Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration
Neil Turok, renowned cosmologist and Higgs Chair of Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh, suggests a mirror universe existed before the Big Bang, moving backward in time. This bold concept could address dark matter mysteries and explain cosmic symmetry gaps.
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Turok’s theory posits the Big Bang created a mirrored cosmos—a universe running in reverse, balancing out paradoxes in our own. This "mirror" may resolve conflicting physical laws.
Credit: Neil Turok, CC BY-SA
The universe should show CPT symmetry—charge, parity, and time reversal—but doesn’t. Turok argues a mirror universe restores this balance, explaining why time seems to move one way.
In Turok’s hypothesis, right-handed neutrinos—unobserved in our universe—could exist in the mirror universe, solving the mystery of dark matter’s unseen mass.
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A mirror universe might also explain why we have more matter than antimatter, with our “pre-bang” twin containing an inverse particle balance.
Credit: VICTOR DE SCHWANBERG/ SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
The mirror theory could explain the universe’s flat, smooth appearance without relying on cosmic inflation. Instead, a statistical balance from the mirror universe keeps things uniform.
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Turok, who previously led Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, published his findings in Annals of Physics, arguing that mainstream cosmology may be limiting and simpler, balanced alternatives like his deserve exploration.
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This backward-running universe would act like a twin, where everything is reversed but in sync, reflecting our universe in a way that complements physical symmetry.
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Though unproven, Turok’s hypothesis invites cosmologists to consider a revolutionary take on the cosmos, potentially providing solutions outside the Standard Model’s limitations.
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