Volume 23: Pages 625-633, 2010

Quantum mechanics and the three-dimensional structure of space (II): Inflation and the scalable cosmos

Harry Ian Epstein ¹

¹259 Maple Hill Road, Glencoe, Illinois 60022, USA

This paper extends the author’s fractal “Bucket of Dust” nested cellular model of pregeometry. Nagels’ [Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 17, 545 (1985)] assumption of “a uniform probability of adjacency,” used as this model’s starting point, can finally be made into a tangible statement by considering that at a fraction of a second after the big bang, all points were effectively adjacent. Studying how inflation dynamically leads to a reduction in this probability of adjacency and to three dimensions of space, the second term of the Nagels’ equation is analyzed. One interpretation suggests that the second term is equivalent to a vacuum fluctuation, and possibly linked to both inflationary cosmology and particle creation. This particle creation/inflation mechanism could be the source of the balance between the negative gravitational potential and the positive energy of mass in a zero-energy universe.

Keywords: Pregeometry, Relational Space, Entropy, Vacuum Fluctuations, Inflationary Cosmology, Particle Creation, Net-Zero Energy

Received: July 5, 2009; Accepted: October 14, 2010; Published Online: November 23, 2010