Could our universe be a vast and complex hologram?

A new study made by a team of theoretical physicists and astrophysicists, has provided the first observational evidence to support this case.

“Imagine that everything you see, feel and hear in three dimensions (and your perception of time) in fact emanates from a flat two-dimensional field,” Professor Kostas Skenderis of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton, who is part of the UK, Canadian and Italian team, told the Daily Accord website, explaining the research.

“The idea is similar to that of ordinary holograms where a three-dimensional image is encoded in a two-dimensional surface, such as in the hologram on a credit card. However, this time, the entire universe is encoded.”

Professor Skenderis went on to explain that the study will hopefully open the door to further our understanding of the early universe and explain how space and time emerged.

“Holography is a huge leap forward in the way we think about the structure and creation of the universe,” he said.

“Einstein’s theory of general relativity explains almost everything large scale in the universe very well, but starts to unravel when examining its origins and mechanisms at quantum level. Scientists have been working for decades to combine Einstein’s theory of gravity and quantum theory. Some believe the concept of a holographic universe has the potential to reconcile the two. I hope our research takes us another step towards this.”