[QUOTE]Scientists say they may be able to determine the eventual fate of the cosmos as they probe the properties of the Higgs boson.
A concept known as vacuum instability could result, 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.
Hints of the particle were first seen at the Large Hadron Collider last year.
Associated with an energy field that pervades all space, the boson helps explain the existence of mass in the cosmos. In other words, it underpins the workings of all the matter we see around us.
Since detecting the particle in their accelerator experiments, researchers at the Geneva lab and at related institutions around the world have begun to theorise 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.
"If you use all the physics we know now, and you do this straightforward calculation - it's bad news.
"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.
It was not something we need worry about, he said. The Sun and the Earth will be long gone by this time.
Dr Lykken was speaking here in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
He was participating in a session that had been organised to provide an update on the Higgs investigation.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21499765[/url]
I remember some explanation on string theory where something similar came up. It was the belief that two planes(can't remember if they were dimensions or whatever) would collide, massive energy would release inbetween(our universe), thus the big bang. The planes are knocked away from eachother but eventually they are dragged back together and the whole process repeats.
The cosmos is chaos?
I thought we already knew this, It rings a bell anyhoo
I was under the assumption this was already the most accepted model for the end of the universe. I guess this might just prove it
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”
[QUOTE=valkery;39642544]“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”[/QUOTE]
Sounds like someone has been watching the Matrix in my opinion.
[QUOTE=valkery;39642544]“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”[/QUOTE]
Universe reset button.
[QUOTE=James xX;39642716]Sounds like someone has been watching the Matrix in my opinion.[/QUOTE] It's from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I think.
[QUOTE]It was not something we need worry about, he said. The Sun and the Earth will be long gone by this time.[/QUOTE]
It's kinda sad how this statement acknowledges the fact that the humans won't ever make it out of earth, let alone the solar system.
[QUOTE=barttool;39644709]It's kinda sad how this statement acknowledges the fact that the humans won't ever make it out of earth, let alone the solar system.[/QUOTE]
No, it doesn't.
[QUOTE=barttool;39644709]It's kinda sad how this statement acknowledges the fact that the humans won't ever make it out of earth, let alone the solar system.[/QUOTE]
Well, this is all we know right now, we haven't quite expanded yet. However, by the time the event in the article occurs, I don't believe that humans as we know them will be around.
[QUOTE=James xX;39642716]Sounds like someone has been watching the Matrix in my opinion.[/QUOTE]
I heard it on a QI episode.
[QUOTE=Reviized;39644804]Well, this is all we know right now, we haven't quite expanded yet. However, by the time the event in the article occurs, I don't believe that humans as we know them will be around.[/QUOTE]
Even if we do make it into space, we would eventually be wiped out of existence and be replaced by a whole new universe. Think of all the universes previous to ours and those to come. God that's terrifyingly awesome.
[QUOTE=barttool;39644845]Even if we do make it into space, we would eentually be wiped out of existence and be replaced by a whole new universe. Think of all the universes previous to ours and those to come. God that's terrifyingly awesome.[/QUOTE]
This makes me wonder if it's possible to prevent this from happening
[QUOTE=Reviized;39644804]Well, this is all we know right now, we haven't quite expanded yet. However, by the time the event in the article occurs, I don't believe that humans as we know them will be around.[/QUOTE]
We will have ascended to join the Ancients by then.
[editline]19th February 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=DeEz;39644856]This makes me wonder if it's possible to prevent this from happening[/QUOTE]
I suppose the first step would be locating the 'bubble'.
Given the unimaginable immensity of the size of space, I seriously doubt that would ever be achieved.
[QUOTE=st_nick5;39644836]I heard it on a QI episode.[/QUOTE]
I'm pretty sure Douglas Adams (writer of the trilogy of five(hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy)) wrote that.
That's a real theory by the way, with actual mathmatical backing.
The universe is a scary place. Some people say the universe lacks some of the horrors that many writers like Lovecraft have thought-up. I honestly think it's much more horrific than we can ever even conceptualize.
[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;39648627]That's a real theory by the way, with actual mathmatical backing.
The universe is a scary place. Some people say the universe lacks some of the horrors that many writers like Lovecraft have thought-up. I honestly think it's much more horrific than we can ever even conceptualize.[/QUOTE]
Infinite possibilities; even some which we humans might never be able to comprehend.
But is it a bad thing that we'd never be able to understand such complexity?
Everyone has many questions, and science is doing its best to answer them.
[sp]Imagine if we were the last living creatures in the universe, and the meaning of life was to discover Higgs Boton, so that we could sacrifice ourselves, for the purpose of restoring life to a currently desolated universe[/sp]
Would be rather anti-climatic, considering how many philosophies humanity have made up.
Higgs Boton. Hehehehe. I laughed much harder than I should have.
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