Humans, since the dawn of time, have always been fascinated with the skies above and wondered what lies beyond our universe. Could it be that our universe is just a drop in the ocean? The probability that alternate realities exist has been a common theme in pop culture, especially science-fiction-from Netflix's Dark to MCU's Avengers franchise. So, is there any scientific truth to this concept? The short answer is, maybe.
So what exactly is the multiverse? The short explanation is that hypothetically, our universe is part of a larger structure that extends beyond our observations. This structure is part of a spacetime that may include other universes which may or may not be similar to ours.
 Parallel Universe Illustration/ Foto: Getty Images |
The concept of multiverse has been a controversial topic that stimulates debates among scientists. There's no way we can observe the multiverse, since it goes way beyond the limits of our own universe. Since we can't observe it and measure it, it's understandable that many are skeptics towards this concept. But some scientists believe that the existence of a multiverse is inevitable, based on a theory called cosmic inflation.
Cosmic inflation was first proposed by physicist and cosmologist Alan Guth, along with his colleague Andre Lindei in 1979. Many have studied what happens after the Big Bang, but we only know so little about what happens before. The inflation theory describes a hypothetical event before the Big Bang occurs, where for a short period of time the universe rapidly expands or "inflating". Inflation happens so fast that in a fraction of a second a tiny speck of space is blown to space. At the end of inflation, the energy that drove the expansion ignites a hot fireball of particles and radiation. This is what happened during the big bang.
It is believed that inflation of our universe ended around 14 billion years ago. But inflation does not end everywhere at the same time. When it appears that inflation ends in our universe, it may still be happening elsewhere, creating other big bangs somewhere beyond what we can observe. In this scenario, eternal inflation may give birth to other universes, each with their own laws of physics, its own particles and its own forces.
According to Guth, the multiverse could be the answer to several mysteries that cannot be explained by the laws of physics until today. For example, there has to be enough gravity to hold galaxies together, and the only matter that we see couldn't provide this gigantic force of gravity. He assumed that there must be other matter present to create a strong gravitational field that holds all the matter in our universe together.
 Multiverse Illustration/ Foto: Getty Images |
Other scientists, like Helling Deng from Arizona State University, also believe that the multiverse is the answer to why our universe has the properties it does, particularly properties that are still a mystery to fundamental physics like dark matter. Our universe holds special characteristics called cosmology constants or constants of nature that made it possible for the emergence of life. In a way, the multiverse gives answers to why the constants of nature are the way they were. If there was only one universe, it likely shouldn't have life in it. But in a multiverse, there are enough probabilities for life to emerge in at least one universe.
To conclude, there's no physical evidence that can prove the existence of the multiverse. But inflation theory proposed otherwise. Multiverse is not a conclusion, rather a theory of a hypothetical event, which some believed to be inevitable. So, could there be another us in some alternate universe we haven't discovered? There's no way to tell.
(ANL/DIR)