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I felt like the blog post got cut off. It felt like it was leading up to some statement, as they outlined how a small curved universe would be identified throug

I felt like the blog post got cut off. It felt like it was leading up to some statement, as they outlined how a small curved universe would be identified through patterns etc etc, even link a paper they wrote on it…… then…… nothing. Did I miss something crucial in the reading? Edit: Reading the paper they found correlations indicative of a non flat space but could be explained by other factors and noise. So it wasn’t conclusive but left open the door for curved space and a small universe.

sigmoid10 3y ago
>Reading the paper they found correlations indicative of a non flat space but could be explained by other factors and noise. The paper doesn't question the flatness of space. In fact it uses it as a constraint for its models, because there is extremely strong observational evidence that our universe is globally flat (which is actually its own mystery, since the universe contains energy and energy curves space). What the paper suggests is that if inflation (i.e. the first moments after the big bang) happened in a specific way that is consistent with current experimental data, the universe might be much smaller than previously thought. If it actually is finite and below a certain size, we could even detect it using upcoming observations from large scale structure surveys.
- _hypx_ 3y ago
  Inflation "smooths out" the curves in space-time by stretching space out in an exponential manner. So any curves get flattened until the universe is effectively flat. An inflation-like theory that doesn't stretch space out that much leads to its own mysteries.
  - fnordpiglet 3y ago
    Thanks both - IANAP so I appreciate the guide. However, if as he asserts this can be studied and verified, have we really not done that?
    - sigmoid10 3y ago
      This is by no means a trivial task. Studying these far away structures takes powerful telescopes operating over decades. Things like the JWST have barely begun taking data.

sigmoid10 3y ago

>Reading the paper they found correlations indicative of a non flat space but could be explained by other factors and noise. The paper doesn't question the flatness of space. In fact it uses it as a constraint for its models, because there is extremely strong observational evidence that our universe is globally flat (which is actually its own mystery, since the universe contains energy and energy curves space). What the paper suggests is that if inflation (i.e. the first moments after the big bang) happened in a specific way that is consistent with current experimental data, the universe might be much smaller than previously thought. If it actually is finite and below a certain size, we could even detect it using upcoming observations from large scale structure surveys.

_hypx_ 3y ago
Inflation "smooths out" the curves in space-time by stretching space out in an exponential manner. So any curves get flattened until the universe is effectively flat. An inflation-like theory that doesn't stretch space out that much leads to its own mysteries.
- fnordpiglet 3y ago
  Thanks both - IANAP so I appreciate the guide. However, if as he asserts this can be studied and verified, have we really not done that?
  - sigmoid10 3y ago
    This is by no means a trivial task. Studying these far away structures takes powerful telescopes operating over decades. Things like the JWST have barely begun taking data.