Scientists and science fiction authors have often hypothesized about the existence of parallel universes.

A new study proposes that these universes do exist, but aren't parallel. Instead, they "collide" and give birth to quantum mechanics.

The study was published in Physical Review X by lead authors Dr. Michael Hall and Howard Wiseman from Griffith University, and Dr. Dirk Deckert from the University of California.

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Their theory states the interaction between nearby worlds is the source of all the unusual features that quantum mechanics reveals in experiments.

Since 1957, parallel worlds or the "Many Worlds Interpretation" (MWI) has been present as one of the leading interpretations of quantum mechanics.

The research team said they need to explain quantum mechanics first due to its "wavefunctions" that show it living in an infinite dimensional space as opposed to our three-dimensional space.

The other is the "bell correlations," which state that quantum correlations, unlike other Earthly correlations, cannot arise from any local cause. As such, it violates the normal laws of cause and effect.

The author's theory states there are multiple worlds occurring continuously through time, yet there are no "branching" situations leading to new universes.

They go on to say our world has precisely defined properties and that different worlds do interact, the result being weird quantum effects.

Finally, they say each of the different worlds are equally real.

They call this the "Many Interacting Worlds" approach to quantum mechanics.

"We call our theory an "approach" rather than an "interpretation" because for any finite number of worlds our theory is only an approximation to quantum mechanics," said Wiseman.

This allows for an exciting possibility of testing for the existence of other worlds.

Could our world be exhibiting bizarre quantum effects due to its proximity with parallel worlds? Only time will tell as the authors continue their experimentation.

TagsParallel Worlds, collide, quantum mechanics, Many Interacting Worlds approach to quantum mechanics