A virtual creation with total mass-energy = $E$ is allowed as long as that virtual creation doesn’t last longer than $E/h$. Can the uncertainty principle also be used to estimate the mass-energy in the spontaneous creation of a universe - a spontaneous creation that has now lasted $13.6$ billion years? If so, the principle would require that universe to have a mass-energy less than $1.54\times 10^{-51}$ Joules. Is there a flaw in this?
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Well , the mass of the visible universe 6e51 kg contradicts this simplification .
The HUP is an inequality. It tells you that the mass must be at least this small number you give, it does not put bounds from above, that is why it is immaterial for our classical existence.
In addition the existing universe is not in a quantum mechanical virtual state, since it has undergone decoherence billions of years ago.
Edit in response to comments:
At the time of the Big Bang General Relativity holds. Unification of GR with the other three forces in a consistent with all data quantum mechanical theory is under research. We can only hand wave extrapolating our laboratory and observational knowledge to the first seconds of the creation of the universe.
The assumption is that the system will be following quantum mechanical laws and therefore a form of the HUP should apply.
The problem is in assuming the HUP for the virtual states of the first instants of the creation of the universe as an equality, assuming energy conservation, i.e. that the total observed energy existed at that instant. This is not valid, as conservation of energy is not well defined in General Relativity. Therefore at that small interval where the whole universe was coherent it is the inequality bounds that could have a meaning, and those are not violated. As time starts flowing decoherence appears and matter as we know it.
Conclusion: The current universe is not in a coherent quantum mechanical state where one could apply the HUP, so taking current time numbers and applying HUP for energy has little meaning except as a lower bound, if at that.
Applying the HUP at the first instants of the creation has little meaning because energy is not conserved where GR is dominant.
