Physical evidence for another universe?

[Reaper]

I read an article on the New Scientist magazine, and in this article an astronomer/cosmologist by the name of Laura Mersini-Houghton claims to have found evidence for the existence of another universe.

 

I'm not sure how well known this is among you guys, but a little while ago astronomers discovered a huge void, about 1 billion light years across in the constellation of Eridanus. So far, it remains the biggest known void in the universe, with very few stars and galaxies in that region.

 

The reason I brought up the void is because this astronomer believes it to be actual evidence of another universe. Indeed, this seemingly large void even shows up on WMAP and on the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. There is some speculation that the reason for these rather large voids is because those are/were regions where this universe actually interacts with other universes, sort of like a huge tunnel or collision so to speak.

 

All of this right now seems to be very speculative at the very least, but I found it very interesting. I read the actual but there is a print about it online, though you need a subscription: http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19626311.400;jsessionid=NNBJEKMCNMKL

 

and here is a summary which you can view freely:

 

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15488/1066/1/1/

 

 

They believe that this evidence may be able to vindicate string theory, which does actually predict multiple universes from what I understand about it.

 

 

What is your take on this?

[Phi for All]

Interesting indeed. I remember reading a piece on String Theory once that speculated we might communicate with a parallel universe by figuring out how to manipulate gravity (which would be a constant through all universes) in order to thump it like some kind of drum. I wonder if something easier could be conceived using this void / back door?

[Mr Skeptic]

I thought that by definition, another universe would be completely isolated from our own.

[brainpicker]

I dunno, I mean it seems kind of strange to jump to a conclusion that a dark patch of which you know nothing about should be immediately classified another "universe." I think there is enough that we don't understand about our ownuniverse right now that we shouldn't really classify things that we see as from another "universe" or another from "dimension". I mean, its probably safe to assume that are universe is not uniformly distributed, for all we know this could just be the biggest void patch in our galaxy. Sort of like a galactic desert. Jumping to conclusions is not really following the scientific method.

[Edtharan]

I dunno, I mean it seems kind of strange to jump to a conclusion that a dark patch of which you know nothing about should be immediately classified another "universe."

Is far as I understood, it wasn't that the dark patch was another universe, but it was a location where another universe was entangled with ours.

[Shadow]

Still, you've got the fact that there are stars/galaxies there, although few in numbers. But they're there, and there's nothing wrong with them. I'm jumping to conclusions here, but I would think a connection to another universe, especially one that had completely different physical laws etc., would be a little bit more "stormy". And I certainly wouldn't expect to have stars, galaxies, or any kind of stable matter in the midst of such a gateway...

[Edtharan]

Still, you've got the fact that there are stars/galaxies there, although few in numbers. But they're there, and there's nothing wrong with them. I'm jumping to conclusions here, but I would think a connection to another universe, especially one that had completely different physical laws etc., would be a little bit more "stormy". And I certainly wouldn't expect to have stars, galaxies, or any kind of stable matter in the midst of such a gateway...

Again, I didn't have a full understanding of what was proposed, but AFAIK:

 

The result of this "entanglement" meant that the resulting area of our universe (and presumably in the other universe too) was made "colder" (have less energy) so less matter "condensed" out (although some obviously did).

[antimatter]

It's an interesting thought, but isn't a void in space, just sort of a void...

as in there is nothing on the other side?

[Edtharan]

It's an interesting thought, but isn't a void in space, just sort of a void...

as in there is nothing on the other side?

The void in question (according to the article) is the aftermath of the interaction, not actually the other universe. There is nothing in the area because the interaction cause matter and energy to vacate the area.

[Realitycheck]

Maybe this was an area where much annihilation occurred. I can see where another universe's existence could be attributed to its own set of matter or even antimatter, it's own oppositely charged BB per se, could even interact with ours in such a manner if it was close enough, but 1 billion LY across is not that big within the scheme of 1 universe and I think this void was probably caused by another anomaly.

[antimatter]

Maybe this was an area where much annihilation occurred. I can see where another universe's existence could be attributed to its own set of matter or even antimatter, it's own oppositely charged BB per se, could even interact with ours in such a manner if it was close enough, but 1 billion LY across is not that big within the scheme of 1 universe and I think this void was probably caused by another anomaly.

 

I was thinking that too, but we would notice the gamma rays if there was that much annihilation.

[Riogho]

Depends on when it's happened. Perhaps it happened a crapload of tme ago and these few galaxies and stars migrated into the area.

 

*shrugs*

 

All speculatory though.