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<title>Initial singularity</title>
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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Initial singularity</span></span>
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<p>The <b>initial singularity</b> is a <a href="Gravitational_singularity" title="Gravitational singularity">singularity</a> predicted by some models of the <a href="Big_Bang_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Big Bang theory">Big Bang theory</a> to have existed before the Big Bang.<sup id="cite_ref-handf-space_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-handf-space-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The instant immediately following the initial singularity is part of the <a href="Planck_epoch" class="mw-redirect" title="Planck epoch">Planck epoch</a>, the earliest period of time in the history of our universe.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Traditional_models_of_our_universe">Traditional models of our universe</h2></div>
<p>The use of only <a href="General_relativity" title="General relativity">general relativity</a> to predict what happened in the beginnings of the universe has been heavily criticized, as <a href="Quantum_mechanics" title="Quantum mechanics">quantum mechanics</a> becomes a significant factor in the high-energy environment of the earliest stage of the universe, and general relativity on its own fails to make accurate predictions.<sup id="cite_ref-handf-space_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-handf-space-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-scidaily_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-scidaily-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In response to the inaccuracy of considering only general relativity, as in the traditional model of the Big Bang, alternative theoretical formulations for the beginning of the universe have been proposed, including a <a href="String_theory" title="String theory">string theory</a>-based model in which two <a href="Branes" class="mw-redirect" title="Branes">branes</a>, enormous membranes much larger than the universe, collided, creating mass and energy.<sup id="cite_ref-hsw_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-hsw-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>The <a href="Cosmic_microwave_background" title="Cosmic microwave background">cosmic microwave background</a> is evidence that the universe expanded from a very hot, dense state, possibly a singularity of infinite density.<sup id="cite_ref-space-bouncing_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-space-bouncing-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Alternatives_to_the_singularity">Alternatives to the singularity</h2></div>
<p>Various new models of what preceded and caused the Big Bang have been proposed as a result of the problems created by quantum mechanics. One model, using <a href="Loop_quantum_gravity" title="Loop quantum gravity">loop quantum gravity</a>, aims to explain the beginnings of the universe through a series of <a href="Big_Bounce" title="Big Bounce">Big Bounces</a>, in which quantum fluctuations cause the universe to expand. This use of loop quantum gravity also predicts a <a href="Cyclic_model" title="Cyclic model">cyclic model</a> of universes, with a new universe being created after an old one is destroyed, each with different <a href="Physical_constant" title="Physical constant">physical constants</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-scidaily_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-scidaily-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> These proposals have been criticized as inconsistent with the <a href="Borde%E2%80%93Guth%E2%80%93Vilenkin_theorem" title="Borde–Guth–Vilenkin theorem">Borde–Guth–Vilenkin theorem</a>, however their modifications with only one bounce (as opposed to cyclic series of bounces) circumvent this problem (particularly if the contracting phase is empty, i.e. compactified <a href="Milne_model" title="Milne model">Milne</a>, and (2+1)-dimensional, due to the inherent stabilizing <a href="(2%2B1)-dimensional_topological_gravity" title="(2+1)-dimensional topological gravity">rigidity of vacuum in this case</a>).
</p><p>Another possibility based on <a href="M-theory" title="M-theory">M-theory</a> and observations of the <a href="Cosmic_microwave_background" title="Cosmic microwave background">cosmic microwave background</a> (CMB) states that the universe is but one of many in a <a href="Multiverse" title="Multiverse">multiverse</a>, and has budded off from another universe (e.g., one that macroscopically looks like static empty space) as a result of <a href="Quantum_fluctuation" title="Quantum fluctuation">quantum fluctuations</a> such as <a href="Quantum_foam" title="Quantum foam">quantum foam</a>, as opposed to our universe being all that exists.<sup id="cite_ref-utoday_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-utoday-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>Non-quantum classical models without singularities have also been proposed.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
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