"Expansion of Our Universe Linked to Merging with 'Baby Universes', Theoretical Study Finds"

A new theoretical study suggests that our universe's accelerated expansion may be caused by merging with "baby" parallel universes, rather than by dark energy as currently theorized. The study proposes a mathematical model to explore the impact of this interaction, showing that it could better fit observations of the universe's expansion. Additionally, the theory addresses the problem of cosmological inflation, suggesting that the early rapid expansion of the universe may have been caused by absorption into a larger universe. Observational data from ongoing experiments may help validate this hypothesis in the future.