Photos: SETI Multiverse (7-27-2011)

Professor Anthony Aguirre
Photo by Kelco (12-8-2007)

Professor Anthony Aguirre, UC Santa Cruz
"Are We Living in a Multiverse?
Eternal Inflation, Bubbles, and Cosmic Collisions"

Photographs at SETI, 189 Bernado Ave.
Mountain View, CA, July 27, 2011

By Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

Preface: On Wednesday, July 27, 2011, a friend took me to SETI (Search for Extraterrestial Institute) at 189 Bernado Avenue, Mountain View for their Noon Colloquium. Professor Anthony Aguirre (Department of Physics, UC Santa Cruz) talked about "Are We Living in a Multiverse? Eternal Inflation, Bubbles, and Cosmic Collisions". After the fascinating discussion "Multiverse or Universe" by Paul Davies, Martin Rees, and Andrei Linde at Stanford (March 26, 2003), I wished to learn updates on this issue since eight years ago. At that talk, Davies and Rees would bet their dog's life that the multiverse is true, while Linde would bet his life. In Cambridge (9-2-2005), Steven Weinberg said "As for me, I have just enough confidence about the multiverse to bet the lives of both Andrei Linde & Martin Rees's dog." Surprised that my Notes were quoted by astronomer Chris Impey's 2010 book How It Ends: From You to the Universe (pp. 280, 324). Today's Lecture Hall (Suite 100) was packed, and sitting in the front row, I took 12 photos of some 36 images in Professor Aguirre's presentation. With current data from the Hubble Space Telescope, COBE, WMAP, ACBAR, and QUaD, the latest cosmology suggests that we are living in a big multiverse. Aguirre's second image was a stunning video flying across the Milky Way. Searching YouTube, I found similar images— Hubble Deep Field; Edge of the Universe; Space & Galaxies; Flying through Space; Hubble Universe. Going to Aguirre's web site, I was inspired to write this haiku (7/27): "Searched for Milky Way / videos and found sculptures / even more beautiful." The Breathing Space Zen sculpture were crafted by his wife Sally who meditates and is inspired by Wabi-sabi in her work. Bubbles!