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'''Laura Mersini-Houghton''' (née ''Mersini'') is a [[cosmologist]] and [[theoretical physicist]], and associate professor at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]. She has developed (together with collaborators) a theory for the birth of the universe from the [[landscape multiverse]] that included five predictions proposed in 2006,{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}} four of which have since been observed: the [[CMB cold spot]] (2007, 2013); [[preferred direction associated with the quadrupole, octupole alignment]] (2013); [[CMB power suppression at low multipoles]] (2013); [[dark flow]] (2009); and, the deviation of the CMB amplitude (2010).{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}} Her theory of the origins of the universe from the landscape multiverse is not [[Phenomenology (science)|phenomenological]]. The theory and its predictions are derived from fundamental physics and first principles by using quantum cosmology for the wavefunction of the universe on the landscape and calculating decoherence and quantum entanglement among various surviving branches.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}
'''Laura Mersini-Houghton''' (née ''Mersini'') is a [[cosmologist]] and [[theoretical physicist]] at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina]] who is notable for proposing a controversial theory<ref name=twsPafumi>2010, G. R. Pafumi, Xlibris Corporation (publishers), [http://books.google.com/books?id=ySNfuGKwfMcC&pg=PA310&lpg=PA310&dq=%22laura+mersini+houghton%22&source=bl&ots=QVayppEOZp&sig=_PpfI5BQIhRA_-1Gqy3IvBVEHTU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zH64U873FIaNqAa_84GoAQ&ved=0CBwQ6AEwADg8#v=onepage&q=%22laura%20mersini%20houghton%22&f=false Is Our Vision of God Obsolete?], Accessed July 5, 2014, (see page 310) "....A controversial claim by Laura Mersini-Houghton..."</ref> that our universe is one of many; accordingly, she is a chief proponent of the [[multiverse]] theory.<ref name=twsTheAge>Stephen Cauchi, December 9, 2007, The Age, [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/into-the-void-a-glimpse-of-our-tiny-place-in-the-scheme-of-things/2007/12/08/1196813083793.html Into the void: a glimpse of our tiny place in the scheme of things], Accessed July 5, 2014, "...Laura Mersini-Houghton...caught the attention of the world's cosmologists with a radical theory ... Dr Mersini-Houghton's theory is based on the "multiverse" concept..."</ref><ref name=twsNautilus>MICHAEL SEGAL, OCTOBER 3, 2013, Nautilus Newsletter, [http://nautil.us/issue/6/secret-codes/ingenious-laura-mersini_houghton Ingenious: Laura Mersini-Houghton: The universe chaser], Accessed July 5, 2014, "....Laura Mersini-Houghton ... analysis of the faint microwave radiation ... Cosmic Microwave Background..."</ref><ref name=twsCosmos>Heather Catchpole, 24 November 2009, Cosmos Magazine (University of Adelaide Science Magazine), [http://cosmosmagazine.com/news/something-big-found-beyond-edge-universe/ Weird data suggests something big beyond the edge of the universe], Accessed July 5, 2014, "....One proponent of the multiverse theory, cosmologist Laura Mersini-Houghton ..."</ref><ref name=twsNCarolinaPublicRadio>FRANK STASIO & LINDSAY FOSTER THOMAS,SEPTEMBER 24, 2012, North Carolina Public Radio, [http://wunc.org/post/meet-laura-mersini-houghton Meet Laura Mersini-Houghton], Accessed July 5, 2014, "...Laura Mersini-Houghton ... delves even deeper into how our world came to be than the Big Bang theory..."</ref> If the multiverse theory is correct, there could be hundreds or billions of other universes.<ref name=twsCanadaFreePress/> She argued that anomalies in the current structure of the universe are best explained as the gravitational tug exerted by other universes.<ref name=twsCanadaFreePress>Joshua Hill December 3, 2007, Canada Free Press, [http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/the-great-nothing-may-be-something The Great Nothing may be something…], Accessed July 5, 2014, "...Mersini-Houghton has put forward a theory that has stunned the wider community..."</ref><ref name=twsDailyGalaxy/><ref name=twsAustralian>JONATHAN LEAKE of THE TIMES, MAY 19, 2013, The Australian, [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/cosmic-cold-spots-hint-at-other-universes/story-fnb64oi6-1226646122822?nk=bf657ee5cf79300dad262f7d41af3bcd Cosmic cold spots hint at other universes: SCIENTISTS believe they have found the first evidence that other universes exist.], Accessed July 5, 2014, "...The map, based on Planck data, showed anomalies in the background radiation ... caused by other universes pulling on our universe ... said Laura Mersini-Houghton.."</ref><ref name=twsSundayTimes>Jonathan Leake, Science Editor Published: 19 May 2013, The Sunday Times, [http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Science/article1261602.ece Cosmic map reveals first evidence of other universes], Accessed July 5, 2014</ref><ref name=twsNationalNews>Mar 19 2014, The News, National Headlines, [http://www.nationalheadlines.co.uk/could-big-bang-ripples-prove-the-existence-of-a-parallel-universe-gravitational-wave-discovery-paves-the-way-for-the-multiverse/231161/ Could Big Bang ripples prove the existence of a PARALLEL universe? Gravitational wave discovery paves the way for the ‘multiverse’], Accessed July 5, 2014, "...Laura Mersini-Houghton ... other universes pulling on our universe ..."</ref> She explained:

[[File:WMAP 2010.png|thumb|350px|Image of temperature fluctuations in the [[cosmic microwave background]].]]
==Education==
{{BLP unsourced section|date=June 2014}}
*B.S., [[University of Tirana]], [[Albania]]
*M.S., [[University of Maryland]]
*Ph.D., [[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]]

Laura Mersini-Houghton received her undergraduate degree from the [[University of Tirana]], [[Albania]], and her M.Sc. from the [[University of Maryland]]. She was awarded a PhD in 2000 by the [[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]].

After earning her PhD, Mersini-Houghton was a postdoctoral fellow at the Italian [[Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa]] from 2000 to 2002. In 2002 she had a postdoctoral fellowship for two years at the [[University of Syracuse]], New York. However she accepted a job as faculty at UNC in 2003. She spend most of 2003 at PI, Waterloo and in January 2004, she started as professor of theoretical physics and cosmology at the [[University of North Carolina Chapel Hill]] (UNC) with tenure in 2008.

==Research==
The main questions Laura Mersini-Houghton explores are{{whom|date=June 2014}}: Why did our universe start from such an incredibly low entropy state? Can we test the origins of the universe with our current ground and space based experiments? If cosmology is embedded in a richer structure, the [[multiverse]], what observational evidence can test it? The motivation comes from the need for a coherent theory of the origins of the universe and a deeper understanding of nature at extreme energies. The objective is to link the current major experiments, the Planck Mission and LHC, to predictions of candidate theories. She is also interested in other fundamental topics such as the nature of space and time, (see her recent book with R.Vaas, Springer Verlag [[Time's Arrows]]{{dn|date=April 2014}}, (May 2012))

Soon after the discovery of the [[string theory landscape|landscape]], Mersini-Houghton proposed a theory in 2004–2005 for the birth of the universe from the [[landscape multiverse]]. The main idea is based on placing the wavefunction of the universe on the landscape in order to calculate the most probable wavefunction of the universe. This theory takes into account the out of equilibrium dynamics in the initial states and it includes decoherence among the various wavefunctions. The derived probability distribution results in states of high energy inflation being the most probable initial condition to start a universe. The selection mechanism arises from the out of equilibrium evolution of gravitational versus matter degrees of freedom, as follows: gravity is a "negative heat capacity system" (vacuum energy tends to equilibrium by expanding the initial space to infinity), while matter degrees of freedom are in the class of "positive heat capacity" systems (that tend to equilibrium by collapsing the system to a point). Any realistic cosmology contains both contributions massive fluctuations, and, vacuum energy. Therefore, the evolution of the opposing tendencies of the degrees of freedom in the initial states drives the state out of equilibrium and selects only high energy initial states as "survivor" universes from the back reaction of massive fluctuations since only high energy states can grow. Initial states that contain large vacuum energies give rise to expanding physical universes. Low energy initial states cannot survive the back reaction of massive fluctuations, cannot grow and thus result in "terminal" universes.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}

In 2006 in two papers named [[Cosmological Avatars of the Landscape]],<ref name="arxiv:hep-th/0611223">[[arxiv:hep-th/0611223]]</ref> and,<ref name="arxiv:hep-th/0612142">[[arxiv:hep-th/0612142]]</ref> Mersini-Houghton predicted that the [[CMB cold spot]], which was later observed by WMAP and Planck, was "the unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own",.<ref>[[Marcus Chown]], [http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19626311.400-the-void-imprint-of-another-universe.html The void: Imprint of another universe?], [[New Scientist]], 2007-11-24</ref> Planck data has confirmed that the [[Cold Spot]] is an underdense region in the southern hemisphere, of about 200 Mpc and z~1, in perfect agreement with what she and her collaborators had predicted in their 'Cosmological Avatars of the Landscape' papers 'I: Bracketing the SUSY Breaking Scale',<ref name="arxiv:hep-th/0611223"/> and 'II: CMB and LSS Signatures'<ref name="arxiv:hep-th/0612142"/> published in 2006.

In November 2008, a NASA team led by [[Alexander Kashlinsky]]<ref>A. Kashlinsky, F. Atrio-Barandela, D. Kocevski, and H. Ebeling, ''A measurement of large-scale peculiar velocities of clusters of galaxies: results and cosmological implications'', [[Astrophysical Journal|ApJ]] 686 L49, {{doi|10.1086/592947}}, {{arxiv|0809.3734}},([http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/pdf/276176main_ApJLetters_20Oct2008.pdf same paper at nasa.gov])</ref> observed the [[dark flow]] of [[galaxy clusters]] in the universe at exactly the velocity and alignment predicted by her<ref>{{arxiv|0810.5388}}</ref> earlier in the 'Cosmological Avatars of the Landscape I, II' papers in 2006.<ref name=avatars>Cosmological Avatars of the Landscape I, II; Phys. Rev. D, 77, {{doi|10.1103/PhysRevD.77.063510}}, {{doi|10.1103/PhysRevD.77.063511}}; [[arxiv:hep-th/0611223]], [[arxiv:hep-th/0612142]]</ref>

In the same year (2006) [[WMAP]] reached agreement with [[Sloan Digital Sky Survey|SDSS]] experiment, that the overall amplitude of fluctuation is less than 1.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}} If these observational findings, predicted in the 2006 papers by Mersini-Houghton ''et al.''{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}} are confirmed over the next few years, then they may offer the first evidence of a universe beyond our own. Such confirmation would tie the standard model of cosmology into a more coherent picture where our universe is not at the center of the world, but part of it.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}. These predictions were just confirmed by Planck data released in March 2013.<ref name="sciops.esa.int">[http://sciops.esa.int/SA/PLANCK/docs/Planck2013results22.pdf]</ref>

After the observational confirmation of the five predictions{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}} ([[CMB cold spot]], [[power suppression at low l's]], [[alignment of quadrupole with octupole]], [[dark flow]], and [[Sigma8~0.8]]) her work continues to attract international media attention, GCHEP/UNC,<ref>[http://www.physics.unc.edu/research/theory/gchep/ GCHEP]</ref> in the New Scientist, Bild der Wissenschaft, Scientific American, and Discover magazine.

A team of astrophysicists reported between November 2008 and February 2009 that they had found evidence of the northern hemisphere [[CMB cold spot]] in analysis of WMAP data.<ref>{{arxiv|0811.2732v3/astro-ph}}</ref> However, apart from the southern CMB cold spot, the varied statistical methods in general fail to confirm each other regarding a northern CMB cold spot.<ref>Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 1{13 (2009) Printed 20 May 2009 Non-Gaussian Signatures in the five-year WMAP data as identified with isotropic scaling indices G. Rossmanith1?, C. Rath1, A. J. Banday2;3 and G. Morfill1</ref> Since Mersini's [[Theory on the Origins of the Universe from the Landscape Multiverse]], several [[CMB_cold_spot#Possible_causes_other_than_primordial_temperature_fluctuation|other possible causes]] have been suggested for the CMB cold spot. The main issue with the alternative explanations offered since Mersini's theory is that they can not produce an explanation for all observed anomalies having the same origin. Precision measurements in cosmology therefore highly constrain these phenomenological models.

[[Dark flow]] remains [[Dark flow#Criticisms|controversial]]. Its existence and velocity are "likely to stay unsettled until" the new accurate cosmic microwave background radiation data by the European Space Agency's [[Planck satellite]] are available in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mann |first=Adam |url=http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/12/supernova-research-challenges-cosmic-dark-flow-mystery.ars | title=Supernova research challenges cosmic "dark flow" mystery |publisher=Arstechnica.com |date=2011-12-16 |accessdate=2012-11-11}}</ref>

The Planck results for anomalies observed in the CMB were published in March 2013<ref name="sciops.esa.int"/> The anomalies discovered and confirmed by Planck in the CMB are: 1. Power suppression at large distances (low I's); 2. Cold Spot; 3. Alignment of Quadrupole and Octupole in the CMB leading to a Preferred Direction; and, 4. The Overall Amplitude of Sigma_8. All of these anomalies were derived in the 2006 paper: "Why the Universe Started from a Low Entropy State",<ref>[http://arxiv.org/pdf/hep-th/0511102.pdf]</ref> well before (and independent of) any experimental detections.


Before her work on the [[Theory of the Origins of the Universe from the Landscape Multiverse]], she investigating the problem of dark energy and developed a program with her collaborator M.Bastero-Gil, where dark energy is produced by short distance ([[transplanckian]]) modes. With other collaborators she analyzed wMAP data for the equation of state of dark energy and showed that it can be of a phantom form.
{{Quote|These anomalies were caused by other universes pulling on our universe as it formed during the Big Bang ... They are the first hard evidence for the existence of other universes that we have seen.|Laura Mersini-Houghton, 2013<ref name=twsDailyGalaxy>Peter Woit, New Scientist, and JPL, June 03, 2013, The Daily Galaxy, [http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2013/06/the-dark-flow-the-existence-of-other-universes-new-claims-of-hard-evidence.html The "Dark Flow" & Existence of Other Universes --New Claims of Hard Evidence], Accessed July 5, 2014, "...Laura Mersini-Houghton ... predicted that anomalies in radiation existed and were caused by the pull from other universes ... believes her hypothesis has been proven from the Planck data..."</ref>}}


She is co-editor and author in the book 'Arrows of Time: A Debate in Cosmology',.<ref>http://www.amazon.com/The-Arrows-Time-Cosmology-Fundamental/dp/3642232582</ref>
Analysis was made from data provided in part by the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft which mapped the [[Cosmic microwave background]] radiation, which remained when the universe began almost fourteen billion years ago.<ref name=twsIBTimes>Timur Moon, May 19, 2013, International Business Times, [http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/planck-universe-big-bang-mercini-holman-468831 Planck Space Data Yields Evidence of Universes Beyond Our Own], Accessed July 5, 2014, "....Data gathered by the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft enabled researchers to map the "cosmic microwave" of background radiation.."</ref> Astronomers, examining the Planck data as well as examining images around the constellation [[Eridanus (constellation)|Eridanus]], observed that it had far fewer stars than usual.<ref name=twsNewScientist/> It constituted an enormous hole or void about a billion light years across.<ref name=twsNewScientist/> Standard cosmology can not explain anomalies such as a "giant cosmic hole".<ref name=twsEpochTimes>Tara MacIsaac, Epoch Times | January 23, 2014, [http://m.theepochtimes.com/n3/466683-how-a-massive-hole-in-space-3-5-billion-light-years-across-could-change-view-of-universe/ Colossal ‘Hole’ in Space Could Be Link to Universe Beyond Our Own], Accessed July 5, 2014, "...“Standard cosmology cannot explain such a giant cosmic hole,” Laura Mersini-Houghton,...."</ref> Mersini-Houghton, along with other physicists, suggested that this hole was the "unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own" and the first experimental evidence for another universe.<ref name=twsNewScientist/> Further, the multiverse hypothesis is consistent with [[string theory]] and may lead to further understanding of how the universe functions at its simplest levels.<ref name=twsNewScientist>24 November 2007, Marcus Chown, issue 2631, New Scientist Magazine, [http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626311.400-the-void-imprint-of-another-universe.html The void: Imprint of another universe?], Accessed July 5, 2014, "....an enormous hole in the universe ... a billion light years across ... unmistakable imprint of another universe ... says Laura Mersini-Houghton ... a staggering claim..."</ref> If string theory's [[landscape multiverse]] is correct, then in 2006 it was proposed that would mean that five predictions would be true: the [[CMB cold spot]], the preferred direction associated with the quadrupole,<ref>Note: the octupole alignment</ref> CMB power suppression at low multipoles, [[dark flow]], and deviation of the [[CMB]] amplitude. According to one source, four of these five predictions have been observed, consistent with Mersini-Houghton's theory.<ref name=twsITechPost>James Maynard, May 28, 2013, ITechPost, [http://www.itechpost.com/articles/9885/20130528/universes-detected-oldest-light-cosmos-laura-mersini-houghton-university-of-north-carolina-jean-jacques-dordain.htm Other universes detected in oldest light in the Cosmos?], Accessed July 5, 2014, "....Starting in 2005, Mersini-Houghton published a series of papers in conjunction with Richard Holman at Carnegie Mellon University predicting what the Planck observatory would see ... the exact sort of anomalies that were actually spotted in the latest image...."</ref><ref>A. Kashlinsky, F. Atrio-Barandela, D. Kocevski, and H. Ebeling, ''A measurement of large-scale peculiar velocities of clusters of galaxies: results and cosmological implications'', [[Astrophysical Journal|ApJ]] 686 L49, {{doi|10.1086/592947}}, {{arxiv|0809.3734}},([http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/pdf/276176main_ApJLetters_20Oct2008.pdf same paper at nasa.gov])</ref>


According to her hypothesis, [[black hole]]s as such do not exist.<ref name=twsGuardian>Tracy McVeigh of The Observer, 24 May 2014, The Guardian, [http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/may/25/howthelightgetsin-2014-hay-on-wye Illuminating ideas (and a lot of fun) in a small-town idyll: Where else could you learn the latest black-hole theory, hear unfettered political debate and dance to Hot Chip? We report from the alternative festival at Hay-on-Wye…], Accessed July 5, 2014, "....Laura Mersini-Houghton, an esteemed cosmologist and professor of physics ... that black holes do not exist...."</ref> Such theoretical work in physics led to the creation of cosmic maps.<ref name=twsDailyMail>ROSIE TAYLOR, 19 May 2013, Daily Mail, [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2326869/Is-universe-merely-billions-Evidence-existence-multiverse-revealed-time-cosmic-map.html Is our universe merely one of billions? Evidence of the existence of 'multiverse' revealed for the first time by cosmic map], Accessed July 5, 2014</ref> She appeared on the ''[[BBC]]'' in 2010 along with physicists and cosmologists including [[Michio Kaku]], [[Neil Turok]], [[Andrei Linde]], [[Roger Penrose]], [[Lee Smolin]], to explain her theory of the universe as a wave function on the landscape multiverse.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vdkmj |title=Two Programmes - Horizon, 2010-2011, What Happened Before the Big Bang? |publisher=BBC |date= |accessdate=2011-01-02}}</ref> She explained:
On October 11, 2010, Laura Mersini-Houghton appeared in a BBC programme ''What Happened Before the Big Bang'' (along with [[Michio Kaku]], [[Neil Turok]], [[Andrei Linde]], [[Roger Penrose]], [[Lee Smolin]], and other notable cosmologists and physicists) where she propounded her theory of the universe as a wave function on the landscape multiverse.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vdkmj |title=Two Programmes - Horizon, 2010-2011, What Happened Before the Big Bang? |publisher=BBC |date= |accessdate=2011-01-02}}</ref> The programme referred to these observational tests of her theory's predictions, which makes it the only theory on the origins of our universe ever to offer predictions and have them successfully tested.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}}


Laura Mersini-Houghton appeared in Morgan Freeman's 'Through the Wormhole' series in the 'Is There an Edge of the Universe' episode in 2011. This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2012 in the Outstanding Science and Technology Programming category. In 2010 she also appeared in the 'Parallel Universes' episode of the National Geographic Channel: Naked Science series. Her talk in the philosophy festival in Hay-on-Wye can be found here <ref>http://iai.tv/video/how-to-find-a-multiverse</ref>
{{Quote|It's like our universe is a box and everything that it contains is inside it like milk in a carton ... If our universe is all that's there, then the liquid in the box shouldn't be sliding. Whatever is pulling it has to be bigger than the size of the box ... There is a structure beyond the horizon of our universe and that structure is exerting a force on our universe and creating this flow.|Mersini-Houghton, 2010<ref name=twsDiscovery>MAR 18, 2010, BY IRENE KLOTZ, Discovery.com, [http://news.discovery.com/space/history-of-space/dark-flow-universe.htm Mysterious 'Dark Flow' May Be Tug of Other Universe], Accessed July 5, 2014, "....our universe is ... like milk in a carton... Whatever is pulling it has to be bigger than the size of the box..."</ref>}}


Mersini-Houghton's work on multiverse theory is discussed in the epilogue of a recently published biography of [[Hugh Everett III]].<ref>"The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett III" by Peter Byrne,ISBN 978-0-19-955227-6</ref>
==Publications==
''Arrows of Time: A Debate in Cosmology'' (editor and author)


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 03:36, 15 July 2014

Laura Mersini-Houghton
Born
Tirana, Albania
NationalityAlbanian
Alma materTirana University
University of Maryland
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Doctoral advisorLeonard Parker

Laura Mersini-Houghton (née Mersini) is a cosmologist and theoretical physicist, and associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has developed (together with collaborators) a theory for the birth of the universe from the landscape multiverse that included five predictions proposed in 2006,[citation needed] four of which have since been observed: the CMB cold spot (2007, 2013); preferred direction associated with the quadrupole, octupole alignment (2013); CMB power suppression at low multipoles (2013); dark flow (2009); and, the deviation of the CMB amplitude (2010).[citation needed] Her theory of the origins of the universe from the landscape multiverse is not phenomenological. The theory and its predictions are derived from fundamental physics and first principles by using quantum cosmology for the wavefunction of the universe on the landscape and calculating decoherence and quantum entanglement among various surviving branches.[citation needed]

Bildung

Laura Mersini-Houghton received her undergraduate degree from the University of Tirana, Albania, and her M.Sc. from the University of Maryland. She was awarded a PhD in 2000 by the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

After earning her PhD, Mersini-Houghton was a postdoctoral fellow at the Italian Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa from 2000 to 2002. In 2002 she had a postdoctoral fellowship for two years at the University of Syracuse, New York. However she accepted a job as faculty at UNC in 2003. She spend most of 2003 at PI, Waterloo and in January 2004, she started as professor of theoretical physics and cosmology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) with tenure in 2008.

Forschung

The main questions Laura Mersini-Houghton explores are[according to whom?]: Why did our universe start from such an incredibly low entropy state? Can we test the origins of the universe with our current ground and space based experiments? If cosmology is embedded in a richer structure, the multiverse, what observational evidence can test it? The motivation comes from the need for a coherent theory of the origins of the universe and a deeper understanding of nature at extreme energies. The objective is to link the current major experiments, the Planck Mission and LHC, to predictions of candidate theories. She is also interested in other fundamental topics such as the nature of space and time, (see her recent book with R.Vaas, Springer Verlag Time's Arrows[disambiguation needed], (May 2012))

Soon after the discovery of the landscape, Mersini-Houghton proposed a theory in 2004–2005 for the birth of the universe from the landscape multiverse. The main idea is based on placing the wavefunction of the universe on the landscape in order to calculate the most probable wavefunction of the universe. This theory takes into account the out of equilibrium dynamics in the initial states and it includes decoherence among the various wavefunctions. The derived probability distribution results in states of high energy inflation being the most probable initial condition to start a universe. The selection mechanism arises from the out of equilibrium evolution of gravitational versus matter degrees of freedom, as follows: gravity is a "negative heat capacity system" (vacuum energy tends to equilibrium by expanding the initial space to infinity), while matter degrees of freedom are in the class of "positive heat capacity" systems (that tend to equilibrium by collapsing the system to a point). Any realistic cosmology contains both contributions massive fluctuations, and, vacuum energy. Therefore, the evolution of the opposing tendencies of the degrees of freedom in the initial states drives the state out of equilibrium and selects only high energy initial states as "survivor" universes from the back reaction of massive fluctuations since only high energy states can grow. Initial states that contain large vacuum energies give rise to expanding physical universes. Low energy initial states cannot survive the back reaction of massive fluctuations, cannot grow and thus result in "terminal" universes.[citation needed]

In 2006 in two papers named Cosmological Avatars of the Landscape,[1] and,[2] Mersini-Houghton predicted that the CMB cold spot, which was later observed by WMAP and Planck, was "the unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own",.[3] Planck data has confirmed that the Cold Spot is an underdense region in the southern hemisphere, of about 200 Mpc and z~1, in perfect agreement with what she and her collaborators had predicted in their 'Cosmological Avatars of the Landscape' papers 'I: Bracketing the SUSY Breaking Scale',[1] and 'II: CMB and LSS Signatures'[2] published in 2006.

In November 2008, a NASA team led by Alexander Kashlinsky[4] observed the dark flow of galaxy clusters in the universe at exactly the velocity and alignment predicted by her[5] earlier in the 'Cosmological Avatars of the Landscape I, II' papers in 2006.[6]

In the same year (2006) WMAP reached agreement with SDSS experiment, that the overall amplitude of fluctuation is less than 1.[citation needed] If these observational findings, predicted in the 2006 papers by Mersini-Houghton et al.[citation needed] are confirmed over the next few years, then they may offer the first evidence of a universe beyond our own. Such confirmation would tie the standard model of cosmology into a more coherent picture where our universe is not at the center of the world, but part of it.[citation needed]. These predictions were just confirmed by Planck data released in March 2013.[7]

After the observational confirmation of the five predictions[citation needed] (CMB cold spot, power suppression at low l's, alignment of quadrupole with octupole, dark flow, and Sigma8~0.8) her work continues to attract international media attention, GCHEP/UNC,[8] in the New Scientist, Bild der Wissenschaft, Scientific American, and Discover magazine.

A team of astrophysicists reported between November 2008 and February 2009 that they had found evidence of the northern hemisphere CMB cold spot in analysis of WMAP data.[9] However, apart from the southern CMB cold spot, the varied statistical methods in general fail to confirm each other regarding a northern CMB cold spot.[10] Since Mersini's Theory on the Origins of the Universe from the Landscape Multiverse, several other possible causes have been suggested for the CMB cold spot. The main issue with the alternative explanations offered since Mersini's theory is that they can not produce an explanation for all observed anomalies having the same origin. Precision measurements in cosmology therefore highly constrain these phenomenological models.

Dark flow remains controversial. Its existence and velocity are "likely to stay unsettled until" the new accurate cosmic microwave background radiation data by the European Space Agency's Planck satellite are available in 2013.[11]

The Planck results for anomalies observed in the CMB were published in March 2013[7] The anomalies discovered and confirmed by Planck in the CMB are: 1. Power suppression at large distances (low I's); 2. Cold Spot; 3. Alignment of Quadrupole and Octupole in the CMB leading to a Preferred Direction; and, 4. The Overall Amplitude of Sigma_8. All of these anomalies were derived in the 2006 paper: "Why the Universe Started from a Low Entropy State",[12] well before (and independent of) any experimental detections.

Before her work on the Theory of the Origins of the Universe from the Landscape Multiverse, she investigating the problem of dark energy and developed a program with her collaborator M.Bastero-Gil, where dark energy is produced by short distance (transplanckian) modes. With other collaborators she analyzed wMAP data for the equation of state of dark energy and showed that it can be of a phantom form.

She is co-editor and author in the book 'Arrows of Time: A Debate in Cosmology',.[13]

On October 11, 2010, Laura Mersini-Houghton appeared in a BBC programme What Happened Before the Big Bang (along with Michio Kaku, Neil Turok, Andrei Linde, Roger Penrose, Lee Smolin, and other notable cosmologists and physicists) where she propounded her theory of the universe as a wave function on the landscape multiverse.[14] The programme referred to these observational tests of her theory's predictions, which makes it the only theory on the origins of our universe ever to offer predictions and have them successfully tested.[citation needed]

Laura Mersini-Houghton appeared in Morgan Freeman's 'Through the Wormhole' series in the 'Is There an Edge of the Universe' episode in 2011. This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2012 in the Outstanding Science and Technology Programming category. In 2010 she also appeared in the 'Parallel Universes' episode of the National Geographic Channel: Naked Science series. Her talk in the philosophy festival in Hay-on-Wye can be found here [15]

Mersini-Houghton's work on multiverse theory is discussed in the epilogue of a recently published biography of Hugh Everett III.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b arxiv:hep-th/0611223
  2. ^ a b arxiv:hep-th/0612142
  3. ^ Marcus Chown, The void: Imprint of another universe?, New Scientist, 2007-11-24
  4. ^ A. Kashlinsky, F. Atrio-Barandela, D. Kocevski, and H. Ebeling, A measurement of large-scale peculiar velocities of clusters of galaxies: results and cosmological implications, ApJ 686 L49, doi:10.1086/592947, arXiv:0809.3734,(same paper at nasa.gov)
  5. ^ arXiv:0810.5388
  6. ^ Cosmological Avatars of the Landscape I, II; Phys. Rev. D, 77, doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.77.063510, doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.77.063511; arxiv:hep-th/0611223, arxiv:hep-th/0612142
  7. ^ a b [1]
  8. ^ GCHEP
  9. ^ arXiv:0811.2732v3/astro-ph
  10. ^ Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 1{13 (2009) Printed 20 May 2009 Non-Gaussian Signatures in the five-year WMAP data as identified with isotropic scaling indices G. Rossmanith1?, C. Rath1, A. J. Banday2;3 and G. Morfill1
  11. ^ Mann, Adam (2011-12-16). "Supernova research challenges cosmic "dark flow" mystery". Arstechnica.com. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  12. ^ [2]
  13. ^ http://www.amazon.com/The-Arrows-Time-Cosmology-Fundamental/dp/3642232582
  14. ^ "Two Programmes - Horizon, 2010-2011, What Happened Before the Big Bang?". BBC. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  15. ^ http://iai.tv/video/how-to-find-a-multiverse
  16. ^ "The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett III" by Peter Byrne,ISBN 978-0-19-955227-6

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