Existence of an initial cosmological singularity

Determine whether the Universe actually began with an initial cosmological singularity at the start of its expansion, acknowledging that classical general relativity ceases to be reliable at Planck-era epochs.

Background

Within the discussion of limitations of the standard Big Bang framework, the text emphasizes that classical physics breaks down at the earliest times, making the status of an initial singularity uncertain. Resolving this requires physics beyond classical general relativity, likely from a consistent quantum gravity theory.