Physicists try to prove the existence of parallel universes
For the first time you try to prove with empirical observations, the existence of one type of parallel universes predicted by modern physics. For some time scientists take seriously the possibility that our universe is just one of many possible realities. In fact, most modern theories of physics predict that there could be infinite possible universes, coexisting in what is called the multiverse.
Cosmologist Max Tegmark a classification of the different levels that could be grouped in different types of parallel universes. At Level II of this taxonomy are called “bubble universes” Appearing as a result of one model to explain the origin and evolution of our universe, the chaotic inflation.
According to this model our universe would be contained within a bubble, isolated from other bubbles that in turn contain universes. In each of these separate universes and dimensions of fundamental physical constants could be different, but the equations of physics should be the same.
The other parallel universes are inaccessible from ours:
Inflationary theory also predicts the impossibility of travel between two of these “bubble universes”, as the space between them would be found still in inflation, expanding faster than light can travel through it, so that any radiation that could prove their existence to us.
However, physicists have wondered what would happen if two such bubbles collide, so that somewhere among them there were no inflationary phase space.
Finding evidence of the existence of other universes:
So far nobody has been able to find a feasible way to detect signs of collisions between bubble universes, which would constitute a proof of its existence.
But this has changed this summer with the publication of an article in the journal Physical Review, where he first outlined in a way that it would be possible to detect this type of collisions through the cosmic microwave background. Physicists responsible for this article believe that these collisions would have left a lasting disc-shaped feature in this radiation is a relic from the times of Big Bang.
Make and confirm the detection of these traces will not be, in practice, an easy task, because not only could be found anywhere in the sky, which makes the scan area is huge, but would also have to be able to distinguish between the trace of a collision of this type and a random phenomenon due to natural or cosmic noise. The necessary precision of the instruments and the required capacity of the process used to make such measurements make it seems impossible today to conduct a study of its kind.
A practical way to detect collisions with “bubble universes”:
A British team of cosmologists, based on the Imperial College of London English and two other institutions devoted to cosmology and theoretical physics, has addressed this problem.
The team conducted simulations of how the sky would look with and without cosmic collisions between bubble universes, and has developed an innovative algorithm to determine which of the two simulations is best for the enormous amount of data CMB provided by the probe Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy (WMAP) spacecraft.
Thanks to this algorithm have been able to put an upper limit to the number of possible collisions with bubble universes that may be observed in the current map of the cosmic microwave background. That is, for now all we can say is that there should be less than a certain number of collisions observed.
Although the data is very impressive, the project leaders remind us that the verification of the existence of a single collision and would in itself an event of scientific and philosophical implications impressive: this would be the proof of the existence of infinite universes similar to ours.
The thinking of man could be an obstacle:
One of the dilemmas facing physicists is the apparent willingness of the human brain to find patterns where none exist.
In a phenomenon known to psychologists, and the historian and scientist Michael Shermer calls “patternicity” the human mind has a tendency to create patterns, ie, to find meaning and connections between data that actually lack such.
However, the algorithm developed by this team is much more difficult to trick the human mind as it imposes strict rules to determine whether data conform to a defined pattern or, on the contrary, the observed pattern is due to random.
Dr Daniel Mortlock, one of the authors of the article said: “To our mind is very easy to interpret an interesting pattern in a set of random data, such as the famous face on Mars, which, when observed more closely it became just a normal mountain. So we have been very careful in assessing how likely it was that found traces of possible collisions could have arisen by chance”.
We still have to wait to confirm the existence of parallel universes:
The authors stress that these early results are not conclusive enough to rule out the existence of the multiverse, or to prove definitively the existence of collisions between bubble universes. However, the WMAP data are not the final word: many new data on the cosmic microwave background are being provided today by the ESA Planck satellite, and could help obtain a definitive answer soon.
For many scientists and science fiction fans the perspective of this study is exciting. And, even unethical from the point of view of scientific skepticism, we look forward to the answer is yes, we live in a multiverse of infinite possibilities.
