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arxiv: 2510.13971 · v2 · submitted 2025-10-15 · ✦ hep-th

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Open case for a closed universe

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classification ✦ hep-th
keywords aneccompleteopenclosedcurvatureenergyestablishflat
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We establish a new no-go theorem for cosmology: spatially flat ($k=0$) and open ($k=-1$) Friedmann--Robertson--Walker (FRW) non-static spacetimes cannot be simultaneously nonsingular, geodesically complete, and consistent with the averaged null energy condition (ANEC). Equivalently, any dynamic flat or open universe that is complete must violate the ANEC. By contrast, closed universes ($k=+1$) uniquely admit nonsingular, geodesically complete, ANEC-consistent solutions, with global de Sitter space as the canonical realization that saturates the ANEC. Furthermore, we analytically demonstrate that positive spatial curvature naturally mimics the phenomenology of phantom dark energy ($w<-1$), biasing flat-model reconstructions of $w(z)$ at the $\sim 1\%$ level. These results augment the classical singularity theorems, establish a new classification of eternal cosmologies, and motivate renewed scrutiny of spatial curvature in both theory and observation.

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Cited by 1 Pith paper

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. Geodesically Complete Curvature-Bounce Inflation

    astro-ph.CO 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    A closed k=+1 FRW universe with curvature-driven bounce and canonical scalar inflation remains sub-Planckian, satisfies the null energy condition, and produces ns=0.9617-0.9650 and r=0.0037-0.0045 consistent with data.