Posted: Mar 19, 2014 7:26 am
hackenslash wrote:
Our 3-brane is separated from another 3-brane by an additional dimension of space. The Big Bang occurred when these
two 3-branes slammed together. There is, in this model, another cosmos, much like ours, residing on the other brane
Since gravitons can travel between branes, we feel the gravity of the matter on the other brane but, because photons
can't travel between branes, it doesn't react electromagnetically in our cosmos, so we can't actually see it anywhere
in the electromagnetic spectrum - dark matter
If branes exist in spacetime then it must have existed before the Big Bang otherwise it could never have happened. They must be incredibly unstable if their collision results in the creation of an entire Universe. The energy level must be many orders of magnitude greater than that at the centre of a black hole or a white dwarf. Could dark energy therefore be the result of that collision ? That would explain why the Universe is still expanding. Dark matter could be undetected matter from the collision also. If inflation falsifies this then we now know what the other ninety six per cent of the Universe is composed of. Though other Universes shall remain immune to detection. Though if this one keeps expanding at the rate
it does then local space will at some point be devoid of virtually all light because the only visible star will be the Sun. And
all of this from a single physical reaction over thirteen billion years ago. It is therefore not too grand a statement to say we owe our very existence to quantum mechanics
I remember watching a BBC Four documentary last year about explanations for the origins of the Universe [ the one where Lee Smolin and Roger Penrose and Neil Turok were each given a Rubik Cube to solve ] and the brane collision was one model on the table. Now with falsification someone should get a Nobel because it is that significant. I think it would be very unfair for it not to go to Andrei Linde as it was he who originally suggested it. And this coming so soon after the discovery of the Higgs two years ago. Which is very unusual indeed now as the Universe does not usually give up its secrets that frequently
So anyone who is a physicist or has an interest in physics is very fortunate indeed to be living in these times. I for one shall definitely be trying to learn more about it and specifically cosmology in light of this fantastic discovery