The Importance of Inflation in Quantum Cosmology

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Inflation is a very rapid phase of inflation in expansion in the earliest stages of the universe's evolution. It creates a big universe in a fraction of a second, and so it sort of connects our entire observable universe. The roughness that you generate during inflation is reflected in the famous cosmic microwave background images. Inflation stands on its own, really, but the big question must have been how does inflation start?

Is there a multiverse, and if so, how should we think of ourselves within it? In many modern cosmological models, the universe includes more than one realm, with possibly different laws of physics, and these realms may or may not include intelligent observers. There is a longstanding puzzle about how, in such a scenario, we should calculate what we, as presumably intelligent observers ourselves, should expect to see. Today's guest, Thomas Hertog, is a physicist and longstanding collaborator of Stephen Hawking. They worked together (often with James Hartle) to address these questions, and the work is still ongoing.

Support Mindscape on Patreon.

Thomas Hertog received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a professor of theoretical physics at KU Leuven. His new book is On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.