How do other dimensions exist

String theory is conceptually complex, with a fascinating but very difficult mathematical structure. This has so far prevented researchers from deriving concrete predictions from the theory for comparison with experimental results. Not only does string theory involve the complex study of the geometry of extra dimensions, but the way the structure of the dimensions are chosen appears arbitrary and can lead to different outcomes.

For instance, there seem to be many possible ways to curl up the extra dimensions, by choosing different shapes and sizes. This leads to many alternative versions of the theory.

In certain cases, the sizes of the extra dimensions are very small and it will be difficult to obtain direct evidence for them. Less obviously, we can consider time as an additional, fourth dimension, as Einstein famously revealed. But just as we are becoming more used to the idea of four dimensions, some theorists have made predictions wilder than even Einstein had imagined.

String theory intriguingly suggests that six more dimensions exist, but are somehow hidden from our senses. They could be all around us, but curled up to be so tiny that we have never realized their existence. Dimensions are really just the number of co-ordinates we need to describe things.

We can compare this to a tightrope walker travelling along a rope. For the acrobat there is only one dimension — forwards or backwards, and we can state her or his position with just one number.

If we zoom in even further, for atoms inside the rope, the world would be in three dimensions, the x, y and z of everyday coordinates. Who is to say that as we go smaller and smaller the number of directions to travel in, the number of dimensions, does not increase even further?

The fact that we can perceive only four dimensions of space can be explained by one of two mechanisms: either the extra dimensions are compactified on a very small scale, or else our world may live on a 3-dimensional submanifold corresponding to a brane, on which all known particles besides gravity would be restricted aka.

If the extra dimensions are compactified, then the extra six dimensions must be in the form of a Calabi—Yau manifold shown above.

While imperceptible as far as our senses are concerned, they would have governed the formation of the universe from the very beginning.

Hence why scientists believe that peering back through time, using telescopes to spot light from the early universe i. Much like other candidates for a grand unifying theory — aka the Theory of Everything TOE — the belief that the universe is made up of ten dimensions or more, depending on which model of string theory you use is an attempt to reconcile the standard model of particle physics with the existence of gravity.

In short, it is an attempt to explain how all known forces within our universe interact, and how other possible universes themselves might work. For additional information, here's an article on Universe Today about parallel universes , and another on a parallel universe scientists thought they found that doesn't actually exist.

There are also some other great resources online. There is a great video that explains the ten dimensions in detail. It has a great page on the ten dimensions. You can also listen to Astronomy Cast.

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By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Share Twit Share Email. Home Physics General Physics. Superstring theory posits that the universe exists in 10 dimensions at once.

Credit: National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli. The timeline of the universe, beginning with the Big Bang. According to String Theory, this is just one of many possible worlds. Credit: NASA. Credit: A Hanson. Provided by Universe Today. It turns out that when you need six dimensions to curl up on themselves, and give them almost any possible way to do it, it … adds up. That's a lot of different ways to wrap those extra dimensions in on themselves. And each possible configuration will affect the ways the strings inside them vibrate.

Since the ways that strings vibrate determine how they behave up here in the macroscopic world, each choice of manifold leads to a distinct universe with its own set of physics.

So only one manifold can give rise to the world as we experience it. But which one? Unfortunately, string theory can't give us an answer, at least not yet. The trouble is that string theory isn't done — we only have various approximation methods that we hope get close to the real thing, but right now we have no idea how right we are.

So we have no mathematical technology for following the chain, from specific manifold to specific string vibration to the physics of the universe. The response from string theorists is something called the Landscape, a multiverse of all possible universes predicted by the various manifolds, with our universe as just one point among many. Paul M. Learn more by listening to the episode "Is string theory worth it? Thanks to John C.

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And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community space. Paul received his PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in , and spent three years at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics, followed by a research fellowship in Trieste, Italy, His research focuses on many diverse topics, from the emptiest regions of the universe, to the earliest moments of the Big Bang, to the hunt for the first stars.

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Paul Sutter. See all comments Admin said:. Riddle me this. The extra dimensions of string theory are themselves supposed to be very very small. But this means those dimensions also have a size relative to the three ordinary spatial dimensions.

Not sure that makes a lot of sense, given the definition of "dimension". Time is a dimension and time does not have any "spatial size". That's what dimension means, a fundamental way of measuring some aspect of existence. But if that measurement itself has a spatial measurement, how fundamental is that.