Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Our universe: An expanding bubble in an extra dimension
According to string theory, all matter consists of tiny, vibrating "stringlike" entities. The theory also requires there to be more spatial dimensions than the three that are already part of everyday knowledge. For 15 years, there have been models in string theory that have been thought to give rise to dark energy. However, these have come in for increasingly harsh criticism, and several researchers are now asserting that none of the models proposed to date are workable.
In their article, the scientists propose a new model with dark energy and our Universe riding on an expanding bubble in an extra dimension. The whole Universe is accommodated on the edge of this expanding bubble. All existing matter in the Universe corresponds to the ends of strings that extend out into the extra dimension. The researchers also show that expanding bubbles of this kind can come into existence within the framework of string theory. It is conceivable that there are more bubbles than ours, corresponding to other universes.
Journal Reference:
Souvik Banerjee, Ulf Danielsson, Giuseppe Dibitetto, Suvendu Giri, Marjorie Schillo. Emergent de Sitter Cosmology from Decaying Antiāde Sitter Space. Physical Review Letters, 2018; 121 (26) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.261301
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Monday December 31 2018, @08:23AM
"am I the only one who's starting to think all this tinkering with this theory or that theory is sounding more like a desperate science fiction author trying to tweak a story"
I would be a bit more charitable. It seems to me that physicists are just missing some essential insight. The universe exists, and we can understand a lot of the interactions that we see, but the why of it eludes us. Quarks exist, but why do they exist? Why is there an electromagnetic force? Why is there gravity? Even if string theory were to prove out, it's only one more turtle in the stack, because why are there strings?
Maybe these are questions beyond our capabilities. Being inside the universe and subject to its laws, are we even capable of imagining what underlies it?
Personally, intuitively, (IANAP = not a physicist) I am happiest with the "we are a simulation" explanation. It would intuitively explain so much. For example, quantum mechanics is just revealing the finest level of resolution available. Of course, this still begs the question: what are the rules of the simulation? Can we derive them? Understand them? Manipulate them from the inside? Evil laugh Can we become malware?
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.