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http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/29/3079213.htm
Mon Nov 29, 2010

Concentric circles on an image of the early universe are an imprint of
violent events before the big bang, according to a new study.

If correct, the discovery points to a universe that did not start 13.7
billion years ago, but one that eternally cycles through aeons dominated
by big bangs and supermassive black hole collisions.

Published on the pre-press website arXiv.org, Professor Roger Penrose
from Oxford University and Professor Vahe Gurzadyan from Yerevan State
University, Armenia, claim the evidence is in data collected by NASA's
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (W-MAP) spacecraft.

W-MAP's seven-year mission studied the cosmic microwave background (CMB)
radiation, the afterglow of the big bang.

The CMB dates back to 300,000 years after the big bang and has now
cooled to around -270 degrees C.

Slight variations in the temperature represent differences in density,
which were the seeds from which galaxies and superclusters grew.

Big bang theories According the presently accepted 'inflation theory',
these variations are thought to be random because of the inflation
period that occurred nanoseconds after the big bang, which made the
universe expand from the size of a pea.

Despite this initial randomness, scientists say the early universe was
in a low state of entropy, or high level of order, which was needed for
complex matter to be possible.

But Penrose says inflationary theory doesn't explain why there was such
low entropy in the first place.

His idea of 'conformal cyclic cosmology' predicts that eventually black
holes will consume all the matter in the universe.

Finally the black holes evaporate leaving a universe with nothing but
energy, and a state of low entropy, bringing this aeon to an end and
triggering the next aeon with another big bang.

Circles predating the universe Penrose and Gurzadyan believe they have
detected concentric circles in the CMB which are older than the big bang
and support their theory.

They believe it Is an imprint of very violent gravitational radiation
waves generated by supermassive black hole collisions in a previous aeon
before the last big bang.

They say supporting data collected by the BOOMERanG-98 balloon mission
over the Antarctic rules out instrument anomalies.

The director of the Australian Astronomical Observatory, Dr Matthew
Colliss says the work is highly speculative, both in terms of theory and
the evidence it is based on.

"It would certainly be a remarkable result if it proves to be true, but
a lot of caution is required at this stage," says Colliss.

He says it is important to be sure when going through such a huge mass
of data that you don't end up simply seeing the patterns you want to
see.

"It's fascinating speculation, but I'm going to take leave to doubt it
until much more solid evidence is in place."


Jan Rasmussen