Since detecting the Higgs boson, the so-called God particle, which explains how matter originally obtained mass, the collider has been shut down for two years while undergoing renovations. When it reopens, it will be able to reach energy levels higher than ever before: 13 tera electron volts (TeV). The Higgs boson was discovered at levels of 5.3 TeV.
At these high levels of energy, physicists will be able to determine if alternate universes exist in different dimensions of hyperspace, the strange area into which our universe is expanding. There are upwards of 10 dimensions in hyperspace and scientists think that our universe may be one among many. As Michio Kaku explains in a Big Think interview:
"Our universe is nothing but one bubble, but there are other bubbles. When two bubbles collide that could merge into a bigger bubble, which could be the big bang. In fact, that is what probably the big bang is or perhaps a bubble fissioned in half and split off into two bubbles. That could be the big bang. Or perhaps the universe popped into existence out of nothing. That is also a possibility."
The existence of alternate universe could explain the current incongruities that exist at our most fundamental understanding of the universe, or our universe, at least. Physicists are at a loss to explain the source of dark energy, which is propelling galaxies farther away from each other at an increasing velocity. But scientists theorize that dark energy may be spilling into our universe from parallel universes.
Whether the existence of these alternate universes is confirmed or denied, physics is set to reach a new understanding of the physical world thanks to the Large Hadron Collider, located at the CERN particle accelerator laboratory.
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