UNIVERSE
UNIVERSE
Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2010 .
V. is infinitely diverse in the forms of existence and movement of matter. Matter neither arises nor is destroyed, but only passes from one form to another. Therefore, completely arbitrary and idealistic. is the theory of the constant creation of matter from “nothing” (F. Hoyle, A new model for the expanding universe, in the magazine “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astron. Soc”, L., 1948, v. 108; H. Bondi, Cosmology, 1952).
The infinite variety of material forms in infinite space leads to the conclusion that organic. , as one of the forms of existence of matter, is not the property of only our planet, but arises everywhere where the corresponding ones are added.
These are the basics. properties of V., which have not only physical, but also great. meaning. In its most general conclusions, the science of the structure of water is closely connected with philosophy. Hence the fierce ideological , conducted on issues of structure and development of V.
The denial of the infinity of space and time by a number of scientists is caused not only by the influence of idealistic ideas. spiritual atmosphere in which they are located, but also unsuccessful attempts to build a consistent infinite V., based on the entire set of observational data known to us. Recognition of the finitude of V. in one form or another is essentially a refusal to solve the most important scientific problem, a transition from the position of science to the position of religion. This is dialectical. materialism, proving the universe in space and time, stimulates the further development of science, indicating the fundamental paths for the development of theory.
The question of the finitude or infinity of V. is not only a matter of natural science. The accumulation itself is empirical. material and its mathematics. processing only within one or another department. Sciences cannot yet give a comprehensive and logically invulnerable answer to the question posed. The most adequate means to solve the problem is philosophy. , based on the achievements of all natural science and the solid foundation of dialectical-materialistic. method. The dialectic comes to the fore here. the development of the concept of infinity, the difficulties of operating in Crimea are felt not only by science, but also by other sciences.
Thus, the general properties of V., its space-time characteristics cause great difficulties. But the entire thousand-year development of science convinces us that this problem can only be solved by recognizing the infinity of space and time. In general terms, such a solution is provided by dialectical materialism. However, the creation of a rational, consistent idea of V. as a whole, taking into account all observed processes, is a matter for the future.
Lit.: Engels F., Dialectics of Nature, M., 1955; Anti-Dühring, M., 1957; Lenin V.I., Materialism and, Works, 4th ed., vol. 14; Blazhko S.N., Course of General Astronomy, M., 1947; Polak I.F., Course of General Astronomy, 7th ed., M., 1955; Parenago P.P., Course of stellar astronomy, 3rd ed., M., 1954; Eigenson M. S., Big Universe, M.–L., 1936; Fesenkov V.G., Modern ideas about the Universe, M.–L., 1949; Agekyan T. A., Star Universe, M., 1955; Lyttleton R. A., The modern universe, L., ; Knowle F., Frontiers of astronomy, Melb., ; Thomas O., Astronomie. Tatsachen und Probleme, 7 Aufl., Salzburg–Stuttgart, .
A. Bovin. Moscow.
Philosophical Encyclopedia. In 5 volumes - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Edited by F. V. Konstantinov. 1960-1970 .
UNIVERSE
UNIVERSE (from the Greek “oecumene” - populated, inhabited earth) - “everything that exists”, “a comprehensive world whole”, “the totality of all things”; the meaning of these terms is ambiguous and determined by the conceptual context. We can distinguish at least three levels of the concept “Universe”.
1. The Universe as a philosophical one has a meaning close to the concept of “universum”, or “world”: “material world”, “created being”, etc. It plays an important role in European philosophy. Images of the Universe in philosophical ontologies were included in the philosophical foundations of scientific research of the Universe.
2. The Universe in physical cosmology, or the Universe as a whole, is an object of cosmological extrapolation. In the traditional sense - a comprehensive, unlimited and fundamentally unique physical system (“The Universe is published in one copy” - A. Poincaré); the world considered from a physical and astronomical point of view (A.L. Zelmanov). Different theories and models of the Universe are considered from this point of view as not equivalent to each other of the same original. This Universe as a whole was justified in different ways: 1) with reference to the “presumption of extrapolability”: cosmology claims to represent the comprehensive world whole in the system of knowledge with its conceptual means, and until the contrary is proven, these claims must be accepted in full; 2) logically, the Universe is defined as a comprehensive global whole, and other Universes cannot exist by definition, etc. Classical, Newtonian cosmology created a Universe infinite in space and time, and infinity was considered an attributable property of the Universe. It is generally accepted that Newton’s infinite homogeneous Universe “destroyed” the ancient one. However, scientific and philosophical images of the Universe continue to coexist in culture, mutually enriching each other. The Newtonian Universe destroyed the image of the ancient cosmos only in the sense that it separated man from the Universe and even contrasted them.
In non-classical, relativistic cosmology, the theory of the Universe was first constructed. Its properties turned out to be completely different from Newton's. According to the theory of the expanding Universe, developed by Friedman, the Universe as a whole can be both finite and infinite in space, and in time it is in any case finite, that is, it had a beginning. A. A. Friedman believed that the world, or the Universe as an object of cosmology, is “infinitely narrower and smaller than the world-universe of the philosopher.” On the contrary, the overwhelming majority of cosmologists, based on the principle of uniformity, identified the models of the expanding Universe with our Metagalaxy. The initial expansion of the Metagalaxy was considered as the “beginning of everything”, from a creationist point of view - as the “creation of the world”. Some relativist cosmologists, considering uniformity an insufficiently justified simplification, considered the Universe as a comprehensive physical system on a larger scale than the Metagalaxy, and the Metagalaxy only as a limited part of the Universe.
Relativistic cosmology radically changed the image of the Universe in the scientific picture of the world. In ideological terms, it returned to the image of the ancient cosmos in the sense that it again connected man and the (evolving) Universe. A further step in this direction appeared in cosmology. The modern approach to the interpretation of the Universe as a whole is based, firstly, on the distinction between the philosophical idea of the world and the Universe as an object of cosmology; secondly, this concept is relativized, i.e. its scope is correlated with a certain level of knowledge, cosmological theory or model - in a purely linguistic (irrespective of their objective status) or in an objective sense. The Universe was interpreted, for example, as “the largest number of events to which our physical laws, extrapolated in one way or another, can be applied” or “could be considered physically connected with us” (G. Bondi).
The development of this approach was the concept according to which the Universe in cosmology is “everything that exists.” not in any absolute sense, but only from the point of view of a given cosmological theory, that is, a physical system of the greatest scale and order, which follows from a certain system of physical knowledge. This is relative and transient of the known mega-world, determined by the possibilities of extrapolation of the system of physical knowledge. The Universe as a whole does not in all cases mean the same “original”. On the contrary, different theories may have different originals as their objects, that is, physical systems of different orders and scales of structural hierarchy. But all claims to represent a comprehensive world whole in an absolute sense remain unsubstantiated. When interpreting the Universe in cosmology, one must distinguish between the potentially existing and the actually existing. What is considered non-existent today may tomorrow enter the realm of scientific research, turn out to exist (from the point of view of physics) and be included in our understanding of the Universe.
Thus, if the theory of the expanding Universe essentially described our Metagalaxy, then the theory of the inflationary (“inflating”) Universe, most popular in modern cosmology, introduces the concept of many “other universes” (or, in terms of empirical language, extra-metagalactic objects) with qualitatively different properties. Inflationary theory recognizes, therefore, a megascopic violation of the principle of uniformity of the Universe and introduces, in its meaning, the principle of infinite diversity of the Universe. I. S. Shklovsky proposed to call the totality of these universes “Metaverse”. Inflationary cosmology in a specific form revives, that is, the idea of the infinity of the Universe (Metaverse) as its infinite diversity. Objects like the Metagalaxy are often called “miniuniverses” in inflationary cosmology. Miniverses arise through spontaneous fluctuations of the physical vacuum. From this point of view it follows that the initial moment of expansion of our Universe, the Metagalaxy should not necessarily be considered the absolute beginning of everything. This is only the initial moment of the evolution and self-organization of one of the cosmic systems. In some versions of quantum cosmology, the concept of the Universe is closely linked to the existence of an observer (“the principle of participation”). “By generating participant observers at some limited stage of its existence, it does not acquire
Universe distance scale
Because the Universe is expanding, the question of distances to very distant galaxies is difficult to answer. It all depends on your point of view.
Omega Nebula
Eagle Nebula
Antlia Cluster
That's the problem with determining distances in an expanding universe: two galaxies are close to each other when the universe is only 1 billion years old. The first galaxy emits a pulse of light. The second galaxy does not perceive this impulse until the Universe is 14 billion years old.
At this point, these galaxies are separated by about 26 billion light years; a light pulse travels for 13 billion years; and the picture that people get in the second galaxy is an image of the first galaxy at a time when it was only one billion years old and when it was only 2 billion light years away.
In cosmology, four different distance scales are generally accepted:
(1) Photometric distance - DL
In an expanding Universe, distant galaxies are much more difficult to see than might be expected as photons of light are stretched and spread out over a wide area. This is why huge telescopes are required to see very distant galaxies. The most distant galaxies visible through the Hubble Space Telescope are so faint that they appear to be about 350 billion light-years away, even though they are much closer.
The photometric scale does not reflect actual distance, but it is used to determine how dim very distant galaxies appear to us.
(2) Angular diameter distance - DA
In the expanding universe, we see galaxies at the edge of the visible universe when they were very young, about 14 billion years ago, because light took about 14 billion years to reach us.
However, the galaxies at that time were not only young, but also located much closer to us.
The faintest galaxies visible through the Hubble Space Telescope were only a few billion light years away when the light was emitted.
This means that very distant galaxies appear much larger than one would expect, as if they are about 2 or 3 billion light years away (Although they also appear very, very faint - see "Photometric distance").
Angular diameter distance is a good indicator (especially in a flat galaxy like ours) of how close a particular galaxy was to us when it emitted the light we now see.
(3) Follower distance - DC
The accompanying distance scale expands along with the Universe. It gives us an idea of where galaxies are currently located, even though we are seeing a distant galaxy as it was when it was much younger and smaller. On this scale, the farthest edge of the visible Universe is currently 47 billion light-years away, although the most distant galaxies visible through the Hubble Space Telescope would be about 32 billion light-years away.
The comoving distance is the opposite of the angular diameter distance.
This distance shows where the galaxies are now, not where they were when they emitted the light we see now.
(4) Aberration distance - DT
Aberration distance refers to the length of time it takes for light from distant galaxies to reach us. This is what is meant when they say that the visible Universe has a radius of 14 billion light years.
The meaning of this statement: the age of the Universe is about 14 billion years, but light from more distant galaxies did not have enough time to reach us.
Aberration distance is as much a measure of time as it is a measure of distance. The main benefit of this scale is that it gives us an idea of the age of the image of a given galaxy that we currently see.
For small distances (about 2 billion light years or less), all four distance scales are combined and repeat each other, so it is much easier to determine the distances to galaxies in the local Universe surrounding us.
Below are all four distance scales superimposed on the redshift. Redshift is a measure of the stretching of light caused by the expansion of the Universe: a galaxy with a high redshift is further away than a galaxy with a low redshift. The most distant galaxies visible through the Hubble Space Telescope have a redshift of 10, while the most distant protogalaxies in the Universe probably have a redshift of about 15. The edge of the visible Universe has a redshift of infinity. By comparison, a typical portable telescope cannot see objects with a redshift significantly greater than 0.1 (about 1.3 billion light years).
Photometric distance (DL) demonstrates why it is so difficult to see distant galaxies: a very young and distant galaxy at redshift level 15 appears to be 560 billion light-years away, although angular diameter distance (DA) shows that at the time the galaxy emitted light , which we see now, it was actually about 2.2 billion light years old. Aberration distance (DT) shows that light from a given galaxy has traveled 13.6 billion years from the time it was emitted until now. Composite distance (DC) shows that the same galaxy today, if we could see it, would be 35 billion light years away.
The portal site is an information resource where you can get a lot of useful and interesting knowledge related to Space. First of all, we will talk about our and other Universes, about celestial bodies, black holes and phenomena in the depths of outer space.
The totality of everything that exists, matter, individual particles and the space between these particles is called the Universe. According to scientists and astrologers, the age of the Universe is approximately 14 billion years. The size of the visible part of the Universe occupies about 14 billion light years. And some claim that the Universe extends over 90 billion light years. For greater convenience, it is customary to use the parsec value in calculating such distances. One parsec is equal to 3.2616 light years, that is, a parsec is the distance over which the average radius of the Earth's orbit is viewed at an angle of one arcsecond.
Armed with these indicators, you can calculate the cosmic distance from one object to another. For example, the distance from our planet to the Moon is 300,000 km, or 1 light second. Consequently, this distance to the Sun increases to 8.31 light minutes.
Throughout history, people have tried to solve mysteries related to Space and the Universe. In the articles on the portal site you can learn not only about the Universe, but also about modern scientific approaches to its study. All material is based on the most advanced theories and facts.
It should be noted that the Universe includes a large number of different objects known to people. The most widely known among them are planets, stars, satellites, black holes, asteroids and comets. At the moment, most of all is understood about the planets, since we live on one of them. Some planets have their own satellites. So, the Earth has its own satellite - the Moon. Besides our planet, there are 8 more that revolve around the Sun.
There are many stars in Space, but each of them is different from each other. They have different temperatures, sizes and brightness. Since all stars are different, they are classified as follows:
White dwarfs;
Giants;
Supergiants;
Neutron stars;
Quasars;
Pulsars.
The densest substance we know is lead. In some planets, the density of their substance can be thousands of times higher than the density of lead, which raises many questions for scientists.
All planets revolve around the Sun, but it also does not stand still. Stars can gather into clusters, which, in turn, also revolve around a center still unknown to us. These clusters are called galaxies. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way. All studies conducted so far indicate that most of the matter that galaxies create is so far invisible to humans. Because of this, it was called dark matter.
The centers of galaxies are considered the most interesting. Some astronomers believe that the possible center of the galaxy is a black hole. This is a unique phenomenon formed as a result of the evolution of a star. But for now, these are all just theories. Conducting experiments or studying such phenomena is not yet possible.
In addition to galaxies, the Universe contains nebulae (interstellar clouds consisting of gas, dust and plasma), cosmic microwave background radiation that permeates the entire space of the Universe, and many other little-known and even completely unknown objects.
Circulation of the ether of the Universe
Symmetry and balance of material phenomena is the main principle of structural organization and interaction in nature. Moreover, in all forms: stellar plasma and matter, world and released ethers. The whole essence of such phenomena lies in their interactions and transformations, most of which are represented by the invisible ether. It is also called relict radiation. This is microwave cosmic background radiation with a temperature of 2.7 K. There is an opinion that it is this vibrating ether that is the fundamental basis for everything filling the Universe. The anisotropy of the distribution of ether is associated with the directions and intensity of its movement in different areas of invisible and visible space. The whole difficulty of studying and research is quite comparable with the difficulties of studying turbulent processes in gases, plasmas and liquids of matter.
Why do many scientists believe that the Universe is multidimensional?
After conducting experiments in laboratories and in Space itself, data was obtained from which it can be assumed that we live in a Universe in which the location of any object can be characterized by time and three spatial coordinates. Because of this, the assumption arises that the Universe is four-dimensional. However, some scientists, developing theories of elementary particles and quantum gravity, may come to the conclusion that the existence of a large number of dimensions is simply necessary. Some models of the Universe do not exclude as many as 11 dimensions.
It should be taken into account that the existence of a multidimensional Universe is possible with high-energy phenomena - black holes, the big bang, bursters. At least, this is one of the ideas of leading cosmologists.
The expanding Universe model is based on the general theory of relativity. It was proposed to adequately explain the redshift structure. The expansion began at the same time as the Big Bang. Its condition is illustrated by the surface of an inflated rubber ball, on which dots - extragalactic objects - were applied. When such a ball is inflated, all its points move away from each other, regardless of position. According to the theory, the Universe can either expand indefinitely or contract.
Baryonic asymmetry of the Universe
The significant increase in the number of elementary particles over the entire number of antiparticles observed in the Universe is called baryon asymmetry. Baryons include neutrons, protons and some other short-lived elementary particles. This disproportion occurred during the era of annihilation, namely three seconds after the Big Bang. Up to this point, the number of baryons and antibaryons corresponded to each other. During the mass annihilation of elementary antiparticles and particles, most of them combined into pairs and disappeared, thereby generating electromagnetic radiation.
Age of the Universe on the portal website
Modern scientists believe that our Universe is approximately 16 billion years old. According to estimates, the minimum age may be 12-15 billion years. The minimum is repelled by the oldest stars in our Galaxy. Its real age can only be determined using Hubble's law, but real does not mean accurate.
Visibility horizon
A sphere with a radius equal to the distance that light travels during the entire existence of the Universe is called its visibility horizon. The existence of a horizon is directly proportional to the expansion and contraction of the Universe. According to Friedman's cosmological model, the Universe began to expand from a singular distance approximately 15-20 billion years ago. During all the time, light travels a residual distance in the expanding Universe, namely 109 light years. Because of this, each observer at moment t0 after the start of the expansion process can observe only a small part, limited by a sphere, which at that moment has radius I. Those bodies and objects that are at this moment beyond this boundary are, in principle, not observable. The light reflected from them simply does not have time to reach the observer. This is not possible even if the light came out when the expansion process began.
Due to absorption and scattering in the early Universe, given the high density, photons could not propagate in a free direction. Therefore, an observer is able to detect only that radiation that appeared in the era of the Universe transparent to radiation. This epoch is determined by the time t»300,000 years, the density of the substance r»10-20 g/cm3 and the moment of hydrogen recombination. From all of the above it follows that the closer the source is in the galaxy, the greater the redshift value for it will be.
Big Bang
The moment the Universe began is called the Big Bang. This concept is based on the fact that initially there was a point (singularity point) in which all energy and all matter were present. The basis of the characteristic is considered to be the high density of matter. What happened before this singularity is unknown.
There is no exact information regarding the events and conditions that occurred at the time of 5*10-44 seconds (the moment of the end of the 1st time quantum). In physical terms of that era, one can only assume that then the temperature was approximately 1.3 * 1032 degrees with a matter density of approximately 1096 kg/m 3. These values are the limits for the application of existing ideas. They appear due to the relationship between the gravitational constant, the speed of light, the Boltzmann and Planck constants and are called “Planck constants”.
Those events that are associated with 5*10-44 to 10-36 seconds reflect the model of the “inflationary Universe”. The moment of 10-36 seconds is referred to as the “hot Universe” model.
In the period from 1-3 to 100-120 seconds, helium nuclei and a small number of nuclei of other light chemical elements were formed. From this moment on, a ratio began to be established in the gas: hydrogen 78%, helium 22%. Before one million years, the temperature in the Universe began to drop to 3000-45000 K, and the era of recombination began. Previously free electrons began to combine with light protons and atomic nuclei. Helium and hydrogen atoms and a small number of lithium atoms began to appear. The substance became transparent, and the radiation, which is still observed today, was disconnected from it.
The next billion years of the existence of the Universe was marked by a decrease in temperature from 3000-45000 K to 300 K. Scientists called this period for the Universe the “Dark Age” due to the fact that no sources of electromagnetic radiation had yet appeared. During the same period, the heterogeneity of the mixture of initial gases became denser due to the influence of gravitational forces. Having simulated these processes on a computer, astronomers saw that this irreversibly led to the appearance of giant stars that exceeded the mass of the Sun by millions of times. Because they were so massive, these stars heated to incredibly high temperatures and evolved over a period of tens of millions of years, after which they exploded as supernovae. Heating to high temperatures, the surfaces of such stars created strong streams of ultraviolet radiation. Thus, a period of reionization began. The plasma that was formed as a result of such phenomena began to strongly scatter electromagnetic radiation in its spectral short-wave ranges. In a sense, the Universe began to plunge into a thick fog.
These huge stars became the first sources in the Universe of chemical elements that are much heavier than lithium. Space objects of the 2nd generation began to form, which contained the nuclei of these atoms. These stars began to be created from mixtures of heavy atoms. A repeated type of recombination of most of the atoms of intergalactic and interstellar gases occurred, which, in turn, led to a new transparency of space for electromagnetic radiation. The Universe has become exactly what we can observe now.
Observable structure of the Universe on the website portal
The observed part is spatially inhomogeneous. Most galaxy clusters and individual galaxies form its cellular or honeycomb structure. They construct cell walls that are a couple of megaparsecs thick. These cells are called "voids". They are characterized by a large size, tens of megaparsecs, and at the same time they do not contain substances with electromagnetic radiation. The void accounts for about 50% of the total volume of the Universe.
Looking at the starry sky at night, you involuntarily ask yourself: how many stars are there in the sky? Is there still life somewhere, how did it all come about, and is there an end to it all?
Most astronomers are confident that the Universe was born as a result of a powerful explosion, about 15 billion years ago. This huge explosion, usually called the “Big Bang” or “Big Impact”, was formed from a strong compression of matter, dispersed hot gases in different directions, and gave rise to galaxies, stars and planets. Even the most modern and new astronomical devices are not able to cover the entire space. But modern technology can catch light from stars that are 15 billion light years away from Earth! Perhaps these stars are long gone, they were born, grew old and died, but the light from them traveled to Earth for 15 billion years and the telescope still sees it.
Scientists of many generations and countries are trying to guess, calculate the size of our Universe, and determine its center. Previously, it was believed that the center of the Universe was our planet Earth. Copernicus proved that this is the Sun, but with the development of knowledge and the discovery of our Milky Way galaxy, it became clear that neither our planet nor even the Sun are the center of the Universe. For a long time they thought that there were no other galaxies besides the Milky Way, but this was also denied.
A well-known scientific fact says that the Universe is constantly expanding and the starry sky that we observe, the structure of the planets that we see now, is completely different than millions of years ago. If the Universe is growing, that means there are edges. Another theory says that beyond the boundaries of our space there are other Universes and worlds.
The first who decided to prove the infinity of the Universe was Isaac Newton. Having discovered the law of universal gravitation, he believed that if space were finite, all its bodies would sooner or later attract and merge into a single whole. And since this does not happen, it means that the Universe has no boundaries.
It would seem that all this is logical and obvious, but still Albert Einstein was able to break these stereotypes. He created his model of the Universe based on his theory of relativity, according to which the Universe is infinite in time, but finite in space. He compared it to a three-dimensional sphere or, in simple terms, to our globe. No matter how much a traveler travels across the Earth, he will never reach its edge. However, this does not mean that the Earth is infinite. The traveler will simply return to the place from which he began his journey.
In the same way, a space wanderer, starting from our planet and crossing the Universe on a starship, can return back to Earth. Only this time the wanderer will move not along the two-dimensional surface of a sphere, but along the three-dimensional surface of a hypersphere. This means that the Universe has a finite volume, and therefore a finite number of stars and mass. However, the Universe has neither boundaries nor any center. Einstein believed that the Universe is static and its size never changes.
However, the greatest minds are not above delusions. In 1927, our Soviet physicist Alexander Friedman significantly expanded this model. According to his calculations, the Universe is not static at all. It can expand or contract over time. Einstein did not immediately accept this amendment, but with the discovery of the Hubble telescope, the fact of the expansion of the Universe was proven, because galaxies scattered, i.e. were moving away from each other.
It has now been proven that the Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, that it is filled with cold dark matter and its age is 13.75 billion years. Knowing the age of the Universe, we can determine the size of its observable region. But don’t forget about constant expansion.
So, the size of the observable Universe is divided into two types. The apparent size, also called the Hubble radius (13.75 billion light years), which we discussed above. And the real size, called the particle horizon (45.7 billion light years). Now I’ll explain: you’ve probably heard that when we look at the sky, we see the past of other stars and planets, and not what is happening now. For example, looking at the Moon, we see as it was a little more than a second ago, the Sun - more than eight minutes ago, the nearest stars - years, galaxies - millions of years ago, etc. That is, since the birth of the Universe, no photon, i.e. light would not have time to travel more than 13.75 billion light years. But! We should not forget about the fact of the expansion of the Universe. So, by the time it reaches the observer, the object of the nascent Universe that emitted this light will already be 45.7 billion light years away from us. years. This size is the horizon of particles, it is the boundary of the observable Universe.
However, both of these horizons do not at all characterize the real size of the Universe. It is expanding and if this trend continues, then all those objects that we can now observe will sooner or later disappear from our field of vision.
Currently, the most distant light observed by astronomers is the cosmic microwave background radiation. These are ancient electromagnetic waves that arose at the birth of the Universe. These waves are detected using highly sensitive antennas and directly in space. By peering into the cosmic microwave background radiation, scientists see the Universe as it was 380 thousand years after the Big Bang. At this moment, the Universe cooled down enough that it was able to emit free photons, which are detected today with the help of radio telescopes. At that time, there were no stars or galaxies in the Universe, but only a continuous cloud of hydrogen, helium and an insignificant amount of other elements. From the inhomogeneities observed in this cloud, galaxy clusters will subsequently form.
Scientists are still debating whether there are true, unobservable boundaries of the Universe. One way or another, everyone agrees on the infinity of the Universe, but interprets this infinity in completely different ways. Some consider the Universe to be multidimensional, where our “local” three-dimensional Universe is only one of its layers. Others say that the Universe is fractal - which means that our local Universe may be a particle of another. We should not forget about the various models of the Multiverse, i.e. the existence of an infinite number of other universes beyond ours. And there are many, many different versions, the number of which is limited only by human imagination.
What is beyond the Universe? This issue is too complex for human understanding. This is due to the fact that first of all it is necessary to determine its boundaries, and this is far from easy.
The generally accepted answer takes into account only the observable Universe. According to him, dimensions are determined by the speed of light, because it is possible to see only the light that is emitted or reflected by objects in space. It is impossible to look further than the most distant light, which travels throughout the existence of the Universe.
Space continues to expand, but it is still finite. Its size is sometimes referred to as the Hubble volume or sphere. Man in the Universe will probably never be able to know what is beyond its boundaries. So for all exploration, this is the only space that will ever need to be interacted with. At least in the near future.
Greatness
Everyone knows that the Universe is big. How many millions of light years does it extend?
Astronomers are carefully studying cosmic microwave background radiation - the afterglow of the Big Bang. They look for connections between what happens on one side of the sky and what happens on the other. And so far there is no evidence that there is anything in common. This means that for 13.8 billion years in any direction the Universe does not repeat itself. This is how much time light needs to reach at least the visible edge of this space.
We are still concerned with the question of what lies beyond the observable Universe. Astronomers admit that space is infinite. The “matter” in it (energy, galaxies, etc.) is distributed in exactly the same way as in the observable Universe. If this is indeed the case, then various anomalies of what is on the edge appear.
There aren't just more different planets outside the Hubble volume. There you can find everything that can possibly exist. If you go far enough, you might even find another solar system with an Earth identical in every way except that you had porridge instead of scrambled eggs for breakfast. Or there was no breakfast at all. Or let's say you got up early and robbed a bank.
In fact, cosmologists believe that if you go far enough, you can find another Hubble sphere that is completely identical to ours. Most scientists believe that the universe we know has boundaries. What is beyond them remains the greatest mystery.
Cosmological principle
This concept means that regardless of the location and direction of the observer, everyone sees the same picture of the Universe. Of course, this does not apply to smaller scale studies. This homogeneity of space is caused by the equality of all its points. This phenomenon can only be detected on the scale of a galaxy cluster.
Something akin to this concept was first proposed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1687. And subsequently, in the 20th century, this was confirmed by the observations of other scientists. Logically, if everything arose from one point in the Big Bang and then expanded into the Universe, it would remain fairly homogeneous.
The distance at which one can observe the cosmological principle to find this apparent uniform distribution of matter is approximately 300 million light years from Earth.
However, everything changed in 1973. Then an anomaly was discovered that violated the cosmological principle.
Great Attractor
A huge concentration of mass was discovered at a distance of 250 million light years, near the constellations Hydra and Centaurus. Its weight is so great that it could be compared to tens of thousands of masses of the Milky Way. This anomaly is considered a galactic supercluster.
This object was called the Great Attractor. Its gravitational force is so strong that it affects other galaxies and their clusters for several hundred light years. It has long remained one of the biggest mysteries in space.
In 1990, it was discovered that the movement of colossal clusters of galaxies, called the Great Attractor, tends to another region of space - beyond the edge of the Universe. So far, this process can be observed, although the anomaly itself is in the “avoidance zone.”
Dark energy
According to Hubble's Law, all galaxies should move evenly away from each other, preserving the cosmological principle. However, in 2008 a new discovery emerged.
The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) detected a large group of clusters that were moving in the same direction at speeds of up to 600 miles per second. They were all heading towards a small area of the sky between the constellations Centaurus and Velus.
There is no obvious reason for this, and since it was an unexplained phenomenon, it was called "dark energy." It is caused by something outside the observable universe. At present there are only guesses about its nature.
If clusters of galaxies are drawn towards a colossal black hole, then their movement should accelerate. Dark energy indicates the constant speed of cosmic bodies over billions of light years.
One of the possible reasons for this process is massive structures that are located outside the Universe. They have a huge gravitational influence. There are no giant structures within the observable Universe with sufficient gravitational weight to cause this phenomenon. But this does not mean that they could not exist outside the observable region.
This would mean that the structure of the Universe is not homogeneous. As for the structures themselves, they can be literally anything, from aggregates of matter to energy on a scale that can barely be imagined. It is even possible that these are guiding gravitational forces from other Universes.
Endless bubbles
It is not entirely correct to talk about something outside the Hubble sphere, since it still has an identical structure to the Metagalaxy. “The unknown” has the same physical laws of the Universe and constants. There is a version that the Big Bang caused the appearance of bubbles in the structure of space.
Immediately after it, before the inflation of the Universe began, a kind of “cosmic foam” arose, existing as a cluster of “bubbles”. One of the objects of this substance suddenly expanded, eventually becoming the Universe known today.
But what came out of the other bubbles? Alexander Kashlinsky, head of the NASA team, the organization that discovered “dark energy,” said: “If you move far enough away, you can see a structure that is outside the bubble, outside the Universe. These structures must create movement."
Thus, "dark energy" is perceived as the first evidence of the existence of another Universe, or even a "Multiverse".
Each bubble is an area that has stopped stretching along with the rest of space. She formed her own Universe with her own special laws.
In this scenario, space is infinite and each bubble also has no boundaries. Even if it is possible to break the boundary of one of them, the space between them is still expanding. Over time, it will be impossible to reach the next bubble. This phenomenon still remains one of the greatest mysteries of the cosmos.
Black hole
The theory proposed by physicist Lee Smolin suggests that each similar cosmic object in the structure of the Metagalaxy causes the formation of a new one. One has only to imagine how many black holes there are in the Universe. Each one has physical laws that are different from those of its predecessor. A similar hypothesis was first outlined in 1992 in the book “Life of the Cosmos”.
Stars around the world that fall into black holes are compressed to incredibly extreme densities. Under such conditions, this space explodes and expands into its own new Universe, different from the original. The point where time stops inside a black hole is the beginning of the Big Bang of a new Metagalaxy.
The extreme conditions inside the collapsed black hole lead to small, random changes in the underlying physical forces and parameters in the daughter Universe. Each of them has characteristics and indicators that are different from their parents.
The existence of stars is a prerequisite for the formation of life. This is due to the fact that carbon and other complex molecules that support life are created in them. Therefore, the same conditions are needed for the formation of creatures and the Universe.
A criticism of cosmic natural selection as a scientific hypothesis is the lack of direct evidence at this stage. But it should be borne in mind that from the point of view of beliefs it is no worse than the proposed scientific alternatives. There is no evidence of what lies beyond the Universe, be it the Multiverse, string theory or cyclic space.
Many parallel universes
This idea seems to be something that has little relevance to modern theoretical physics. But the idea of the existence of a Multiverse has long been considered a scientific possibility, although it still causes active debate and destructive debate among physicists. This option completely destroys the idea of how many Universes there are in space.
It is important to keep in mind that the Multiverse is not a theory, but rather a consequence of the modern understanding of theoretical physics. This distinction is critical. Nobody waved his hand and said: “Let there be a Multiverse!” This idea was derived from current teachings such as quantum mechanics and string theory.
Multiverse and quantum physics
Many people are familiar with the “Schrödinger’s Cat” thought experiment. Its essence lies in the fact that Erwin Schrödinger, an Austrian theoretical physicist, pointed out the imperfection of quantum mechanics.
The scientist suggests imagining an animal that was placed in a closed box. If you open it, you can find out one of two states of the cat. But as long as the box is closed, the animal is either alive or dead. This proves that there is no state that combines life and death.
All this seems impossible simply because human perception cannot comprehend it.
But it is quite possible according to the strange rules of quantum mechanics. The space of all possibilities in it is huge. Mathematically, a quantum mechanical state is the sum (or superposition) of all possible states. In the case of Schrödinger's Cat, the experiment is a superposition of "dead" and "live" positions.
But how can this be interpreted so that it has any practical meaning? A popular way is to think of all these possibilities in such a way that the only "objectively true" state of the cat is the observable one. However, one can also agree that these possibilities are true and they all exist in different Universes.
String theory
This is the most promising opportunity to combine quantum mechanics and gravity. This is difficult because gravity is as indescribable on small scales as atoms and subatomic particles are in quantum mechanics.
But string theory, which says that all fundamental particles are made of monomeric elements, describes all the known forces of nature at once. These include gravity, electromagnetism and nuclear forces.
However, mathematical string theory requires at least ten physical dimensions. We can only observe four dimensions: height, width, depth and time. Therefore, additional dimensions are hidden from us.
To be able to use theory to explain physical phenomena, these additional studies are "dense" and too small on small scales.
The problem or feature of string theory is that there are many ways to do compactification. Each of these results in a universe with different physical laws, such as different electron masses and gravity constants. However, there are also serious objections to the compactification methodology. Therefore the problem is not completely solved.
But the obvious question is: which of these possibilities are we living in? String theory does not provide a mechanism for determining this. It makes it useless because it is not possible to thoroughly test it. But exploring the edge of the Universe has turned this error into a feature.
Consequences of the Big Bang
During the earliest structure of the Universe, there was a period of accelerated expansion called inflation. Initially, it explained why the Hubble sphere is almost uniform in temperature. However, inflation also predicted a spectrum of temperature fluctuations around this equilibrium, which was later confirmed by several spacecraft.
Although the exact details of the theory are still hotly debated, inflation is widely accepted by physicists. However, a corollary of this theory is that there must be other objects in the universe that are still accelerating. Due to quantum fluctuations in space-time, some parts of it will never reach the final state. This means that space will forever expand.
This mechanism generates an infinite number of Universes. Combining this scenario with string theory, there is a possibility that each has a different compactification of additional dimensions and therefore has different physical laws of the universe.
According to the doctrine of the Multiverse, predicted by string theory and inflation, all Universes live in the same physical space and can intersect. They must inevitably collide, leaving traces in the cosmic sky. Their character ranges from cold or hot spots in the cosmic microwave background to anomalous voids in the distribution of galaxies.
Since collisions with other Universes must occur in a certain direction, any interference is expected to disturb the homogeneity.
Some scientists look for them through anomalies in the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow of the Big Bang. Others are in gravitational waves, which ripple through space-time as massive objects pass by. These waves can directly prove the existence of inflation, which ultimately strengthens support for the multiverse theory.
