From the universe that would have the shape of a three-dimensional donut to the “higher dimension”, the most original studies on Space. Among the hypotheses on the origin, the shape or the age of the cosmos, theories on theories chase each other, some of which are very particular.
For years, scientists have been investigating the mysteries of the universe trying to understand how it originated, what shape it could have, how it is evolving. The theories are varied and some are also very original. Recently a team of scientists has discovered how old the Cosmos is, while a group of astrophysicists has hypothesized that it could have the shape of a kind of three-dimensional donut. Another hypothesis is that it has a large artificial intelligence. Then there are studies that have imagined a universe floating in a higher dimensional space until the “big splat” that describes the collision of membranes that would give rise to a completely new universe. Here are 10 strange theories about Space.
The braneworld: the universe floating inside a higher dimensional space
The universe is believed to be three-dimensional, but some theories suggest that there is an additional spatial dimension, which we cannot perceive, that goes in another perpendicular direction. This higher dimensional space is referred to as “the mass,” while our universe is a three-dimensional membrane floating within the mass. The image of the membrane world solves several physics problems. For example, theoretical physicists Lisa Randall, of Harvard University, and Raman Sundrum, of the University of Maryland, have proposed a version of the membrane world that explains an asymmetry in subatomic forces by suggesting the existence of other branes parallel to our own. The Randall-Sundrum model could be used to measure gravitational waves emitted by black holes connecting one brane to the other.
The big splat, drifting galaxies that will give rise to a new universe
It is hypothesized that in the distant future galaxies will drift so far apart that light from one will fail to reach the other. The universe will then become empty, dark and cold. It would seem the end of everything, but according to one theory, it will be instead the beginning of another cosmos in a cycle that repeats itself to infinity. From the collision of a branch with another, according to cosmologists Neil Turok and Paul Steinhardt, would generate enough energy to create a completely new universe. They call it the “ekpyrotic theory,” although physicist Michio Kaku has more evocatively dubbed it the “Big Splat.”
The universe is shaped like a three-dimensional doughnut
To explain the universe, physicists use Einstein’s general relativity and for years wondered whether the cosmos was flat, closed or open. A team of astrophysicists led by Thomas Buchert, of the University of Lyon, has instead assumed a different solution: it would have the shape of a huge three-dimensional doughnut. By examining the light of the early universe, scientists would have deduced that the cosmos can be closed on itself in all three dimensions as if it were a kind of donut.
How old is the universe
Another difficult problem to solve concerns the age of the cosmos. Scientists debate differences that may seem tiny, but actually consist of several hundred million years. Researchers at the Atacama Cosmology Telescope have finally identified the exact years of the universe: 13.77 billion. The estimate would have resulted from the conclusions reported by the Planck mission between 2009 and 2013 and the precise observations of ACT and Planck would represent the culmination of millennia of observations of Space.
The universe as a huge artificial intelligence
A theory recognized by most of the international community of theoretical physicists is the simulation theory that there is a unique pattern underlying all the laws of physics. Hence the hypothesis that the universe could be an immense neural network, similar to a particular form of Artificial Intelligence and that would work more or less like the human brain.
Theories about the cosmos are diverse and scientists would also have found the answer to the question of what is and how big is the universe.
Stefania Bernardini