A region in space was theorized to contain an 'anti-universe' that runs opposite the relative time we have today. The time-traveling anomaly, according to experts, may explain the unknown truths about dark matter and the theory of cosmic inflation.

What is the Anti-Universe Theory?

Anti-universe theory
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This NASA Hubble Heritage Team image released 02 October 2003 shows the Sombrero Galaxy. HHT astronomers, who assemble many of the NASA Hubble Space Telescope's most stunning pictures, are celebrating their fifth anniversary with the release of this image. One of the largest Hubble mosaics ever assembled, this magnificent galaxy is nearly one-fifth the diameter of the full moon. The team used Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys to take six pictures of the galaxy and then stitched them together to create the final composite image. The photo reveals a myriad of stars in a pancake-shaped disk and a glowing central bulge of stars.

A new astronomical theory suggests that an 'anti-universe' exists somewhere in space. In addition, the parallel phenomenon might have the capacity to run backward in time even before the big bang took place.

The concept, according to the authors, states that the then-developing universe was small, had extremely high temperatures, and was dense. Alongside these properties, the early universe also has asymmetric time configuration, allowing the continuous events to occur forward and backward synchronously.

The research implies that, if the new 'anti-universe' theory is true, it will be easier for us to understand the baffling presence of the dark matter. When associated with the new idea, dark matter is simply a sub-versions of neutrinos that can exist in this universe.

The anti-universe theory also says that the concept of cosmic inflation, in which the young universe expanded right after the big bang, is somewhat irrelevant.

Supporting evidence for the existence of this anti-universe could be gathered through future studies of either gravitational waves or neutrino mass, Live Science reports.

Charge, Parity, and Time Symmetry

Physics research has already proven several accounts of symmetry in the natural world. Among the most important principles of these symmetries lie in charge, parity, and time (CPT symmetry).

Charge in all interaction-related particles flipped with an opposite charge results in the same interaction. Parity states that any interaction perceived via mirrored images shows the same interaction. Time demonstrates that any interaction laid backward through time looks the same.

In almost all cases, physical interactions that occur in nature tend to obey the three particular fundamentals. Like other aspects, these three aspects are sometimes broken, but there were no observations in which all of the principles are violated in nature at the same time.

The new study takes the CPT symmetry application into another concept. In common activities, the principle only applies to the 'interactions,' or fields and forces responsible for the physics in the universe.

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The authors extend the CPT symmetry not just throughout the concepts of the natural cosmos, but the entirety of the universe itself as a physical object.

The expanding universe we live in contains many particles that continuously move. Time goes forward in this place, but extending the CPT symmetry to the entire universe as one would disrupt the laws we thought we knew. Allowing the fundamentals to the universe's current state will result in a separate entity that has an opposite charge, mirrors what we do, and runs backward through time.

A CPT-respecting universe would have at least one right-handed neutrino, excluding the left-handed cosmic spinning neutrino flavors such as electron-neutrino, tau-neutrino, and muon-neutrino.

The right-handed neutrino would be visible to certain physical observations, and could only influence the rest of the interactions of the universe through gravity. Experts suspect that this neutrino is indeed dark matter.

Could We Visit the Anti-Universe?

However, accessing the anti-universe would be impossible, as the CPT-mirroring cosmos is existing 'behind' what we have today, stretching even further than our origin during the big bang.

Testing the existence of the anti-universe, on the other hand, is possible. If the left-handed neutrino species stated are all proven to be Majorana particles, meaning that they are their antiparticles, then the anti-universe theory would be correct.

Additional evidence should be that, among the neutrino species, one should be proven massless. The cosmic inflation must have never occurred but was filled with particles through their capacities.

The cosmic inflation shook the universe that sent massive amounts of gravitational waves, some of which still exist. These waves should not exist in a CPT-abiding universe. When these primordial waves were proven empty, then the anti-universe indeed exists.

The study was published in the journal Annals of Physics, titled "The Big Bang, CPT, and neutrino dark matter."

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