The Cosmic Microwave Background Cold Spot (CMB Cold Spot), a huge region of the Universe theories say shouldn't exist at all, is being proposed as proof the "Multiverse" does indeed exist.

Long the stuff of science fiction writing and entertainment, the "Multiverse" is the hypothetical set of possible universes, including our Universe, which together comprise everything that exists.

Like Us on Facebook

The many universes within the Multiverse are called "parallel universes" or "alternative universes." In 2010, a number of scientists claimed to find evidence suggesting our Universe collided with parallel universes.

Now, a new study about the CMB Cold Spot (also called the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe cold spot or WMAP Cold Spot) might offer the first proof we truly exist within a Multiverse.

The study by British astronomers focuses on this Cold Spot -- a baffling cold area of space that's been observed in the CMB radiation coming from the early Universe 13 billion years ago. Discovered by NASA in 2004, the Cold Spot measures 1.8 billion light years across.

The Cold Spot is the largest known structure ever discovered, yet appears to contain 20 percent less matter than it should, and has baffled scientists since it was recorded.

Temperatures of the CMB radiation generally vary throughout the Universe, but this area of inexplicable cold ion the Cold Spot is much larger than others and much colder -- about 0.00015 degrees Celsius colder than its surroundings.

The Cold Spot isn't supposed to exist at all based on existing cosmological models. The leading explanation for the existence of the Cold Spot is it's a "Supervoid," or a massive void between us and the primordial CMB. A region cooler than surrounding sightlines can be observed if a large void is present.

The new study by British astronomers led by postgraduate student Ruari Mackenzie and Prof. Tom Shanks in Durham University's Center for Extragalactic Astronomy challenges the assumption of a Supervoid, however. It claims to prove the Supervoid isn't a valid solution to the Cold Spot's mystery.

Researchers argue that instead of one giant void in that area, there are galaxy clusters gathered around smaller bubble-like voids. They also say these galaxy clusters are too small to be responsible for lowering the temperature in the Cold Spot.

Researchers think one possible hypothesis is the Cold Spot resulted from a collision between our Universe during its early days and another universe. The energy release of such an indescribable impact would have created the Cold Spot.

"We can't entirely rule out that the Spot is caused by an unlikely fluctuation explained by the standard model," said Prof. Shanks.

"But if that isn't the answer, then there are more exotic explanations. Perhaps the most exciting of these is that the Cold Spot was caused by a collision between our Universe and another bubble universe.

"If further, more detailed, analysis of CMB data proves this to be the case, then the Cold Spot might be taken as the first evidence for the Multiverse -- and billions of other universes may exist like our own."