This is so weird and intriguing that I can't but make a quick comment on it. Two US scientists, Jonas Mureika and Dejan Stojovic, are proposing a radical rethink of what we understand as the basic physics of our universe: they suggest that, at the Big Bang, the Universe had only one dimension (like a line), acquiring then two dimensions (plane) and then three (space), and probably soon a fourth (if not already).
This radical rethink seems to have been pushed by the advances (and lack of them) in the fields of Physics and Astrophysics in the last decades, when questions have been piling up and convincing answers have been lacking instead.
These problems include the fundamental incompatibility between gravito-centric General Relativity and particle-centric Quantum Mechanics, the mystery of the Universe's accelerating expansion (which seems to demand extra dimensions) and serious issues with the elusive (and maybe non-existent) Higg's Boson.
By reflecting this new proposal I do not mean to adhere to it but I do like the principle they begin from: maybe something fundamental is wrong in the way we think Physics, so exploring radically new venues may be the way out of an otherwise unsolvable problem.
They are thinking out of the box and that is something I really like and that often brings real solutions in all fields.
The new theory has been published in the Physical Review Letter (pay per view) and is also discussed in its essentials at Science Daily.
I've seen too many models and theories about universes' shape to believe anything.
ReplyDeleteHere are the two I remember:
The "soccer ball" theory:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1008_031008_finiteuniverse.html
The "medieval horn" theory:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4879-big-bang-glow-hints-at-funnelshaped-universe.html