The Universe as a Black Hole

SINCE Einstein applied his general theory of relativity to study the structure of the universe as a whole¹, cosmologists have wondered if the universe is geometrically closed or open. Neither theory nor observation has been able to settle this question unambiguously. Several authors have hoped that the universe may after all be a closed, yet unbounded, system. This would solve many problems regarding the nature and origin of the universe, and would fit many of the observations of distant sources made at radio, optical and other wavelengths². Here I demonstrate that the universe may not only be a closed structure (as perceived by its inhabitants at the present epoch) but may also be a black hole, confined to a localized region of space which cannot expand without limit.