Our universe is expanding by swallowing baby parallel universes: Study
What's the story
A recent study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics has proposed a fascinating theory.
As per researchers, our universe's expansion might be because it consumed "baby" parallel universes.
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Tokyo Institute of Technology believe this process could explain the accelerated expansion caused by the enigmatic dark energy.
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'Expansion might have a simple intuitive explanation'
Jan Ambjørn, a physicist at the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute, stated, "The accelerated expansion of our universe might have a simple intuitive explanation, the merging with so-called baby universes." He suggested that this might fit the data better than the Standard Cosmological Model.
Explanation
An alternative explanation for the universe's expansion
This study presents an alternative explanation for the rapid expansion our universe experienced in its first few milliseconds after the Big Bang.
The prevailing theory attributes this swift expansion to a hypothetical field called the "inflaton."
However, the new study suggests that our universe, then a "baby" itself, could have been absorbed by another, older universe, causing immediate rapid growth without the need for "inflaton."
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Our universe was likely absorbed in another 'parent' universe
The researchers wrote, "The fact that the Universe has expanded...in a very short time, invites the suggestion that this expansion was caused by a collision with a larger universe...that is, it was really our Universe which was absorbed in another 'parent' universe."
Study
The new study is based on a mathematical exercise
While this groundbreaking theory is primarily based on mathematical exercise, it underscores how much we still have to learn about our cosmos and how even some leading hypotheses remain unproven.
The researchers admit they don't have detailed observations or insight into the mechanics of the universe-consuming-universe process.
Nonetheless, their findings offer an intriguing alternative to current theories and serve as a reminder of the vast unknowns that still exist in our understanding of the universe's expansion.