Theoretical Physics
| Calculations that came with the presumable discovery of the Higgs Boson last July also show that the particle's mass qualities could signal the end of the universe said Fermilab theoretical physicist Joseph Lykken recently. |
Fermilab theoretical physicist Dr. Joseph Lykken says that our universe could easily be slapped out by another universe based on the mass calculations of the Higgs particle. Don't be too alarmed at the prospect though, he also said that if it does happen, it will happen at the speed of light -- which means it will be so fast we won't even realize it.
Lykken was speaking in a session that had been organised to provide an update on the Higgs investigation during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Based on the concept known as vacuum instability, there could be, billions of years from now, in a new universe opening up in the present one and replacing it.
It all depends on some precise numbers related to the Higgs that researchers are currently trying to pin down.
"If you use all the physics that we know now, and we do what we think is a straightforward calculation, it's bad news," Lykken said. "The universe wants to be in a different state, so eventually to realize that, a little bubble of what you might think of as an alternate universe will appear somewhere, and it will spread out and destroy us."
Since detecting the particle in their accelerator experiments, researchers at the Geneva lab and at related institutions around the world have begun to theorize on the Higgs' implications for physics.
One idea that it throws up is the possibility of a cyclical universe, in which every so often all of space is renewed.
"It turns out there's a calculation you can do in our Standard Model of particle physics, once you know the mass of the Higgs boson," explained Dr Joseph Lykken.
"What happens is you get just a quantum fluctuation that makes a tiny bubble of the vacuum the Universe really wants to be in. And because it's a lower-energy state, this bubble will then expand, basically at the speed of light, and sweep everything before it," the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory theoretician told BBC News.
SOURCE NBC Cosmic Log
Based on the concept known as vacuum instability, there could be, billions of years from now, in a new universe opening up in the present one and replacing it.
It all depends on some precise numbers related to the Higgs that researchers are currently trying to pin down.
The current theory on the particle indicates that mass can be transmitted to other fundamental particles in the universe, which is how the possibility of the end of the world comes into play. This idea of mass transference suggests that the universe is not completely stable rather it is in a "metastable" state.
"If you use all the physics that we know now, and we do what we think is a straightforward calculation, it's bad news," Lykken said. "The universe wants to be in a different state, so eventually to realize that, a little bubble of what you might think of as an alternate universe will appear somewhere, and it will spread out and destroy us."
Since detecting the particle in their accelerator experiments, researchers at the Geneva lab and at related institutions around the world have begun to theorize on the Higgs' implications for physics.
One idea that it throws up is the possibility of a cyclical universe, in which every so often all of space is renewed.
"It turns out there's a calculation you can do in our Standard Model of particle physics, once you know the mass of the Higgs boson," explained Dr Joseph Lykken.
"What happens is you get just a quantum fluctuation that makes a tiny bubble of the vacuum the Universe really wants to be in. And because it's a lower-energy state, this bubble will then expand, basically at the speed of light, and sweep everything before it," the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory theoretician told BBC News.
SOURCE NBC Cosmic Log
| By 33rd Square | Subscribe to 33rd Square |
0 comments:
Post a Comment