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The different universes within the multiverse are called "parallel universes", "flat universes", "other universes", "alternate universes", "multiple universes", "plane universes", "parent and child universes", "many universes", or "many worlds".
May 19, 2023 · The concepts of parallel universes, alternate realities/timelines, and dimensions are often interconnected but can have distinct meanings depending on the context in which they are used. Here's an explanation of each term and how they fit into the multiverse theory:
- Overview
- Types of multiverses
multiverse, a hypothetical collection of potentially diverse observable universes, each of which would comprise everything that is experimentally accessible by a connected community of observers. The observable known universe, which is accessible to telescopes, is about 90 billion light-years across. However, this universe would constitute just a s...
One useful way to classify multiverse models is by the degree to which the universes proposed by the model are connected—that is, by the degree to which they are part of a single system described by a well-defined physical and mathematical framework, generally with a common origin and possibly even interacting with one another.
On the fully disconnected end of this spectrum is the assertion that all possible worlds coexist with equal reality. This idea, known as modal realism, has been developed in philosophy, notably by the American David Kellogg Lewis in the 1970s and ’80s. In physics and mathematics, meanwhile, it has been hypothesized (particularly in the 1990s by Swedish American physicist Max Tegmark and German computer scientist Jürgen Schmidhuber) that the known universe is equivalent to a mathematical formal system and that all such mathematical systems (or at least all of some class of such systems) are equally real. Similarly disconnected would be so-called parallel universes or other spiritual or religious planes of existence. Those other universes might be believed by some people to relate to the observable universe or even to interact with it, but exactly how these interactions would occur is not well defined.
Somewhat more-connected multiverses could arise from processes in quantum gravity, a hypothetical theory that would unite Einstein’s theory of general relativity with quantum mechanics. General relativity describes how space-time evolves, but it does not answer the question of how a self-contained space-time could be created or destroyed. One possible answer might be found in so-called cyclical cosmologies, where the “big crunch” of a collapsing universe would evolve into the big bang of a later expanding universe—presumably through quantum gravity or some other exotic process that is not described by well-understood physics. A related idea is that of the baby universe, in which a quantum gravitational process would create a new region of space-time that would bud off and potentially disconnect from its parent universe. This would lead to a “tree” of universes unlikely to interact after their formation. The process has been speculated to occur in the interiors of black holes.
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The most well-developed model of a multiverse of proliferating space-times is based on the idea of cosmological inflation. Inflation is a hypothetical process of the early universe in which space-time would have expanded exponentially at a much faster rate than at present. In most models, expansion would have been driven by an energy present in the vacuum that would generate a repulsive force. This kind of exponential expansion creates a region of space-time far larger than the observable universe and leads to a highly connected (albeit fairly pedestrian) multiverse composed of regions very similar to the observable universe.
Mar 13, 2023 · We break down the different theories about a possible multiverse—including other universes with their own laws of physics—and whether many versions of you could exist out there.
Dec 5, 2023 · Here’s a brief overview of each: Quilted Multiverse: This type suggests that the universe is infinite. Due to the finite number of possible particle configurations within the cosmic horizon, the same particle arrangements are repeated over infinite space, creating parallel universes.
Our universe is but one in an unimaginably massive ocean of universes called the multiverse. If that concept isn’t enough to get your head around, physics describes different kinds of multiverse.
Apr 15, 2022 · What is the multiverse? A world full of endless potential; multiple parallel universes spinning in synchronicity; and the possibility of alternate, powerful, seemingly better versions of...
