(2/2011) Book Review: Visions of the Multiverse

Reviewed By Dr. Joseph S. Maresca

Visions of the Multiverse: Is Our Universe One of Many? (New Page Books/2011) By: Dr. Steven Manly 

The author reviews a plethora of possibilities about the multiverse concept.

Examples are :

o Beyond Horizon Multiverse

o Fecund Multiverse

o Oscillating Big Bang Multiverse

o Ekpyratic Multiverse

o Cyclic Patch Multiverse

o Bubble Multiverse

o The Many Worlds Multiverse

Some sophisticated concepts in Physics are discussed at length. For instance, the notion of quantum fluctuations in a vacuum is presented. The J-psy discovery heralded the November Revolution where the particle physics community accepted the notion that quarks are real.

Galaxies further than us are moving away in direct proportion to their distance. From Hubble’s law, scientists may concur that the universe expands with the passing of time and temperature drops. An accelerating expansion of the universe kills the oscillating big bang multiverse theory.  Does the lack of structure in the universe obviate the big bang theory?

The author explains that black holes are formed in centers of galaxies and in the last steps of the life cycle of massive stars. There may be considerable implications for the concept of a black hole and time travel. The research challenge is to commercialize these ideas.   i.e.

In other words, one second to your friend falling into a black hole is several minutes to you and, in essence, your friend is aging more slowly than you and is traveling into the future faster than you are. If he/she could manage to put on the brakes just before crossing over the Event Horizon and escape to rejoin you, you would note that his/her clock reads a much earlier time than your clock.

To your friend, only 2000 hours may have elapsed, however, YOUR clock would read perhaps 10000 hours or several weeks have elapsed depending upon how close to the Event Horizon your friend could get before escaping. The tidal gravitational forces are enormous near small black holes the mass of the sun, so your friend would be shredded into spaghetti within a few hundred miles of the Horizon. For supermassive black holes of several billion solar masses, however, the tidal forces near the Horizon are very small and survivable. This means you could accidently find yourself passing across this one-way barrier, and only realize your mistake when you tried to escape and found it impossible. (1)

In addition, there are some very interesting explanations of multiverse concepts. The “Beyond-the-Horizon Multiverse” involves distant parts of the cosmos causally disconnected from us by an expanding universe with physical laws similar to ours but different initial conditions. The introduction of different initial conditions conjures up a differential equation analysis to help explain the concept mathematically.

The Fecund Multiverse suggests that quantum gravity effects inside black holes might lead to the birth of another universe isolated by the black hole from the originating universe. The conditions for black hole formation tend to be favorable for star formation and even the existence of life forms. If true, the Fecund Multiverse would have implications for our space program.

The book still leaves some enormous research questions on the table. For instance, what lies at the end of our universe or at the overlapping boundaries between adjacent universes?   In addition, what is the fate of our universe?

The current scientific thinking is that the ultimate fate of the universe depends on its shape, how much dark energy contained within, and  how the dark energy density responds to the expansion of the universe.

The book has an extensive explanatory section of scientific notes and a bibliography. The bibliography reads like a Who’s Who in Physics.  There are citations from Richard Feynman, L. Lederman, Steven Weinberg and many others.  The book is priced reasonably. The author makes every attempt to gear the presentation to the general public.  I think that it is extremely difficult to craft a book on the advanced subject matter of this book without some prior scientific background. Yet, the presentation would make an excellent starting point for student scientific papers at every grade level in academe. Purchase this book for a thoroughly enjoyable read and perhaps a re-read.

References:

1) How can you use black holes for time travel? http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q285.html

Joseph S. Maresca Ph.D., CPA, CISA, MBA: His significant writings include over 10 copyrights in the name of the author (Joseph S. Maresca) and a patent in the earthquake sciences. He holds membership in the prestigious Delta Mu Delta National Honor Society and Sigma Beta Delta International Honor Society.  In addition, he blogs and reviews many books for Basil & Spice. Visit the Joseph S. Maresca Writer’s Page.

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