Do We Live in the Center of the World?

Abstract

We investigate the distribution of energy density in a stationary self-reproducing inflationary universe. We show that the main fraction of volume of the universe in a state with a given density $ρ$ at any given moment of time $t$ in synchronous coordinates is concentrated near the centers of deep exponentially wide spherically symmetric holes in the density distribution. A possible interpretation of this result is that a typical observer should see himself living in the center of the world. Validity of this interpretation depends on the choice of measure in quantum cosmology. Our investigation suggests that unexpected (from the point of view of inflation) observational data, such as possible local deviations from $Ω= 1$, or possible dependence of the Hubble constant on the length scale, may tell us something important about quantum cosmology and particle physics at nearly Planckian densities.