Strange patterns in light left over from the Big Bang indicate that even
though the universe may be flat, it may still be structured like a
doughnut.
According to recent study, the cosmos might actually be a massive doughnut
despite all proof to the contrary.
The research concludes that the universe may not be flat and that strange
patterns in the Big Bang's echoes may be explained by a universe with a more
complex structure.
Plain areas
The cosmos appears to be flat based on all current data. The term
"flatness" in mathematics describes how parallel lines behave as they extend
into the infinite. Consider a tabletop: Lines that begin parallel will
continue to be parallel as they progress along the length of the
table.
Look at Earth, in comparison. At the equator, lines of longitude are
exactly parallel to one another, but they ultimately meet at the poles. The
Earth is not spherical, as shown by the original intersection of parallel
lines.
The 3D world follows the same reasoning. For instance, the cosmic microwave
background (CMB) contains minute temperature variations across the heavens
and was produced when the universe was only 380,000 years old. It is now
located over 42 billion light-years distant. The expected size of those
variations in comparison to observations has been computed by astronomers.
Those parallel light beams must have changed paths over space-time if their
observed size deviates from forecasts; this proves that the universe's
geometry is curved.
However, those same observations have shown that the general geometry of
the universe is flat, disregarding small-scale deflections from galaxies and
black holes.
various kinds of apartments
However, there are various types of flats. For instance, on a sheet of
paper, create parallel lines. The paper should then be wrapped so that one
end connects to the other and forms a cylindrical. The lines go around the
sphere in a straight path. Any cylinder is physically flat but is referred
to as having a distinct topology in mathematics. You can create a torus or
doughnut form by folding the paper in half on both ends.
Another illustration of an oddly flat form is a paper strip wrapped in a
circle with one end 180 degrees twisted. Because parallel lines remain
parallel even when they turn over one another, the final shape is a Möbius
strip, which is still mathematically flat.
There are 18 potential 3D configurations, all of which are geometrically
planar. Each one has at least one dimension that loops around on itself, and
they occasionally rotate partially or turn over like a Möbius strip. A
(possibly upside-down) version of ourselves from when we were much younger
would be visible if we peered far away in this twisted world. Astronomers
would observe the Milky Way galaxy as it was 1 billion years ago, followed
by a duplicate from 2 billion years ago, and so on, if the universe were 1
billion light-years across.
Astronomers could see these duplicates if the cosmos were a huge doughnut
and they looked in both ways.
The structure of the cosmos
Numerous techniques have been used by astronomers to determine the
structure of the universe, including matching circles in the CMB and
searching for copies of galaxy patterning. The overwhelming body of data
points to the universe's geometric flatness and unwrapped structure.
However, a report released on February 23 to the preprint repository
arXiv indicates that earlier readings were insufficient.
Most significantly, measurements have relied on the idea that the world has
only one dimension and a simple topology. The CMB has also been observed to
exhibit some odd, inexplicable anomalies, such as huge patterns that emerge
in unexpected places.
In reality, at least some of the irregularities in the CMB could be
explained by a universe with a complex structure. The researchers suggested
strategies for more advanced direct investigations, such as follow-up
studies of the CMB, even though this is not a solid argument in favor of
complex topologies.
In that scenario, somewhere in our twisted world, there might be a mirror
image of us.
