Modern ideas about the Universe originate in the theory of relativity of Albert Einstein, where space and time are united in a four-dimensional “space-time”. Unlike Newton’s classical ideas about static space and absolute time, Einstein’s space-time has flexibility and is subject to mass and energy. This idea made a revolution, showing that massive objects deform the space and time around us, creating the effects that we observe, for example, in the form of gravity. Thus, the universe began to be perceived as a dynamic system that could both begin and end.
However, over time, physicists found that the theory of relativity itself contains the prerequisites for their own restriction. One of the most frightening consequences of the theory has become the so-called singularities – areas in which space-time sparkles so much that it breaks, creating spaces. Singularity is not lent to direct description within the framework of Einstein theory: these are a point where the law of physics ceases to act in the usual form. In the center of black holes or at the moment of a large explosion, a similar violation arises in which the usual concepts of space and time cannot be applied.
Singularity put physicists in front of the dilemma: either these are theoretical gaps that indicate the limitations of the theory itself, or the space-time is really not a finite reality, but only a manifestation of a deeper structure. In addition, the theory of relativity is incompatible with quantum mechanics, another fundamental theory describing the micromy. This led to the search for the theory that could unite these two approaches – the theories of quantum gravity that can explain the nature of reality outside of space and time.
The scientific community has been looking for this theory for several decades, but it has not yet been successful to succeed. The theory of quantum gravity, if it is found, will require a solution to another problem: creating a bridge that will make the usual space-time from more fundamental reality. Such a bridge is necessary in order to explain how from the world where space and time do not exist in the usual form, there is a universe that can be described using the theory of relativity.