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According to new research published by the American Physical Society in the Journal Physical Review letters, in the coming years it may be possible to test whether the universe is in fact a hologram.
The debate over The Holographic Principle — whether the universe is a flat (two dimensional) projection — is mind bending and still largely theoretical in nature. The holographic principle solves various problems, it can be used to explain quantum gravity and also
has been used to explain cosmic inflation, a pivotal period of time in the early universe where our cosmos expanded at quizzically breakneck speeds.
But an untestable theory, no matter how appealing the math, is ever an itch that needs scratching in science. So how do we do that?
During cosmic inflation, the universe became populated with quantum fluctuations, particles that temporarily appear out of empty space. “The inflationary universe had the right characteristics to make these fluctuations the seed of everything we observe today from the Cosmic Microwave Background, galaxies, stars, planets to cosmologists.”, said the researchers. These quantum fluctuations are what causes the irregular distribution of galaxies in the universe.
Through interactions with scalar fields, these fluctuations create distinct signals that can oscillate. To tell whether the universe is holographic, researchers took a look at the different intricate ways these signals could oscillate. If the signals are underdamped, meaning they move back and forth before reaching a point of equilibrium, then we can’t be living in a hologram. This is because if we’re living in a holographic universe, every signal we see must have a counterpart in a lower dimensional world. An underdamped signal can’t have such a counterpart.
In short, if we detect underdamped signals, we are not living in a holographic universe. And we can look for them:
In the coming years, the Simons Observatory will be scanning the cosmic microwave background looking for information about cosmic inflation. Additionally, surveys like the Large Synoptic Sky Telescope, Euclide and SPHEREx will be looking at the Large Scale Structure of the universe, creating a 3D map of how galaxies in our vicinity are dispersed. These projects will not only teach us about the evolution of our universe, but also whether the universe we see is truly the one that exists.
Hopefully, reflecting on these results in the coming days will help resolve the question and we can stop going back and forth on the issue.
Related Coverage:
How Our Universe Could Emerge as a Hologram
Substantial Evidence of Holographic Universe
Experiment to Test for Universe Being a Hologram
(Score: 3, Funny) by SemperOSS on Friday May 31 2019, @08:00AM (5 children)
They find that the world really is a two-dimensional holographic projection, then they see that the two-dimensional space is really a halographic expansion of a one-dimensional string, which in turn is an explograhic protrusion inside a zero-dimensional structure and that the universe in reality is a singularity without any physical dimensions and thus must be purely a figment of our imagination. Right?
I don't need a signature to draw attention to myself.
Maybe I should add a sarcasm warning now and again?
(Score: 5, Funny) by EJ on Friday May 31 2019, @08:08AM (1 child)
No. What happens is God says, "I gave you a whole universe, and you just want to play with the box."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 31 2019, @08:08PM
Actually that's already true in a way. Most of these very clever people are focused on only using math to describe the universe.
But has our math reached a level where we know for certain the equations or computations will generate consciousness and qualia? e.g. we know that a particular sequence of computations on a computer will cause the computer to actually taste chocolate?
Maybe God has quantum entangled himself with this universe... And at the end there's an interference pattern of "light" and "darkness". Guess this isn't practically testable though ;).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 31 2019, @09:08AM (2 children)
It's been proposed that the universe is purely math [wikipedia.org] with no underlying physical existence at all.
If true, you can legally kill anyone who says they're bad at math.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 31 2019, @09:30AM
Actually, the converse is equally valid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 01 2019, @08:59AM
It's either false or the math involved is beyond our current known math.
There's plenty of stuff that exists in this universe that's not adequately specified by our current math - it'll be about as well specified as the boss writing "build our great product" on the whiteboard. Yeah those in the know will know what it refers to but that doesn't mean those words are fully responsible for generating the existence of the product...
tldr; you may be able to say, "Let there be Light!" using our current math but will that have much effect by itself? Will a new phenomenon spring into existence just by you doing that?