The phone or computer that you are read this on feel pretty square . What about an orchard apple tree ? It has a mass and weight , it wo n’t just disappear into nihility , correct ? Well … there is a opening that this might be the ultimate fate of the universe , that all the physics we obligate beloved might short vanish .
This scenario is known as assumed vacuum disintegration , a prominent fan favourite ( it ’s me , I am the fan ) . Why is it a fan pet ? Because we would n’t see it come . Because it would be radically dissimilar from the other end of the universe scenario . And the universe on the other side might be a whole new matter or nothing at all .
The author of this realism - ending change is to be found in the Higgs Field . Together with its famous particle , theHiggs boson , the field gives deal to every monolithic subatomic particle in the universe . The question is : Is the field static ? This means that the field is in its earth state , its lowest potential energy state ( true vacuum cleaner ) .
But what if it is n’t ? What if it is in a false vacuum that only looks like unchanging ? If the Higgs field of operations is metastable , then it might , at some power point , somewhere in the cosmos , spontaneously collapse to its straight value . This change would spread in a bubble moving at the speed of light , affecting everything it interact with .
“ If [ the Higgs field ] would suddenly change its properties , then light atom could become potentially heavy or the other room around , and then physics forces , thing , batch will all change , and then the world around us would not be the same any longer . We might not even be there anymore to in reality see it because we might just entirely come down apart,”Dr Lucien Heurtier , from King ’s College London , told IFLScience .
How probable that this scenario is to come to expire stay a matter of debate – and we will concisely see what DrHeurtier ’s researchsays about it . The likeliness of it is not stopping scientist from developingsimulations of these eventswith cutting - edge cathartic . For case , atoms at extremely low temperatures .
A vapor of these atoms was rate in a metastable shape at a millionth of a degree from absolute zero . thermic effect change the organisation , simulating the sour vacuum decay . The team desire to get even close to see quantum mechanical burden , outcome that might have toy a theatrical role in false vacuity decay that could have existed just after the Big Bang .
" Using the king of ultracold atom experiment to feign analogs of quantum purgative in other systems – in this case , the early universe itself – is a very exciting area of inquiry at the moment , " co - source of that research Dr Tom Billam , from Newcastle University , said in astatement .
To study the death of the universe in a more verbatim manner , researchers have even used a technology developed for quantum data processor . The false vacuum in the systemwas hit the books in one dimension , as they necessitate to validate the work before they could move on to 2D and eventually 3D.
“ One important question about vacuum decomposition is really how does that process occur ? If you ’re able to soar upwards in on it and keep an eye on it like a video , what is it that in reality happens ? The main end of this composition was to try on to realize what that rudimentary mechanism is , ” ProfessorZlatko Papic , from the University of Leeds , tell IFLScience .
So , how unsound is the Higgs if it is unstable ? Very , very slimly . As far as we can tell , it seem extremely stable . The chances of this sudden crash are extremely svelte . If it does happen , not just us but even all the stars in the universe might have already been snuffed out .
“ The prison term it would take if there is nothing else happening around is actually longsighted than the age of the creation , much longer , which means that it ’s normal that we have not seen that happening yet , ” Dr Heurtier order us casually about the potential destruction of all world .
So yeah , we do n’t call back that you could get out of that societal booking because of False Vacuum Decay . well recover a more likely exculpation .
