When the world's most powerful particle accelerator starts up later this year, exotic new particles may offer a glimpse of the existence and shapes of extra dimensions. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California-Berkeley say that the telltale signatures left by a new class of particles could distinguish between possible shapes of the extra spatial dimensions predicted by string theory.
Michio Kaku argues that new space probes will provide critical new information on parallel universes, cosmology, and wormholes that humanity will need to survive in the long-term.
Cosmologists are debating whether one consequence of the multiple universe theory is that our own universe could be a giant simulation running on some alien computer.
Cosmologists debate the anthropic principle and the existence of multiple universes at a recent conference.
The frontiers of physics have gradually expanded to incorporate ever more abstract (and once metaphysical) concepts such as a round Earth, invisible electromagnetic fields, time slowdown at high speeds, quantum superpositions, curved space, and black holes. Over the past several years the concept of a multiverse has joined this list. It is grounded in well-tested theories such as relativity and quantum mechanics, and it fulfills both of the basic criteria of an empirical science: it makes predictions, and it can be falsified. Scientists have discussed as many as four distinct types of parallel universes. The key question is not whether the multiverse exists but rather how many levels it has.
Some cosmologists imagine universes sprouting from one another in an endless geometric progression. Others imagine island universes floating and even colliding in a fifth dimension. Some cosmologists say the observable universe could be only a small patch in a much vaster ensemble bred endlessly in a chain of big bangs.
Physicists have devised a new experiment that will be used in the quest for exotic forces in nature and "additional spatial dimensions."
Transcript from a BBC program on Parallel Universe theory. Interesting speculation on the possibility of creating basement universes and that the Big Bang was caused by colliding multiverses.
Multiverse theory -- the idea that our Universe is part of the multiverse, a domain of parallel universes that comprises ultimate reality -- is gaining credibility due to the work of David Deutsch. His theory predicts that these multiple universe are real enough that we can mould their fate and exploit them.
Spanish and American astrophysicists claim the universe we inhabit contains an infinite number of other universes like our own, called O-regions, that we will someday be able to contact. Jaume Garriga, of the University of Barcelona, and Alexander Vilenkin, of Tufts University, call the concept "many worlds in one."