‘Multiverse’ theory suggested by microwave background

The idea that other universes – as well as our own – lie within “bubbles” of space and time has received a boost. Studies of the low-temperature glow left from the Big Bang suggest that several of these “bubble universes” may have left marks on our own.

This “multiverse” idea is popular in modern physics, but experimental tests have been hard to come by.


Dr Peiris’ team first proposed these disc-shaped signatures in the CMB in a paper published in Physical Review Letters, and the new work fleshes out the idea, putting numbers to how many bubble universes we may be able to see now. Crucially, they used a computer program that looked for these discs automatically – reducing the chance that one of the collaborators would see the expected shape in the data when it was not in fact there.

The program found four particular areas that look likely to be signatures of the bubble universes – where the bubbles were 10 times more likely than the standard theory to explain the variations that the team saw in the CMB. However, Dr Peiris stressed that the four regions were “not at a high statistical significance” – that more data would be needed to be assured of the existence of the “multiverse”.

Edited from ‘Multiverse’ theory suggested by microwave background.

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One Response to ‘Multiverse’ theory suggested by microwave background

  1. Udaybhanu Chitrakar says:

    If total energy of the universe is zero, as claimed by some scientists, then based on this data it can be shown that multiverse theory is probably not true. This is because total energy being zero, its equivalent mass will also be zero due to mass-energy equivalence. Scientists have shown that anything having mass will always occupy some space. So anything that fails to occupy any space for some reason or other cannot have any mass. Our universe perhaps fails to occupy any space, and that is why its mass is zero. If our universe is the sole universe, and if there is nothing outside it, no space, no time and no matter, then in that case it will not occupy any space, because there will be no space for it to occupy. But if multiverse theory is true, then our universe will definitely occupy some space within the multiverse, and thus in that case its mass cannot be zero. But as this mass is zero, therefore multiverse theory cannot be true.

    Here it may be argued that radiation occupies space but its mass is zero. So here is an example that something occupying space can still be without mass. So our universe can also be without mass even if it occupies some space within the multiverse. In reply we will say that the example cited here is a bad example, because our universe is not any kind of radiation. So if it is without mass, then that can only be due to its not occupying any space, and not due to its being some sort of radiation.

    However, if total energy of the universe cannot be taken to be zero, then in that case multiverse theory may be true, but we cannot say whether it will be necessarily true.

    Recently I have read in a blog post that according to some quantum theorists space cannot exist at the most fundamental level. If what these theorists are saying is indeed correct, then this gives us another strong reason to assert that multiverse theory must be false. This is because if this theory is true, then there will be pre-existing space at the fundamental level within which all the universe of the multiverse will be placed.

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