Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-09T02:42:01.888Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Concepts of “Beginning” and “Creation” In Cosmology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Jayant V. Narlikar
Jayant V. Narlikar*
Affiliation:
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The paper is inspired by the arguments raised recently by Grünbaum criticizing the current approaches of many cosmologists to the problem of spacetime singularity, matter creation and the origin of the universe. While agreeing with him that the currently favored cosmological ideas do not indicate the biblical notion of divine creation ex nihilo, I present my viewpoint on the same issues, which differs considerably from Grünbaum's. First I show that the symmetry principle which leads to the conservation law of energy is violated when the time axis is terminated at t = 0. Next I discuss why this epoch (t = 0) is more a mathematical artifact whose supposed significance may disappear when one goes beyond the classical relativistic cosmology. This is illustrated by the example of quantum cosmology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 59 , Issue 3 , September 1992 , pp. 361 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

Send reprint requests to the author, IUCAA, Post Bag 4, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411 007, INDIA.

References

Arp, H. C.; Buirbidge, G.; Hoyle, F.; Narlikar, J. V. and Wickramasinghe, N. C. (1990), “The Extragalactic Universe: An Alternative View”, Nature 346: 807–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjorken, J. D. and Drell, S. D. (1965), Relativistic Quantum Fields. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Bondi, H. (1961), Cosmology. 2d ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bondi, H. and Gold, T. (1948), “The Steady State Theory of the Expanding Universe”, Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society 108: 252–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Einstein, A. (1915), “Zür allegmeinen Relativitätstheorie”, Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Sitzwingsberichte, pt 2, 778–786.Google Scholar
Grünbaum, A. (1989), “The Pseudo-Problem of Creation in Physical Cosmology”, Philosophy of Science 56: 373–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grünbaum, A. (1990), “Pseudo Creation of the Big Bang”, Nature 344: 821–822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartle, J. (1988), “Quantum Cosmology”, in Iyer, B. R., Kembhavi, A., Narlikar, J. V. and Vishveshwara, C. V. (eds.), Highlights in Gravitation and Cosmology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 144–153.Google Scholar
Hawking, S. W. and Ellis, G. F. R. (1973), The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilbert, D. (1915), “Die Feldgleichungen der Gravitation”, Nachrichten vonder Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, pp. 395–407.Google Scholar
Hill, E. L. (1957), Reviews of Modern Physics 23: 253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoyle, F. (1948), “A New Model for the Expanding Universe”, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 108: 372–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoyle, F. and Narlikar, J. V. (1964), “A New Theory of Gravitation”, Proceedings of the Royal Society A 278: 465–478.Google Scholar
Hoyle, F. and Narlikar, J. V. (1966a), “A Radical Departure from the Steady State Concept in Cosmology”, Proceedings of the Royal Society A 290: 162–176.Google Scholar
Hoyle, F. and Narlikar, J. V. (1966b), “Effect of the Non-conservation of Baryons in Cosmology”, Proceedings of the Royal Society A 290: 143–161.Google Scholar
Hoyle, F. and Narlikar, J. V. (1966c), “On the Formation of Elliptical Galaxies”, Proceedings of the Royal Society A 290: 177–185.Google Scholar
Landau, L. D. and Lifshitz, E. M. (1975), The Classical Theory of Fields. 4th ed. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Linde, A. D. (1987), “Eternally Existing Self-Reproducing Inflationary Universe”, Physica Scripta T 15: 169–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovell, A. C. B. (1961), The Individual and the Universe. New York: New American Library.Google Scholar
Lovell, A. C. B. (1986), Reason and Faith in Cosmology. Italian translation in Nuova Civilta Delle Macchine 4, Nos. 3/4 (15/16): 101–108.Google Scholar
Maddox, J. (1989), “Down with the Big Bang”, Nature 340: 425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narlikar, J. V. (1974), “Minibangs in Cosmology and Astrophysics”, Pranama 2: 158–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narlikar, J. V. (1977), The Structure of the Universe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Narlikar, J. V. (1988), The Primeval Universe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Narlikar, J. V. and Padmanabhan, T. (1986), Gravity, Gauge Theories, and Quantum Cosmology. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar