Eternal inflation predicts that time will end
Raphael Bousso a;b;c, Ben Freivogeld, Stefan Leichenauera; b and Vladimir
Rosenhaus a;b
a Center for Theoretical Physics and Department of Physics University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7300, U.S.A.
b Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720-8162, U.S.A.
c Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwa-no-Ha, Kashiwa City, Chiba 277-8568, Japan
d Center for Theoretical Physics and Laboratory for Nuclear Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A.
Abstract:
Present treatments of eternal inflation regulate infinities
by imposing a geometric cutoff .
We point out that some matter systems
reach the cutoff in finite time.
This implies
a nonzero probability
for a novel type of catastrophe.
According to the most successful measure proposals,
our galaxy
is likely to encounter the cuto ff
within the next 5 billion years.
