British physicist and popularizer of science Stephen Hawking in the StarTalk program answered the question of what existed before the Big Bang and the appearance of the universe.
“Nothing existed,” Hawking said. Referring to Einstein's general theory of relativity, he explained that, according to it, space and time form a space-time continuum, which deforms under the influence of mass and energy.
Hawking explained that he takes a Euclidean approach to quantum gravity.
“In it, ordinary, real time is replaced by imaginary time, which behaves like the fourth direction of space,” the scientist said.
"According to the Euclidean approach, the history of the universe in imaginary time is a curved surface in four dimensions - like the surface of the Earth," added Hawking.
According to him, he and the American physicist James Hartl formulated the assumption of no boundaries, according to which the boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundaries.
Thus, according to Hawking, the beginning of the universe can be represented in the form of the South Pole of the Earth - as the point at which the usual laws of physics operate.
"There is nothing south of the South Pole, nothing existed before the Big Bang," the physicist concluded.
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