A 5D universe is plausible given the data
If I told you that the universe had an additional dimension beyond the familiar three space and one time dimensions, the first thing you might ask is: how do I see this dimension? Or why don’t I see it? Can I travel through it?
One of the main reasons we actually perceive the dimensions we do is not because they are dimensions but because the universe provides a mechanism to travel through each of them in a symmetric way. That is, each one behaves something like the other (with the exception of time which I’ll get to).
Einstein taught us that these three dimensions are related through a process called Lorentz transformation (named after the great physicist Alfred Lorentz). Lorentz transformation is simply the six possible ways that you can move in time and space: three kinds of rotation that you can think of as pitch, yaw, and roll and three kinds of acceleration (one for each spatial direction). It is the phenomenon of Lorentz symmetry (the equivalence of all states of motion related by Lorentz transformation) that allows us to perceive the three space and one time dimension, not their status as dimensions.
To see why, imagine a metal rod. You can turn it in three different rotational directions. You can also lob it across the room accelerating it at someone you dislike. A third option is to apply an electric current…
