The void: Imprint of another universe?

New Scientist ^ | 11/24/07 | Marcus Chown

[TigerLikesRooster]

The void: Imprint of another universe?

24 November 2007

Marcus Chown

Magazine issue 2631

IN AUGUST, radio astronomers announced that they had found an enormous hole in the universe. Nearly a billion light years across, the void lies in the constellation Eridanus and has far fewer stars, gas and galaxies than usual. It is bigger than anyone imagined possible and is beyond the present understanding of cosmology. What could cause such a gaping hole? One team of physicists has a breathtaking explanation: "It is the unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own," says Laura Mersini-Houghton of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

It is a staggering claim. If Mersini-Houghton's team is right, the giant void is the first experimental evidence for another universe. It would also vindicate string theory, our most promising understanding of how the universe works at its most fundamental level. And it would do away with the anthropic arguments that have plagued string theorists in ...

[TigerLikesRooster]

Has first evidence of another universe been seen?     

By William Atkins    

Sunday, 25 November 2007 

Page 1 of 2

Astronomers announced in August 2007 the discovery of a large hole at the edge of our universe. Since then, theoretical physicist and cosmologist Laura Mersini-Houghton and colleagues have claimed it is an “unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own.”

The article entitled “Astronomers Find Enormous Hole in the Universe” discusses the August 2007 discovery of the hole. It is located at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory website.

Dr. Laura Mersini-Houghton is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill).

The hole is estimated to be almost one billion light-years across, where one light-year is about 9.5 trillion kilometers (5.9 trillion miles) and is located within the constellation Eridanus.

The Mersini-Houghton team states that the hole is another universe at the edge of our own universe. Such an explanation, if true, would be the first experimental evidence of such an exo-universe, or a universe outside of our own universe.

Several teams of astronomers have used data from the NASA Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to make examinations of this large hole. The hole first showed up in images of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, the radiation left over from the formation of the universe (what we call the big bang).

In images made by WMAP back in 2004, the volume of the hole showed up as being of a colder temperature than surrounding volumes of space because of less energy being ejected from the region.

The hole is not actually devoid of matter, only has far fewer galaxies and galactic clusters than normally found in a comparable volume of space. It is estimated that the hole has about 20 to 45% less galaxies than normal, which contributes to it being colder than other volumes of space.

Not knowing how far away the hole was located astronomers then began looking at the Sloan data to make comparisons with galaxies. They found that the hole was about 900 light-years across and about 8 billion light-years away. This hole is the largest one ever found, and is difficult to explain, with current models of the universe, as to why it exists. Standard cosmology theory says that such a large void in space is exceedingly unlikely.

Several teams have made claims at to the explanation for this hole. Some cosmologists say that large hole in space is a “topological defect,” a large knot in space.

The Mersini-Houghton team, however, says it is another universe at the edge of our own. They looked at string theory for the explanation. In string theory, 10500 universes (or string vacuums) are described, each with unique properties. They contend that the largeness of our universe is due to its vacuum counterbalancing gravity. This counter-gravity of the vacuum keeps our universe very large (rather than shrinking due to gravity)—larger than the other multitude of universes. The team says that smaller universes are positioned at the edge of our universe, and because of this interaction they are seen by us.

The team predicts that another giant void will eventually be found. The already found void is in the northern hemisphere. They contend another one will be found in the southern hemisphere.

---

August 23, 2007

Contacts:

Dave Finley, NRAO
(505) 835-7302
dfinley@nrao.edu

Mark Cassutt, Univ. of Minn.
(612) 624-8038
cassu003@umn.edu

Astronomers Find Enormous Hole in the Universe

Astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies, and gas, and the mysterious, unseen "dark matter." While earlier studies have shown holes, or voids, in the large-scale structure of the Universe, this new discovery dwarfs them all.

Hole in Universe revealed by its effect
on Cosmic Microwave Background radiation.
CREDIT: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF, NASA
Click on image for page of graphics
and detailed information

"Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size," said Lawrence Rudnick of the University of Minnesota. Rudnick, along with Shea Brown and Liliya R. Williams, also of the University of Minnesota, reported their findings in a paper accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.

Astronomers have known for years that, on large scales, the Universe has voids largely empty of matter. However, most of these voids are much smaller than the one found by Rudnick and his colleagues. In addition, the number of discovered voids decreases as the size increases.

"What we've found is not normal, based on either observational studies or on computer simulations of the large-scale evolution of the Universe," Williams said.

The astronomers drew their conclusion by studying data from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), a project that imaged the entire sky visible to the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope, part of the National Science Foundation's National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). Their careful study of the NVSS data showed a remarkable drop in the number of galaxies in a region of sky in the constellation Eridanus.

"We already knew there was something different about this spot in the sky," Rudnick said. The region had been dubbed the "WMAP Cold Spot," because it stood out in a map of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation made by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotopy Probe (WMAP) satellite, launched by NASA in 2001. The CMB, faint radio waves that are the remnant radiation from the Big Bang, is the earliest "baby picture" available of the Universe. Irregularities in the CMB show structures that existed only a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang.

The WMAP satellite measured temperature differences in the CMB that are only millionths of a degree. The cold region in Eridanus was discovered in 2004.

Astronomers wondered if the cold spot was intrinsic to the CMB, and thus indicated some structure in the very early Universe, or whether it could be caused by something more nearby through which the CMB had to pass on its way to Earth. Finding the dearth of galaxies in that region by studying NVSS data resolved that question.

"Although our surprising results need independent confirmation, the slightly colder temperature of the CMB in this region appears to be caused by a huge hole devoid of nearly all matter roughly 6-10 billion light-years from Earth," Rudnick said.

How does a lack of matter cause a cooler temperature in the Big Bang's remnant radiation as seen from Earth?

Photons of the CMB gain a small amount of energy when they pass through a region of space populated by matter. This effect is caused by the enigmatic "dark energy" that is accelerating the expansion of the Universe. This gain in photon energy makes the CMB appear slightly warmer in that direction. When the photons pass through an empty void, they lose a small amount of energy from this effect, and so the CMB radiation passing through such a region appears cooler.

The acceleration of the Universe's expansion, and thus dark energy, were discovered less than a decade ago. The physical properties of dark energy are unknown, though it is by far the most abundant form of energy in the Universe today. Learning its nature is one of the most fundamental current problems in astrophysics.

The NVSS imaged the roughly 82 percent of the sky visible from the New Mexico site of the VLA. The survey consists of 217,446 individual observations that consumed 2,940 hours of telescope time between 1993 and 1997. A set of 2,326 images was produced from the data, and these images are available via the NRAO Web site. The survey also produced a catalog of more than 1.8 million individual objects identifiable in the images. The NVSS has been cited in more than 1,200 scientific papers.

NASA's WMAP satellite, using microwave amplifiers produced by NRAO's Central Development Laboratory, has yielded a wealth of new information about the age and history of the Universe, the emergence of the first stars, and the composition of the Universe. WMAP results have been extensively cited by scientists in a wide variety of astrophysical specialties.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. This research at the University of Minnesota is supported by individual investigator grants from the NSF and NASA. .

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[Names Ash Housewares]

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[ClearCase_guy]

Damn that ozone!

[MHGinTN]

When you blow up a balloon, the ‘tube’ through which you send gas to inflate the balloon from the inside is the thing they’ve found. Not to worry, God is merely taking a breath, to continue inflating the universe, er, the balloon. Either than or Hawking has taken to eating refried beans when at Penrose’s apartment.

[doc1019]

I have extreme problems dealing with this universe; don’t tell me I may have another one to worry about.

[Nachum]

It is the “nothing”!

[xjcsa]

Can anyone explain why this would be defined as a separate universe, rather than both being part of one big universe? This seems to stretch the definition of the term.

[new cruelty]

And it would do away with the anthropic arguments that have plagued string theorists in ...

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ARGH!!! LOL.

[Graybeard58]

This seems to stretch the definition of the term.

Indeed.

[muawiyah]

Since String Theory predicts another such hole at the exact opposite end on the other side of the universe, it looks very much like the Multi-verse resembles a string of little pink pop-it beads.

[stboz]

If the other lot are double-parked, then we must write them a ticket. Boot the bounders.

[muawiyah]

If string theory is correct the fundamental "rules" change in the adjacent universe although the space where it's entangled with our own might not be terribly strange or disruptive to "ordinary matter".

Time to read some of the Pocket Universe stories. Several authors attempted to describe these situations.

[MtnClimber]

This must be another symptom of gloal warming. A few thousand carbon credits would cure this hole in the universe! Where is Al Gore when you need him?

[new cruelty]

A few thousand carbon credits would cure this hole in the universe! Where is Al Gore when you need him?

LOL. Someone call abu dhabi. From the looks of it, we're gonna need a lot more credit.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Send him to “the Void” with d*mn carbon credits of his. That way he will never return, I hope.:-)

[Our man in washington]

That hole is 9.5 quintillion miles across!

(The easy way to remember that number is to take Michael Moore’s waist size and add 3.)

[doc1019]

Amen! Oust the bounders! We were here first, I guess …

[null and void]

Just for the record, I have nothing to do with this...

[Phsstpok]

much simpler explanation. According to the “standard texts” about the big bang that I’ve read (Hawking and Forward, IIRC, as examples) there should have been as much anti-matter as matter created initially. Lot’s of work has gone into explaining why we don’t see evidence of it.

This is just the area where the matter and anti-matter of our single universe came together in symmetrical opposite “halves.” Enough of the matter/anti-matter at the edges have annihilated each other to leave this void between the two sectors. Occasionally there would still be stray matter going both ways, briefly, and spectacular events, but they’ll be hard to detect. We should be able to predict some detectable events to see if I’m right.

There, I’ve done the hard part and come up with a hypothesis , a theory and prediction. Now the rest of you get to work on testing it. I’m done here.

Oh Mr. Nobel? You gave one to the Goracle, why not me next year?

[Williams]

The cosmologists are small minded and egotistical at the same time. Why do they pretend to understand the universe when their observations constantly reveal new mysteries? And if they find evidence of “more” why do they talk in terms of “another universe”? Isn’t it obvious they have not yet discovered the bounds of the universe? Isn’t the universe everything, and they have only found some tiny fraction of everything?

[Fledermaus]

WOW! They finally found Al Gore’s brain.

[Fledermaus]

I bid 200 Quatloos on the newcomers!

[444Flyer]

I may have run into a few of these.

[Phsstpok]

This must be another symptom of gloal warming. A few thousand carbon credits would cure this hole in the universe! Where is Al Gore when you need him?

No, no, no. Didn't you hear? According to macro quantum theory and Schroedinger's really big cat we have interacted with it by observing it. This area was in a Heisenberg state of being and nothingness and when we looked at it the state vector collapsed and it all went away. This is going to start happening more and more often.

I'm not kidding. That's (kind of) what's being suggested by some.

Mankind 'shortening the universe's life'

[Shadowstrike]

Didn’t they, pardon the pun, unravel string theory?

[redpoll]

Whenever I read something like this I am reminded that God’s creation is far more intricate and fabulous than anything our limited imagination could come up with. This stuff doesn’t harm my faith at all; in fact, I’m awestruck that we can even start to comprehend something as vast and fantastic as the universe. In His image, apparently.

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[TrueKnightGalahad]

Another universe? PSHAW! This observation merely confirms the long-standing Dunkin Theorem that our universe is doughnut-shaped...and these guys finally found the hole.

[TigerLikesRooster]

You mean, the universe is a torus?

[TrueKnightGalahad]

Nahhhh...it’s a virgo!

:-)

[new cruelty]

Yep. A 'pre-owned' 96 Taurus. One owner. Low Mileage, well, in the big scheme of things.

[new cruelty]

Not anymore.

[JerseyHighlander]

self ping, going to try this one when awake...

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

String Theory predicts another such hole at the exact opposite end on the other side of the universe

Define "other side" as it pertains to the universe.

[Defiant]

Well, on the last super geeky universe thread I was on, I asked what was outside our universe, and what contained the little tiny dot that was our universe before the big bang, but all I got was derision. I then expressed concern for the turtle holding the earth on his back. That must be a big turtle who is holding up the new universe!

[Defiant]

The trouble with this kind of discovery is, it makes the universe so incomprehensible, so large and awe-some, that it makes me wonder how in the hell any creator could possibly care about any insignificant speck in it, such as our earth, much less a meaningless little gnat on that speck, such as me. I hope he has deputies all over the place whose job it is to care.

[Defiant]

That's a nice car.

In a parallel universe.

[444Flyer]

He does and He does.

[muawiyah]

You'll have to talk to the folks the writer at New Scientist interviewed for the article.

That's their words.

You have purchased a copy haven't you? Lots of good stuff in there this week.

[444Flyer]

I don’t know that I should even be on this thread. My nerd score is only 47 does that qualify?

[Buddy B]

Our Undiscovered Universe - Null Physics

Physicists sometimes wonder if a new theory might emerge that makes quarks, the Big Bang, and superstrings completely obselete.

They don't need to wonder anymore.

[new cruelty]

I imagine such a creator’s ability to care would be as great and incomprehensible as his creation.

[Larry Lucido]

Whoever said, “Invest in real estate; they aren’t making any more land,” will have to re-think that.

[new cruelty]

problem is, try getting AAA to provide service out that far.

[KoRn]

ping

[steve86]

Can anyone explain why this would be defined as a separate universe, rather than both being part of one big universe? This seems to stretch the definition of the term.

One universe has uniform physical (and logic?) laws therein (admittedly simplistic statement). Physics doesn't use the term to mean everything that there is everywhere.

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

Several authors attempted to describe these situations.

Maybe they'll find "Lazarus" in this tunnel from that Star Trek episode where the guy gets trapped in this tunnel with his anti-self madman for the rest of eternity.

Cool episode.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Laura Mersini-Houghton and colleagues have claimed it is an “unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own.”

It is quite the leap.  If she truly believes this - without any evidence, at all - the void is analogous to the one in her head.

It's especially absurd given that she seems to view the void from the sole perspective of the Visible Universe - in which case, it's pretty big.

But no one has any idea how big the Total Universe is, it's just as possible that the void is completely insignificant - as the trough between two waves is to all the water on the earth: it might look big when you're in the water but, all in all, it ain't nothing.