PAPERS | OCTOBER 01 2023

All objects and some questions 

Charles H. Lineweaver; Vihan M. Patel

Am. J. Phys. 91, 819–825 (2023)

https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0150209

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29 October 2023 15:21:40

All objects and some questions
Charles H. Lineweavera) and Vihan M. Patelb)
Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Canberra 2600, Australia
(Received 13 March 2023; accepted 8 August 2023)
We present an overview of the thermal history of the Universe and the sequence of objects (e.g.,
protons, planets, and galaxies) that condensed out of the background as the Universe expanded and
cooled. We plot (i) the density and temperature of the Universe as a function of time and (ii) the
masses and sizes of all objects in the Universe. These comprehensive pedagogical plots draw
attention to the triangular regions forbidden by general relativity and quantum uncertainty and help
navigate the relationship between gravity and quantum mechanics. How can we interpret their
intersection at the smallest possible objects: Planck-mass black holes (“instantons”)? Does their
Planck density and Planck temperature make them good candidates for the initial conditions of the
Universe? Our plot of all objects also seems to suggest that the Universe is a black hole. We explain
how this depends on the unlikely assumption that our Universe is surrounded by zero density
Minkowski space. # 2023 Published under an exclusive license by American Association of Physics Teachers.
https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0150209

I. INTRODUCTION radiation (Xr), matter (Xm), and finally today, vacuum energy
or dark energy (XK ). The three transitions among these four
A. Condensation of objects epochs are known, respectively, as reheating, matter-
The early Universe was a hot plasma of fundamental rela- radiation equality, and the beginning of vacuum energy
tivistic particles: quarks, leptons, photons, and gluons. There domination.
were no composite objects such as protons, atoms, planets, The details of inflation are largely unknown.3,12 For sim-
or galaxies.1–5 As the Universe cooled, composite objects plicity, we assume the initial condition at the Planck time
condensed out of the background much as droplets of steam that the Universe was at the Planck temperature and the
condense out of hot water vapor as it cools. This condensa- Planck density (tp, Tp, and qp, respectively). We assume the

29 October 2023 15:21:40

tion happened when the binding energy of an object Universe underwent inflationary expansion13–15 that ended at
exceeded the background energy. For example, as the the grand unified theory (GUT) scale (t  1032 s) when
Universe expanded and cooled during the quark-hadron tran- reheating produced a radiation-dominated Universe with an
sition, the binding energy of the strong force overcame the energy density equal to the energy density during inflation:
background energy as the quark-gluon plasma condensed qGUT ¼ qKi .16 Following Refs. 1 and 17, we also assume
into protons, neutrons, and other hadrons. With further radiation domination before inflation. These assumptions
expansion and decrease in temperature, during the epoch of constrain inflation to start at t  1036 s.
big bang nucleosynthesis, the binding energy of the residual As the Universe expanded, the scalefactor (a) increased.
strong force overcame the background energy as the hot Since the density of radiation qr / a4 , while the density of
plasma of protons and neutrons condensed into atomic matter qm / a3 , expansion led to matter-radiation equality:
nuclei. Further expansion and cooling led to the formation of qr  qm . After equality, the Universe became matter domi-
helium and then hydrogen atoms when the binding energy of nated and gravity, like the other stronger forces before it,
coulomb forces overcame the background energy. With fur- could begin to condense or accrete objects out of the
ther cooling, chemical bond energies overcame the kinetic background.
energy of atoms as they condensed into molecules. Further
cooling allowed matter-overdensities to form stars, planets, C. Relativistic degrees of freedom in the early
galaxies, and clusters of galaxies as their gravitational bind- Universe: g
ing energy overcame their kinetic energy.1,2
A couple of minutes after the big bang (t ⲏ 102 s), as the
As a result of this sequence of condensations, due to the
Universe expanded and the scale factor of the Universe
strong force, electromagnetism, and gravity, the Universe is
increased, the average temperature of the photons filling the
now filled with protons, atoms, molecules, stars, planets,
Universe decreased according to Eq. (1). If we want the tem-
black holes, and galaxies whose densities are higher than the
current average density of the Universe. These condensations perature at earlier times, the more general Eq. (2) is needed.
can also be described as first-order symmetry-breaking phase It depends on both the scale factor and on g , the number of
transitions from a disordered higher symmetry hot phase to a relativistic degrees of freedom in thermal equilibrium with
more ordered lower symmetry cooler phase.3,4 To help quan- the photons1,3,18
tify the context for this sequence of transitions, we compute
T ¼ To a1 for t ⲏ 10 2 s; (1)
and plot (Fig. 1) the time dependence of the decreasing den-
sity and temperature of the Universe.  1=3
1 g
T ¼ To a ; (2)
B. Changing dominant densities in the Universe 2

Starting with inflation, the dominant densities have been where To ¼ 2:725 K is the temperature of the current cosmic
the densities of the false vacuum energy of inflation (XKi ), microwave background (CMB) photons.19 The g in Eq. (2)

819 Am. J. Phys. 91 (10), October 2023 http://aapt.org/ajp # 2023 Published under an exclusive license by AAPT 819
 as the two degrees of freedom of photons are joined in ther-
mal equilibrium by the degrees of freedom of the increas-
ingly numerous relativistic particles. Hot relativistic particles
act like massless photons since their energy, E ¼ ðp2 c2
þm2 c4 Þ1=2 is dominated by their momentum and can be
well-approximated by E  pc. As we go back in time, get-
ting closer to the big bang, g increases. Thus, we need to
replace Eq. (1) with Eq. (2), from which we can see that as
we get closer to the big bang, T does not increase as fast as
a1 . In the lower panel of Fig. 1, we can see that g begins
to increase for t ⱗ 102 s. If photons are the only form of radi-
ation, Eqs. (1) and (2) are identical since g ¼ 2 (one degree
of freedom for each of the two photon spin states).
Currently, neutrinos are not in thermal equilibrium with
the 3 K photons of the cosmic microwave background. The
relativistic degrees of freedom of neutrinos are not included
in our g for temperatures T ⱗ 1010 K when they are
decoupled from photons.
Similar to temperature in Eq. (2), the energy density qr of
a relativistic gas also depends on g . If we only have pho-
tons, the energy density is given in Eq. (3). However, if there
are other relativistic particles in thermal equilibrium with
photons at a common temperature T, to compute their com-
bined energy density we need to multiply Eq. (3) by g =2 to
obtain the generalization Eq. (4).1,7,8 Finally, using Eq. (2),
we substitute for T in Eq. (4) and obtain Eq. (5): the energy
Fig. 1. (Color online) Top panel: The decreasing average temperature and
density of the Universe as a function of time (and on the upper x-axis as a
density in all relativistic degrees of freedom (in thermal
function of scale factor a). The solid black line is the energy density of radi- equilibrium with photons) as a function of scale factor and
ation and matter (qr þ qm ). The dashed black line is the energy density of g ,3,12
the vacuum. The red line is the average temperature of the Universe. The

29 October 2023 15:21:40

background is color-coded to show the densities that dominate the Universe qr ¼ aB T4 for t ⲏ 10 2 s; (3)
as a function of time. From left to right starting at the Planck time, the domi-  
nant densities are: pink (radiation, Xr), grey (false vacuum energy of infla- g
tion, XKi ), pink (radiation, Xr), blue (matter, Xm), and light grey (vacuum qr ¼ aB T4 ; (4)
energy or dark energy, XK ). The transition from the matter domination to
2
the current dark energy domination occurred at t  2:4  1017 s after the big  4  1=3
bang (about 6.1  109 years ago). Because of the logarithmic time axis, this To g
transition is barely distinguishable to the left of the vertical “now” line qr ¼ aB ; (5)
a 2
(4:4  1017 s). This plot assumes a KCDM Universe with
Xm ¼ 0:30 6 0:02; XK ¼ 0:7060:02; Ho ¼ 7062 km s1 Mpc1 . “GUT” is
the energy scale of grand unified theories, “EW” is the electroweak energy where the radiation density constant aB ¼ ðp2 k4 =15 h3 c3 Þ.3
scale, “QGP” is the epoch of quark-gluon plasma while “BBN” is the epoch Comparing Eqs. (2) and (5), we see that both temperature
1=3
of big bang nucleosynthesis. Bottom panel: The effective number of relativ- and density have the same g dependence. Inserting the
istic degrees of freedom g as a function of time. Estimates of g for times g of the lower panel of Fig. 1 into Eqs. (2) and (5) enables
t ⲏ 1010 s are from Refs. 1 and 6–9. At t  1010 s, the particles of the stan- us to plot in the upper panel of Fig. 1 the time dependence of
dard model are relativistic and produce 106.75 degrees of freedom. The
large uncertainty in g for tⱗ1010 s is the notional range taken from Ref. 6.
the background temperature and density during the conden-
At these earlier times and higher energies, the values of g are poorly con- sation of objects in the Universe.
strained and depend on the model of high energy particle physics (Refs. 1
and 10). The values of g in the bottom panel, when inserted into Eqs. (2) II. PLOT OF ALL OBJECTS
and (5) produce the temperatures and energy densities in the top panel. To
be explicit and simple, we have assumed g ðt < 1032 sÞ ¼ g ðt ¼ 1032 sÞ. A. Objects and isodensity lines
Times before the Planck time are labelled “sub-Planckian unknown.” On
any log(time) axis, t ¼ 0 is infinitely far to the left. This choice precludes all In Fig. 2, we plot all the composite objects in the
models in which time has no beginning (e.g., Ref. 11). Universe: protons, atoms, life forms, asteroids, moons, plan-
ets, stars, galaxies, galaxy clusters, giant voids, and the
can be thought of as a measure of the heat capacity of the hot Universe itself. Humans are represented by a mass of 70 kg
relativistic plasma. It is analogous to the number of degrees and a radius of 50 cm (we assume sphericity), while whales
of freedom of a polyatomic gas. As the temperature are represented by a mass of 105 kg and a radius of 7 m.
increases, more vibrational and rotational degrees of freedom Objects with uniform density q are described by m / q r3 .
become available. Energy added to the system has to be par- Thus, in a log(m)–log(r) plot such as Fig. 2, all objects of the
titioned among the increasing number of degrees of freedom, same density fall along the same isodensity line of slope 3.
rather than directly increasing the temperature of the system. For example, atoms and objects made of atoms, such as life
With more degrees of freedom, the heat capacity of the gas on Earth (viruses, bacteria, fleas, humans, and whales) aste-
increases. roids, moons, planets, and main sequence stars, lie close to
Similarly, as we go back in time (before t  102 s) to the the atomic density line qatomic  qwater ¼ 1 gm=cm3 . At the
increasingly high energies of the early Universe, g increases top of the plot, this line is labeled “atomic 103 s,” because

820 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 91, No. 10, October 2023 C. H. Lineweaver and V. M. Patel 820
 29 October 2023 15:21:40
Fig. 2. (Color online) Masses, sizes, and relative densities of objects in our Universe. Time-dependent background densities are color-coded as in Fig. 1. The
diagonal white dashed isodensity lines correspond to the intersections in Fig. 1 of the vertical isochron lines with the black density line. Gravity and quantum
uncertainty prevent objects of a given mass from being smaller than their corresponding Schwarzschild radius [Eq. (6)] or Compton wavelength [Eq. (7)].
Schwarzschild black holes lie on the black m / r diagonal line which is the lower boundary of the “forbidden by gravity” region. The masses and Compton
wavelengths of the top quark (t), Higgs boson (Ho), proton (p), electron (e), and neutrinos () are plotted along the Compton (m / r 1 ) diagonal line. Among
these, the top quark has the smallest Compton wavelength, because it has the largest mass: 173GeVc2 . The smallest possible object is a Planck-mass black
hole indicated by the white dot labeled “instanton” (Ref. 20). Its mass and size are ðm; rÞ ¼ ðmp ; lp Þ. The smallest observable (not yet evaporated) primordial
black hole (PBH) that could have survived until today has approximately the same size as a proton (Ref. 21). The large low-mass black dot in the SMBH (super
massive black hole) range is the 4  106 solar mass black hole at the center of our galaxy (Ref. 22), while the more massive large black dot is Ton 618. The
dashed horizontal line at m ¼ mp emphasizes the orthogonal symmetry of black holes (m / r) and particles (m / r 1 ). Our Universe is represented by the
“Hubble radius” and has a mass and size that places it on the black hole line, seemingly suggesting that our Universe is a massive, low-density black hole (Sec.
III A). The black rectangle containing neutron stars (“NS”), white dwarfs (“WD”), and brown dwarfs (“BD”) indicates the size of the parameter space plotted in
Fig. 3. Less comprehensive versions of this plot can be found at Refs. 20 and 23–28. See the supplementary material for the data used to make this plot (Ref. 56).

objects along this isodensity line have the density of water, current matter density of the Universe. For completeness, we
and because the entire Universe had this density at the end of have also plotted the largest known voids. The current matter
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, 103 s after the big bang. density is the longest diagonal isodensity line on the right
Protons, neutrons, and neutron stars are found along the labeled at the top “now 1017 s”). This density is the value in
slope ¼ 3, nuclear density line which is 14 orders of mag- Fig. 1 of the black (qr þ qm ) line at t ¼ now.
nitude more dense than anything made of atoms:
qnuclear =qatomic  1014 . It is labeled “nuclear 106 s” because B. Black holes and the zone forbidden by gravity
the entire Universe was at this nuclear density a millionth of
a second after the big bang. In Fig. 2, gravity and quantum uncertainty create large for-
The largest objects in the upper right are super-clusters of bidden triangular regions where no known objects can exist.
galaxies with densities approximately 20% larger than the All Schwarzschild black holes, from the smallest Planck-

821 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 91, No. 10, October 2023 C. H. Lineweaver and V. M. Patel 821
Fig. 3. (Color online) A zoomed-in version of the small rectangle in Fig. 2 containing neutron stars (“NS”), white dwarfs (“WD”), main sequence stars, brown
dwarfs (“BD”), and the heaviest mass planet (13 Jupiter masses). This plot illustrates the role of degeneracy pressure in the gravitational collapse of stars.
Brown dwarfs cannot collapse further due to electron degeneracy pressure, preventing fusion ignition in their cores. They will not become main sequence stars.
When main sequence stars (right) run out of fuel they collapse into white dwarfs held up by electron degeneracy pressure. White dwarfs follow the radius-
mass relation r / m1=3 (blue dashed line) (Ref. 32). When a white dwarf accretes material and its mass approaches the Chandrasekhar limit 1:4 M (Ref.
30), it becomes a neutron star “NS” which, with further mass accretion, becomes a black hole “BH,” see Sec. II D.

mass instantons to the super-massive black holes (SMBH) at m / r1 line [Eq. (7)] delimiting the triangular “quantum
the centers of the largest galaxies, lie on the diagonal m / r uncertainty” region in Fig. 2.
line labelled “black holes.” Black holes lie on this line In addition to composite particles, we also plot fundamen-
because the radius and mass of a Schwarzschild black hole tal structureless particles, e.g., quarks and leptons. As exam-
are linearly proportional,29 ples, we plot the top quark, electron, and neutrinos. These all
lie along the Compton wavelength boundary. For complete-
2G ness, we would also like to plot massless photons. However,
rs ¼ m: (6)
c2 since the Compton wavelength of a massless particle (pho-

29 October 2023 15:21:40

tons, gluons, and gravitons) is infinity, we plot photons at
Interestingly, the “Hubble radius” (representing the ðmeff ; sizeÞ ¼ ðE=c2 ; kc Þ where their angular wavelengths
Universe) also lies on this black hole line (Sec. III A). The kc ¼ hc=E. Thus, photons of the entire electromagnetic spec-
“forbidden by gravity” region illustrates that all objects of a trum can be plotted. They fall along the Compton limit line
given mass are larger than a black hole of that mass, and all since meff  k1 c . The narrow rainbow at E  10
9
GeV is
objects of a given radius are less massive than a black hole the entire visible spectrum, while the entire electromagnetic
of that radius. spectrum extends from the shortest wavelength gamma ray
kc ¼ lp to the longest radio waves extending off the plot
beyond the size of the observable Universe.
C. Compton wavelengths and the zone forbidden
by quantum uncertainty D. Stellar mass black holes and degeneracy pressure
The effective sizes of small massive particles can be repre- Figure 3 illustrates some important features of stellar evo-
sented by their deBroglie wavelengths: kdeB ¼ h=mv, where lution. When a main sequence star (right side of Fig. 3) runs
m is the mass of the particle. The higher the velocity v of a out of fuel, it can no longer maintain the thermal radiation
particle, the smaller its deBroglie wavelength. In the relativ- pressure Prad, to counteract gravitational pressure Pg:
istic limit when v ! c, the deBroglie wavelength asymptotes ðPrad ! 0 < Pg Þ. It collapses and becomes a white dwarf
to the smaller Compton wavelength kc, held up mostly by electron degeneracy pressure (Pe  Pg ).
Counter-intuitively, more massive white dwarfs are smaller
h v!c h
 than less massive ones because as gravity compresses mas-
kdeB ¼ ! ¼ kc : (7)
mv mc sive particles, temperatures increase, velocities increase, and
the deBroglie wavelengths kdeB of the electrons decrease and
The Compton wavelength marks the boundary where relativ- at relativistic energies asymptote to their smaller Compton
istic quantum effects become significant. On scales smaller wavelengths [Eq. (7)]. Gravity cannot compress the sizes of
than kc, the concept of a single quantum mechanical particle the electrons to be less than their Compton wavelengths.
(“object”) breaks down and we must switch to a field This size limit is the source of the electron degeneracy pres-
description in which particle creation and annihilation occur, sure that holds up white dwarfs. However, if a white dwarf
preventing further spatial localization. In other words, locali- can accrete more mass than the Chandrasekhar limit
zation of a wave packet to constrain a particle to a size less 1:4 M ,30 gravitational pressure at the center is enough to
than its Compton wavelength is prevented by pair- overcome electron degeneracy pressure (Pg > Pe). Electrons
production. Since the Compton wavelength is the lower limit are pushed into protons producing neutrons, and thus, white
beyond which object size and position are conflated by quan- dwarfs collapse into neutron stars held up by neutron degen-
tum uncertainty, we take the Compton wavelength as the eracy pressure.31 If a neutron star can accrete more mass
effective minimum radius of a particle. This produces the than the Volkoff–Oppenheimer–Tolman limit of 3 M ,31

822 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 91, No. 10, October 2023 C. H. Lineweaver and V. M. Patel 822
the star will continue to collapse, overcoming neutron degen- where lp is the Planck length and the Planck mass
eracy pressure and collapsing into a black hole. mp ¼ ðhc=GÞ1=2 . Thus, the Compton wavelength of a
Planck-mass particle equals the Planck length: kc ðmp Þ ¼ lp .
III. SOME FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS However, what about the black hole diagonal line? Is the
Schwarzschild radius of a Planck-mass black hole equal to
A. Is the Universe a black hole? the Planck length?
In our expanding Universe, Hubble’s law relates the reces-  1=2  1=2
sion velocities to the distance: vrec ¼ H r. At a specific dis- 2 G mp 2 G hc hG
rs ðmp Þ ¼ 2
¼ 2 ¼2 3 ¼ 2 lp :
tance rH called the Hubble radius, the recession velocity is c c G c
equal to the speed of light, (13)
c There is an unexpected extra factor of 2. Thus, the two diag-
rH ¼ : (8)
H onal lines do not cross at exactly ðlp ; mp Þ. Instead we have
the radius of a Planck-mass black hole equal to twice the
The Hubble volume is a sphere of radius rH centered on us Compton wavelength of a Planck-mass particle (see p. 225
and is often taken as the size of the Universe. At present, of Ref. 38).
rH  14 Gly.33 In Fig. 2, the most massive point on the black Insight into this factor of 2 may be found by considering
hole line is labeled “Hubble radius” at the point ðmU ; rH Þ not the simplified case of a non-rotating Schwarzschild black
where the mass of the Universe is the critical density times hole but the more general case of a rotating Kerr black hole.
its volume: mU ¼ qc ð4=3Þ p rH3 . For convenience, we first define a length proportional to the
Using Eq. (6), we can write the density of a black hole as angular momentum L per unit mass rL ¼ ðL=mÞ c [Ref. 16, p
60, Eq. (2.100)]. Then, in the equatorial plane of the rotating
 3 black hole, we have singularity solutions
m m m c2
qBH ¼ ¼ ¼ (9) "  #1=2
V 4 3 4 2Gm
pr p rs rs 2
3 s 3 r6 ¼ 6  rL2 ; (14)
2 2
3c6
¼ m2 : (10)
32pG3 where the 6 indicates there are two solutions and the angular
momentum parameter rL can take on values in the range

29 October 2023 15:21:40

Thus, qBH / m2 and the more massive the black hole, the rL 2 ½0; rs =2. These two solutions are called the inner
lower its density. This can also be seen in Fig. 2, where the (Cauchy) horizon and the outer horizon. For rL ¼ 0
most massive black holes are on the lowest density isoden- (non-rotating), we recover the Schwarzschild solution rþ
sity lines. In particular, when the size of a black hole is the ¼ rs as the outer horizon. However, we also have a solution
size of the Universe (rs ¼ rH), we can use Eqs. (6) and (8) in for the inner (Cauchy) horizon r ¼ 0 that is often ignored.
Eq. (10) to obtain Importantly, rþ < rs for all non-zero values of rL. For all val-
ues of rL, the average of the two solutions equals rs =2. For a
3H 2
qBH ¼ ¼ qc ; (11)
8pG

where qc is the critical density. Thus, a Schwarzschild black

hole the same size as our Universe has the same mass and
density as our Universe. This seems to suggest that the entire
Universe is a black hole. Although this idea has been
explored in Refs. 34–37, Fig. 4 illustrates why this is not the
case.

B. Where exactly do the black hole and Compton

boundaries cross?
In Fig. 2, the black hole diagonal line has a slope of þ 1
since logðmÞ / logðrÞ [Eq. (6)]. The diagonal line of the
Compton wavelengths has a slope of –1 since logðmÞ / Fig. 4. We can imagine our Universe being surrounded by two different
logðrÞ [Eq. (7)]. Thus, these two lines are orthogonal and background densities: (1) zero density (dashed grey lines) or (2) a critical
should cross at the instanton which is “a black hole whose density with the same density as our Universe (horizontal black line). If our
Compton wavelength is equal to its Schwarzschild radius.”28 critical density Universe with “us” in the middle is surrounded by a zero
We want to verify that this instanton crossing point happens density flat Minkowski spacetime then we can use the Schwarzschild metric
to conclude that we are living in a black hole and headed for a big crunch.
at ðlp ; mp Þ. The Compton wavelength [Eq. (7)] of a Planck- However, if the Universe outside the Hubble radius “rH” has the same criti-
mass particle is cal density as the inside, then the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker metric tells
us we are living in a flat universe and we cannot use the Schwarzschild met-
 1=2  1=2 ric (Ref. 29) to describe our situation because the Schwarzschild radius of a

h h G hG
kc ðmp Þ ¼ ¼ ¼ ¼ lp ; (12) black hole has been calculated under the assumption that the black hole is
mp c c hc c3 surrounded by empty q ¼ 0 flat Minkowski spacetime.

823 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 91, No. 10, October 2023 C. H. Lineweaver and V. M. Patel 823
maximally rotating black hole, the two horizons merge, The history of objects in the Universe can be seen as a his-
r6 ¼ rs =2. The inner (Cauchy) and outer horizons for a max- tory of condensations of composite objects from an undiffer-
imally rotating Planck-mass black hole are both equal to the entiated background. Although composite objects condensed
Planck length: r6 ¼ lp ¼ kc ðmp Þ. when the binding energy of the object exceeded the back-
The Reissner–N€ordstrom metric for a charged (non-rotat- ground energy, notice in Fig. 2 that no known objects con-
ing) black hole leads to analogous solutions: maximally dense before the electroweak (EW) energy scale at 1010 s,
charged Planck-mass black holes have r6 ðmp Þ ¼ rs =2 because the binding energies of all known composite objects
¼ lp .39,40 Thus, the most fundamental length in both the Kerr are less than the background energy at these early times.
and Reissner-N€ ordstrom metrics for a Planck-mass black Perhaps there are composite objects embedded in the quark-
hole is the Planck length lp ¼ rs =2. In Fig. 2, if we had repre- gluon plasma (QGP) held together by the unified strong,
sented the radius of a black hole by the average of the outer weak and electromagnetic forces. Two important open ques-
horizon and the inner (Cauchy) horizon: rBH ¼ ðrþ þ r Þ=2, tions are: What were the first composite objects? and If we
the black hole line and the Compton wavelength line would consider virtual particles to be objects, where do they belong
cross exactly at the instanton point ðlp ; mp Þ. in the diagram?

IV. DISCUSSION V. CONCLUSIONS

The Planck-mass instanton is the smallest mass a black There is a long inspiring pedagogical tradition in physics
hole can have without entering the region of quantum uncer- of putting everything into one log-log plot. This tradition
tainty. Instantons seem to be the smallest objects in the includes a logarithmic overview of all space (powers of
Universe (white dot in Fig. 2).20 On the upper left side of ten53), a logarithmic overview of all time (time in powers of
Fig. 1, we have assumed the initial condition that the ten54), and “the complete history of the Universe” (Fig. 3.7
Universe started out at the Planck time with the Planck den- of Ref. 1). Okun’s “the physical theories cube” (Fig. 2 of
sity and Planck temperature. In Fig. 2, the intersection point Ref. 55) is a powerful pedagogical tool that enables us to
of the vertical white line at the Planck length and the diago- imagine the variation of three fundamental constants 1=c, G,
nal dashed white line at the Planck density is an instanton. and h. Each of the eight vertices of his cube corresponds to
different physical theories.
The Hawking temperature of an instanton is the Planck tem-
Here, we provide an overview of the history of the
perature.16 Thus, we have assumed that the initial conditions
Universe and the sequence of composite objects (e.g., pro-
of the Universe are that of an instanton. Instantons seem to
tons, planets, galaxies) that condensed out of the background
be an essential ingredient for quantum cosmology, and their

29 October 2023 15:21:40

as the Universe expanded and cooled. We describe the role
study is an active field of research that is beyond the scope of the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom
of this paper.20,26,27,41–47 (g ) needed to understand the thermal history of the
It is possible that some kind of quantum degeneracy pres- Universe during the first few minutes after the big bang. We
sure holds up the core of a black hole and prevents it from compute and plot the background density and temperature of
becoming a Schwarzschild singularity.48,49 If so, the cores of the Universe (Fig. 1). To extrapolate into the first billionth of
black holes could be Planck-density objects located in the a second, we make some common, explicit, but speculative
“forbidden by gravity” region along the Planck isodensity assumptions.
line. Or the cores could have sizes corresponding to the inner We then make the most comprehensive pedagogical plot
Cauchy horizons [r in Eq. (14)], also located in the of the masses and sizes of all the objects in the Universe
“forbidden by gravity” region. (Fig. 2). This plot draws attention to the unphysical regions
How can we interpret the doubly forbidden black triangu- forbidden by general relativity and quantum uncertainty—
lar region labeled “QG” (quantum gravity) on the left side of regions bounded by black holes and the Compton limit. The
Fig. 2? What does it mean to be doubly forbidden? In this Compton limit creates an ambiguous region beyond which
region, the size r of an object violates both general relativity: object size and position are conflated by quantum uncer-
r < rs ¼ 2Gm=c2 and quantum uncertainty: r < kc ¼ h=mc. tainty, thus undermining the classical notion that the size of
In terms of mass m, gravity and quantum uncertainty prevent an object can be arbitrary small. Figure 2 also helps navigate
the mass of an object from satisfying the relationship between gravity and quantum mechanics and
helps formulate some fundamental questions about the limits
rc2 
h of physics: How can we interpret the regions forbidden by
<m< : (15)
2G rc general relativity and quantum uncertainty? How should we
interpret the fact that the two boundaries of the forbidden
The Compton limit involves only the Heisenberg uncertainty regions intersect at the instanton (Planck-mass black holes)?
principle. However, as we approach the instanton, a term rel- Are instantons the smallest possible objects? Do their size,
evant to gravitational effects also contributes to the uncer- density and temperature make them the best candidates for
tainty. Including this gravitational term extends the the initial conditions of the Universe (Fig. 1)? Is the
Heisenberg uncertainty principle into what is known as the Schwarzschild radius the minimum size for an object of a
generalized uncertainty principle.27,50,51 given mass? Or might the non-singular cores of black holes
Carr and collaborators have raised some fundamental be objects with the Planck density?
issues about the orthogonal symmetry of the black hole line
(m / r) and Compton line (m / r 1 ) around the horizontal AUTHOR DECLARATIONS
dashed line in Fig. 2. They refer to this symmetry as the Conflict of Interest
“Compton–Schwarzschild correspondence,” which plays a
fundamental role in quantum gravity.20,27,51,52 The authors have no conflicts to disclose.

824 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 91, No. 10, October 2023 C. H. Lineweaver and V. M. Patel 824
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