- cross-posted to:
- space
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- cross-posted to:
- space
- [email protected]
A spherical structure nearly one billion light-years wide has been spotted in the nearby Universe, dating all the way back to the Big Bang
A spherical structure nearly one billion light-years wide has been spotted in the nearby Universe, dating all the way back to the Big Bang
We don’t know that. Here is a depiction of infinite inflation, the most popular version of the standard model, spawning pocket universes with boundaries.
https://bigthink.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/https___specials-images.forbesimg.com_imageserve_5fa0a88e21fec1f57da23ea2_When-a-black-hole-is-formed-one-idea-is-that-it-gives-birth-to-a-new-baby-Universe-_960x0.jpg?lb=960,540
Well no, we don’t know that. But that’s the current scientific consensus. Wouldn’t make much sense to lay out every theory currently not disproven to answer a simple question though.
Edit: and to respond to your pocket universe theory, if our universe is infinite, as current scientific consensus indicates, there are no boundaries. That doesn’t mean there can’t be other universes though. Our universe being infinite and expanding without boundaries doesn’t argue other universes can’t exist. They just would take place outside our spacetime and we’d never be able to interact with or see them, and therefore can’t prove or disprove their existence.
It’s not a consensus at all. The reason why the FLRW model does not include modelling boundaries is because it is very hard to model boundaries, not because they are unlikely.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape_of_the_universe
Assuming a finite universe, the universe can either have an edge or no edge. Many finite mathematical spaces, e.g., a disc, have an edge or boundary. Spaces that have an edge are difficult to treat, both conceptually and mathematically. Namely, it is very difficult to state what would happen at the edge of such a universe. For this reason, spaces that have an edge are typically excluded from consideration.
It’s not my “pocket universe theory”. It is the theory of Infinite Inflation, the most popular version of the standard model.
Those “pocket universes” are not really other universes. They are physically connected to our universe. They are called pocket universes because they are too far away to communicated with. The depiction I showed you is not an abstraction, it is what is believed to be the actual geometric shape.