"Are we Seeing Signals from Before the Big Bang?" - Professor Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS

Talk given on 29th January 2014 at Oxford University. (Oxford University Scientific Society) Abstract: In 2005 I proposed the unconventional scheme of conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC). This takes what is currently regarded as the entire history of the universe, from its Big-Bang origin (with no inflationary phase) to its final exponential expansion, to be but one aeon of a continual succession of such aeons. The big bang of each is taken to be an infinitely scaled down continuation of the exponentially expanding remote future of the previous one. A positive cosmological constant (dark energy) and some primordial scalar material (dark matter) are both essential to CCC's consistency. Supermassive black-hole encounters in the aeon previous to ours would have observational implications for CCC, detectable within the cosmic microwave background. Recent evidence of such signals in both the WMAP and Planck satellite data will be presented. About the Speaker: Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS, is a mathematical physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science. He is the Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, as well as an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College. Penrose is known for his influential work in mathematical physics, in particular for his contributions to general relativity and cosmology. He has received a number of prizes and awards, including the 1988 Wolf Prize for physics, shared with Stephen Hawking for their contribution to our understanding of the universe. Popular science works include The Emperor's New Mind, Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness, and The Road To Reality.