My most recent paper with Pascal Elahi (UWA), Jaime Salcido (Durham), Richard Bower (Durham) and Geraint Lewis (Sydney), as part of the Eagle Collaboration, is doing the rounds of the popular press. I’ll post some of the articles here, and keep updating. Check out the video!
I did this research (mostly) while at Sydney University, but I’ve started a new position at Western Sydney University – more details soon.
- Sydney Morning Herald: Bad news for the multiverse: it’s still not likely Also, the Canberra Times and The Age (Melbourne).
- Cosmos Magazine: Multiverse theory cops a blow after dark energy findings
- IFLS: If A Multiverse Exists It Could Abound With Life
- Newsweek: What Is The Multiverse? Parallel Universes Could Be Hospitable To Life, Scientists Say
- The Independent: We could live inside a multiverse that is full of alien life, new study suggests
- Astrobiology Magazine: Could a multiverse be hospitable to life?
- inverse.com: New Multiverse Research Suggests Scientists Need a New Law of Dark Energy
- Geek.com: Science Says: Multiverse May Sustain Life
- The Register: Get over yourselves: Life in the multiverse could be commonplace
- New Atlas: Simulations suggest multiverse is either teeming with life – or doesn’t exist
- EarthSky: Is there life in the multiverse?
- Eureka Alert: Could a multiverse be hospitable to life?
- Science Alert: The Multiverse Could Be Teeming With Life But Is Also Problematic, Says New Study
- Inquisitr: New Research Questions The Multiverse Theory, Calls For A New Law Of Dark Energy
- Bizsiziz.com: The Multiverse Could Be Teeming With Life But Is Also Problematic, Says New Study
- Advocator: Could There Be Life in the Multiverse?
- India.com: A multiverse may be hospitable to life: study
- Silicon Republic: Mysterious force could determine whether life exists in multiverse
- Sputnik News: “Multiverse” May Be Hospitable to Life After All
- whatsnew2day.com: Bad information for the multiverse: it is nonetheless not going
- scienmag.com: Could A Multiverse Be Hospitable To Life?
- International Business Times: Multiverse’s High Dark Energy Levels Don’t Hamper Life’s Chance Of Existing Elsewhere
- TheTeCake: New find on multiverse shocks scientists!
Letters to Nature 
Dr Barnes,
Could you comment on how you understand the impact of your findings on the case for fine tuning? My understanding was that generally the cosmological constant was considered one of the more popular and established cases of fine tuning. Does this affect the overall case for fine tuning?
It doesn’t touch fine-tuning at all. The possible range for the cosmological constant (CC) is 10^120 times larger than the actual value. When physicists estimated the degree of fine-tuning, they could afford to be quite conservative – a factor of even 10^10 doesn’t matter much. So our simulations that show that a factor of 300 doesn’t totally shut down star formation doesn’t much matter for the degree of fine-tuning.
It does matter if you want a multiverse to explain the value of the constant. We ask: what value of the CC would we expect if their were a multiverse? And, from our simulations, that number turns out to be about 50 times larger than the actual value. So it’s a problem for the multiverse, but not at all a problem for fine-tuning.
So you’re back from your fancy book tour?? It’s no good posting new and fascinating experiments and theories like nothing’s happened. We, your hardcore fans, who liked you BEFORE you were famous, are in a sulk. You’ve gone commercial and sold out. You’re the Cosmology equivalent of The Cure…
I can’t hear you … my speedboat’s engine is too loud. #bling
😀
I’d welcome your thoughts on why most of the headlines tilt toward the probability of the multiverse being hospitable to life, when in fact the sum total of the research presents what could be perceived as a reduction in the probability of the multiverse existing. (Lastly, congrats to your team.)
Hi Luke,
Appreciate greatly your efforts to explain complex physics to laymen like us. So what is exactly the life permitting range of the cosmological constant and why do physicist say it is on a razor’s endge?