Are we in one of many universes
Have you ever had that moment where you wish you could have done something different wether it be preventing an accident, finishing homework earlier, choosing one path versus the other or anything that involves making decisions.
There are many questions in the field of science that question if our universe is unique or not. The term “parallel universe” may also be referred to the term as multiverse by scientists – not just one universe.
Looking back at the Big Bang theory where something unknown caused the universe to suddenly inflate / expand and cool overtime, forming large amounts of matter (stars, galaxies, planets, asteroids etc.)
Since our technology is not advanced enough to view past the universe because of it’s curved shape, we are still unable to answer the question whether there is only one universe or multiply of them – We do not know.
Will we ever know?
The Big Bang theory lead to the theory of eternal inflation which is also known as the “bubble universe” theory. It is stated that some places in space stopped inflating while other parts continue with results in many bubble universes, each with different laws of physics. As the universe expands, more of these “bubble universes” would be created.
Would it be that the other bubble universes are too far away that we can’t see them?
The “bubble universe” theory is just one theory, another theory would be the “Many worlds” theory.
It was once discussed by scientists that space-time is flat, since it is flat that indicates the space-time is unlimited (goes on forever) which causes some repetition to occur. If we were able to look far enough into space, we will see doubles or even infinite of things we have right now including ourselves.
However each universe is different…
In another universe, I may not even be typing this blog post
I may have decided to go to the supermarket instead of staying home today
I may not be in the same school
etc…
∞ Parallel Realities
Erwin Schrödinger, a name you probably heard in any science class. Schrödinger is well-known for his cat though experiment which backs up the many worlds theory of parallel universes.
To start, Schrödinger had a cat that is placed inside an isolated cage with radioactive substances that has 50% chance of blowing up. From here there are two possible outcomes:
- Cat is dead ☠️
- Cat is still alive 🐱
we do not know until we open the box and see. There is a 50 – 50 chance.
For the cat, it sees 1 of the 2 possibilities:
- The radioactive substances explode
- The radioactive substance does not explode
Before look we can interpret that the cat is dead and alive, a superposition state.
It is our act of observation that causes reality to “collapse”
This is an indication that the events happen in parallel with each other. In one universe
the cat could be alive and when we open the box we see it alive. In another it can be dead and when we open the box we see it dead.
However, that also indicates that someone is watching / making the decision of our actions. Other person see’s us open the box and the cat is dead and vice versa. (The parallel universes can be visualized like the diagram to the right)
…. It goes on forever creating infinite of universes – Similar to a kaleidoscope
According to cosmologist Max Tegmark, he thinks that there are 4 different levels of multiverse which could be simply explained in this video: Click here to watch video
Overall, just the thought that there may be other realities and the theory of multiverse is fascinating! Imagine finding a copy of yourself doing things you never imagined yourself doing. Perhaps someday we would be able to see the whole universe and everything in it.
Maybe in our life time we could discover the truth about our universe.
Sources:
http://www.space.com/18811-multiple-universes-5-theories.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/08/the-multiverse-as-imagination-killer/497417/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/multiverse-the-case-for-parallel-universe/
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/01/what-is-the-multiverse
Earth Space Science 
