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Different Routes to Multiverses and an Infinite Universe
B.G. Sidharth, Ph.D.1, and Rhawn Joseph, Ph.D.2,
Abstract
The debate over a finite vs infinite universe has raged for thousands of years. It is now generally believed that our observable universe is one amongst a very large number and there maybe 10+500 or even an infinite number of parallel universes. Thus universe, in its totality, may be infinite. We briefly examine various approaches and theories that lead to this conclusion.
Key Words: big bang, universe, multiverse, cosmic inflation, expansion, parallel realities, parallel dimensions
1. The Finite Vs Infinite Universe
The Newtonian universe was one in which there was an absolute finite space in which the basic building blocks of the universe, such as stars, were embedded. This view was a quantum leap from the earlier view, based on the Greek model in which stars and other celestial objects were fixed objects attached to transparent material spheres, which prevented them from falling down. Indeed, until the time of Newton, the Ptolemaic-Aristotal universe was the dogma of the day, and it was believed by most scientists that Earth was the central sphere around which seven transparent spheres circled, carrying the moon, the sun, and the five known planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The the fixed stars were attached to the outermost, eighth sphere which circled around Earth, the Sun, and the five planets. The Earth, itself, was motionless, and thus day and night were caused by these rotating spheres. However, whereas Earth, as taught by Aristotle and the Catholic Church, was corruptible, the circle itself was perfect, divine, and thus unchanging.
When Einstein (1915) proposed his General Theory of Relativity some ninety years ago, many still believed that all major constituents of the universe were fixed, stationary, and finite, and that there was only one galaxy, our Milky Way which constituted the universe. The revolution ushered in by Corpernicus and those who immediately followed in his wake (until Kepler), was still rooted in the ancient past and Biblical teachings. Although Corpernicus placed the sun in the center of the solar system, and rearranged the planets, he retained the closed system of outer circles in which were embedded the fixed stars. Further, even though the universe was finally endowed with fluidity following the discoveries of Galieo and Kepler, it nevertheless remained finite.
However, if this view were correct, Einstein reasoned, then the gravitational pull of these constituents should make the universe collapse. Therefore, Einstein introduced his famous cosmological constant, essentially a repulsive force that would counterbalance the attractive gravitational force.
Shortly thereafter there were two dramatic discoveries which completely altered the picture of a single unified universe. The first was due to Astronomer Edwin Hubble (1929, 1937), who discovered that the basic constituents or building blocks of the universe were not stars, but rather huge conglomerations of stars called galaxies. The second discovery was the fact that these galaxies appeared to be rushing away from each other--the universe was expanding. In an expanding universe there was no need for Einstein's counterbalancing cosmic repulsion and Einstein dismissed his "cosmological constant" as his greatest blunder.
Not all scientists have accepted the concept of a finite universe (e.g., Hoyle et al., 1993, 1994; Joseph, 2009, 2010). The debate between finite vs infinite has in fact raged for thousands of years. The Greek philosopher Democritus, for example taught that the cosmos was eternal and had undergone cycles of order and disorder for all eternity. By contrast, Aristotle believed the universe was fixed, finite, and had a beginning, and this theory was accepted as part of Catholic Church dogma and became the accepted view within the scientific community. Therefore, in the 16th century when Giordano Bruno proposed the Universe was infinite and that there were an infinite number of worlds, just like Earth, the Roman Inquisition burned him at the stake for heresy.
The debate continued well into the 20th century, with esteemed scientists such as Sir Fred Hoyle, Herman Bondi and, and J. V. Narlikar championing what has been called the "steady state" theory of an infinite universe (Hoyle et al., 1993, 1994). An expanding universe, and later, the discovering of the Cosmic Microwave Background, nearly spelled the death to the steady state theory of the cosmos.
Hubble's (1929) discovery of an expanding universe, however, was predated by a few years earlier by Monsignor Georges Lemaître (1927), a high ranking Catholic Priest, who had come to similar conclusions. Lemaître seized upon Hubble's findings as additional proof of a finite, expanding universe that must have had a beginning, and thus a creator (1931a,b). Lemaître called his theory the 'hypothesis of the primeval atom" and described it as "the Cosmic Egg exploding at the moment of the creation." Hoyle ridiculed the idea, and sarcastically called it "the big bang." According to Hoyle, the universe may be expanding, but it is doing so in the act of continual creation; that is, it expands as new matter is continually created (Hoyle et al., 1993).
The debate may have continued to this day if not for the discovery, in 1964 by radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, of what has been interpreted as a cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). The consensus is this radiation was produced by a big bang, before the formation of stars and galaxies, and that the current CMBR is a relic from the past (Ohanian 1994, Wheeler 1973).
2. The Big Bang Controversy: Expansion and Dark Matter, Dark Energy
Not all cosmologists accept the big bang theory. However, if cosmology were a democracy, then the big bang has the most votes. Therefore, it is believed that anywhere from 13 billion to 15 billion years ago, all the matter and energy of the cosmos was compacted into a point of singularity, which resulted in a tremendous release of energy (the big bang) and the birth of this universe, followed by galaxies, stars, planets, and then life on Earth. The force of this explo ...
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http://journalofcosmology.com/Multiverse8.html
