Is the Universe spherical and shaped like a soccer ball?

If somehow humans could step out and observe the Universe, what would the Universe look like? Scientists have struggled with this question, taking various measurements to determine the shape of the Universe and answering the question of whether the Universe has a limit or not?

According to Einstein's theory of general relativity, space itself can be warped by mass. As a result, the density of the Universe – the ratio of mass to volume – determines the shape and future of the Universe.

Scientists have calculated the 'critical density' of the Universe. The critical density is proportional to the square of the Hubble constant, which is used to measure the expansion rate of the Universe. Comparing critical density with true density can help scientists understand the Universe.

If the actual density of the Universe is less than the critical density, there is not enough matter to stop the expansion of the Universe, and it will expand forever. The result is a negative curved shape that resembles the surface of a saddle. This is known as an Open Universe.

But if the actual density of the Universe were equal to the critical density, it would last forever like a flat sheet of paper.

If the actual density of the Universe is greater than the critical density, then it contains enough mass to eventually stop expanding. In this case, the Universe is closed and finite, although it has no end point, and is spherical in shape. Once the Universe stops expanding, it will begin to contract. The galaxies will stop drifting away and start moving closer and closer together. Eventually, the Universe will go through the opposite process of the Big Bang. This is known as a closed Universe.

If the actual density of the Universe is greater than the critical density then the Universe is finite and has a spherical shape, if the actual density is less than the critical density, the Universe is infinite and has a saddle shape , if the actual density is equal to the critical density, the Universe is infinite and flat as paper (image: NASA)

Is the Universe flat and infinite? 

Before 2001, measurements by several experiments on the ground and in hot air balloons, indicated that the Universe was flat with an accuracy of about 15%, meaning that the actual density of the Universe was equal to the incident density. term.

After 2001, when the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) was launched, its data on the Cosmic microwave background radiations or Cosmic remnant radiation, is radiation born from the early Universe about 380,000 years after the Big Bang, which led scientists to confirm that the Universe is flat, the actual density of the Universe being equal to the critical density with error 0.4%. This shows that the Universe will expand infinitely.

However, because the Universe has a finite age, we can only observe a finite volume of the Universe. All we can really conclude is that the Universe is much larger than the volume we can observe directly.

Is the Universe finite and possibly in the shape of a soccer ball? 

In 2003, in a paper published in the journal Nature, Dr Jeffrey Weeks, an independent mathematician in Canton, New York, and his colleagues suggested that, based on the Department's map analysis The big bang, the Universe is a sphere of 12 curved pentagons in which the illusion of infinity is created by looking out and seeing multiple copies of the same stars.

This idea was promoted when Dr. Jeffrey Weeks and colleagues applied the mathematical model of the French mathematician Poincaré to the analysis of the cosmic microwave background radiation.

According to Jeffrey Weeks, an infinite Universe would contain waves of all amplitude sizes. WMAP does not see any very large amplitude waves. This shows that space is finite – for the same reasons you don't see big waves in your bathtub.

The best explanation for these observations is that the Universe is a Poincaré tetrahedron. Mathematical models of a solid, spherical Universe surrounded by 12 curved pentagons produce patterns seen in background radiation without any special refinement. 'It fits the data surprisingly well,' says Weeks.

In the journal Nature, Dr Weeks and his colleagues write, 'Since ancient times, man has wondered whether our Universe is finite or infinite. Now, after more than two millennia of speculation, observational data can finally address this ancient question.'

Left: The 3-D Universe is shaped like a soccer ball with 12 curved pentagons. Right: depiction of the 4-D Universe as a superposition of 120 12-sided pentagonal spheres (image: J. Weeks et al.)

Scientists are still arguing

Cosmologist Janna Levin of the University of Cambridge, UK agrees that describing the Universe as a 12-sided sphere is 'a good solution'. But other geometries could produce similar patterns in the microwave background, she warned. 'It would be a surprise if the Universe chose such a beautiful platonic shape,' she said. 'And I would be surprised if the Universe were so small.'

Levin explains that most physicists assume that the Universe is infinite. But Einstein's theories really say nothing about whether the Universe is finite or infinite.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mark Tegmark, a cosmologist at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Neil Cornish, a physicist at Montana State University, say that careful analysis of the data from WMAP shows that the Universe hypothesis Finite like a soccer ball is non-existent.

Two groups of scientists have contradicted and contradicted each other about whether the Universe is finite or infinite. At present, it is not possible to draw a conclusion that the model of the 'Spherical and soccer-like Universe' can be rejected or not? However, the amazing thing about this debate, which all agree will really be resolved soon, underscores the power of modern data to solve problems once considered quasi-supernatural. Figure.