Wednesday, 8 July 2009

Geometry of the Universe

Geometry of the Universe:
Can the Universe be finite in size? If so, what is ``outside'' the Universe? The answer to both these
questions involves a discussion of the intrinsic geometry of the Universe.
There are basically three possible shapes to the Universe; a flat Universe (Euclidean or zero curvature), a
spherical or closed Universe (positive curvature) or a hyperbolic or open Universe (negative curvature).
Note that this curvature is similar to spacetime curvature due to stellar masses except that the entire mass
of the Universe determines the curvature. So a high mass Universe has positive curvature, a low mass
Universe has negative curvature.

parallel lines
l never meeting (flat or Euclidean)
l must cross (spherical)
l always divergent (hyperbolic)
Standard cosmological observations do not say anything about how those volumes fit together to give the
universe its overall shape--its topology. The three plausible cosmic geometries are consistent with many
different topologies. For example, relativity would describe both a torus (a doughnutlike shape) and a
plane with the same equations, even though the torus is finite and the plane is infinite. Determining the
topology requires some physical understanding beyond relativity.

more than once--creating multiple images of each galaxy. A mirror box evokes a finite cosmos that looks
endless. The box contains only three balls, yet the mirrors that line its walls produce an infinite number of
images. Of course, in the real universe there is no boundary from which light can reflect. Instead a
multiplicity of images could arise as light rays wrap around the universe over and over again. From the
pattern of repeated images, one could deduce the universe's true size and shape.

Topology shows that a flat piece of spacetime can be folded into a torus when the edges touch. In a
similar manner, a flat strip of paper can be twisted to form a Moebius Strip.

The 3D version of a moebius strip is a Klein Bottle, where spacetime is distorted so there is no inside or
outside, only one surface.

The usual assumption is that the universe is, like a plane, "simply connected," which means there is only
one direct path for light to travel from a source to an observer. A simply connected Euclidean or
hyperbolic universe would indeed be infinite. But the universe might instead be "multiply connected,"
like a torus, in which case there are many different such paths. An observer would see multiple images of
each galaxy and could easily misinterpret them as distinct galaxies in an endless space, much as a visitor
to a mirrored room has the illusion of seeing a huge crowd.

One possible finite geometry is donutspace or more properly known as the Euclidean 2-torus, is a flat
square whose opposite sides are connected. Anything crossing one edge reenters from the opposite edge
(like a video game see 1 above). Although this surface cannot exist within our three-dimensional space, a
distorted version can be built by taping together top and bottom (see 2 above) and scrunching the
resulting cylinder into a ring (see 3 above). For observers in the pictured red galaxy, space seems infinite
because their line of sight never ends (below). Light from the yellow galaxy can reach them along several
different paths, so they see more than one image of it. A Euclidean 3-torus is built from a cube rather than
a square.

A finite hyperbolic space is formed by an octagon whose opposite sides are connected, so that anything
crossing one edge reenters from the opposite edge (top left). Topologically, the octagonal space is
equivalent to a two-holed pretzel (top right). Observers who lived on the surface would see an infinite
octagonal grid of galaxies. Such a grid can be drawn only on a hyperbolic manifold--a strange floppy
surface where every point has the geometry of a saddle (bottom).

Its important to remember that the above images are 2D shadows of 4D space, it is impossible to draw the
geometry of the Universe on a piece of paper (although we can come close with a hypercube), it can only
be described by mathematics. All possible Universes are finite since there is only a finite age and,
therefore, a limiting horizon. The geometry may be flat or open, and therefore infinite in possible size (it
continues to grow forever), but the amount of mass and time in our Universe is finite.

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