Scientists have discovered evidence of a pairwise symmetry breaking at the very beginning of the Universe, which led to matter dominating antimatter. Despite the fact that this was a rather short process, it did not turn the Universe into a total void.

This is stated in a study by astronomers from the University of Florida, SciTechDaily reports. Previously, scientists were sure that the laws of physics were absolutely symmetrical. Until it turned out that this was not the case.

The notion of cosmic symmetry is very attractive, but it breaks down against the realities of the Universe, in which there is more matter than antimatter. That is why, since the 1960s, the question of deriving the form of broken symmetry has been raised. However, scientists have been unable to determine the source of the existential symmetry breaking, or even find evidence of it.

Now scientists have been able to find evidence of the symmetry breaking that occurred at the moment of creation. To do this, they had to create new mathematical formulas and use the HiPerGator supercomputer to study a million trillion three-dimensional galactic quadruplexes (four combined galaxies) in the Universe. This is how they managed to identify the moment when the Universe preferred one set of shapes to its mirror image.

Despite the fact that this period was "infinitesimal", the laws of physics were different at that moment than they are today, which had huge consequences for the evolution of the Universe.

Scientists note that the violation of parity occurred during the so-called period of extreme inflation, when the Universe was expanding at an extraordinary rate. That is why this phenomenon could leave an imprint on the galaxies that appeared in the future.

Professor of Astronomy Zachary Slepian, who led the new study, believes that the new work answers the fundamental question of "why is there something and not nothing?"

Pair symmetry is the idea that physical laws should not favour one shape over its mirror image. To explain this, scientists often talk about the dominant hand, because our left and right hands are a familiar mirror image. It is impossible to rotate the left hand in three-dimensional space so that it looks like the right, which means that they can always be distinguished from each other.

The violation of parity meant that the universe preferred one of the forms, and scientists could see it clearly.

This is the first evidence of such a phenomenon that could affect the three-dimensional cluster of galaxies in the Universe. Scientists have found that one of the fundamental forces, the weak force, breaks parity, but its effect is so limited that it could not affect galaxies, which is why the only time it could work is right at the moment of the Big Bang, during the period of rapid expansion.

In a symmetrical Universe, the Big Bang would have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, which would have destroyed each other and left the Universe empty - without stars or planets. Fortunately, this is not the case.

Although the results of the study are important, they do not allow physicists to explain how the Universe ended up with so much matter. New physics is needed to answer this question. Therefore, scientists will have to create a theory that can explain the mirror image of the Universe and the excess of matter.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL also talked about the theory of scientists that the Universe could evaporate and disappear completely.

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