i.e. the chance to find the blocks in a tower/ordered state is small).

The way he represents this, is by drawing each possible configuration of the box/universe as an area (the more states with the configuration, the bigger the area) and draws a completely random path.