Astronomers Find First Evidence Of Other Universes

By on December 17, 2010 in News 52

Eternal InflationAmazing to think the universe has “cosmic bruises.” Via Technology Review’s Physics arXiv blog:

There’s something exciting afoot in the world of cosmology. Last month, Roger Penrose at the University of Oxford and Vahe Gurzadyan at Yerevan State University in Armenia announced that they had found patterns of concentric circles in the cosmic microwave background, the echo of the Big Bang.

This, they say, is exactly what you’d expect if the universe were eternally cyclical. By that, they mean that each cycle ends with a big bang that starts the next cycle. In this model, the universe is a kind of cosmic Russian Doll, with all previous universes contained within the current one.

That’s an extraordinary discovery: evidence of something that occurred before the (conventional) Big Bang.

Today, another group says they’ve found something else in the echo of the Big Bang. These guys start with a different model of the universe called eternal inflation. In this way of thinking, the universe we see is merely a bubble in a much larger cosmos. This cosmos is filled with other bubbles, all of which are other universes where the laws of physics may be dramatically different to ours.

These bubbles probably had a violent past, jostling together and leaving “cosmic bruises” where they touched. If so, these bruises ought to be visible today in the cosmic microwave background.

Read More at Technology Review’s Physics arXiv blog

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  • Haystack

    Theories of an oscillatory universe like this one have always been especially interesting to me. If there is an endless cycle of big bangs, then every combination of possible universe should occur, over and over again. That would be kind of like an afterlife–eventually, another universe will create itself where you once again exist, albeit without any memory of your previous existence.

    Whether or not that’s a good thing is a question of how good your life has been. *g*

    • Mike

      Ooo, someone bright, glad to see people posting who can conceptually visualize and understand such implications. Realistically we have a race from now, to either the universal collapse, or energy depletion of an evaporating local universe; to survive.
      Very scary stuff, no more so then dying before an intelligent sentient race’s cusp of immortality is reached, but never the less, scary (We’re almost there, so if you’re 30 or young, and understand the above, you’ll most likely be taken care of in the next half century->infinity).

    • http://hormeticminds.blogspot.com/ Chaorder Gradient

      Well i’ve always seen our piddley human minds to have such a tiny timescale in the grand scheme of things that we have take these new findings into a cultural form of understanding rather than just individuals. Have fun convincing the world of these things

  • Haystack

    Theories of an oscillatory universe like this one have always been especially interesting to me. If there is an endless cycle of big bangs, then every combination of possible universe should occur, over and over again. That would be kind of like an afterlife–eventually, another universe will create itself where you once again exist, albeit without any memory of your previous existence.

    Whether or not that’s a good thing is a question of how good your life has been. *g*

  • razzlebathbone

    If the evidence for multiple universes continues to mount, it’ll be very interesting to see how the Abrahamic religions respond. What are the implications for their doctrines?

    • Hmm.

      It depends on the person, I would think. I’m a Christian, but have no problem believing in most scientific theories (the big bang being the obvious one), I just believe that it was all part of a plan by God. Are there some out there that will look at mounting evidence and dismiss it because it’s not in the Bible? Sure. But I have faith that there are enough Christians, Islams, and Jews who can use reason AND faith together.

      • lowkey

        i suppose there is a first time for everything

      • Earbudcontender

        Its because religion is a guideline for how to live life a certain time tested way. And not a way to explain how everything came to be. Get it right and start being truly religious. Jesus is metaphor for the self, if he existed or not is not important. Its all symbolic.

        • Synapse

          Of course it’s symbolic. Cause it’s BS. For some reason, people can’t be happy with some philosophy that leads to a good life. They need some symbolic god to tell them how. Even then, the christian god does a terrible job of telling people how to live their life in a time tested way (he threw out the OT god that was all about that).

          • hering

            God doesn´t say anything, humans do. That´s the flaw in your argument.

          • earbudcontender

            when he said symbolic god he meant it was something created by a human. The true god concept is unexplainable and something the invidual experiences in an unique way when he/she is ready. Its not something that can be thought nor followed. Most of the people that read here think for themselves, keep up the good work. Religion exploits the desire to experience and explain the divine for control and profit. I suspect it is a mechanism the super organism of humanity uses to keep certain types of humans living a certain way and alive for a certain time in case of natural disasters. It is the core of humanity a certain group that follows a simple life with the illusion of having everything already explained but in reality those explanations are just set limits. The outsiders are the ones that try alternatives and when something does not work we are penalized for doing so, but in reality failure is always an option and the outsides are just performing experiments before their behavior is introduced to the core. NOTHING IS TRUE, EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED. There are two kinds of people in this world, those who worry and those who don’t.

          • earbudcontender

            Some Masters would say religious people are sleeping on auto pilot and their true personality is not here but living in an internal world.

  • Anonymous

    If the evidence for multiple universes continues to mount, it’ll be very interesting to see how the Abrahamic religions respond. What are the implications for their doctrines?

  • Hmm.

    It depends on the person, I would think. I’m a Christian, but have no problem believing in most scientific theories (the big bang being the obvious one), I just believe that it was all part of a plan by God. Are there some out there that will look at mounting evidence and dismiss it because it’s not in the Bible? Sure. But I have faith that there are enough Christians, Islams, and Jews who can use reason AND faith together.

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

    Whether they’re right or wrong…they at least added something new and provocative to the debate. I wish space exploration were a higher priority for this world…and specifically for the US…but at least science is marching on even with the comparatively small resources we employ for space research.

    • Mike

      You’re on the right track, the actual absolute weight on any intelligent race is to understand, understand, understand. Space exploration is fine and dandy, but our primary goal should be the understanding of everything (Think physics, but for literally, the entirety of entirety).

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

    Whether they’re right or wrong…they at least added something new and provocative to the debate. I wish space exploration were a higher priority for this world…and specifically for the US…but at least science is marching on even with the comparatively small resources we employ for space research.

  • Johnframptong

    This makes my mind hurt.

  • Johnframptong

    This makes my mind hurt.

  • microorganism

    it’s turtles all the way down

  • microorganism

    it’s turtles all the way down

  • lowkey

    i suppose there is a first time for everything

  • Earbudcontender

    Its because religion is a guideline for how to live life a certain time tested way. And not a way to explain how everything came to be. Get it right and start being truly religious. Jesus is metaphor for the self, if he existed or not is not important. Its all symbolic.

  • Ld Elon

    Why you still calling it a universes, dont you see the ultimate flaw in the word used?

    • Andrew

      I see the flaw in a singular article before a plural noun.

      • Eric

        Win

  • Ld Elon

    Why you still calling it a universes, dont you see the ultimate flaw in the word used?

  • Ld Elon

    Each line is called a verse, which is part of the multiverse, which in turn is formed within the universe.
    That as in ONE set of MANY versers.

  • Ld Elon

    Each line is called a verse, which is part of the multiverse, which in turn is formed within the universe.
    That as in ONE set of MANY versers.

  • Andrew

    I see the flaw in a singular article before a plural noun.

  • Synapse

    Of course it’s symbolic. Cause it’s BS. For some reason, people can’t be happy with some philosophy that leads to a good life. They need some symbolic god to tell them how. Even then, the christian god does a terrible job of telling people how to live their life in a time tested way (he threw out the OT god that was all about that).

  • Guy

    Two questions that have yet to be answered by the conventional and dogmatic Big Bang theory: What was there before the Bang and what does the universe expand into? And no: I’m not willing to accept God as an answer. Too conventional and dogmatic. :)

    • Rev668

      the conventional way of looking at these questions… there was nothing before the big bang, by it’s very definition the universe encompasses everything, including time and space, therefore talking of “before the big bang” and “what does it expand into” have no meaning whatsoever, the big bang is still happening, expanding universe is a feature of this, it creates space as it expands, and imho does a similar thing with time, which is why we have problems tracing events back in time, as this too is not a fixed thing.

      • Mike

        No. The big bang doesn’t even explain the early existence of the big bang, let alone what occurred before it. Enter inflation, the current forerunner for our universal birth for the standard model.
        Also, be careful about using the “term” dogma in relation to anything but religion. Science makes no claims on factual accuracy, simply observation and hypothesis. Which actually, if you carry over to your normal conception of life, you might find an incredible boost in cognition.

  • Guy

    Two questions that have yet to be answered by the conventional and dogmatic Big Bang theory: What was there before the Bang and what does the universe expand into? And no: I’m not willing to accept God as an answer. Too conventional and dogmatic. :)

  • hering

    God doesn´t say anything, humans do. That´s the flaw in your argument.

  • Rev668

    the conventional way of looking at these questions… there was nothing before the big bang, by it’s very definition the universe encompasses everything, including time and space, therefore talking of “before the big bang” and “what does it expand into” have no meaning whatsoever, the big bang is still happening, expanding universe is a feature of this, it creates space as it expands, and imho does a similar thing with time, which is why we have problems tracing events back in time, as this too is not a fixed thing.

  • saganist

    If only Carl Sagan were here to see this happening.

  • saganist

    If only Carl Sagan were here to see this happening.

  • Eric

    Win

  • earbudcontender

    when he said symbolic god he meant it was something created by a human. The true god concept is unexplainable and something the invidual experiences in an unique way when he/she is ready. Its not something that can be thought nor followed. Most of the people that read here think for themselves, keep up the good work. Religion exploits the desire to experience and explain the divine for control and profit. I suspect it is a mechanism the super organism of humanity uses to keep certain types of humans living a certain way and alive for a certain time in case of natural disasters. It is the core of humanity a certain group that follows a simple life with the illusion of having everything already explained but in reality those explanations are just set limits. The outsiders are the ones that try alternatives and when something does not work we are penalized for doing so, but in reality failure is always an option and the outsides are just performing experiments before their behavior is introduced to the core. NOTHING IS TRUE, EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED. There are two kinds of people in this world, those who worry and those who don’t.

  • earbudcontender

    Some Masters would say religious people are sleeping on auto pilot and their true personality is not here but living in an internal world.

  • Mike

    Ooo, someone bright, glad to see people posting who can conceptually visualize and understand such implications. Realistically we have a race from now, to either the universal collapse, or energy depletion of an evaporating local universe; to survive.
    Very scary stuff, no more so then dying before an intelligent sentient race’s cusp of immortality is reached, but never the less, scary (We’re almost there, so if you’re 30 or young, and understand the above, you’ll most likely be taken care of in the next half century->infinity).

  • Mike

    You’re on the right track, the actual absolute weight on any intelligent race is to understand, understand, understand. Space exploration is fine and dandy, but our primary goal should be the understanding of everything (Think physics, but for literally, the entirety of entirety).

  • Mike

    No. The big bang doesn’t even explain the early existence of the big bang, let alone what occurred before it. Enter inflation, the current forerunner for our universal birth for the standard model.
    Also, be careful about using the “term” dogma in relation to anything but religion. Science makes no claims on factual accuracy, simply observation and hypothesis. Which actually, if you carry over to your normal conception of life, you might find an incredible boost in cognition.

  • http://hormeticminds.blogspot.com/ Chaorder Gradient

    Well i’ve always seen our piddley human minds to have such a tiny timescale in the grand scheme of things that we have take these new findings into a cultural form of understanding rather than just individuals. Have fun convincing the world of these things

  • Kootzie

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoanXbOCjuM

    Itzak Bentov envisioned a fascinating model.
    This video just sketches the overview of a
    toroidal universe pumped by a black hole whitehole pair.
    The universe will appear to be expanding (or contracting)
    with a varying degree of curvature depending on where an observer is located.

  • Kootzie

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoanXbOCjuM

    Itzak Bentov envisioned a fascinating model.
    This video just sketches the overview of a
    toroidal universe pumped by a black hole whitehole pair.
    The universe will appear to be expanding (or contracting)
    with a varying degree of curvature depending on where an observer is located.

  • Rumplestiltskin

    Recent research into the fields of metaphysics, physics, psychology, psychiatry, and all other sciences seems to indicate that the collective perception of humanity creates desired realities through merely researching them. I am not high. : )

  • Rumplestiltskin

    Recent research into the fields of metaphysics, physics, psychology, psychiatry, and all other sciences seems to indicate that the collective perception of humanity creates desired realities through merely researching them. I am not high. : )

  • Radioreview

    The universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, so stating that they’ve found another Universe seems a bit wrong. Not that I have the brains of Roger Penrose, but wouldn’t it be fair to say that they’ve found evidence that our Universe existed in another form before the big bang?

  • Radioreview

    The universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, so stating that they’ve found another Universe seems a bit wrong. Not that I have the brains of Roger Penrose, but wouldn’t it be fair to say that they’ve found evidence that our Universe existed in another form before the big bang?