Transcript Some Aspects of Islamic Cosmology and the current state of

Some Aspects of Islamic
Cosmology and the current state
of Physics
Shahidan Radiman
School of Applied Physics
Faculty of Science and Technology
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Int. Conf. on Mathematical Sc. 29 Nov.2007
Islamic Cosmology (with main work
by Kalam cosmologists and Mir
Damad)
1. The argument for the temporality of the
world is part of a whole theory of natural
philosophy that Kalam cosmologists tried
to construct under the heading of Daqiq
al-Kalam which discusses the properties of
nature as compared to Jalil al-Kalam
which discusses Divine attributes and
metaphysics.
2. Under Daqiq al-Kalam were 5 principles:
(i) Temporality (of the universe)
(ii) Discreteness ( space, time, energy ,
matter are discrete)
(iii) continual creation (and annihilation) –
occasionalism
(iv) indeterminism i.e laws of nature are
contingent and undetermined
(v) Space-time integrity : both space and
time must exist together for both body
and events
3. It is the last of this principle that was challenged
by Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Mir Damad (d.1631
) who proposed the concept of huduth dahri (
atemporal creation) -see also Fazlur Rahman ,
JNES, 1966. His other two division of
createdness : huduth al dhati (essential
createdness) and huduth zamani (temporal
createdness) has no problem with other Muslim
philosophers. This division came from his
distinction of 3 kinds of worlds: (i) the
everlasting worls ( alam al-sarmadi) which is the
space for Divine presence , his essence and his
attributes; (ii) Atemporal world ( alam al dahri)
which is the space for pure archetypes ( al
mujarradat) and (iii) the temporal world ( alam
al zamani) where we live now.
Brief CV of Mir Damad (d.1631):
A Gnostic philosopher arguing that activity of the
minds makes possible spiritual vision while
visionary experience gives rise to rational
thoughts.
Born in Astarabad but grew up in Mashhad.
Studied in Qazwin and Kashan before coming to
Isfahan.
He is also a mystic and jurist.
His kitab al Qabasat is well studied in modern
times by Majid Fakhry , M.M Watt and O.
Leaman , Hamid Dabashi , Henri Corbin and
S.Ashtiyani.
4.Mir Damad concludes that the contingent nonbeing of the world of the archetypals of the
dahri stage in the stage of the sarmadi existence
is a real and self-evident non-being. Thus , all
created beings and their archetypals are
consequent to real and self-evident non-being.
Their creation is an atemporal (dahri) creation
and NOT as mutakallimun maintain , a temporal
(zamani) creation. From this it follows that
beyond their essential creation (al huduth al
dhati) all temporal events are contingent upon
and consequent to 3 real modes of nonexistence: temporal, atemporal and everlasting.
5. “ By devising the concept of huduth dahri
(atemporal creation) , Mir Damad has
succeeded in establishing a compromise
between the theologians ( mutakallimun)
and the philosophers , in other words ,
between religious law and reason” .
- Musawi Bihbahani in introduction to 1977
edition of Kitab al Qabasat (Book of
Embers) of Mir Damad ( written
presumably before 1631).
Division about Atoms
Philoshoper/
Theologian
Mutakallimun + Fakr al
din al-Razi
Abu Bakar al-Razi
Ibn Hazm
Ibn Sina + peripatetics
Modern physicists
Atoms
Dimensionles atoms
(jawahir + a’rad)complex whole
Eternal entities
Rejected atoms and
hylomorphism – creation
ex nihilo
Hylomorphism ( matter
+ form) –simple whole
Spin foams , strings ,
subPlanckian
Comments on Mir Damad by Fazlur
Rahman (JNES 1966)
1. Damad formulated his doctrine opf real
origination in dahr , a theory implying a
rupture or dislocation(or hiatus) of being
between God and the world.
2.Damad has made a real departure from
Ibn Sina for whom normally huduth
means origination in time, which Damad
thinks is actually imkan.
3. Dahr then , means the world of pure time
where origination or “eventuality” remains
WITHOUT the extension of time.
4. Damad , who is in the tradition of essentialism (
as opposed to his pupil Mulla Sadra who is an
existentialist) believes that prior to their positive
real existence , essences exists with God and are
caused by Him.This is what he meant by
taqaddum dhati or essential/logical priority…..
But the discontinuity of their being with God’s
requires that they exist at a lower level of being
which Damad called dahr….when an essence is
translated into external existence , it can no
longer remain in the state of pure contingency
or imkan, but must develop a rupture (infikak)
with God’s being….
Quantum cosmogeny
In quantum cosmogeny gravitational
instanton gives rise to Lorentzian
signature spacetime by analytic
continuation across minimal
hypersurfaces. This continuation can be
interpreted either as quantum tunnelling
or creation of the Universe from nothing
(ex nihilo). Weighting on gravitational
action SE can serve as a method of
selecting a vacuum from the landscape of
string vacua.
Recent Findings on Big Bang
Cosmology
1. Martin Bojowald equation (spin network
model) : refined quantisation to the
Friedmann equation –physically realistic
and no singularity , no need for inflaton
field , can reach the time before Big
Bang. This equation is the equivalent
discretised (difference) Wheeler-DeWitt
equation for the universe. The individual
snapshots of the Big Bang recognisable
under the “eye” of quantum geometry.
2. Time may not exist (C. RovelliIntro.chapter on Quantum Gravity , Edit D.
Oriti, CUP)
Space: Space might not be infinitely
divisible. It may have a quantum
granularity at the Planck scale , (hG/c3)1/2
= 10 -35 m analogous to the granularity of
energy in a quantum oscillator. This
granularity of space is fully realised in loop
quantum gravity theory and there are
hints of it also in string theory. This is the
current state of Atomism!
In GR there is no external time parameter.
Coordinate time is a gauge variable which
is not observable and the physical variable
measured by a clock is a nontrivial
function of the gravitational field.
Fundamental equations of quantum
gravity might therefore not be written as
evolution equations in an observable time
variable. In fact , the Wheeler-De Witt
equation there is NO time variable at all.
To make sense of the world at the Planck
scale and to find a consistent conceptual
framework for GR and QM we might have
to give up the notion of time altogether
and learn ways to describe the world in
atemporal terms. In fact , another
approach ( apart from strings and loop
quantum gravity) is Topos theory where
time and space are just another named
dimensions. So, time is treated equally like
another space dimension.
To make sense about NO time ,
complementary ideas or approaches based
on non-commutative geometry ,
dynamical triangulations , effective
theories , causal sets etc are being
employed.
Connes and Rovelli in fact define time in
quantum gravity by using thermodynamics
and using the Tomita-Tasesaki theorem
cook up a Hamiltonian (hence a notion of
time evolution) from a state of quantum
system!
3.Planckscale physics:
Near Planckscale (10-35 m) , ground state
graviton constantly stretch and squash the
geometry of space-time causing conformal
fluctuation in space-time. Information on
gravitons near Planckscale can be
extracted by observing this fluctuations by
analysing blurring effects (decoherence)
on coherent matter waves. This
decoherence can be seen by neutrons
(first proposed by Ellis et al , 1984)
4. Transplanckian footprint
In the framework of inflation , scales which
nowadays corresponds to large scale
structures were smaller than the Planck
length at the beginning of inflation.
Therefore, measurements of CMBR
anisotropy or surveys of galaxies and
clusters of galaxies could help us probe
physics beyond the Planck scale.
This Planckscale physics is the footprint of
the “atom” of existence ( space and time).
Inflation and High Energy
Physics: Whither Decoupling?
• Inflation solves the horizon, flatness
and fluctuations problems via
superluminal expansion.
• All physical scales are then stretched
exponentially.
• We need at least 65 e-folds of inflation
to solve the problems. This means that
sub-Planckian scales can be stretched
to cosmological size!
t
Horizon/Hubbl
e radius in SBB
lp
th (k)
ti (k)
ti
x
TransPlanckian
region
Physical
scale
size k-1
Hubble
radius
during
inflation
Could Trans-Planckian
physics affect the
CMB power spectrum?
If so, how?
 Change the
vacuum for TP
modes so that they
are different at
Hubble crossing.
 vacua; de Sitter
invariant like BD
(Allen, Mottola)
 Change the dispersion
relation for TransPlanckian
physical wave numbers to

phys

k
phys ( 

String
space-time
uncertainty
Dispersion
relation with
saturation: two
branches
Minimum
length
Mind-Independent Reality
1. Idealism vs Realism :
Idealist philosophy believes that the mind exists,
and that our sense of the external world
(physical reality) is simply a construction of the
mind. Given that all our knowledge is in fact a
creation of the mind (imagination) it has been
difficult to refute this - to get from our ideas of
things to the real thing in itself .
Realism: Atomism is an example of near realism.
Mathematical realism consists in considering
that the concepts that truly fits Reality are of a
mathematical nature. A corollary to realism is
counterfactuality ( very important in quantum
theory).
In his various proofs for the establishment of dahr
, Damad seeks to prove , for example , that
Intelligences and heavenly spheres must really
exist in dahr …..- Fazlur Rahman.
I have not been able to find direct discussion of
Mind-Independent reality discussed by Muslim
philosophers.
As for Causality , much has been discussed
especially that of Al-Ghazali and I will not repeat
it here.
Quantum theory is weakly objective ( d’Espagnat)
e.g Born rule .Its weak objectivity is a powerful
indication that what science describes cannot be
conceived of as being “Mind-Independent”
Reality.
2. Ontologically interpretable models:
They are “non-std models” –reproducing
observational predictions of conventional
quantum theory but fully expressed in strongly
objective terms. Some are undeterministic while
some like Broglie-Bohm model are
deterministic.
Conclusions
I have briefly discussed the relevance of Mir
Damad’s theory with current
understanding of Big Bang cosmology and
also the concept of atom as understood by
Mutakallimun as compared to current
physics understanding of what is at the
Planckscale.
It would be interesting to connect many of
the earlier theories of Islamic philosophers
with the current understanding of modern
physics on the nature of the Universe.
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION