Universe developed directly for us? – Anthropic principle supposedly testable
The claim that the universe was created for us because we exist has often been ridiculed. Now two physicists claim that it can be verified.
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Two physicists believe they have found a way to prove – or invalidate – the so-called anthropic principle, which states that humanity can only observe the universe because the universe has evolved in such a way that life could emerge. What is particularly interesting about their proposal is that the experimental test of the 50-year-old formulation could be possible in the not-so-distant future, writes Nemanja Kaloper from the University of California, Davis. He developed the proposal with his colleague Alexander Westphal from the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg.
Hypothesis of little help so far
The anthropic principle was established in 1973 by Australian cosmologist Brandon Carter. Since then, it has been stated in various versions that the universe has developed or even had to develop under the right conditions for the emergence of intelligent life – simply because we exist. One of the criticisms leveled at it is that this principle is not particularly helpful for science and that it is, to a certain extent, a circular argument. At the same time, there has so far been no way to test the formulation experimentally, which is why it is more of a philosophical question, writes Kaloper. He and his co-author now want to change this.
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The hypothesis could be tested with the help of dark matter, the two write in a research article published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. In addition, so-called cosmic inflation must have actually taken place, meaning that the universe must have expanded in a tiny fraction of a second at several times the speed of light. Proof of this could be provided in the next few years. In a second part, it would then have to be determined whether the mysterious dark matter is made up of so-called axions. Extremely light particles that have so far only been described theoretically.
As the two write, their proof is based on the fact that it is possible to calculate exactly how the universe must have developed if the initial conditions are known precisely. The greater the discrepancy between what is determined in this way and what is observed astronomically, the stronger the argument for the anthropic principle. Then something must have happened at some point in the development that made our creation possible after all. With axions that are too massive, "we would have far too much dark matter and would urgently need the anthropic principle to limit it", says Kaloper, for example. However, if the dark matter did not consist of axions, the anthropic principle would be falsified.
(mho)
