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Originally Posted by mjc
It's taken me a while to digest this - thanks very much - I think I'm learning something that I didn't even have a handle on before.
Would I be correct in saying that if many of the laws of physics are a consequence of mathematical symmetry - and the bifurcation process breaking some of that symmetry that:
a) the birfurcation process in non-temporal (its a mathematical sequence that exists independent of time)? (I ask this because I'm uncomfortable about things happening "before" the BB.)
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Symmetry breaking is independent of time.
The process of symmetry breaking involves a Lagrangian which is a measurement of a dynamical system in terms of it's kinetic and potential energies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian
If the system is symmetrical, the Lagrangian doesn't change when subjected to certain mathematical operations such as rotations, spatial and time displacement etc. The Lagrangian is said to be invariant.
The symmetry is broken when the Lagrangian is no longer invariant.
Depending on the initial symmetry and the type of Lagrangian, symmetry breaking can manifest itself in various physical ways such as the creation of W and Z bosons to inflation in the early Universe.
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b) that no bifurcation branch is special - they're all just different - and that all exist?
If the answer to question b) is true then it must be the case that one cannot preclude that multiple universes arose at the same time as the one that we experience - but it could be that the one that we experience is the only viable one (however one wants to interpret that). Have I missed the dart board all together here?
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It's not the case that symmetry breaking leads to an infinite number of physical outcomes of which our Universe represents a particular outcome. (The anthropic principle). Rather as mentioned previously a physical outcome is based on the type of symmetry and Lagrangian defined.
It's possible a mathematical gauge field existed prior to the BB. The BB may have originated from the breaking of an (unknown) specific symmetry with an (unknown) specific Lagrangian.
Regards
Steven