Reading Comprehension

PT152 · S3 · P4 · Q23 Carroll and Chen's Multiverse

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Physicists posit that at first our universe was infinitesimally small and infinitely hot and dense.

Topic

Starting conditions of the universe

Framework

Old/New

Main Point

Carroll and Chen are positing that the origins of our universe was a fluctuation of energy in cold, empty space, within a vast low entropy multiverse.

Summary

The first two paragraphs introduce some background information on the Big Bang inflationary period at the beginning of our universe, the view of C&C that this type of event isn't unique, and the emerging picture of the multiverse.

The third paragraph describes how C&C got to their view, via work on entropy, and then it explains what entropy is and provides an example.

The fourth paragraph brings together the two different threads: because of what we know about entropy, what we believe about the Big Bang seems like quite a mystery. The starting conditions for the Big Bang seem like extremely unlikely starting conditions. C&C's innovation (New) is saying that the most common starting condition would be cold, empty space.

The fifth paragraph, brings in the Recent (New) research of two other people, G&V, who are able to potentially explain how cold/empty space could give way to a fluctuation as big as the Big Bang.

The last paragraph ties it together: C&C think that our universe could have emerged from an energy fluctuation in cold, empty space, occurring in a high entropy multiverse, and they think this phenomenon would likely have occurred more than once.

23.

The claim in the fourth paragraph that an initial condition is likely to resemble cold, empty space is most strongly supported by information in the

first paragraph
Wrong Paragraph
The first paragraph more or less contradicts the idea that the most likely initial condition is cold, empty space, as it says that physicists posit the opposite.
5% picked this
second paragraph
Wrong Paragraph
The second paragraph establishes that Carroll and Chen are thinking that our universe is part of a broader multiverse, but thinking that way doesn't inherently provide any support to the idea that the most likely initial condition is cold, empty space. On its own, it's pretty neutral in relation to whether initial conditions were cold/empty or hot/dense.
4% picked this
Correct
third paragraph
Why this is right
The reason they think that the most likely initial condition is cold, empty space, is that they are thinking about what would be likely for a randomly occurring initial condition. The most likely condition for any random spot of a universe / multiverse is cold empty space, and that's because of entropy / 2nd law of thermodynamics, which is discussed in the 3rd paragraph.
Skill tested: Organization · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
39% picked this
fifth paragraph
Wrong Paragraph
The fifth paragraph starts to explain how a Big Bang could occur in cold, empty space, but it offers no justification for why we think that cold/empty space is the most likely initial condition.
48% picked this
sixth paragraph
Wrong Paragraph
The last paragraph consists of takeaways / implications of Carroll and Chen's ideas, not the support / basis for them.
4% picked this

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