no-boundary proposal
E206132
The no-boundary proposal is a cosmological model, developed by Stephen Hawking and James Hartle, which suggests that the universe is finite but without a boundary in imaginary time, eliminating the need for a singular beginning.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| no-boundary proposal canonical | 1 |
| no-boundary wave function | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1847315 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: no-boundary proposal Context triple: [The Universe in a Nutshell, explainsConcept, no-boundary proposal]
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A.
.no
.no is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Norway for use in its internet addresses.
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B.
NA
NA is the commonly used abbreviation for the National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower house of the country's bicameral parliament.
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C.
No Shape
No Shape is a critically acclaimed 2017 art-pop album by Perfume Genius that blends lush, experimental production with intimate, emotionally charged songwriting.
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D.
NDA
The NDA is a Canadian federal law that governs the organization, duties, and administration of the country’s armed forces and national defence.
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E.
Nonantum
Nonantum is a village in Newton, Massachusetts, known for its dense residential character, historic Italian-American community, and proximity to the Charles River.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: no-boundary proposal Target entity description: The no-boundary proposal is a cosmological model, developed by Stephen Hawking and James Hartle, which suggests that the universe is finite but without a boundary in imaginary time, eliminating the need for a singular beginning.
-
A.
.no
.no is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Norway for use in its internet addresses.
-
B.
NA
NA is the commonly used abbreviation for the National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower house of the country's bicameral parliament.
-
C.
No Shape
No Shape is a critically acclaimed 2017 art-pop album by Perfume Genius that blends lush, experimental production with intimate, emotionally charged songwriting.
-
D.
NDA
The NDA is a Canadian federal law that governs the organization, duties, and administration of the country’s armed forces and national defence.
-
E.
Nonantum
Nonantum is a village in Newton, Massachusetts, known for its dense residential character, historic Italian-American community, and proximity to the Charles River.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
cosmological model
ⓘ
theoretical proposal in quantum cosmology ⓘ |
| addresses | cosmological initial conditions problem ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Hartle–Hawking no-boundary proposal
ⓘ
Hartle–Hawking no-boundary proposal ⓘ
surface form:
Hartle–Hawking state
no-boundary proposal ⓘ
surface form:
no-boundary wave function
|
| assumes |
no boundary conditions at an initial time surface
ⓘ
regularity of the metric at the “origin” in imaginary time ⓘ |
| basedOn |
Euclidean quantum gravity
ⓘ
path integral formulation of quantum mechanics ⓘ |
| contrastedWith |
big bang singularity models
ⓘ
tunneling proposal ⓘ |
| coreIdea |
the universe can be described by a regular, boundaryless geometry at early times
ⓘ
the universe does not require a singular beginning ⓘ the universe is finite but has no boundary in imaginary time ⓘ |
| critiquedFor |
dependence on specific choices of contour in the path integral
ⓘ
measure and probability interpretation issues ⓘ |
| describes |
initial conditions of the universe
ⓘ
origin of the universe ⓘ |
| developedIn | 1980s ⓘ |
| eliminates | initial cosmological singularity ⓘ |
| field |
cosmology
ⓘ
quantum cosmology ⓘ theoretical physics ⓘ |
| hasMathematicalFormulation | path integral over compact Euclidean four-geometries ⓘ |
| hasStatus | speculative but influential cosmological hypothesis ⓘ |
| implies |
no distinguished initial moment of creation
ⓘ
the universe can be self-contained ⓘ |
| influenced |
research on the landscape of possible universes
ⓘ
subsequent work in quantum gravity ⓘ |
| motivatedBy |
general relativity
ⓘ
quantum mechanics ⓘ |
| predicts |
a nearly homogeneous and isotropic early universe
ⓘ
a specific wave function for the universe ⓘ probabilities for different possible universes ⓘ |
| proposedBy |
James Hartle
ⓘ
Stephen Hawking ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1983 ⓘ |
| publishedIn |
Wheeler–DeWitt equation
ⓘ
surface form:
“Wave Function of the Universe”
|
| relatedTo |
inflationary cosmology
ⓘ
multiverse models ⓘ string cosmology ⓘ |
| subjectOf | philosophical debates about the beginning of the universe ⓘ |
| timeInterpretation | time behaves like a spatial dimension near the origin in imaginary time ⓘ |
| usesConcept |
compact Euclidean spacetime
ⓘ
imaginary time ⓘ wave function of the universe ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: no-boundary proposal Description of subject: The no-boundary proposal is a cosmological model, developed by Stephen Hawking and James Hartle, which suggests that the universe is finite but without a boundary in imaginary time, eliminating the need for a singular beginning.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
no-boundary wave function