.. article copy and pasted from the website called "Daily Galaxy" .. article written by a truly wonderful writer, Lydia Amazouz .. .. nightingale mist the second of planet apocalips: ..".. I wonder if this relates to William B. Hubbard's wonderfully written book, 'Planetary Interiors'..".. kate moss poison ivy..

Daily Galaxy 77.6K Followers Scientists use supercomputer simulations to investigate what came before the big bang Story by Lydia Amazouz • 9h • 4 min read Credit: Shutterstock | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel Credit: Shutterstock | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel © Daily Galaxy CA For decades, one of the biggest questions in cosmology has remained frustratingly out of reach: what, if anything, existed before the Big Bang? Now, researchers are using advanced computational techniques based on Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity to investigate regions of cosmic history that were once considered inaccessible. A major review published in Living Reviews in Relativity highlights how numerical relativity is becoming a powerful tool for probing the universe’s earliest moments and testing ideas that previously existed largely in the realm of speculation. Why The Earliest Universe Has Been So Difficult To Study The challenge begins with a fundamental limitation in modern cosmology. When scientists use Einstein’s equations to trace the universe backward in time, they eventually encounter a singularity, a point where density, temperature, and curvature become effectively infinite. At that boundary, the mathematical framework that successfully describes planets, stars, galaxies, and black holes stops providing meaningful answers. As a result, questions surrounding the origin of the universe have often remained beyond the reach of direct scientific testing. Traditional cosmological models simplify the universe by assuming it is smooth and uniform on large scales. This approach has been remarkably successful in explaining many observations, including the large-scale structure of the cosmos and the properties of the cosmic microwave background. Yet conditions in the very early universe were likely far more chaotic. Gravity may have been operating in environments filled with extreme density fluctuations, violent distortions of spacetime, and highly uneven distributions of matter. Under such circumstances, the standard approximations begin to break down, leaving researchers with incomplete tools for understanding what truly happened near the beginning of cosmic history. That limitation has fueled decades of debate over competing theories, including cosmic inflation, cyclic universes, bouncing cosmologies, and other models attempting to explain how the universe emerged into its current state. Credit: Living Reviews in Relativity Credit: Living Reviews in Relativity © Daily Galaxy CA How Numerical Relativity Is Opening New Territory The growing field of numerical relativity offers a way forward. Rather than relying solely on equations that can be solved analytically, researchers use powerful computers to approximate solutions in situations that are too complex for conventional mathematics. This technique has already transformed astrophysics by helping scientists model black hole mergers and predict the gravitational wave signals later detected by observatories such as LIGO. Related video: Is our world real or is something else running the simulation? (Sciencephile the AI) Sciencephile the AI Is our world real or is something else running the simulation? Current Time 0:00 / Duration 4:51 0 View on Watch View on Watch The same computational strategy is now being applied to cosmology. Instead of assuming perfect symmetry, scientists can simulate highly irregular universes and observe how they evolve under the full framework of Einstein’s theory. This allows researchers to examine whether proposed models of the early universe remain stable under realistic conditions or collapse when subjected to the complexities of gravity. As researcher David Lim explains, “You can search around the lamppost, but you can’t go far beyond the lamppost, where it’s dark—you just can’t solve those equations. Numerical relativity allows you to explore regions away from the lamppost.” That analogy captures a central goal of the field. Scientists have long been able to investigate the parts of cosmology illuminated by manageable mathematics. Numerical relativity is enabling them to move beyond those limits and explore regions that were previously hidden from scientific inquiry. We divide our review into work that focuses on the pre-Big Bang phase, which covers the period up to the end of inflation on this diagram. The post-Big Bang phase covers non-perturbative dynamics from the end of inflation to the emission of the CMB. The late-universe phase is the remainder of the diagram, which contains the standard cosmological history. Credit: Living Reviews in Relativity We divide our review into work that focuses on the pre-Big Bang phase, which covers the period up to the end of inflation on this diagram. The post-Big Bang phase covers non-perturbative dynamics from the end of inflation to the emission of the CMB. The late-universe phase is the remainder of the diagram, which contains the standard cosmological history. Credit: Living Reviews in Relativity © Daily Galaxy CA Testing Ideas About A Universe Before The Big Bang One of the most intriguing possibilities involves theories suggesting thatthe Big Bang was not the absolute beginning of everything. Some models propose that the universe experiences recurring cycles of contraction and expansion. Others suggest that a previous cosmic phase collapsed before rebounding into the expanding universe observed today. These concepts have often faced a major obstacle: proving whether they can actually work under realistic physical conditions. A theory may appear elegant on paper while failing when gravity, inhomogeneities, and relativistic effects are fully included. Numerical relativity provides a way to perform those tests. According to the review published inLiving Reviews in Relativity, these simulations may help determine whether bounce scenarios remain mathematically stable, whether inflation can emerge naturally from chaotic initial conditions, and whether alternative origin theories leave observable signatures that astronomers could eventually detect. Researchers are also using these methods to investigate phenomena such as cosmic strings, primordial black holes, bubble collisions, and the turbulent period known as preheating that may have followed cosmic inflation. Many of these processes could leave traces in gravitational waves or subtle patterns within the cosmic microwave background, creating potential opportunities for future observational tests. Bridging Two Scientific Communities The review highlights another challenge beyond the technical aspects of the simulations themselves. Historically, cosmologists and numerical relativists have often worked in separate research communities despite sharing common interests in understanding gravity and cosmic evolution. The authors argue that stronger collaboration between these fields could accelerate progress on some of cosmology’s deepest mysteries. Numerical relativists possess expertise in solving Einstein’s equations under extreme conditions, while cosmologists bring detailed knowledge of observational data and theoretical models describing the universe. Lim emphasized the importance of building that connection. “We hope to actually develop that overlap between cosmology and numerical relativity so that numerical relativists who are interested in using their techniques to explore cosmological problems can go ahead and do it,” says Lim. “And cosmologists who are interested in solving some of the questions they cannot solve, can use numerical relativity.” Such collaboration may prove essential as simulations become increasingly sophisticated and computational resources continue to expand. The ability to combine theoretical predictions with observational evidence could help transform long-standing philosophical questions into scientifically testable hypotheses. 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