oscillating universe

noun

, Astronomy.

1. a variant model of the closed universe in which the universe undergoes cycles of expansion and contraction.

oscillating universe

/ ŏs′ə-lā′tĭng /

1. A model of a closed universe in which the expansion of the universe slows and reverses, thereby causing a collapse into a singularity, which then expands into a new universe, repeating the cycle. Such a model implies that our universe is just one of a long line of universes. Scientists have not been able to develop a theory of how a collapsed universe could expand into a new one.

Example Sentences

"He took the possibility of an oscillating universe quite seriously," one biography of Tolman said.

From Salon

That's the basic premise behind the cyclic or oscillating universe theory, which actually dates back to the 1930s.

From Salon

As the Big Bang became accepted scientific theory, the oscillating universe theory faded away.

From Salon

It would be pretty hard to test oscillating universe theory, as no information would likely survive cycling through a Big Bang or a Big Crunch, though mathematical physicist Roger Penrose has argued that black holes from previous universes may have survived the transition.

From Salon

Philosopher Ian Hacking was the first to connect the inverse gambler’s fallacy to arguments for the multiverse, focusing on physicist John Wheeler’s oscillating universe theory, which held that our universe is the latest of a long temporal sequence of universes.

From Scientific American