American Scientist Online. The Magazine of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society
<a target="_blank" href="http://adserver.lanepress.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.americanscientist.org/AssetDetail/19377/Top/American_Scientist/SYSTAT_03_07/Systat_HB_0307.html/30613530303630313438326537656330?http://www.systat.com/"><IMG SRC="http://adserver.lanepress.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/American_Scientist/SYSTAT_03_07/ame_half.gif" WIDTH=234 HEIGHT=60 BORDER=0></a>
Home Current Issue Archives Bookshelf Online Features Marketplace Subscribe
In This Section
Visitor Login
Username
Password

 

Volume: 89 Number: 5 Page: 443
DOI: 10.1511/2001.5.443

 

The Shape of the Universe: Ten Possibilities

Recent experimental evidence has hinted that the shape of the universe may be found among the ten orientable Euclidean 3-manifolds

click for full image and caption
Figure 3. Carl Friedrich Gauss

We live in an expanding three-dimensional universe. But what is the shape of the universe? As astronomers try to answer this question empirically, mathematicians are visualizing the possibilities. Recent predictions from cosmology, say Adams and Shapiro, indicate that the universe is most likely one of 10 of the shapes that topologists call Euclidean manifolds. They look closely at these shapes, beginning by visualizing two-dimensional analogues. The possibilities are startling: Imagine seeing copies of yourself in front and behind, yet each with a quarter-twist. Such a "quarter-twist cube space" is but one possible explanation for current observations, which astronomers hope to refine over the next decade by finely mapping and analyzing cosmic microwave background radiation, which allows us to effectively look at past universes.



 
  Of Possible Interest  
 
 
  Related Sigma Xi Links  
ADVERTISEMENTS
Subscribe to American Scientist.
<a target="_blank" href="http://adserver.lanepress.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.americanscientist.org/AssetDetail/14434/Bottom/American_Scientist/SYSTAT_03_07/Systat_FB_0307.html/30613530303630313438326537656330?http://www.systat.com/"><IMG SRC="http://adserver.lanepress.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/American_Scientist/SYSTAT_03_07/ame_full.gif" WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 BORDER=0></a>
About American Scientist Site Map Text Archive Advertise Policies Sigma Xi Contact Us
© Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society