Re: Big Bang from Big Black Hole

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca>]

> A discussion has ensued, with my encouragement, in astronomy class about
> the early universe.  If all the universe was in the singularity at the
> Big Bang, wouldn't this singularity be a Super Black Hole?  How would the
> universe erupt out of this super black hole?  My answer is that at the
> Big Bang, all matter was energy, hence wasn't trapped-in nor could have
> formed a black hole.  Is this correct?

It is if you feel you are somehow outside the universe. Otherwise you must
accept the fact that "energy" is not a thing; it is a quantity which can
partially characterize a system; *the system is the thing*. The universe
was never "energy", nor is anything else. The universe has mass M (in the
old fashioned sense) and the energy of the universe is M c**2. From the
outside one can identify a limited number of parameters which completely
characterize a black hole, one of which is its mass, but one could
equivalently specify its energy. If you and your students are inside the
universe (and if you receive this that is likely) then I disagree with
your answer. The energy of the universe was unchanged by the coming of
the baryons.

Leigh