5 Theories Suggesting We Live In A Multiverse - Alternative View

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5 Theories Suggesting We Live In A Multiverse - Alternative View
5 Theories Suggesting We Live In A Multiverse - Alternative View

Video: 5 Theories Suggesting We Live In A Multiverse - Alternative View

Video: 5 Theories Suggesting We Live In A Multiverse - Alternative View
Video: Do we live in a multiverse? | The Economist 2024, March
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the village in which we live may not be the only one. In fact, our universe can only be one of an infinite number of universes that form a "multiverse".

Some experts believe that the existence of hidden universes is more likely than not.

Here are five of the most plausible scientific theories that suggest we live in a multiverse.

1. Infinite Universes

Scientists are not yet sure what shape space-time has, but most likely it is flat (as opposed to a spherical and even donut shape) and stretches endlessly. But if space-time is infinite, then it should start repeating itself at some point, because there are a finite number of ways how particles can be arranged in space and time.

So if you could look far enough, you would see another version of yourself - in fact, an infinite number of versions. Some of these twins will be doing exactly what you are doing right now, while others will be wearing a different sweater this morning, and others will have completely different careers and lifestyles.

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Since the observable universe extends only as far as light has a chance of reaching 13.7 billion years after the big bang (13.7 billion light years), spacetime beyond that distance can be considered its own, separate universe. Thus, many universes exist side by side in a giant mosaic of universes.

2. Child universes

The theory of quantum mechanics, which rules the tiny world of subatomic particles, offers another way for multiple universes to arise. Quantum mechanics describes the world in terms of probability, with no concrete results. And the mathematics of this theory assumes that all possible outcomes of a situation occur in their own separate universes. For example, if you reach a crossroads where you can go right or left, the universe spawns two child universes: one in which you go to the right and the other to the left.

3. Universe Bubble

Besides the multiple universes created by the infinitely expanding space-time, other universes may arise in connection with the so-called theory of "eternal inflation". The concept of inflation is that the universe is expanding rapidly after the Big Bang, like an inflated balloon. Eternal inflation, first proposed by Tufts University cosmologist Alexander Vilenkin, suggests that certain areas of space stop swelling, while in other regions they continue to swell, thereby giving rise to many isolated "bubble universes."

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So our own universe, where inflation has ended, allowing stars and galaxies to form, is just a small bubble in a vast sea of space, some of which is still swelling, and which contains many other bubbles, like our universe. And in some of these bubble universes, the laws of physics and fundamental constants might be different from ours, making some universes really strange places.

4. Mathematical Universes

Scientists debate whether mathematics is simply a useful tool for describing the universe, or whether mathematics itself is a fundamental reality, and our observations of the universe are simply an imperfect perception of its true mathematical nature. If the latter is the case, then perhaps the specific mathematical structure that makes up our universe is not the only choice, and in fact all possible mathematical structures exist as their own separate universes.

“A mathematical structure is something that can be described in such a way that it depends entirely on human baggage,” said Max Tegmark of MIT, who came up with this seemingly crazy idea.

5. Parallel Universes

Another idea that emerges from string theory is the concept of "braneworlds" - parallel universes that float out of reach of our own, proposed by Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University and Neil Turok of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Ontario, Canada. The idea comes from the possibility that there are many other dimensions in our world than three-dimensional space and one time as we know it. In addition to our 3-D space brane, other 3-D branes can float in higher dimensional spaces.

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Columbia University physicist Brian Greene, in his book Hidden Reality, describes the idea as the notion that "our universe is one of potentially numerous 'plates' floating in a more multidimensional space, much like a piece of bread in a larger cosmic loaf."

This theory suggests that these brane universes are not always parallel and out of reach. Sometimes, they could crash into each other, causing repeated Big Bangs that reset the universe many times over.