Black Hole Induced Galaxy Existence?

A new scenario has emerged from observations of a black hole without a home, may indicate that black holes may be building their own host galaxy. This may be the long-sought missing link to understanding why the masses of black hole are larger in galaxies that contain more stars. The study suggests that super-massive black holes can trigger the formation of stars

The chicken and egg analogy hence: did a galaxy or black hole come first?

Reference:
Elbaz et al. Quasar induced galaxy formation: a new paradigm? Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2009; 507 (3): 1359 DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/200912848

Another Unknown Force Acting on Dark Matter?

Scientists now believe that interactions between dark and ordinary matter is more important and complex than previously thought. For instance, dark matter 'knows' how the visible matter is distributed and they conspire with one another such hat gravity of visible matter at the characteristic radius of the dark halo is always the same. Therefore, it is possible that a non-gravitational fifth force is ruling dark matter, leaving the same mark on all galaxies irrespective of their ages, shapes and sizes. This might be an explanation for the mystery of 'dark energy'. This research is important to the theories that relate to the history and expansion of the universe.

If we account for our observations with a modified law of gravity, it makes perfect sense to replace the effective action of hypothetical dark matter with a force closely related to the distribution of visible matter.

Reference:

Gianfranco Gentile, Benoit Famaey, HongSheng Zhao, Paolo Salucci. Universality of galactic surface densities within one dark halo scale-length. Nature, 2009; 461 (7264): 627 DOI: 10.1038/nature08437

Number of Universes in a Multiverse

Physicists have calculated the number of distinguishable universes to be 10^10^16.  The idea of multiverse raises a different theory of the Big Bang.  Instead of the producing a single uniform universe, multiple universes appear in uniform.

The Big Bang was essentially a quantum process which generated quantum fluctuations in the state of the early universe. After that, the universe then underwent a period of rapid growth called inflation during which these perturbations were "frozen", creating different initial classical conditions in different parts of the cosmos. Since each of these regions would have a different set of laws of low energy physics, they can be thought of as different universes.  The actual number depends critically the way the universes are defined.

The limit of how many universes humans can observe is dependent on the properties of the oserver and not on the properties of the multiverse.

Reference: arXiv blog

Advance in Understanding the Birth and Early Universe

Scientists from the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) in Louisiana detected primordial gravitational waves (ripples in the fabric of space and time) that were created as the universe expanded in its earliest moments. These waves are "stochastic background" carries information about the universe after the Big Bang.

Reference: spaceref.com