Cosmology is founded on the assumption that when you look at the universe at the vastest scales, matter is spread more or less evenly throughout space. Cosmologists call this a smooth structure. But a small band of researchers, led by statistical physicist Luciano Pietronero (pictured right) of the University of Rome and the Institute of Complex Systems, Italy, argues that this assumption is at odds with what we can see. Instead they claim that the galaxies form a structure that isnt smooth at all: some parts of it have lots of matter, others dont, but the matter always falls into the same patterns, in large and small versions, at whatever scale you look. In other words, the universe is fractal. It is a controversial view, and one that sparked an intense debate over a decade ago. Since then, astronomers have surveyed ever-greater numbers of galaxies, taking larger and larger samples of the universe. Now the biggest galaxy survey ever and a brand new map of the universes dark matter are adding fuel to the fire. At stake is far more than the way galaxies cluster. A fractal universe could undermine cosmologys most basic assumptions. All of the observations we make depend to a greater or lesser extent on the idea that the universe is homogeneous, says David Hogg of New York University, who leads a team of physicists that disputes Pietroneros view. nexusilluminati.blogspot/2010/03/is-universe-fractal.html
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 04:18:47 +0000
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