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from the are-we-the-good-parallel-or-the-bad-parallel dept.
Scientists have long tried to explain the origin of a mysterious, large and anomalously cold region of the sky. In 2015, they came close to figuring it out as a study showed it to be a "supervoid" in which the density of galaxies is much lower than it is in the rest of the universe. However, other studies haven't managed to replicate the result.
Now new research led by Durham University, submitted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests the supervoid theory doesn't hold up. Intriguingly, that leaves open a pretty wild possibility – the cold spot might be the evidence of a collision with a parallel universe. But before you get too excited, let's look at how likely that would actually be.
The cold spot can be seen in maps of the "cosmic microwave background" (CMB), which is the radiation left over from the birth of the universe. The CMB is like a photograph of what the universe looked like when it was 380,000 years old and had a temperature of 3,000 degrees Kelvin. What we find is that it is very smooth with temperature deviations of less than one part in 10,000. These deviations can be explained pretty well by our models of how the hot universe evolved up to an age of 380,000 years.
However the cold spot is harder to work out. It is an area of the sky about five degrees across that is colder by one part in 18,000. This is readily expected for some areas covering about one degree – but not five. The CMB should look much smoother on such large scales.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday June 01 2017, @11:32PM
Actually, I think they meant literally. As in a universe being what we are in, bounded by the CMB. Not a universe as in the infinite, unbounded area of total existence. If you take it literally, it makes some sense. Two universes (not to be implied as mirror or evil bearded) traveling together glanced off each other.
Although, then they wouldn't be parallel, since they parallel lines don't actually converge or touch. Multi-verse theories can get pretty strange, but in this analogy all "universes" exist side by side with each other. A universe next to ours gave us a "glancing blow" at some point and that is what is causing the anomaly.
To be super fair here, the entire fucking field is 100% speculation without any evidence or testing possible within the lifetimes of anybody in the field. It's all a guessing game till we actually get out there, which is highly unlikely. So until then, guess away :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.