Ask Ethan: How Do We Get Enough Mass To Have A Multiverse?
If the multiverse is real, where does all the energy for it come from?
One of the biggest scientific puzzles, even given our knowledge of the Big Bang, is to understand how our Universe came into existence with the properties we observe it to have. We can understand how our modern Universe evolved from a hotter, denser, more uniform early state, and we can even understand how that state arose from an earlier period of cosmic inflation. But if we extrapolate back far enough, at some point, we lose the ability to measure any properties or imprints from earlier periods of time; beyond that, we only have equations and speculations to guide us. One of the predictions arising from those too-early-for-confirmation times is that our Universe is just one of many, with the sum total of everything making up a multiverse. But where does all the mass/energy for a multiverse come from? That’s what Professor Laura Templeman wants to know, asking:
“I don’t know how to explain the multiverse’s mass. If it constantly is splitting into new multiverses where is the conservation of energy? Is it bc gravity is negative energy? Is it because expansion creates more? I am sure I’m missing something elementary but… how we can have enough mass for so many multiverses?”
