Scientists discovered 'secret life' of the universe before the Big Bang

The universe might have had a "secret life" before the Big Bang, a recent study has proposed.

Prior to the Big Bang, researchers say black holes were created as a result of the universe contracting and this could possibly explain the enigmatic nature of dark matter.

The new study, which was recently published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, challenges the traditional belief that the universe originated from the Big Bang which resulted in vast expansion.

Instead, after first contracting, the universe was in an extremely dense state and then began to "bounce" back in an expansion period, and it's this rebound that impacts what we understand about dark matter and black holes.

Density fluctuations may have brought about small black holes in the universe's contraction stage which survived the expansion phase and can so possibly make up the dark matter that adds up to around 80 per cent of the universe's total matter.

These findings could have major consequences on how we understand the universe, particularly where black holes and dark matter fit in all this.

It could provide a further understanding of the mystery of dark matter as its lack of light interaction has baffled scientists.

"Small primordial black holes can be produced during the very early stages of the universe, and if they are not too small, their decay due to Hawking radiation [a hypothetical phenomenon of black holes emitting particles due to quantum effects] will not be efficient enough to get rid of them, so they would still be around now," said Patrick Peter, director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), who was not involved in the study.

In an email, he told Live Science. "Weighing more or less the mass of an asteroid, they could contribute to dark matter, or even solve this issue altogether."

Now, researchers hope to find further evidence to support this cosmology theory with gravitational wave detectors including the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and the Einstein Telescope, to find the waves produced when the primordial black holes were created.

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