Our universe is increasing at an ever-accelerating fee — a phenomenon that every one theories of cosmology agree upon however none can totally clarify. Now, a brand new theoretical examine gives an intriguing resolution: Maybe our universe is increasing as a result of it retains colliding with and absorbing “child” parallel universes.
Research of the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow of the Massive Bang, have revealed that our universe is experiencing accelerated expansion. For this statement to suit with the principle idea of cosmic evolution — referred to as the Customary Cosmological Mannequin — physicists assume that the universe is stuffed with an enigmatic substance dubbed darkish vitality that drives the growth.
However this elusive type of vitality doesn’t present itself in every other means, main many astrophysicists to query its existence and discover the opportunity of another trigger for the universe’s growth.
Associated: The growth of the universe may very well be a mirage, new theoretical examine suggests
In a brand new examine printed Dec. 12, 2023 within the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, scientists proposed the concept the growth of the universe could also be pushed as a substitute by consistently merging with different universes.
“The principle discovering of our work is that the accelerated growth of our universe, attributable to the mysterious darkish vitality, may need a easy intuitive clarification, the merging with so-called child universes, and {that a} mannequin for this may match the info higher than the usual cosmological mannequin,” lead examine writer Jan Ambjørn, a physicist on the Copenhagen College advised LiveScience in an e mail.
Swallowing cosmic ‘infants’
Whereas the thought of a number of universes interacting with ours is not new, this examine develops a mathematical mannequin to discover the hypothetical impression of this on the evolution of our universe. The researchers’ calculations confirmed that merging with different universes ought to enhance the quantity of our universe, which may very well be perceived by our devices as an growth of the universe.
The scientists additionally computed the speed of growth of the universe utilizing their idea, and their calculations extra intently match with observations of the universe than the normal Customary Cosmological Mannequin, the researchers stated.
Learn extra: After 2 years in space, the James Webb telescope has broken cosmology. Can it be fixed?
The authors’ idea additionally addresses the issue of cosmological inflation — the mysterious super-rapid growth that occurred within the early moments of the universe.
Physicists have beforehand proposed that this growth was attributable to “the inflaton” — a hypothetical subject that drove ultra-rapid growth within the first milliseconds after the Massive Bang. However within the new examine, the authors counsel this super-rapid early growth might have been attributable to our younger universe being absorbed by a bigger universe.
“The truth that the Universe has expanded … in a really quick time, invitations the suggestion that this growth was attributable to a collision with a bigger universe, [that is] it was actually our Universe which was absorbed in one other ‘mum or dad’ universe,” the researchers wrote of their paper. “Since we’ve got presently no detailed description of the absorption course of, it’s troublesome to evaluate if such a state of affairs might happen in a means that will truly remedy the issues inflation was designed to resolve, however one fascinating facet of such a state of affairs is that there isn’t any want for an inflaton subject.”
The scientists instructed that, after being absorbed, our newly enlarged universe then continued to collide with different “child universes” and incorporate them as effectively.
Though the authors’ idea permits us to resolve some necessary issues of recent cosmology, solely observational knowledge can validate their speculation. Many experiments are at the moment being carried out to review the properties of the microwave background, so scientists could possibly reply these basic questions within the close to future.
“Our late time growth of the Universe is totally different from the usual cosmological predictions and we consider that observations from the Euclid telescope and the James Webb telescope will settle which mannequin is finest describing the current time growth of our Universe,” Yoshiyuki Watabiki, a physicist at the Tokyo Institute of Know-how, advised Stay Science.
