Parallel Universes Found? Seriously, Could Be a Bunch

Evidence of a parallel alternative universe may have been found while a researcher was mapping light left over from the creation of our own universe. In fact, there may be a bunch of other universes.

Ranga-Ram Chary, a researcher at the European Space Agency's Planck U.S. Data Center at the California Institute of Technology, said in a paper there was a chance that fluctuations he found while mapping cosmic microwave background was evidence of a "multiverse," according to the International Business Times. 

The idea of a multiverse, which builds on the notion of cosmic inflation, has been getting more notoriety but no one has been able to prove that other universes exist.

"The properties of our observable universe have recently been characterized in unprecedented detail through analysis of the cosmic microwave background fluctuations, a relic of the hot Big Bang," wrote Chary in research published in the Sept. 30 edition of the Astrophysical Journal.

"The fine tuning of parameters in the early universe required to reproduce our present day universe suggests that our universe may simply be a region within an eternally inflating super-region. Many other regions beyond our observable universe would exist with each such region governed by a different set of physical parameters than the ones we have measured for our universe," said Chary.

Chary said that the fluctuating glow he found could be matter from a neighboring universe "leaking" into our universe, according to New Scientist magazine, adding that such a multiverse could be the consequence of cosmic inflation, which theorizes that the early universe expanded exponentially in the slimmest fraction of a second after the Big Bang.

RT.com said other researchers, though, believe the signs Chary spotted could be light of early hydrogen.

"This signal is one of the fingerprints of our own universe," said Jens Chluba, of the University of Cambridge. "Other universes should leave a different mark."

Chary's theory about alternative universes could be hard to prove since the Planck telescope provides limited data for additional study and it cannot measure the spectral alterations needed to advance the discovery.

"Unusual claims like evidence for alternate universes require a very high burden of proof," said Chary.


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