Looking for defunct papers/theories

[Beer w/Straw]

Shot in the dark here, don't really know if these exist.

1. An idea that time would run backward if the universe would to undergoa big crunch. Think Stephen Hawking did this but abandoned the idea when the math was tested via computer.

2. Cosmological Constant by Einstien. Abandoned it long ago when Edwin Hubble documented the universe was expanding. This one intrigues me cause when HST documented the universe expansion to be accelerating (dark energy) and that Einstein's idea had been given a second to try and make sense of it.

Any help would be cool cause I'm curious :)

 

[Nabeshin]

Shot in the dark here, don't really know if these exist.

1. An idea that time would run backward if the universe would to undergoa big crunch. Think Stephen Hawking did this but abandoned the idea when the math was tested via computer.

This was certainly a legitimate idea. Not sure if it was proposed by Hawking, but I remember reading about it likely in the same place as you: A brief history of time. The idea (if I recall, it's been a few years) was that the entropy arrow of time should reverse as the universe begins to collapse.

2. Cosmological Constant by Einstien. Abandoned it long ago when Edwin Hubble documented the universe was expanding. This one intrigues me cause when HST documented the universe expansion to be accelerating (dark energy) and that Einstein's idea had been given a second to try and make sense of it.

Any help would be cool cause I'm curious :)

The cosmological constant as proposed by Einstein and that of the current accelerating universe really aren't that related, and it often bugs me when people say they are. Einstein noted that he could attempt to choose the cosmological constant (just an arbitrary term in his equations) so as to make the universe static -- what (then) current observational evidence pointed to. Once the universe was shown to be expanding, there was no need to hand-pick a specific value of the constant, and I think most people assumed it was zero for the simplicity of the theory and lack of observational evidence otherwise.

Then of course we found out the universe is accelerating which can be modeled by the same term in Einstein's equations, but the interpretation is somewhat different. For one, we can now attempt to make sense of this parameter in terms of known physics, i.e quantum field theory. Although quantum field theory gives an absurdly wrong result for the numerical value of the constant, it's at least a step towards understanding what the parameter might mean physically.

So it's not exactly like Einstein's idea was revived or anything, observational evidence simply clarified the value of a parameter in his equations.

 

[Beer w/Straw]

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to look closely at some wiki articles.

Didn't think I'd get a reply actually.

 

[Beer w/Straw]

I posted the above awhile ago in general science... Aside from cosmology I was also interested in finding historical papers ie Neils Bohr, Richard Feynman... Are such things accessible via internet?

 

[sardar]

I can understand your curiosity about defunct papers and theories. It is natural for scientists to explore and test out different ideas, and sometimes these ideas may not hold up to further scrutiny or evidence. In regards to the first idea you mentioned, about time running backwards during a big crunch, this concept was indeed explored by Stephen Hawking in his early work on black holes and the beginning of the universe. However, as you mentioned, further mathematical testing showed that this idea was not supported. While it is always interesting to consider alternative possibilities, it is important for scientists to base their theories on solid evidence and mathematical rigor.

Regarding Einstein's cosmological constant, this was a theory proposed by Einstein to explain a static universe, but was later abandoned when evidence showed that the universe was in fact expanding. However, as you mentioned, with the discovery of dark energy and the accelerated expansion of the universe, there has been renewed interest in this concept. Scientists continue to explore and test different theories to try and make sense of this phenomenon.

In conclusion, while it is fascinating to look back at past ideas and theories, it is important for scientists to focus on current evidence and continue to push the boundaries of scientific understanding. Who knows, perhaps some of these defunct ideas may one day be revisited and proven to hold some truth. But until then, it is important for us to continue to pursue new and supported theories in our quest to understand the universe.