All articles tagged with #fundamental constants
Caspar A. Jacobs challenges the common assumption that the breakdown of low-energy quantum gravity theories occurs precisely at the Planck scale, arguing that this scale is more of a heuristic than an absolute limit, and our current understanding cannot definitively pinpoint where our theories fail due to the inaccessibility of such high energies.
A new study suggests that atomic clocks, known for their incredible precision, could be used to detect certain low-mass particles theorized to be part of dark matter. By measuring variations in atomic clock timings, researchers from the University of Sussex and the National Physical Laboratory propose a method to observe the effects of ultralight particles, such as axions, on fundamental constants. This approach could provide insights into the elusive nature of dark matter and potentially extend to other unexplained phenomena. The research, published in the New Journal of Physics, offers a promising avenue for further exploration in particle physics.
Physicists are exploring the possibility that our universe is just one of many in a multiverse, each with different physical laws and values of fundamental constants. The values of these constants are in a range that allows for complex systems such as humans to evolve, but if they were tweaked by just a few percent, our universe would be lifeless. The theory of inflation suggests that there could be an "eternal" production of Big Bangs, each giving rise to a new universe. String theory suggests that there are more dimensions than the ones we experience, and each type of compactification could create a universe with different microphysics. Exploring these counterfactual universes could help us understand what range of parameters would allow complexity to emerge.
Physicists are exploring the possibility that our universe is just one of many in a multiverse, each with different physical laws and values of fundamental constants. The values of these constants are in a range that allows complex systems such as stars, planets, carbon, and ultimately humans to evolve. If we tweaked some of these parameters by just a few percent, it would render our universe lifeless. The multiverse theory suggests that statistically speaking, a few universes should be life-friendly. The concept of the multiverse is still controversial, but physicists are open-minded to the possibility of an imminent grand cosmological revolution.
Physicists are exploring the possibility of a multiverse, containing domains with different physical laws and values of fundamental constants, which could explain why our universe is life-friendly. The theory of inflation suggests that there could be an “eternal” production of Big Bangs, each giving rise to a new universe. String theory suggests that there are more dimensions than the ones we experience, and each type of compactification could create a universe with different microphysics. The “laws of nature” may therefore be local by-laws governing our own cosmic patch. Critics argue that the multiverse is unscientific because we can’t observe other universes, but physicists believe that we might one day have reasons to believe that they exist.