Abstract
IF black holes exist in the contracting phase of a closed universe, they will give rise to a pressure and entropy catastrophe. First, the black holes absorb all the radiation; then their apparent horizons merge, and coalesce with the cosmological apparent horizon. All external observers become internal observers. It is possible that the internal metric of some of the merging black holes will be contracting, and others expanding. I suggest here that the resulting violent inhomogeneities can lead to a reexpansion in a significant portion of the universe. Global reexpansion, prompted by the merging of black holes, may thus begin in a semi-classical rather than fully quantum gravitational era, at densities greater than those at which nucleosynthesis occurs. Surviving black holes and inhomogeneities could initiate the formation of structures such as galaxies in the 'new' universe. The behaviour of such an oscillating universe would differ in detail from cycle to cycle.
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Saslaw, W. Black holes and structure in an oscillating universe. Nature 350, 43–45 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/350043a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/350043a0
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