Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

One-dimensional early universe theory is testable, prof says

Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

In “Primordial Weirdness: Did the Early Universe Have One Dimension? Scientists Outline Test for Theory”, at ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2011), we re asked to consider whether the universe started out with only one dimension:

That’s the mind-boggling concept at the heart of a theory that University at Buffalo physicist Dejan Stojkovic and colleagues proposed in 2010.They suggested that the early universe — which exploded from a single point and was very, very small at first — was one-dimensional (like a straight line) before expanding to include two dimensions (like a plane) and then three (like the world in which we live today).

The theory, if valid, would address important problems in particle physics.

Now, in a new paper in Physical Review Letters, Stojkovic and Loyola Marymount University physicist Jonas Mureika describe a test that could prove or disprove the “vanishing dimensions” hypothesis.

The idea isn’t new. A 19th century mathematician, Edwin A.Abbott, wrote a novel, Flatlanders, which addresses the question of how a three-dimensional entity would experience a two-dimensional or one-dimensional world:

Of course, the subject of two-dimensional thinking – or even one-dimensional thinking – obviously suggests a chance for an author to condemn short-sighted social policy. But still, in addition to his two-dimensional world, Abbott also offers us a geometrical glimpse into a one-dimensional world, dominated inevitably by a supreme egotist. 

Comments
Though I have severe reservations about this 'theory', I think the 'flatlander' example you alluded to is excellent for illustrating the 'higher dimensional' nature of the spiritual realm; Dr. Quantum Explains The Unseen Spiritual Dimension - Flatland video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4119478/ and of course this note; Please compare the similarity of the optical effect, noted at the 3:22 minute mark of the following video, when the 3-Dimensional world 'folds and collapses' into a tunnel shape around the direction of travel as an observer moves towards the 'higher dimension' of the speed of light, with the 'light at the end of the tunnel' reported in very many Near Death Experiences: Traveling At The Speed Of Light - Optical Effects - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5733303/ The NDE and the Tunnel - Kevin Williams' research conclusions Excerpt: I saw a pinpoint of light in the distance. The black mass around me began to take on more of the shape of a tunnel, and I felt myself traveling through it at an even greater speed, rushing toward the light. I was instinctively attracted to it, although again, I felt that others might not. As I approached it, I noticed the figure of a man standing in it, with the light radiating all around him. (Betty Eadie) etc.. etc.. etc..bornagain77
April 21, 2011
April
04
Apr
21
21
2011
03:53 AM
3
03
53
AM
PDT

Leave a Reply