The Multiverse for non-scientists (Synopsis) [Starts With A Bang]

“Go, then. There are other worlds than these.” -Stephen King

We think of the Universe as all there ever is, was or will be. But, in fact, there’s a limit to the most distant galaxies, stars, matter and radiation we can see. The hot Big Bang occurred a finite amount of time ago, and hence the amount of the Universe accessible to us through any observational means is necessarily limited.

Artist’s logarithmic scale conception of the observable universe. Image credit: Wikipedia user Pablo Carlos Budassi.

What lies beyond that? According to our best explanations and theories, there’s more Universe. But beyond that, the combination of cosmic inflation and what we know about quantum field theory indicates that there are multitudes of individual pockets that contain entirely disconnected Universes, each beginning with their own Big Bang, some of which may even have different fundamental laws and constants from our own.

Where the red Xs are, inflation comes to an end and we get a Big Bang, but there are more regions where inflation continues onwards (no X) than where it ends, and hence we get ongoing, unrelated Big Bangs. Image credit: E. Siegel.

Go find out what the Multiverse is, why we think it exists, and what it does and doesn’t do over on Forbes today!

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/29zzmrF

“Go, then. There are other worlds than these.” -Stephen King

We think of the Universe as all there ever is, was or will be. But, in fact, there’s a limit to the most distant galaxies, stars, matter and radiation we can see. The hot Big Bang occurred a finite amount of time ago, and hence the amount of the Universe accessible to us through any observational means is necessarily limited.

Artist’s logarithmic scale conception of the observable universe. Image credit: Wikipedia user Pablo Carlos Budassi.

What lies beyond that? According to our best explanations and theories, there’s more Universe. But beyond that, the combination of cosmic inflation and what we know about quantum field theory indicates that there are multitudes of individual pockets that contain entirely disconnected Universes, each beginning with their own Big Bang, some of which may even have different fundamental laws and constants from our own.

Where the red Xs are, inflation comes to an end and we get a Big Bang, but there are more regions where inflation continues onwards (no X) than where it ends, and hence we get ongoing, unrelated Big Bangs. Image credit: E. Siegel.

Go find out what the Multiverse is, why we think it exists, and what it does and doesn’t do over on Forbes today!

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/29zzmrF