Mirror Universe Is the Force Behind Rapid Cosmic Expansion
The Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, driven by an unknown force. This phenomenon is often attributed to a mysterious entity known as dark energy, but its true nature remains unclear.
The authors of a new study published in the journal Gravitation and Cosmology believe that dark energy does not actually exist. The researchers propose that the rapid expansion of the Universe might instead be explained by a “mirror” universe, a concept that offers a fresh perspective on the cosmos.
Physicists have long grappled with the enigma of the Universe’s accelerating expansion. Dark energy has been the leading hypothesis, yet it has sparked significant debate due to the mystery surrounding its source and nature.
Some scientists suggest that gravity may behave differently on cosmic scales than predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Others believe that a yet-undiscovered branch of physics could provide the answers.
This study offers a new alternative: the accelerated expansion of space might be a consequence of a mirror universe—a counterpart to our own. Rewinding the cosmic clock to approximately 13.8 billion years ago, we find the Universe in its infancy, filled with incredibly hot matter composed of subatomic particles. But what existed before this?
The researchers speculate that the early Universe was governed by quantum physics, and a theory that unites Einstein’s relativity with quantum mechanics is necessary to fully explain the origins of the cosmos.
According to their hypothesis, the Big Bang not only created matter and antimatter with opposite electrical charges but also could have given rise to both our Universe and its mirror image simultaneously.
The idea of multiple universes, or the multiverse, is not new. It attempts to explain the peculiarities of our spacetime.
The physicists build upon a theory proposed several years ago, suggesting that the Universe’s uniformity following the Big Bang was not due to cosmic inflation, but because it emerged alongside a mirror twin. This twin universe, flowing backward in time relative to ours, is identical but composed of antimatter.
Using quantum information theory, the researchers propose that these two universes are connected during a specific period. If this is true, the joint energy of our Universe and its mirror twin, bound by the same energy conditions dictated by general relativity, could explain the rapid expansion of the cosmos without invoking dark energy.
While such theories may sound fantastical, they are grounded in observations that hint at the existence of particles or forces in the Universe that current physics cannot yet explain.
