If the universe is infinite

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Fnord has very clearly never studied cosmology. The multiverse does not begin where our observable universe ends, simply put, cosmologists assume that the laws of physics that operate in our universe generally operate in a similar manner to what is outside of our observable universe. And no, all pockets begin at the big bang (the lambda-cdm model) in which eternal inflation begins and stops at some regions and continues on forever at some other regions. Anyways, inflation theory is on its way out. Penrose calculated that any real inflaton (the hypothetical scalar value driving inflation) is less likely to occur then a general alternative solution to the flatness problem.

Unless we have a solid theory of quantum gravity, we can not speculate anything outside of the general Copenhagen interpretation.

Which part of "But that's just an idea ..." did you not read? Or did you stop at the word "Fnord" and then go straight for the snark?

Of course I've studied Cosmology; I just haven't made it my life's work to speculate on things that can't be proven. Practical science is more my field, and I leave the speculative sciences to those whose callouses are all on their butts, not their hands.

There are many so-called "theories" of what lies beyond our observable material universe, not the least of which is that there is anything at all beyond what we can observe. Most of these "theories" can not be proven without assuming that what may exist simply must exist, and that whatever some ivory-tower philosopher can fantasize simply must be real.

But that's just my opinion.

We can very well calculate the radius of our universe, does this equation hit a bell?

H^2=8πGp/3-kc^2/R^2

Very nice. Now do something practical with it.

Please give us the results of your calculations for the radius of the universe. Thanks.

so define your variables
it is necessary to engage consideration.
whatever your cumbersome equation amounts to, if the speed limit of velocity in "the universe" is 186,282 miles per second, then only photons which have indiscernible mass can travel that fast, and so the image of the big bang that happened 13.8 billion years ago would be not observable beyond 13.8 billion light years, and there would be no effect from the big bang that would excur outward faster than that, so the radius of the material universe is the furthestmost point from the origin that any photon has reached in it's outward excursion from the big bang, and if that is attained at the speed of light, then that is the radius of the universe.

whatever. it is obvious to me however that a set of mathematical probabilities coexist in the universe that are not ordained by thought. they are eternally real despite any attention to them.

in that greater universe of possibilities, this universe exists.

something i was influenced by as a child promoted me to incorrect thinking. i read some line somewhere that said "if an infinite amount of monkeys bang their knuckles on an infinite amount of typewriters, then one will invariably type the entire script of hamlet"

when i thought about it i realized it was true. it means that given an infinite amount of chances for an infinitessimally unlikely thing to happen, it will happen. as long as it is not impossible, but there is no such thing as impossible i reasoned because the only thing that is impossible is "nothing" which does not exist (and therefore impossible).

so what is the order of execution of the ultimate program of the universe?
it is the actuation of probabilities in descending order of likelyhood in a sequential order that is difficult to determine.

unless one has supreme intelligence, then i would think that "faith" is a better bet.

The best estimate of the size of the cosmos is about 20 gigaparsecs across.

[speculation]

Swiss Cheese & Bubble Verses

Imagine a Swiss Cheese - lots of cheesy material with empty bubbles distributed at random inside. Further imagine that the cheesy material goes on forever, so that there is nothing but bubble-filled cheesy material everywhere.

Now imagine that the bubbles contain matter and that the cheesy part is vacuum. This is the current state of the Multiverse - an eternal and infinite Void with little "bubble" universes scattered throughout. Our universe is one such bubble - a "Bubble-verse" (a "Hubble-verse"?).

The edge of the bubble represents the Microwave Horizon, which is expanding into the Void at the speed of light, and is the dying echo of the Big Bang that formed our own little bubble-verse and everything in it.

Other bubble-verses had their own Big Bang events. These Bing Bang events occur spontaneously throughout the Void, each one forming a bubble of matter and energy that expands outward at the speed of light. We may never detect any other bubble-verse because the Void is so enormously large that the light from the nearest neighboring bubble-verse will not reach our location until long after all matter within our own bubble-verse has decayed into a dim quark-like haze.

The estimated age of our bubble-verse is some 13,700,000,000 years, which places the Microwave Horizon some 13.7 billion light-years away. This is the furthest distance that our current technology can detect the most powerful sources of light. Beyond this boundary is the eternal and infinite Void - a cold, dark, and featureless region stretching forever in both time and space.

[/speculation]

The laws of Physics has never been observed to be any different on any other planet, in any other stellar system, or in any other galaxy, no matter how far away the observation is made. Therefor, it may be safe to assume that the laws of Physics are constant throughout our bubble-verse, and are likely to be the same in every bubble-verse throughout the Void.

So: 20 X 3261564219.53=6523128439.06 light years diameter=3,261,564,219.52 light year radius.

Thanks

OOPS! I meant 32,615,642,195.20 light year radius. Hope I didn't throw off anyone's navigation.

Aww, crap!

Now I have to re-sequence the hyperjump co-ordinates.

How will I ever beat the record for the Kessel run?

We can only exactly measure the real radius of the whole universe if we assume k=1 for the FLRW metric. We cannot tell whether a flat universe is finite or infinite.

@Baal, You do realize that this is only a measurement for the observable universe?

If the universe is unbounded and finite, our universe could potentially be smaller then the observable.

I can calculate the exact radius of a closed universe, if you guys wish. It is pretty easy.

Please do; I think my numbers don't add up.

Only two things are infinite. The universe and human stupidity. And I am not so sure about the universe. - Einstein