From: Damien Broderick (damienb@unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Tue Mar 11 2003 - 18:30:40 MST
At 04:09 PM 3/11/03 -0800, Hal wrote:
>on new implications of the recent observations of the cosmic microwave
>background (CMB),
>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/11/science/space/11COSM.html.
< The simplest of these compact universes is something called a 3-torus, a
doughnut wrapped in three different dimensions. This object is essentially
impossible to visualize: it is the equivalent, in a way, of a cube whose
opposite sides are somehow glued together. In two dimensions it works just
like the Spacewar screen.
Living in such a universe would be like being inside a hall of mirrors,
Dr. Tegmark said. Instead of seeing new stars deeper and deeper in space,
you see the same things over and over again as light travels out one side
of your cube and back in the other. >
I recall reading this very idea discussed in an Analog article by Ben Bova
35- 40 years ago. He was considering quasars, a new thing back then.
Sounded like a cool idea to me.
Damien Broderick
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