EXCERPT: In a new study published Dec. 12, 2023 in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, scientists proposed the idea that the expansion of the universe may be driven instead by constantly merging with other universes.
"The main finding of our work is that the accelerated expansion of our universe, caused by the mysterious dark energy, might have a simple intuitive explanation, the merging with so-called baby universes, and that a model for this might fit the data better than the standard cosmological model," lead study author Jan Ambjørn, a physicist at the Copenhagen University told LiveScience in an email.
While the idea of multiple universes interacting with ours isn't new, this study develops a mathematical model to explore the hypothetical impact of this on the evolution of our universe. The researchers' calculations showed that merging with other universes should increase the volume of our universe, which could be perceived by our instruments as an expansion of the universe.
The scientists also computed the rate of expansion of the universe using their theory, and their calculations more closely fit with observations of the universe than the traditional Standard Cosmological Model, the researchers said... (MORE - missing details)