Did the Universe have a beginning

Journal Article · Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 1992 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.46.2355· OSTI ID:7173941

Vilenkin, A ^[1]

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1. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States)

It is argued that eternal inflation'' must have a beginning in time. Conditions are formulated for a spacetime to describe an eternally inflating universe without a beginning, and it is shown that these conditions cannot be satisfied. A rigorous proof is given for a two-dimensional spacetime, and a plausibility argument for four dimensions.

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-81ER40050
• OSTI ID: 7173941
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 46:6; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
UNIVERSE
SPACE-TIME
ENERGY-MOMENTUM TENSOR
FOUR-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
HUBBLE EFFECT
NUCLEATION
SCALAR FIELDS
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VACUUM STATES
TENSORS
662110* - General Theory of Particles & Fields- Theory of Fields & Strings- (1992-)