It could be the result of out-of-control rapid expansion that causes patches of universe to branch off and make their own worlds.
A staple of Hollywood storytelling, the concept of the multiverse has its roots in serious scientific study. One catch: we don’t know for sure if it exists.
Parallel Worlds
The concept of a multiverse—universes like our own but also slightly different—comes to us from two places in theoretical physics. One is from quantum mechanics and our attempts to understand the many-branching possibilities found in subatomic experiments. The other is a little more concrete, coming from our theories of the extremely early universe.
But to get to the multiverse we have to start with just the universe. By definition, the universe is “all the things”—it is the sum total of complete physical existence. If it’s a thing, it’s in the universe. But even with that definition, we can start to crack the door to “other” universes. One way to do that is to recognize that the universe is only so old, and light can only travel at a finite speed. So there’s a limit to what we can observe in the universe (that limit is about 45 billion light years away).
However, that explanation gives you a very weak vision of the multiverse. Actually, there’s more to the universe than what we can observe, so there’s more “stuff” out there—more stars, more galaxies, maybe even more intelligent creatures—than we could ever make contact with. All of these things are in the universe, but are definitely not a part of our own world.
Those regions outside our observable bubble of the universe still look and act the same as inside it. It’s all the same physics at play, just with various other combinations. But that’s not where the story has to end.
What is cosmic inflation?
After the Big Bang, space expanded at an exponential rate. This explosive expansion, or inflation, lasted from 10−36 seconds to between 10−33 and 10−32 seconds, then slowed down. However, space is still expanding at a rate of about 73 kilometers per second per megaparsec, as the Hubble Space Telescope estimated in 2022.
Read More – Everything You Need to Know About the Multiverse
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