Abstract

“A recent theory, conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC), proposes that what we presently regard as the entire history of our universe is merely one phase (an “aeon”) of an infinite succession of similar aeons. The ultimate expansion of each aeon, according to the theory, appears as the big bang of the next. Collisions between supermassive black holes in the aeon prior to ours would have left an observable imprint on our cosmic microwave background — imprints which have apparently already been detected by WMAP and Planck space satellites. Recent claims that south-pole telescope observations provide the “smoking gun” of an inflationary beginning to our universe’s expansion are disputed, as CCC provides an alternative explanation with intriguing consequences…”