THE MULTIVERSE
By William Hamilton
Introduction: New concepts and theories of Cosmology postulate multiple universes and multiple dimensions that give the universe its structure. However, the concept of a Multiverse is not new. Ancient Sanskrit and Chinese texts discuss the Multiverse.
“According to Vedic Cosmology, there are countless
universes, which are clustered together like foam on the surface of the
The newest theory in physics is string, superstring, and M-theory. The new theories use extra dimensions of space beyond the three we are familiar with, but the 6 extra dimensions are not observable as they are compactified to such small dimensions, curled up in a tiny space less than the Planck length. However, M-theory, an integration of string theories and beyond postulates extra extended dimensions like our familiar universe. The branes that compose a universe may come in multiples and interact with each other according to some theorists. It is even possible that these branes are spherical and compose shells as pictured in ancient Vedic Cosmology.
These strings can vibrate with different frequencies, and in so doing they create different types of particles. That's comparable to plucking a guitar to generate different notes. When physicists play the music of the cosmos, the faster a string vibrates, the more massive, or energetic, the particle created.
Whether M-theory will turn out as a unified theory will probably depend on the accuracies of its predictions and whether the theory is internally consistent and a reflection of physical processes. The idea of matter frequencies is not new and may give us some insight on another way to view the existence of multiple universes.
Time: “Time is
God's way of keeping everything from happening at once “
--Unknown . Time is an elusive
concept. We speak of the past, present,
and future. Our memories confirm the
existence of a past world, and our imaginations envision the future. The present is ever fleeting and cannot be
caught. We know time subjectively and we measure its passage by the ticking
clock, but what is time?
Time seems to be the
persistence of space, energy, and matter.
We measure this persistence by periodic motions. Any particle or planet that has a regular
periodic motion can serve as a clock for the measuring of time. We consider the diurnal rotation of the earth
as marking a day and we have arbitrarily divided the day into 24 hours.
We know that the rate
of time changes with velocity according to the Special Theory of Relativity and
at extremely high velocities we can determine the dilation of a second of time
using the relativistic equation. The
Time Dilation equation for Relativity is:
In the relativistic
equations time is a fourth dimension.
Could there be another dimension to time? Some physicists think so, but this leads to
further paradoxes.
If we look at how we
use time in physics, in units of seconds as determined by the vibration of
atoms, then we are treating the vibration as a constant with a fixed
period. What if there is a fundamental
vibration? A string in M-theory has
different modes and frequencies of vibration.
Whether a string or ring, these vibrations can determine the character
of fundamental physical particles. What
if there were vibrations out of phase with our universe? Would they be detected? Could a time frequency define a universe?
Other than an extra
extended spatial dimension for another universe, the possibility of frequency
universes may also be a hypothesis that could ultimately be tested and allow
for communication between universes.
One of the fundamental
frequencies that can be attributed to sub-atomic particles is spin
frequency. If we combine the energy of a
photon and the energy of mass we could derive a spin frequency equation:
F = mc2/h
In this equation h
refers to Planck’s constant. Both c and
h contain units of time.
If these spin rates
vary, it is possible that such matter will not interact with photons and thus
be invisible from our perspective. Just
like a spinning fan which speeds up until one can no longer see reflection from
the blades.
This is conjecture at
this point and experiments on changing spin frequency of elementary particles
are not something our scientists have a handle on at present. Anecdotal stories of spectral sights that are
seen in moments of psychic vision seem to imply the existence of invisible
worlds. Metaphysical tradition states
that these other worlds are vibrating faster than the world we sense. This is one possibility which can be modeled.
Space: The extension of objects in space is something that is
also fundamental to physics and most hyperdimensional physical theories, such
as the Kaluza-Klein theory, string theories, and M-theory deal with the
mathematics of extra spatial dimensions.
Spatial dimensions
beyond the three of our everyday world are difficult, even impossible to
visualize though some mathematicians have tried. If we visualize a cube in three-dimensional
space, could we extend this to visualize a hypercube in four-dimensional space? The problem is that we define a dimension as
orthogonal to other dimensions and we can only perceive three orthogonal
extensions which we have defined as length, breadth, and width. We do not know how to rotate another 90
degrees to point to that fourth spatial dimension.
In M-theory the extra
spatial dimensions may form closed loops that are as small as 10-33 cm (Planck
length) and are said to be compactified.
“Many physicists
hope that string theory will ultimately unify quantum mechanics, the theory of
small-scale interactions, with general relativity, the theory of gravity.
String theory requires at least nine spatial dimensions, so proponents normally
claim that all but three of them are compactified and only accessible in
extremely high-energy particle collisions. As an alternative to compactified
dimensions, Lisa Randall of Princeton University and Raman Sundrum, now of
Stanford University, describe a scenario in which an extra, infinite dimension
could have remained undetected so far.
Other researchers have pointed out that if extra dimensions exist, the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces and their associated particles might operate within a three-dimensional "subspace" of the higher dimensional world. Like beads on a wire that lies on a table, the particles would be restricted to their own set of dimensions, unable to move beyond them. But gravity is different: It consists of the motions of space-time, which includes all dimensions simultaneously. So Randall and Sundrum imagine a world with four spatial dimensions, where gravity exists in all four, but the other forces--and all of our direct experience--exist in 3D. They say we live in a "3-brane" located at some specific position along the fourth spatial dimension.” (2)
Many physicists believe that these extra-dimensional theories are very speculative and that ultimately we could not prove the existence of extra dimensions, but the rejoinder is that these theories are successful in predicting particle masses and energies. The future may bring new theories and discoveries.
Many Worlds
Theory: In
1957, Hugh Everett III proposed a radical new way of dealing with some of the
more perplexing aspects of quantum mechanics. It became known as the
Many-Worlds Interpretation.
According to this interpretation, whenever numerous viable possibilities exist, the world splits into many worlds, one world for each different possibility (in this context, the term "worlds" refers to what most people call "universes"). In each of these worlds, everything is identical, except for that one different choice; from that point on, they develop independently, and no communication is possible between them, so the people living in those worlds (and splitting along with them) may have no idea that this is going on.
The Many-Worlds Interpretation is an interpretation of quantum mechanics, and pertains to quantum events. But it also has implications for macroscopic systems like you and me. Although you may think that there are certain alternatives you would never choose, can you really be sure of that? There are a practically infinite number of versions of you, who have all split off at some time in the past from the path you are now following. There may be versions of you that split off five or ten years ago, or perhaps five minutes after you were born, to whom those choices may not seem unthinkable. But in a very real sense, those people are still "you" (but it can be argued that we should not use the word "are", or even "were"; we need to invent a new kind of tense...) (3)
Bubble
Universes: Alan Guth’s
evolving theory of an Inflationary Universe, one that rapidly expanded from the
Big Bang, a fluctuation of the false vacuum led to the concept of many such
universes bubbling out of the vacuum and our universe is only one of these
bubbles floating around in a superspace.
Transdimensional travel: The exciting world of science fiction
contains many stories of transdimensional travel in space and time. Perhaps as we proceed in our understanding of
how the universe works, we may someday realize these stories and they may
become a real part of our technology.
Already such marvels as photon teleportation and quantum computing are
being explored in laboratories around the world. It is exciting to think that someday we may
visit another universe which would have to be very similar if not identical to
our own in physical principle if we are to survive the journey. We may also find doorways in time and visit
other times.
(1) "Comparative Cosmology" by Akif Manaf J., Ph.D.
(2) http://focus.aps.org/v4/st28.html
(3) http://www.station1.net/DouglasJones/many.htm