Before the Big Bang: What Existed in the Universe Before Earth?

In a recent groundbreaking study, researchers have proposed a novel idea that challenges the traditional Big Bang theory regarding the origin of the universe. According to this new cosmological model, the universe may have alternated between phases of contraction and expansion.

The study suggests that during a transition from a contraction phase to the current expansion phase, which predates the Big Bang, dark matter likely consisted of black holes. These findings could be tested in the future by gravitational wave observatories, which would detect waves produced during the creation of these black holes if this theory holds.

The presence of dark matter, which makes up about 80% of all matter in the universe, is supported by observations of the cosmic microwave background and galaxy movements. Despite these indicators, the composition of dark matter remains a mystery.

The study delves into what the universe was like before the Big Bang by examining a period when dark matter may have been dominated by primordial black holes, formed due to density fluctuations during the universe’s last contraction phase.

During this “bouncing” cosmological model, the universe likely shrunk to a size 50 orders of magnitude smaller than it is today. This contraction phase also likely included dark matter and black holes existing before the Big Bang.

Patrick Peter, a director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) who was not part of the study, shared insights with Live Science. He explained that small primordial black holes could have formed early in the universe’s history. Unless they were extremely small, they wouldn’t completely decay through Hawking radiation—a theoretical process where black holes emit particles due to quantum effects—and would still be present today.

These black holes, roughly the mass of an asteroid, could potentially account for some of the dark matter or even resolve this longstanding mystery. Peter emphasized the significance of this research, noting that it introduces a plausible mechanism for the formation of small but persistent black holes that contribute to dark matter, within a framework distinct from traditional inflationary theories.