Snap,crackle and Bang

BY DAVID HARDING A NEW Big Bang could occur anywhere, at any time, it was claimed yesterday. In theory, there is nothing to stop a new universe bursting into existence 'on your kitchen table while you're eating breakfast', say cosmologists. But don't hold your breath - the odds against such an unlikely event are fantastic. The number is one divided by one followed by 100 million million trillion trillion trillion noughts. 'It is probably the smallest number in the history of physics,' said Dr Sean Carroll, of Chicago University. Nevertheless, the fact remains the probability is not zero. Sooner or later, a new universe will appear in your cereal bowl. The scenario echoes the 'infinite probability drive' of the spaceship in the sci-fi radio series The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. It, too, was based on the principle that nothing is impossible - only improbable. The original Big Bang occurred about l4billion years ago, when space and time appeared out of nothing in a blinding flash. A small, hot patch of space-time blew up very rapidly to become everything we see today, scientists believe. Some of the energy that powered this expansion is thought to remain as 'vacuum energy' - an invisible, fluctuating force embedded in empty space. A sudden, sharp increase in vacuum energy, if dramatic enough, will spark a new Big Bang. The probability of one of these fluctuations being pronounced enough to kick off a new universe was calculated by Dr Carroll and colleague Dr Jennifer Chen. Scientists are not sure what a new Big Bang would look like. They think there would be a flash, with the expanding new universe appearing to rush away incredibly fast, New Scientist reported. As the wavelength of its emitted light is stretched, the new universe would turn red and then become invisible. However, it will probably not happen until long after humans have disappeared - perhaps after the last star has gone out. [Metro Aug 19 2004]