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arXiv · 0910.0834

The Return of the Phoenix Universe

Jean-Luc Lehners·Paul J. Steinhardt·Neil Turok
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Abstract

Georges Lemaitre introduced the term "phoenix universe" to describe an oscillatory cosmology with alternating periods of gravitational collapse and expansion. This model is ruled out observationally because it requires a supercritical mass density and cannot accommodate dark energy. However, a new cyclic theory of the universe has been proposed that evades these problems. In a recent elaboration of this picture, almost the entire universe observed today is fated to become entrapped inside black holes, but a tiny region will emerge from these ashes like a phoenix to form an even larger smooth, flat universe filled with galaxies, stars, planets, and, presumably, life. Survival depends crucially on dark energy and suggests a reason why its density is small and positive today.

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Jean-Luc Lehners, Paul J. Steinhardt, Neil Turok. 2009-10-05. The Return of the Phoenix Universe. https://doi.org/10.1142/s0218271809015977

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