In 2020, scientists in Antarctica made an extraordinary discovery. At the center of their report were findings about particles that break the laws of physics. Some sources say these findings were “evidence” of a parallel universe.
But can the parallel universes of Doctor Strange and Star Trek be a reality? Do we actually live in a multiverse?
The ANITA experiment
NASA scientists in Antarctica used a giant balloon to lift a special tool called ANITA 37,000 feet above the Antarctic ice sheet — about four times as high as a commercial plane.
ANITA (Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna) is like a radio antenna that “listens” for signals coming from space. Scientists chose Antarctica because it has freezing and dry air, making it an excellent place to listen for signals since there is very little interference or noise from radio waves.
At this height, ANITA can “listen” to the universe and detect neutrinos that constantly bombard the Earth. Neutrinos are weightless, high-energy particles that can travel great distances, passing through solid matter without anyone ever noticing. It is estimated that 100 trillion neutrinos pass through your body at any moment. They seldom interact with matter, but when they do, ANITA can detect and probe where they come from in the cosmos.
Now, this discovery is mysterious because ANITA picked up signals coming from the Earth instead of from outer space. This is strange because usually, signals from space come from above rather than from the ground. It’s like seeing birds flying high up, but hearing chirping from below instead of the sky. That’s a bit puzzling.
The possibility of a parallel universe where everything is in reverse
ANITA has detected several unexpected events over the years. As mentioned, the high-energy neutrinos seem to come through the Earth’s interior before traveling upward to the detector. Physicists can’t explain this phenomenon since it’s beyond our current understanding.
However, one of the theories was that the signals may be coming from a parallel universe. A parallel universe is another reality that exists alongside ours, but we can’t see or interact with it. Imagine a signal next to ours, but we can’t see the people or things there. These signals might be like whispers from that universe reaching us in a way we don’t yet understand.
Arguments for multiverse theory
Mirror universe
Almost every physicist agrees that our universe started with the Big Bang around 13.7 billion years ago. However, on the other side of the Big Bang timeline, stretching backward in time, a mirror universe might have existed that is a mirror image of our own.
According to some people, the signals detected by ANITA may be coming in the opposite direction because of this mirror universe where everything happens in reverse. So in this universe, you may be going back to bed instead of waking up.
“Instead of saying there was a different universe before the bang, we’re saying that the universe before the bang is actually, in some sense, an image of the universe after the bang,” Neil Turok, a Perimeter Institute researcher, told Live Science.
Cosmic inflation
This theory posits that the universe underwent a rapid and exponential expansion right before the Big Bang. In about 10-32 seconds, the universe had expanded 1026 times its initial size.
As the cosmic inflation slowed, the classic Big Bang began to form the atoms, molecules, stars, and galaxies that populate the cosmos. The cosmic inflation theory has convinced some scientists that a multiverse or parallel universes are possible.
Alexander Vlenkin, a theoretical physicist from Tufts University in Massachusetts, says that inflation “didn’t end everywhere at the same time.” It may have ended everything we can detect from the Earth 13.8 billion years ago, but cosmic inflation continues in other realities.
Think of it as drawing close dots on the surface of a balloon before inflating it. As you inflate the balloon, the dots move further away, forming separate pockets. Similarly, cosmic inflation could have created “bubbles” of space with their own universe and rules. But these universes can’t contact each other because each is expanding indefinitely.
Quantum mechanics and parallel universes
Quantum mechanics is the study of the behavior of subatomic particles. Things at this scale don’t always act as we expect them to.
According to quantum mechanics, particles can exist in multiple states at once. Imagine that you are flipping a coin, but in the quantum world, it flips so fast that it is both heads and tails until you look at it. When you look at your coin, the coin “chooses” one side and another universe forms where the other side lands. In this way, every time you observe one outcome, there is another “universe” where a different quantum outcome occurs.
String theory
This theory takes us to a tiny scale — even smaller than particles. It suggests that at the tiniest level, the universe is made up of tiny strings that vibrate in different ways to create the particles we know.
The interesting part is that string theory suggests there might be more dimensions than the ones we are familiar with — height, width, and length. These extra dimensions are there, but we can’t see them.
Imagine you’re watching TV, and there’s a whole show happening at each pixel. We only see one pixel at a time, but the other shows are still there. Similarly, the theory says that these extra dimensions may have universes that have their own physics.
Can we confirm the existence of parallel universes?
Following the detection of the signals by ANITA, scientists clarified that there are “one or two loose ends” for the parallel universe idea. Pat Scott, from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Queensland, says many more theories can explain the unusual ANITA signals.
“There’s nothing that necessarily makes it a detection of a parallel universe,” Scott says.
According to Occam’s razor, we should consider the most straightforward ideas first. In this case, some physicists say the signals may be coming from the Antarctic ice. They’ve also suggested we don’t need the multiverse theory at all — it gives rise to more complications instead of providing answers.
Another argument against the multiverse theory is the issue of falsifiability. This means there is no way to test the parallel universe theories. We will never be able to peer beyond our observable universe, and if there is no way to prove or disprove the multiverse theory, should it even be considered scientific?
Conclusion
In the ever-changing landscape of science, discoveries reshape our understanding of the world. Currently, evidence for parallel universes remains elusive. Still, exploring alternative dimensions and exotic particles is a step forward from rigid theories.
As we peer into the quantum “worlds” and the building blocks of our reality, it’s important to become open to the potential of parallel universes while maintaining scientific and rational perspectives.
