On many physicists and astronomers this argument makes no impression.
Experience alone can finally decide which of the two possibilities
is realised in nature. How can experience furnish an answer? At first
it might seem possible to determine the mean density of matter by
observation of that part of the universe which is accessible to our
perception. This hope is illusory. The distribution of the visible
stars is extremely irregular, so that we on no account may venture
to set down the mean density of star-matter in the universe as
equal, let us say, to the mean density in the Milky Way. In any
case, however great the space examined may be, we could not feel
convinced that there were no more stars beyond that space. So it
seems impossible to estimate the mean density. But there is another
road, which seems to me more practicable, although it also presents
great difficulties. For if we inquire into the deviations shown
by the consequences of the general theory of relativity which are
accessible to experience, when these are compared with the consequences
of the Newtonian theory, we first of all find a deviation which
shows itself in close proximity to gravitating mass, and has been
confirmed in the case of the planet Mercury. But if the universe
is spatially finite there is a second deviation from the Newtonian
theory, which, in the language of the Newtonian theory, may be
expressed thus:--The gravitational field is in its nature such as
if it were produced, not only by the ponderable masses, but also by
a mass-density of negative sign, distributed uniformly throughout
space. Since this factitious mass-density would have to be enormously
small, it could make its presence felt only in gravitating systems
of very great extent.
Assuming that we know, let us say, the statistical distribution
of the stars in the Milky Way, as well as their masses, then by
Newton's law we can calculate the gravitational field and the mean
velocities which the stars must have, so that the Milky Way should
not collapse under the mutual attraction of its stars, but should
maintain its actual extent. Now if the actual velocities of the stars,
which can, of course, be measured, were smaller than the calculated
velocities, we should have a proof that the actual attractions
at great distances are smaller than by Newton's law. From such a
deviation it could be proved indirectly that the universe is finite.
It would even be possible to estimate its spatial magnitude.
Can we picture to ourselves a three-dimensional universe which is
finite, yet unbounded?
The usual answer to this question is "No," but that is not the right
answer. The purpose of the following remarks is to show that the
answer should be "Yes." I want to show that without any extraordinary
difficulty we can illustrate the theory of a finite universe by
means of a mental image to which, with some practice, we shall soon
grow accustomed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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