Posted on 02/18/2024 10:39:57 AM PST by Red Badger
The universe is expanding faster and faster, but not all scientists agree that dark energy is the cause. Perhaps, instead, our universe keeps colliding with and absorbing smaller 'baby universes,' a new theoretical study suggests.
Our universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating rate — a phenomenon that all theories of cosmology agree upon but none can fully explain. Now, a new theoretical study offers an intriguing solution: Perhaps our universe is expanding because it keeps colliding with and absorbing "baby" parallel universes.
Studies of the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow of the Big Bang, have revealed that our universe is experiencing accelerated expansion. For this observation to fit with the main theory of cosmic evolution — called the Standard Cosmological Model — physicists assume that the universe is filled with an enigmatic substance dubbed dark energy that drives the expansion.
But this elusive form of energy does not manifest itself in any other way, leading many astrophysicists to question its existence and explore the possibility of an alternative cause for the universe's expansion.
In a new study published Dec. 12, 2023 in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, scientists proposed the idea that the expansion of the universe may be driven instead by constantly merging with other universes.
"The main finding of our work is that the accelerated expansion of our universe, caused by the mysterious dark energy, might have a simple intuitive explanation, the merging with so-called baby universes, and that a model for this might fit the data better than the standard cosmological model," lead study author Jan Ambjørn, a physicist at the Copenhagen University told LiveScience in an email.
Swallowing cosmic 'babies' While the idea of multiple universes interacting with ours isn't new, this study develops a mathematical model to explore the hypothetical impact of this on the evolution of our universe. The researchers' calculations showed that merging with other universes should increase the volume of our universe, which could be perceived by our instruments as an expansion of the universe.
The scientists also computed the rate of expansion of the universe using their theory, and their calculations more closely fit with observations of the universe than the traditional Standard Cosmological Model, the researchers said.
The authors' theory also addresses the problem of cosmological inflation — the mysterious super-rapid expansion that occurred in the early moments of the universe.
Physicists have previously proposed that this expansion was caused by "the inflaton" — a hypothetical field that drove ultra-rapid expansion in the first milliseconds after the Big Bang. But in the new study, the authors suggest this super-rapid early expansion could have been caused by our young universe being absorbed by a larger universe.
"The fact that the Universe has expanded … in a very short time, invites the suggestion that this expansion was caused by a collision with a larger universe, [that is] it was really our Universe which was absorbed in another 'parent' universe," the researchers wrote in their paper. "Since we have presently no detailed description of the absorption process, it is difficult to judge if such a scenario could take place in a way that would actually solve the problems inflation was designed to solve, but one interesting aspect of such a scenario is that there is no need for an inflaton field."
The scientists suggested that, after being absorbed, our newly enlarged universe then continued to collide with other “baby universes” and incorporate them as well.
Although the authors' theory enables us to solve some important problems of modern cosmology, only observational data can validate their hypothesis. Many experiments are currently being carried out to study the properties of the microwave background, so scientists may be able to answer these fundamental questions in the near future.
"Our late time expansion of the Universe is different from the standard cosmological predictions and we believe that observations from the Euclid telescope and the James Webb telescope will settle which model is best describing the present time expansion of our Universe," Yoshiyuki Watabiki, a physicist at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, told Live Science.
Lol—don’t know if you remember the Ringer rules for debating....
No mercy—go straight for the jugular...
Lol.
In the seventh grade, I asked the teacher what was on the other side that the edge of the universe was expanding into. She got mad.
In college chemistry, someone asked the professor and he got mad.
No one has yet explained that to me.
There isn’t “edge of the universe.” The universe is infinite but expanding. Imagine a loaf of raisin bread of infinite size, but where the space between the raisins is getting ever larger.
Your teachers were mad because you didn’t understand the basics.
Exactly. Dark matter and dark energy are only theories that even the best physics people have yet to explain what they currently don't know for fact. So how did that "string" theory work out? Last I knew, they still can't explain gravity, but they have some theories.......
“what was on the other side that the edge of the universe was expanding into”
Great question.
The scientists have been “faking it” from day one.
Imho they do not even know the right questions to ask so they have no chance of getting the correct answers.
They layer assumption on assumption until they have a huge pile of garbage—that collapses each time our observation ability improves.
“I don’t know” is the right answer.
They really need to try it on for size.
So far as I can tell, BBT has little real physics content. And those guys are not really like actual math and science types.
how do they know it has always expanded? could it not be pulsating out and then, like a quivering water droplet?
Dark energy and dark matter are literally dark in that they emit and reflect no radiation, although in another sense they are transparent. They do affect radiation though - dark matter’s gravity bends light and other radiation and dark energy’s acceleration darkens light through the Doppler effect.
“I have a theory that theories are increasing, as the gravitational pull of grant money spawns more and more theories. This is, of course, theoretical....”
Precisely. Well done!
Dark matter has mass so it has gravity, which is the only property by which we are able to detect it. It does not carry any strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, or electromagnetic force, which is why it is dark. Hypothetically.
The use of hallucinogens in science is reaching major proportions...
“Flat Earthers” by any other name.........
Tokyo
Institute of
Technology!
TIT
TIT
TIT ….. get some tit at TIT!
“There isn’t “edge of the universe.” The universe is infinite but expanding. Imagine a loaf of raisin bread of infinite size, but where the space between the raisins is getting ever larger.”
I have heard that one too. The loaf of bread, its edges, still has to have somewhere to expand, first against the sides of the pan and then up. You can’t figure that out?
“The loaf of bread, its edges, still has to have somewhere to expand, first against the sides of the pan and then up. You can’t figure that out?”
I can because I passed grade 9 math.
Do you think that the list of numbers ends somewhere if you just count high enough?
The infinite exists.
“theoretical study suggests”
theoretical $tudy $ugge$t$ more $tudy needed
There, fixed it
“The universe is expanding faster and faster,,,,”
Fed.gov is expanding faster and faster.....there. Fixed it
What do Samantha Carter and Merideth Rodney McKay have to say about this?
“Do you think that the list of numbers ends somewhere if you just count high enough?
The infinite exists.”
Well, yes, but we were talking about an expanding universe.
What is your point?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.