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21st Mar 2022

Scientists believe there could be an ‘anti-universe’ next to ours – where time runs backwards

Kieran Galpin

Via Unsplash

If you think about this too much, your head will hurt

A scientific theory suggests that an “anti-universe” may exist alongside our own where time runs backwards before the Bing Bang that created our own universe.

In a paper submitted to the Annals of Physics journal from Cornell University, it’s explained that the reasoning for this universe is down to CPT symmetry, which is described as fundamental symmetries in nature such as charge, parity and time.

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Researchers suggest that the same symmetries that apply to physical interactions could also apply to the entire universe. So, in order to preserve said symmetry, it’s believed a mirroring cosmo exists alongside our own.

They further believe that this anti-universe could explain dark matter, a force only detectable through its effect on gravity. Essentially, all neutrinos spin left – but the reverse universe would theoretically have right-spinning neutrinos.

However it’s difficult to test.

Due to the anti-universe supposedly existing before the Big Bang, we’ll never be able to reach it unless there’s some Star Trek level technology in Earth’s future. However, scientists predict that the anti-universe’s reverse neutrinos could also possess their own antiparticles, like electrons and positrons in our reality.

Via Unsplash

Due to the time frame in which the anti-universe exists, the universe’s natural expansion and life cycle never occurred. Researchers theorise that their theory would be proven more accurate upon detecting no gravitational waves.

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