New research suggests that the universe may have been a hologram at one point in time, specifically a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang. The study, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, is the latest research on the “holographic principle,” which suggests that the laws of physics can apply to the universe as a two-dimensional plane.
“We are proposing using this holographic universe, which is a very different model of the Big Bang than the popularly accepted one that relies on gravity and inflation,” said lead author Niayesh Afshordi, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Waterloo and Perimeter Institute. “Each of these models makes distinct predictions that we can test as we refine our data and improve our theoretical understanding – all within the next five years.”
The theory suggests that the volume of space appears three-dimensional, but is actually encoded on a two-dimensional boundary or an observer-dependent horizon that requires one less dimension that it appears. In short, we see it as three-dimensional, but it is projected from a two-dimensional source, similar to how a hologram screen works.
“The idea is similar to that of ordinary holograms, where a three-dimensional image is encoded in a two-dimensional surface, such as in the hologram on a credit card,” explained researcher Kostas Skenderis from the University of Southampton. “However, this time, the entire universe is encoded.”
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