Every science fiction fan is familiar with the notion of parallel universes with the Star Trek series being one of the first to popularize the notion. However, thanks to the Large Hadron Collider, we may soon have proof that a parallel universe does, in fact, exist.
Will scientists be able to prove that is does exist? Recently quantum mechanics theories have put forth the idea that yes, scientists will indeed be able to prove the existence of another universe running parallel to our own. The European Organization for Nuclear Research is engaging in a high intensity project which could soon prove that a parallel universe does exist.
When the Large Hadron Collider is brought back online in the spring, researchers will be looking for the existence of mini black holes. These mini black holes would lend support to string theory, which posits that different dimensions and parallel universes are possible.
"That's something I'm really, really waiting for, because if it does come out in our energy scale, then we know we're using the right theory," said Mir Faizal, who is a visiting professor in the physics and astronomy department at the University of Waterloo.
This won't be the first time scientists have searched for mini black holes, but they haven't found them yet. Faizal believes that is because scientists have failed to take into account rainbow gravity. According to his calculations, it could be possible to detect the mini black holes once the collider starts back up at almost double the energy level it did before. The detection of these black holes during the exercises would prove the existence of other dimensions and the rainbow gravity theory as well, he said.
"So if LHC operates at that [energy level]- we will know that rainbow gravity is correct, and that extra dimensions and parallel universes are correct," Faizal says.
If Faizal and his colleagues are correct, it would present a great leap forward for physics, says Damian Pope, an outreach physicist with the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont.
"The Large Hadron Collider might provide observations, fingers crossed it will, which will allow us to fix our current physics. And this is a big thing, because we've had...in the particle physics, the same physics for the last 30 years, basically. Not that it's stagnated but there's been no big, huge leaps," Pope says.
The Large Hadron Collider has faced its fair share of criticism with many believing it to be dangerous to our very existence. While on the surface creating a black hole does sound dangerous, the risks are actually minimal.
"They're very, very, very tiny, it could be a couple of millimeters or even much, much smaller than that," Pope says.
"It turns out mini black holes are incredibly unstable, they're incredibly fleeting and they evaporate in microseconds. Even if we create a whole bunch, a million mini black holes, they'll just evaporate right away, they won't grow and grow."
