Name: Adrian
Status: educator
Grade: 9-12
Country: France
Date: Summer 2012
Question:
I have been reading about the growing evidence for dark energy and of the idea of it being a repulsive force. Could it not also be that matter in our universe is being "pulled" apart by an attraction from other dimensions "outside" it?
Replies:
Adrian,
I think this is a situation where we apply Occam's Razor. While it is certainly possible that the data we have on dark energy - which is still gathering evidence to support the hypothesis, we tend to look for "simpler" explanations that do not require additional conjectures that we do not have data to support. If we hypothesize an "other dimension" - then we have to find evidence for the influence of this other dimension (apart from what we are already trying to figure out - the movement of galaxies and the speed of objects as they enter larger vacuums of space). Occam's Razor would suggest that we have more data to support the current theory and is a more straightforward explanation than an other dimension. It may turn out that we will find evidence to support that theory, but for now, we don't.
Greg (Roberto Gregorius)
Canisius College
Adrian
I guess that is a possibility.
All of this about dark matter/energy and extra dimensions are just some mathematical outcomes at present.
Actual reality has yet to be discovered. Methods for testing these hypothesis have yet to be developed.
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