The previous essay explored how organized motion in an expanding universe might naturally bend into circulating structures called vortices. But the formation of stable vortices is not the end of the story. In nature, enduring structures rarely remain unchanged. They interact, adapt, and often reorganize into multiple smaller structures that inherit aspects of the original motion. The question addressed here is whether the first cosmic vortices may have evolved in the same way, producing a hierarchy of increasingly smaller structures that carried organized motion across many scales.

Across physics, stable rotating structures rarely exist in isolation. Ocean vortices merge or split as currents change, atmospheric storms exchange energy as they interact, and rotating plasma filaments braid and reconnect under changing magnetic conditions. In each case, stability makes further evolution possible rather than preventing it. Once motion becomes organized, it can influence neighboring regions, exchange energy, and give rise to new structures, a general feature of pattern formation in nonequilibrium systems described by Cross and Hohenberg (1993).

If vortices formed early in the universe, continued expansion would gradually change the conditions under which they persisted. As density declined, some vortices might merge, while others could become unstable and divide into smaller circulating regions. Conservation would remain the guiding principle throughout. Motion would not disappear; it would be redistributed into new structures better suited to the evolving environment.

Nature provides many examples of this behavior. Rotating gas clouds fragment into smaller regions that later form stars (Shu 1987). Planetary atmospheres develop nested bands and vortices, while laboratory fluids form repeating circulation cells as conditions change (Greenspan 1968). Even quantum systems can reorganize into multiple stable regions (Volovik 2003). In each case, one enduring structure gives rise to several descendants, each carrying part of the original motion forward.

When organized motion divides, it tends to follow preferred pathways shaped by conservation and environment. Stress redistributes along directions where adjustment requires the least energy. Regions already carrying slight differences in motion or density often become the starting points for separation.

Such behavior reflects a simple principle: conservation constrains how motion can change. When conditions evolve, motion tends to reorganize along pathways that preserve continuity with the least disruption. Fragmentation therefore becomes structured rather than chaotic. Each new region inherits aspects of the motion that preceded it.

Ifearly cosmic circulation encountered similar pressures during expansion, fragmentation might not occur as a single dramatic event. Instead, organization could divide progressively, producing generations of circulating regions shaped by shared origin yet adapted to local conditions.

As expansion continued, the largest vortices may gradually have lost their ability to remain strongly coupled to the surrounding substrate. When that happened, they could no longer distribute their motion across a broad region. To conserve angular momentum, the remaining circulation would be forced inward, causing the vortex to contract and spin faster. Similar spin-up behavior is well documented in rotating fluids when coupling to the surrounding flow weakens (Greenspan 1968; Tritton 1988). In many such systems, concentration leads to contraction, fragmentation, or both. A single large vortex can therefore give rise to several smaller and more compact descendants, each carrying part of the original motion forward.

If the earliest cosmic vortices behaved similarly, expansion could drive repeated cycles of fragmentation and concentration. Large regions of organized motion might generate smaller and faster descendants, allowing structure to propagate across progressively smaller scales.

Expansion alters more than the distance between objects. It changes the conditions under which motion persists. Structures capable of reorganizing endure, while those unable to adapt gradually dissolve into their surroundings. Across physics, evolution favors configurations that preserve conservation while remaining responsive to change.

If organized circulation emerged early in cosmic history, the universe may have developed as a branching hierarchy of vortices. Each generation would inherit motion from its predecessors while adapting to changing conditions created by expansion. Structure would evolve not through isolated events, but through a continuous cascade of fragmentation and concentration.

Long before galaxies and stars formed, the universe may already have contained layers of organized motion, each descended from earlier structures and shaped by the same conservation laws. In this view, the pre-geometric substrate need not possess elaborate properties beyond those already considered. If it supported organized motion while responding to expansion and conservation, those simple ingredients may have been sufficient to build complexity step by step.

From this perspective, the universe may have begun building complexity the same way nature often does: by allowing one enduring structure to give rise to many.

I invite your comments.

Robert J. Conover

References:

Cross, M. C., and P. C. Hohenberg. 1993. “Pattern Formation Outside of Equilibrium.” Reviews of Modern Physics 65 (3): 851–1112. https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.65.851

Greenspan, H. P. 1968. The Theory of Rotating Fluids. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Shu, F. H. 1987. “Star Formation in Molecular Clouds: Observation and Theory.” Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 25: 23–81.

Tritton, D. J. 1988. Physical Fluid Dynamics. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Volovik, G. E. 2003. The Universe in a Helium Droplet. Oxford: Oxford University Press.