UP academic develops a new theory that will change our understanding of the universe

A new multidisciplinary scientific theory that may hold the key to understanding the secrets of the early universe is the outcome of 12 years of research by Prof Mohsen Sharifpur, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering. This theory also provides a perspective of the future of our universe.

One of the questions he has been tackling relates to the origins of the dark energy that causes galaxies to accelerate. He believes that none of the existing theories on the origin of the universe have been able to adequately answer this question. His theory, known as the Source and Sink Theory, is rooted in his desire to find answers to unanswered questions. By applying a multidisciplinary research approach, he believes that his theory may be able to answer these questions.

Based on his studies, he has found that – in nature – everything occurs in binary or opposite pairs, such as male and female, electrons and positrons, bipolar magnetic poles, matter and anti-matter. If there is a hot object, the heat will transfer to a cooler object by natural convection. These and other pieces of evidence could be samples of universal patterns, which help us to propose a new theory for the origin of the very early universe. Therefore, if we follow these patterns that are present in nature, and if a “Big Bang” did indeed result in the existence of the universe, we need to ask ourselves what its opposite partner is.

In terms of his theory, if there is a source (of energy like the “Big Bang”), there must be at least one sink (to receive energy from the source) with a flow-like pattern from the source to the sink – and the energy in this process must be conserved. In general, sources and sinks are part of the science of fluid mechanics, as well as electronics. To apply this theory to cosmology, a source could emit energy and/or material, and a sink could receive energy and/or material by its gravity (curvature of space-time). Consequently, Prof Sharifpur believes that the energy that created our universe (the “Big Bang”) must have been the pulse of a point source with its unique cosmic background radiation that flows towards a sink (or sinks). The cosmic microwave background radiation could also support this theory, just as it did the “Hot Big Bang” model.

Prof Sharifpur posits that everything in our galaxy moves like a pattern of fluid flow, from the earth to the solar system, and whatever we have been able to observe in our universe. The human body does this, plants do it as they grow, so do grain patterns, tornados, and the continents as they split. This phenomenon is also observed in the patterns of the earth’s magnetic field and in being shielded from geomagnetic storms, the paths of the stars, stellar remnants and interstellar gas and dust around galaxies. If we therefore extend these patterns to the beginning of the universe (the pulse of a point source according to his theory), we can build a general theory of what happened there, and predict what could happen in the future.

If our universe originated as a point source, which produces pulses of energy, at the same instant, there must have been at least one sink where the pulse moved towards the sink, like a fluid flow pattern. We can consider a Black Hole as a kind of sink, although many cosmologists believe that black holes were formed after the “Big Bang”, and were not available at the instant of the “Big Bang” to produce the flow direction. However, according to Prof Sharifpur, known black holes at the centre of galaxies could be part of a moving pulse of our universe’s point source and of the galaxy’s acceleration into a sink. Prof Sharifpur believes that applying his multidisciplinary Source and Sink Theory mathematically can offer an answer to each unanswered question. Using his new theory, it is possible to provide many different scenarios for the arrangement of the point source and sinks. Even a simple homogeneous spherical sink surrounding a point source can answer the unanswered questions of our universe.

In this way, dark energy is the resultant gravity vector of the sink, which acts on different parts of the pulse of the point source like galaxies (with a possible pattern like a fluid flow), which causes the acceleration of the galaxies. While the galaxies go to the sink (from all directions), the socalled expansion of the universe happens.

Prof Sharifpur says that some of the key differences between his theory and the standard Big Bang Theory are that the “Big Bang” only works in the field of cosmology, whereas his Source and Sink Theory is a multidisciplinary theory that has multiple applications, one of which is in cosmology to help understand the early universe. Dark energy and dark matter cannot be explained by the Big Bang Theory, whereas the origin of dark energy is easily explained using the Source and Sink Theory.

The Big Bang Theory is just about the point where it all started, but offers no idea as to where the galaxies are going or what their origins are, whereas the Source and Sink Theory provides an explanation of the universe before the “Big Bang” as a pulse of energy. The Source and Sink Theory suggests a point that is the source of the universe, which the Big Bang Theory does not.

This theory proposes the origins of dark energy, which the Big Bang Theory cannot explain, although it can observe the acceleration and expansion of the galaxies. The Source and Sink Theory, on the other hand, can predict and explain the acceleration and expansion of the galaxies. It can predict that this acceleration will gain even more speed because when the pulse goes to the sink, the equivalent gravity vector that acts on galaxies increases. While the Big Bang Theory supports cosmic microwave background radiation, it cannot explain why it is not exactly homogenous all around the universe, which the Source and Sink Theory can.

To explain how the Source and Sink Theory helps our understanding of the early universe, Prof Sharifpur likens it to being a superior or overarching theory of the origin of the universe. One of the scenarios of the Source and Sink Theory could be the Big Bang Theory (when the gravity of the sink is set to zero).

For Prof Sharifpur, the answers to the origin of the early universe, described in his Source and Sink Theory, are clearly based in science. He believes that the Big Bang Theory is based in philosophy. “It is an idea, not a provable fact,” he says. Most of the scientists who have accepted the Big Bang Theory believe that there was nothing before the “Big Bang”. However, the Source and Sink Theory offers a scientific explanation that there must have been at least one source and at least one sink available in the early universe, which allowed an energy transfer between them.

Another point of contention, according to Prof Sharifpur, is that the Big Bang Theory needs Inflation Theory to explain the size of the available universe, with the speed of the expansion being more than the speed of light after the “Big Bang”. The Source and Sink Theory, in contrast, does not need Inflation Theory to explain the size of the universe, as it fully accounts for the fact that there must have been a kind of space between the source and the sink from the beginning. The theories of Einstein and others like Alexander Friedmann and Alan Guth all have some basis in fact, and all have evidence to support them, just like the Source and Sink Theory. However, for Prof Sharifpur, who has spent more than a decade working on this theory, this is only the beginning. Much more research needs to be done by applying this theory and its mathematical models to countless other scenarios. He believes that this requires the help of scientists to consider this theory and work on developing it further.

Prof Sharifpur relishes the impact that his research has had on our understanding of the early universe and the meaning behind it all. His Source and Sink Theory offers a remarkable starting point to answer what lies behind and at the beginning of all the mysteries of the universe.

He published a research article on his theory in the Journal of Theoretical Physics in March 2020. He believes his theory has not received the attention it deserves, possibly because the COVID-19 pandemic has been receiving so much attention around the world, or because the scientific community is not yet ready for a new theory in this area.