light

A formal mathematical analogy between the way metamaterials and spacetime effect light could allow scientists to recreate Big Bang-type events in the lab.

Why not create materials that reproduce the behaviour of light in various kinds of spacetimes. He gives the example of a metamaterial which is a formal equivalent to a (2+2) spacetime with two dimensions of space and two of time.

A mathematical demonstration of an event in which a phase transition inside a (2+2) metamaterial leads to the sudden creation of a 2+1 spacetime (two dimensions of space and one of time) together with a large population of particles.

Think about that for a moment. An optical analogue of the Big Bang in which a spacetime is created along with the particles to populate it.

Link: technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/