Cosmogony

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This article is about theories of the origin of the universe. For the Bjrk song,
see Cosmogony (song).
Cosmogenesis redirects here. For the Obscura album, see Cosmogenesis (album).

The Big Bang theory, which states that the universe expanded from and was a
singularity whose radius was zero, is widely accepted by physicists.
Cosmogony (or cosmogeny) is any model concerning the origin of either the cosmos or
universe.[1][2] Developing a complete theoretical model has implications in both
the philosophy of science and epistemology.

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 Overview
3 Compared with cosmology
4 Theoretical scenarios
5 See also
6 References
Etymology[edit]
The word comes from the Koine Greek ??s?????a (from ??s?? cosmos, the world) and
the root of ??(?)??a? ?????a (come into a new state of being).[3] In astronomy,
cosmogony refers to the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or
systems, and is most commonly used in reference to the origin of the Universe, the
Solar System, or the EarthMoon system.[1][2]

Overview[edit]
Nature timeline
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-13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0
cosmic expansion
Earliest light
cosmic speed-up
Solar System
water
Single-celled life
photosynthesis
Multicellular
life
Land life
Earliest gravity
Dark energy
Dark matter
?
Earliest universe (-13.80)
?
Earliest galaxy
?
Earliest quasar
?
Omega Centauri forms
?
Andromeda Galaxy forms
?
Milky Way Galaxy
spiral arms form
?
Alpha Centauri forms
?
Earliest Earth (-4.54)
?
Earliest life
?
Earliest oxygen
?
Atmospheric oxygen
?
Earliest sexual reproduction
?
Cambrian explosion
?
Earliest humans
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f
e

P
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Axis scale billions of years.
Also see Human timeline and Life timeline
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model of the early development
of the universe.[4] The most commonly held view is that the universe was once a
gravitational singularity, which expanded extremely rapidly from its hot and dense
state. However, while this expansion is well-modeled by the Big Bang theory, the
origins of the singularity remain as one of the unsolved problems in physics.

Projection of a CalabiYau manifold from string theory. In quantum physics, there

remain different, plausible theories regarding what combination of stuff, space, or
time emerged along with the singularity (and therefore this universe).[5] The main
disagreement among theories is whether time existed before the emergence of our
universe or not.
Cosmologist and science communicator Sean M. Carroll explains two competing types
of explanations for the origins of the singularity which is the main disagreement
between the scientists who study cosmogony and centers on the question of whether
time existed before the emergence of our universe or not. One cosmogonical view
sees time as fundamental and even eternal The universe could have contained the
singularity because the universe evolved or changed from a prior state (the prior
state was empty space, or maybe a state that could not be called space at all). The
other view, held by proponents like Stephen Hawking, says that there was no change
through time because time itself emerged along with this universe (in other words,
there can be no prior to the universe).[5] Thus, it remains unclear what
combination of stuff, space, or time emerged with the singularity and this
universe.[5]

One problem in cosmogony is that there is currently no theoretical model that

explains the earliest moments of the universe's existence (during the Planck time)
because of a lack of a testable theory of quantum gravity. Researchers in string
theory and its extensions (for example, M theory), and of loop quantum cosmology,
have nevertheless proposed solutions of the type just discussed.

Another issue facing the field of particle physics is a need for more expensive and
technologically advanced particle accelerators to test proposed theories (for
example, that the universe was caused by colliding membranes).

Compared with cosmology[edit]

Cosmology is the study of the structure and changes in the present universe, while
the scientific field of cosmogony is concerned with the origin of the universe.
Observations about our present universe may not only allow predictions to be made
about the future, but they also provide clues to events that happened long ago when
... the cosmos began. So the work of cosmologists and cosmogonists overlaps.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)[6]
Cosmogony can be distinguished from cosmology, which studies the universe at large
and throughout its existence, and which technically does not inquire directly into
the source of its origins. There is some ambiguity between the two terms. For
example, the cosmological argument from theology regarding the existence of God is
technically an appeal to cosmogonical rather than cosmological ideas. In practice,
there is a scientific distinction between cosmological and cosmogonical ideas.
Physical cosmology is the science that attempts to explain all observations
relevant to the development and characteristics of the universe as a whole.
Questions regarding why the universe behaves in such a way have been described by
physicists and cosmologists as being extra-scientific (i.e., metaphysical), though
speculations are made from a variety of perspectives that include extrapolation of
scientific theories to untested regimes (i.e., at Planck scales), and philosophical
or religious ideas.

Theoretical scenarios[edit]
Cosmogonists have only tentative theories for the early stages of the universe and
its beginning. As of 2011, no accelerator experiments probe energies of sufficient
magnitude to provide any experimental insight into the behavior of matter at the
energy levels that prevailed shortly after the Big Bang. Furthermore, since
astronomical observations imply a singularity at the origin of the universe,
experiments at any given high energy level will always be dwarfed by the infinite
energy level predicted by Big Bang Theory. Therefore, significant technological and
conceptual advances would be needed to propose a scientific test for cosmogonical
theories.

Proposed theoretical scenarios differ radically, and include string theory and M-
theory, the HartleHawking initial state, string landscape, brane inflation, the
Big Bang, and the ekpyrotic universe. Some of these models are mutually compatible,
whereas others are not.

See also[edit]
Creation myth