What exists outside our universe?

anonymous · 04-28-2003

Is there anything beyond our universe? Exactly what is our universe housed in? - more space?

anonymous · 05-02-2003

i know isnt it just the most annoying question!!!!!

anonymous · 05-04-2003

I believe it is possible that there is nothing beyond our universe and the expansion of our universe is simply the creation of more space, space that will simply be a part of this universe. But yet, this concept is mind bending. Does the universe need more space? Possibly its all the same space, but unoccupied and nothing is outside the universe, simply a figment of more space which we have concocked in our minds to explain what we are expanding into.

Tormod · 05-05-2003

This really depends on what you define as the "universe". If you are talking about the Observable Universe, then it simply expands into more of the same (more stars, more galaxies) - because it is defined by the distance of the most remote light we can see (imagine a sphere with a radious of some 13,7 billion years).

If you define the "universe" as everything that can possibly be, then there is nothing into which the Universe can expand. This would make the Universe infinite (but not necessarily occupying an infinite space - simply all the space that is available!).

Another way to view our Universe is to consider that it might be a part of a larger universe in which ours is only a small part (like an island in the ocean). This is actually just a modification of the first point above. However, depending on how each of the universes came into being, their physical laws and properties may be different.

According to the Anthropic principle, we live in the most likely of all universes. This principle in fact requires there to be an endless amount of possible universes, some of which must exist "out there".

Anyway, we have covered this before in our forums so try to look back through the posts and you might find some interesting points.

Tormod

cern · 05-08-2003

The answer is that there is no outside matter or space, we are contained within a small bubble that is expanding
spacially for us but not actually taking the space away from anywhere else.
letucre slides on the bigbang theory. large file about 2.1mb

Tormod · 05-08-2003

cern,

that is only one theory among many - and it is becoming rather outdated now.

To view the Universe as a bubble is in fact a very simplified way to see it. It is easy to argue that the _observable_ Universe has the shape of a sphere (because we find ourselves in the middle of it, and can see equally far in each direction in spatial 3D) - but you cannot from that simply conclude that the entire Universe has a spherical shape.

Here's a simple MIT Cosmology Faq which addresses the very question which started this thread.

Tormod

Oracle · 05-19-2003

Why big Bang there's a bang after bang ....explosion after explosion but what my "incredible, ubelievable" SPONTANEOUS brain has come up is this:

Imagine a bubble gum, you blow the bubble there's all the galaxies in it everything its the universe, it pops up (BANG) and galaxies and everything spread even more and create a new bubble gum bars which will expand more and more at the end there won't be any gum left so it has to be "chewed" all over and blown up again.
Tormod, I think I'm getting into a concept of the theory you mentioned in the General Discussion about the " universe recreating itself" .. just maybe going back in time sounds too unbelieveable for such an enormous energy.

Tormod · 05-20-2003

Did you drink too much bubbly last night?

If we accept a theory of a never-ending series of Big Bangs, I think it follows that the Universe must be infinite. It would be difficult to find out which bubble was the "first" or "original" bubble, so for all practical purposes the Universe would be like an infinite onion...

The concept about the Universe creating itself comes from J. Richard Gott III's book "Time Travel in Einstein's Universe" - a highly speculative book. It's not my idea.

And frankly, I wouldn't give it good odds.

Tormod