31 August 2026 to 4 September 2026
Australia/Sydney timezone

Did our universe collide with another universe? Latest results from the Planck CMB

31 Aug 2026, 14:50
25m
Cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure Cosmic Microwave Background and the Early Universe

Speaker

Jahanvi Maheshwari (UNSW Sydney)

Description

In a multiverse born from eternal inflation, collisions between bubble universes can leave potentially observable imprints in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. Specifically, these take the form of sharply defined circular hot or cold spots in CMB temperature map. In this paper, we employ an algorithm based on optimal filtering techniques to identify candidates for bubble collision signatures in the Planck CMB map. We discuss three possible candidate features, two of which were previously reported in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data, one of which is the anomalous CMB Cold Spot. We also discuss the analysis done to validate our results and discuss future searches using CMB polarisation data that could reveal further information about our findings.

Author

Jahanvi Maheshwari (UNSW Sydney)

Co-author

Jan Hamann (The University of New South Wales)

Presentation materials

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