Professor Stephen Hawking may have died before the James Webb Space Telescope was deployed,
but because of the late physicist's immense space legacy, many hours of the new Space
Telescope will be dedicated to verifying some of his theories.
One of these theories is the final one Hawking worked on before his death, in which he debated
a Multiverse theory that suggests an exact copy of you exists in a parallel universe.
It is unusual for a single piece of scientific equipment to offer so much benefit, yet the
JWST has already validated Stephen Hawking's Multiverse Theory, which many scientists disputed.
What is the Multiverse Theory of Stephen Hawking?
How does it affect you?
How is the James Webb Space Telescope proving the theory?
Let's get into it.
Have you ever questioned if there are other intelligent beings in the cosmos besides Earth?
While that may not sound so terrifying, what if there are duplicates of you scattered throughout,
say, the universe?
This means a form that looks precisely like you performing things you would do, which
sounds disturbing, but the theory was supported by one of the sharpest minds in science, the
late Professor Stephen Hawking.
He worked on a theory known as the Multiverse theory, which aims to explain why there may
be clones of you that you are unaware of.
The notion that there may be copies of you implies that there can be copies of just about
everything you know.
For example, a replica of this planet or star in the solar system or the entire Milky Way
galaxy can be duplicated elsewhere, but apart from these celestial bodies, your laptop or
range rover may also have copies.
Who is making all these replicas and how many replicas can there be in the universe?
Are these forgeries?
Here are some historical contexts, as to the question of whether we are alone in the universe
Bill Watterson has the answer he said, “Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life
exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”
Of course, that is a sarcastic clever answer based on human nature rather than cosmic fact,
but in all seriousness, according to Michael J. Crowe, author of 'The Extraterrestrial
Life debate, 1750-1900,' the topic has troubled humans for as long as we've been conscious.
The Multiverse theory is notable because it was the professor's final published work,
which was submitted for publication just 10 days before his death in the paper titled
'A smooth exit from Eternal inflation?' which he co-authored with Thomas Hertog, a physicist
at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
Hawking proposed a theory for the genesis of the universe that could answer a few unanswered
questions.
Despite the fact that it was his final work, the paper was a final look at one of his earliest
theories.
In fact, if the JWST eventually proves the existence of the Multiverse, the scientists
behind it will be likely candidates for a Nobel Prize; yet, because Nobel prizes cannot
be granted posthumously, Hawking would be unable to earn one.
What exactly is the Multiverse Theory?
What did the late physicist think about it?
The Multiverse Theory proposes that our universe, with its hundreds of billions of galaxies
and nearly countless stars spanning tens of billions of light years, is not the only one;
rather, there may be another universe distantly separated from ours, and another, and another;
in fact, this mind-bending Theory proposes that there may be an infinite number of universes,
each with their own laws of physics, collections of stars and galaxies, and possibly even their
own intelligent civilizations.
So, in essence, our universe could be simply one of a much grander, much greater multitude
of universes, a Multiverse.
Regardless, it gets us.
Some will say creepier since the Multiverse implies the presence of doppelgangers or replicas,
according to logic.
If there are an infinite number of universes but a finite number of ways to arrange particles
in each individual universe, then the same patterns are destined to be repeated eventually,
which would mean that at some incredible distance there would be an exact copy of you watching
an exact replica of this video, and because there would be an infinite number of these
exact scenarios all happening at the same time.
The concept of the Multiverse appears in several domains of physics and philosophy, but the
most known example comes from the Inflation Theory.
Inflation Theory describes a hypothetical event that occurred when our universe was
only a fraction of a second old.
In that little period of time, the cosmos experienced rapid expansion, ballooning to
several orders of magnitude larger than its former size.
Our universe's inflation is considered to have ceased around 14 billion years ago, but
inflation does not terminate everywhere at the same time.
It is likely that as inflation ends in some regions, it will continue in others.
Thus, whereas inflation halted in our universe, it is possible that inflation continued and
continues even today in much more distant regions.
Individual universes can pinch off of bigger inflating expanding universes, resulting in
an infinite sea of Eternal inflation teeming with multiple distinct realms.
In this everlasting inflation scenario, each Universe would emerge with its unique set
of physical laws, particle collection, force organization, and fundamental constant values.
This could explain why our universe has the qualities it has, especially those that are
difficult to explain using simple physics, such as dark matter or the cosmological constant.
According to some scientists, the most compelling evidence for the Multiverse is the existence
of intelligent life capable of making cosmological observations.
When viewed in this light, certain aspects of our universe appear special and vital for
supporting life, such as star longevity, carbon abundance, light availability for photosynthesis,
and the stability of complex nuclei.
However, if you are given a random Universe, you are unlikely to find all of these features.
The Multiverse provides one explanation for why all of these unique advantages occur in
our universe, which is that other universes exist as well, but we perceive this one because
it is capable of supporting complex life.
Nevertheless, Hertog claims that Hawking was dissatisfied with this level of understanding
of the Multiverse, so he requested Hertog to join him in an attempt to tame the cosmos.
The pair then began to build a technique to translate the idea of a Multiverse into a
coherent testable scientific framework.
Hawking's final publication proposes a paradigm for understanding the universe that would
make the Multiverse bounded and subject to meaningful engagement through scientific instruments.
Meanwhile, having a theory is one thing; being able to verify it is quite another.
Proving the Multiverse theory is a difficult step because of what it entails.
The proof requires going back in time to re-examine many processes and events that occurred before
we finally showed up as a universe.
When we talk about looking back, we're talking about time spans of billions of years down
to the Big Bang.
Where will scientists obtain the necessary tool that can do this?
Astronomers have developed a fondness for the Hubble Space Telescope, which deserves
to be inducted into the telescope's Hall of Fame.
But how far back in time can Hubble see?
While the farthest object Hubble has seen is the GN z11 Galaxy, which is roughly 13.4
billion light years away, Hubble saw GN z11 as it was around 13.4 billion years ago, and
that is the telescope's limit.
The Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago, which means there is a 300-million-year gap
between that event and the extent to which Hubble can look back; that gap contains critical
information.
Fun fact: the GN z11 Galaxy is now 32 billion light years away from Earth due to the universe's
constant expansion.
This is where the James Webb Space Telescope, the mother of all telescopes, comes in.
The JWST is the largest space Observatory ever built and is regarded as the Hubble Space
Telescope's successor.
It has a massive sun shield which measures 22 meters by 12 meters, nearly the size of
a tennis court.
The shield's purpose is to prevent heat from interfering with the operation of the infrared
cameras.
The JWST's infrared instrument allows it to focus on bright objects such as very distant
galaxies.
The 10 billion JWST's job is to investigate the first light in the universe and celestial
objects that emerged immediately after the big bang.
Examine the formation and evolution of galaxies, analyze the atmospheres of distant exoplanets,
take photos of planets in our own solar system and search for evidence of Dark Matter.
Hawking, interestingly, helped develop the theory that led to the concept of infinite
parallel universes, the Eternal inflation Theory, but he admitted in an interview that
he had never been a big admirer of the Multiverse, saying, “The usual theory of Eternal inflation
predicts that globally our universe is like an infinite fractal.
With a mosaic of different pocket universes separated by an inflating ocean.
The local laws of physics and chemistry can differ from one pocket Universe to another,
which together would form a Multiverse.
But I've never been a fan of the Multiverse.
If the scale of different universes in the Multiverse is large or infinite, the theory
can't be tested.”
Hawking and Hertog relied on String Theory, a branch of physics that attempts to reconcile
quantum physics with gravity and Einstein's theory of relativity.
They proposed a revolutionary idea of Eternal inflation that is based on a boundary at the
beginning of time.
The premise is that if we track the evolution of our universe backward in time, we will
eventually arrive at the threshold of Eternal inflation, where our familiar concept of time
will no longer have any relevance.
Starting from that boundary, the new theory envisions a finite structure of universes
arising from The Big Bang.
If this theory is proven to be correct, it would imply that other universes similar to
our own could have emerged at that time, and that there could even be primordial gravitational
waves matching the inflation of the universe.
However, this new model is still far from proven, and physicists will need more data
and a better understanding of string theory before that is possible.
Physicists could search for evidence of other universes by utilizing instruments designed
to track ripples in space-time, also known as primordial gravitational waves, caused
by the universe's first expansion after The Big Bang.
Of course, scientists have to argue about everything, but we are excited that humans
are inching closer to determining whether there are other intelligent life forms occupying
parallel universes.
Meanwhile, many scientists continue to bash the Multiverse Theory, making it very controversial.
Some scientists have openly expressed their concerns, claiming that it is completely metaphysical
and that it is nothing more than an idea.
Furthermore, they point out that Multiverse Theory is not a theory in the traditional
sense because it lacks a recognized and accepted set of mathematical equations that can be
used to perform calculations and make predictions, implying that there is no prospect of connecting
in any meaningful way with empirical data, at least for the time being.
Let's hear your thoughts on the Multiverse theory.
Do you think there's a copy of you out there?
Tell us about it in the comments section.