A HOLE in the UNIVERSE

[joshuam168]

I just read in science illustrated that scientists have found a "hole" in the universe. To be more specific its a patch of the universe that has nothing in it, the WMAP satellite found a large patch that is cold and supposedly has no galaxies in it. It is about 1 billion light years in diameter. If their calculations are correct than it would upset the current big bang theory. One theory is that early on in the universes life there was a quantam fluctuation that left an "imprint" in the structure of the universe, which we would see as that void. Another theory is that the universe is not homogenous but is fractal. And finally the third theory set forth in the article is that the void is an imprint of another universe on ours, that the foreign universe pushed on one region of our universe which resulted in less matter and universe in that area. I just thought that this was an interesting article.

[Martin]

...a patch of the universe that has nothing in it, ... supposedly has no galaxies in it. It is about 1 billion light years in diameter. ...

Here is something from one year ago that could be about that---25 August 2007, Science Daily:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070823164846.htm

 

This might be what you read about: the alleged big void explanation of the cold spot. It is something to take with a grain of salt. Here is the April 2007 scientific paper reporting their idea of a big void.

 

http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0908

This link gives the later papers that cited this one

 

http://arxiv.org/cits/0704.0908

 

Here is an April 2008 paper that took part in the debunking

http://arxiv.org/abs/0804.2904

 

Actually several voids have been found, of various sizes, but they are not empty, they have galaxies in them.

they just appear to have a lower density of galaxies, fewer per unit volume

 

The cold spot in the CMB is certainly real, but it has various proposed explanations, not only the big void idea.

 

I remember a year ago there was a lot of news about the alleged discovery. The void was estimated to be about the size you say. It was not empty, had galaxies but fewer. Later that idea got kind of debunked. For a while there was some wild speculation about what this Big Hole could mean. But then a few months ago it died down. What you read could have been about that. Look at the date on the news story and see how old it is.

Edited August 13, 2008 by Martin

[joshuam168]

It is from science illustrated's july august 2008 they didnt say when the "hole" was discovered so maybe its a newly found one.

[north]

I just read in science illustrated that scientists have found a "hole" in the universe. To be more specific its a patch of the universe that has nothing in it, the WMAP satellite found a large patch that is cold and supposedly has no galaxies in it. It is about 1 billion light years in diameter. If their calculations are correct than it would upset the current big bang theory. One theory is that early on in the universes life there was a quantam fluctuation that left an "imprint" in the structure of the universe, which we would see as that void. Another theory is that the universe is not homogenous but is fractal. And finally the third theory set forth in the article is that the void is an imprint of another universe on ours, that the foreign universe pushed on one region of our universe which resulted in less matter and universe in that area. I just thought that this was an interesting article.

 

or the scientists are either wrong or misinterpreted the info

[iNow]

or the scientists are either wrong or misinterpreted the info

 

How is that response satisfying to absolutely anyone on this planet? I just don't get it.

 

 

 

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070827.html

 

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050925.html

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Void_%28astronomy%29

[Martin]

 

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070827.html

 

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050925.html

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Void_%28astronomy%29

 

iNow, that list of voids (the third link) was new information for me. thanks!

the second link shows the large cold spot in the CMB very clearly.

you assembled a bunch of graphic information that anybody can learn from and help get to some conclusion about the thread issue

===================

 

everybody can draw their own conclusions. My understanding is that when they simulate structure formation they find that filaments of various sizes and voids of various sizes just form naturally as gravity gradually brings the dispersed matter together. So voids are natural occurrences and one should keep from reading too much in.

 

A void doesn't have to be imagined as a doorway, it can just be a region in our universe of lower-than-average density. less gas, dust, fewer galaxies.

 

There will be galaxies and stuff on the other side of a typical void---our universe surrounds the void, so light from galaxies on the other side will pass thru, on its way to us. The light won't get the usual boost by the ISW effect that it gets passing thru clusters of galaxies. So when it reaches us the light will not be quite as energetic as light which came to us thru a region with plentiful matter. Folks who want to can read up about the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect (ISW). So its conceivable that the large cold spot is caused by the CMB light having come thru a large void.

 

It's possible. there have been other explanations offered. It is not clear that there actually is a large void that could explain the cold spot. some conflicting evidence. I don't know enough to make up my mind about this.

 

And as far as i know there is no definite consensus about it among the pros. whatever you find out about it would be interesting

[Arch2008]

http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19526123.900-cosmologists-spot-a-knot-in-spacetime.html

“The team then noticed that in 1989 Turok had predicted that a space-time texture would produce a cold spot of exactly this size, and so they joined Turok to create computer models to show how the texture could indeed create such a cold spot as it unravels.”

 

I think that the paper in Martin’s third link explains this anomaly. If the ESA satellite can find more of the smaller voids then that should prove that Turok’s prediction explains these cold spots correctly as textures. That would make them a further proof of the Big Bang model, although perhaps a problem for some inflation models.