To Infinity, And Beyond

Things just keep getting weirder, and I’m not talking about the healthcare debate or American foreign policy (not this time anyway). As it turns out, there is a team of scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland who have apparently not taken to the streets to protest the doom of impending socialism, but who have rather been studying an apparent phenomenon called “Dark Flow” for several years now. Dark Flow was indentified by comparing the distribution of galactic clusters (groups of galaxies) in the Universe relative to the cosmic microwave background radiation.

The scientists found that in certain regions of the Universe, at certain distances from Earth, the distribution of galactic clusters varied in a statistically significant manner from the cosmic microwave background radiation. Since the cosmic microwave background radiation is a physical remnant of the explosive event which gave birth to the Universe, the matter in the Universe should be distributed in approximate conformity with it, but in the case of these certain galactic clusters, it isn’t. These clusters appear to moving relative to the background radiation, rather than in concert with it. The team at the Goddard Space Flight Center speculates that there are only two explanations for the observed phenomenon which are consistent with known physics, and neither of them is consistent with known physics.

The first possibility is that the observed regions of space/time are somehow anomalous and functioning under rules that are not consistent with the balance of the Universe. This explanation is not favored since it would be the first demonstrated such example where universal principles of gravity and probability are violated (other than in a singularity). The other explanation offered is that these galactic clusters are being pulled in an unexpected direction by something outside of the universe, like the gravity of another universe. For those of us who have grown up with the concept that there is nothing outside of the Universe, this sounds like something Deepak Chopra might come up with, but it is actually Alexander (Sasha) Kashlinsky, the Goddard Space Flight Center team leader, who has speculated on the matter (no pun intended). Dr. Kashlinsky, a graduate of Cambridge University, has been studying cosmological issues for over 20 years and is something of an expert on cosmic microwave background radiation and the Universe’s neo-natal issues.

The theory of Dark Flow is, of course, not without its detractors, but most of the criticism has centered on methodological issues in the study of galactic cluster movements as opposed to offering any viable explanation for the phenomenon should it actually be occurring. A recent expansion of the data set used in the analysis to include two additional years of observations has served to confirm the original observations made in 2008, and methodological criticisms have been addressed, at least to the satisfaction of the study team itself. Currently, there is no reason to dispute the legitimacy of the observation that these galactic clusters have engaged in deviant behavior, we just can’t be certain why.

The wonderful thing about science is that it keeps giving us new stuff to talk about with our spouses and significant others. Unlike much political and religious thought and the practiced ignorance of the crypto-Luddites who worship the past, science goes where the facts take it, to the extent that facts can be known, and goes with the humility to admit that certain things are only probably true, not absolutely true. There may be a more prosaic explanation for Dark Flow put forward tomorrow and the research team could repudiate their own findings next week, if reason dictates, but for now, it’s pretty creepy. Whole clusters of galaxies are being drawn like the children of Hamelin towards something that shouldn’t exist and the only reasonable explanations appear to be magic or Star Trek.

I have spent a great deal of time contemplating the unfathomable infinity of time and space and the have spent many sleepless nights and purchased a great deal of Prozac because of it. While many physicists have speculated about the existence of other universes as solutions to problems in both Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity, and while the idea that there is more to reality than reality is not completely new, Dr. Kashlinsky has now kindly provided me with the suggestion of empirical evidence that, in addition to the infinity of my own universe, I can now lay awake at night and contemplate the infinity of an infinite number of other universes. Thanks, dude; I appreciate your help.