by Richard Kerk-Hecker

Created on: February 13, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

Living In A Ten Dimensional Universe

Humans live in a four dimensional Universe (three spatial dimensions plus time), because that is all we are able to perceive. But we know there must be more. There are too many enigmatic phenomena in the Universe that can only be explained if we accept the premise that there are more than four dimensions, even though we can't perceive them. It's a pretty wild idea, but as Sherlock Holmes put it, "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be true."

Now some scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have released a report that may bring us one step closer to actually perceiving some of these extra dimensions. In a study led by physicist Gary Shiu, it was proposed that the nature of these extra dimensions would have been most pronounced at the moment of the Big Bang, when the Universe was born, and by studying the "echo" of the Big Bang, known as the Cosmic Background Radiation, in fine enough detail, the true dimensional shape of the Universe could be ascertained.

To test this theory, two different yet mathematically simple geometries were used as models of an infant Universe. When the background radiation was calculated for each model, the maps produced showed some significant differences. This suggests that it should be possible to work backward from a map of the Cosmic Background Radiation of our Universe, and determine its true geometry, and exactly how many dimensions it really has.

NASA's COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) project won the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics for producing the first ever map of the Cosmic Background Radiation. This project was followed by NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), to measure the radiation in more detail. Unfortunately all the current data are still not precise enough to find the "shadows" of the hidden dimensions, but Shiu says that more sensitive and complex experiments such as the upcoming European Space Agency's Planck satellite should be able to detect the subtle variations between different dimensional geometries.

If Shiu's plan works, the results, whatever they are, will be profound. Answering the question are there more than four dimensions in the Universe will be almost as significant as answering the question are there more than just "Human" beings in the Universe. It will also tell us once and for all if there's any merit to String Theory. String Theory is the answer to Einstein's unfulfilled quest for a Unified Field Theory, otherwise known as The Theory Of Everything - which mathematically unites all the forces in the Universe.

String theory does this by proposing that everything in the Universe is composed of tiny vibrating strings of energy. Strings that are billions of times smaller than quarks, which are pieces of pieces of atoms. Strings that are too tiny to even comprehend, and therefore much too tiny to be subjected to any kind of experimental analysis, which could prove or disprove their existence. But in order for String Theory to work, the Universe must consist of not four, but ten dimensions. So if, by mapping the Cosmic Background Radiation in precise enough detail, we are able to see the "echos" or "shadows" of an extra six dimensions, it would go a long way towards confirming the veracity of String Theory, and we might be a little closer to realizing Einstein's quest. But a ten dimensional Universe? Holy relativity, Batman! Now isn't that something to try and wrap your brain around. One can't help but wonder what Einstein would think about all of this...

Learn more about this author, Richard Kerk-Hecker.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.