The Big Bang theory is wrong and the universe is sitting inside a black hole, scientists have suggested.

Since the 1930s – when Belgian theoretical physicist Georges Lemaitre proposed the universe emerged from a “primeval atom” – researchers have believed that everything that exists exploded from a single point of infinite density, or singularity.

An international team of physicists, led by the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, has now suggested instead that the universe formed following a huge gravitational collapse that generated a massive black hole.

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Matter within the black hole was crunched down before huge amounts of stored energy caused it to bounce back like a compressed spring, creating our universe.

The new theory has been named Black Hole Universe and suggests that, rather than the birth of the universe being from nothing, it is the continuation of a cosmic cycle.

It also suggests that the edge of our universe is the event horizon of a black hole, from which light cannot escape, making it impossible for us to see beyond into our parent universe. And it implies other black holes may also contain unseen universes.

1106 How the universe could have been born in black hole
1106 How the universe could have been born in black hole
Prof Enrique Gaztañaga said: “We’ve shown that gravitational collapse does not have to end in a singularity and found that a collapsing cloud of matter can reach a high-density state and then bounce, rebounding outward into a new expanding phase.

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“What emerges on the other side of the bounce is a universe remarkably like our own. Even more surprisingly, the rebound naturally produces a phase of accelerated expansion driven not by a hypothetical field but by the physics of the bounce itself.

“We now have a fully worked-out solution that shows the bounce is not only possible – it’s inevitable under the right conditions.”

Defying quantum mechanics
The Big Bang theory was based on classic physics, but scientists have struggled to make it fit with the known effects of quantum mechanics, which sets a limit on how much matter can be compressed.

Physicists such as Roger Penrose and Prof Stephen Hawking had suggested that gravitational collapse inside a black hole must lead to a singularity, but under the new model that does not need to happen. Matter does not need to crunch down infinitely, just enough so it can bounce back.

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Unlike the Big Bang theory, the new theory model aligns with both the general theory of relativity and quantum physics.

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Prof Gaztañaga added: “In contrast to the famous singularity theorems by Penrose and Hawking, which assume that matter can be compressed indefinitely, we rely on the fact that quantum physics places fundamental limits on how much matter can be compressed.

“The Black Hole Universe also offers a new perspective on our place in the cosmos. In this framework, our entire observable universe lies inside the interior of a black hole formed in some larger ‘parent’ universe.

“We are not special. We are not witnessing the birth of everything from nothing, but rather the continuation of a cosmic cycle – one shaped by gravity, quantum mechanics, and the deep interconnections between them.”

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The theory that the universe might exist inside a black hole was first proposed in 1972 by Raj Kumar Pathria, an Indian theoretical physicist, but gained little traction.

However, recent observations by the James Webb Space Telescope have reignited interest in the concept.

Anomaly of galaxies’ rotation
In March, images of early galaxies showed that two thirds were spinning clockwise, with the remaining third rotating anti-clockwise. In a random universe, the distribution should be even – so something was causing an anomaly.

One explanation is that the universe was born rotating, which would occur if it had been created in the interior of a black hole.

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Lior Shamir, an associate professor of computer science at Kansas State University said: “That explanation agrees with theories such as black hole cosmology, which postulates that the entire universe is the interior of a black hole.”

Black holes form when the core of a massive star collapses under its own galaxy, leading to a supernova explosion. They cannot be seen because of the strong gravity that is pulling light into the black hole’s centre.

However, scientists can see the effects of its strong gravity on the stars and gases around it, and it sometimes forms an accretion disc of spiralling gas which emits X-rays.

Under the theory of black hole cosmology, each black hole could produce a new “baby universe” connected to the outside universe through a an Einstein-Rosen bridge, or a “wormhole”.

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Scientists are hoping that the new model may be able to explain other mysteries in the universe, such as the origin of supermassive black holes, the nature of dark matter, or the formation and evolution of galaxies.

The new research was published in the journal Physical Review D.

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