Andrei Linde
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| Andrei Linde | |
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| Born | March 2, 1948 Moscow, USSR |
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| Nationality | Russian |
| Fields | Physicists |
| Institutions | Stanford University |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Known for | Inflationary universe |
| Notable awards | Dirac Medal |
Andrei Dmitriyevich Linde (b. March 2, 1948 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian-American theoretical physicist and professor of Physics at Stanford University. Dr. Linde is best known for his work on the concept of the inflationary universe. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Moscow State University. In 1975, Linde was awarded a Ph.D. from the Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow. Among the various awards he's received for his work on inflation, in 2002 he was awarded the Dirac Medal, along with Alan Guth of MIT and Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University.
[edit] Linde's Key Idea
Linde is best known for proposing "eternal chaotic inflation" to explain a number of problems in cosmology. This variant of cosmic inflation proposes that the false vacuum is eternally inflating in exponential growth powered by repulsive constant random zero point dark energy of negative pressure. This false vacuum is like supersaturated steam in which liquid bubbles of more stable vacuum form with Higgs-Goldstone fields that describe the cohering of most of the pre-inflationary random dark energy into the smooth fabric of curved spacetime. Our universe is only a small causal part of a single bubble, and there is an infinity of bubbles. In fact, there is an infinity of universes like ours on a single bubble which is more like an expanding infinite sheet than a finite spherical surface (suppressing 1 space dimension for ease of visualization).
The problem with Linde's theory, as pointed out by, among others, Lee Smolin in his The Trouble With Physics, is that it is not falsifiable in the sense of Popper, if nonlocal signals outside of the local light cones are not possible. Nonlocal signals would be possible if stable traversable wormholes connecting the different "Hubble horizon limited" "pocket universes" (Leonard Susskind) on the same bubble, and on different bubbles making up a multiverse (see also floating branes). Antony Valentini has proposed a generalization of quantum theory that allows a kind of nonlocal signaling that orthodox quantum theory forbids.
[edit] External links
- Andrei Linde's webpage at Stanford University
- Linde's views on religious beliefs
- Andre Linde Radio Interview on Entitled Opinions
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