Could the Universe Be Shaped Like a Doughnut? ...

• Main Author: daniel
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2024
• Subjects: North Pole
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11658308; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.11658308

The cosmos might share an unexpected characteristic with a doughnut: its shape, or more precisely, its topology. In a universe with a complex, doughnut-like topology, you could theoretically travel across the cosmos and end up back where you started. This possibility hasn't been ruled out yet, according to physicists in the April 26 issue of Physical Review Letters. In a universe with trivial topology, any closed path you draw can be shrunk down to a point. For example, if you travel around Earth's equator, that loop can be squished by shifting your trip to the North Pole. However, a doughnut has a complex, or nontrivial, topology. A loop around the doughnut’s hole, for instance, cannot be shrunk down because the hole restricts how far you can compress it. While the universe is generally believed to have a trivial topology, this is not certain, the researchers argue. “I find it fascinating … the possibility that the universe might have nontrivial or different types of topologies, and then especially the fact ...