Symmetry Breaking

Interesting article in Nature (also commented on in Science) this week (Oct 9, 2003) on the structure of the Universe. When one observes the fluctuations in the CosmicMicrowaveBackgroundRadiation?, the lower harmonics are strongly underrepresented. The current CMBR can however be modelled, apparently quite well, by a universe that is both finite and dodecahedral in shape such that when you fly out of one pentagonal face you re-emerge from the opposite pentagonal face. Since the pentagons in a dodecahedron are all rotated 36 degrees with respect to their opposite faces, this would cause you to re-emerge rotated by this amount. This would lead to symmetry breaking being inherent in the structure of the universe.

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v425/n6958/full/425566a_fs.html http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/302/5643/209a