Universe evolved ability to make black holes

The maths underpinning Darwin’s theory of natural selection might explain how the universe may be designed to make black holes.

Researchers from Oxford University propose that if new universes are born inside black holes, a ‘multiverse’ of main possible universes could be shaped by a process similar to evolution so that successive generations of universes become better at making black holes.

“This idea of cosmological natural selection is controversial, and physicists have pointed out all sorts of problems with it. But we were interested in seeing if its basic evolutionary logic actually works,” said Dr Andy Gardner from Oxford’s Department of Zoology and lead author of the paper published in Complexity.

The cosmological natural selection hypothesis was first put forward in the 1990s to explain the apparent ‘fine-tuning’ of the universe’s basic parameters to allow for the existence of atoms, galaxies and life itself.

The researchers found that a basic equation from evolutionary genetics- called Price’s theorem – could be applied to the cosmos and explain how the universe seems to be designed for the purpose of making black holes.

“Price’s theorem can help us to model how selection can work not only at the scale of genes and organisms but also at that of something as unimaginably vast as multiple universes,” said Gradner. “Our model uses maths similar to the mathematic theory underlying Darwinian adaptation in biology, which explains how the dynamics of natural selection leads to organisms appearing designed to maximise their fitness.”

The team do point out that the evolution of universes is distinct from the evolution of animals as in a multiverse of many possible universes; there is no real concept of change over time. On the other hand, the Oxford model of evolving universes is quite similar to models of natural selection in bacteria – where generations evolve out of the asexual budding of cells.