Thursday, February 28, 2013

End times discussed

Could the Higgs mass determine the end of the universe?

 According to quantum theory, it’s possible that the lowest energy state of our universe – when there’s nothing but space and time – isn’t the lowest possible state of all.
In this picture, there exists an even lower energy state, one that our universe could transition to. That might not sound too ominous until you learn that in the lower energy state, all the protons in all the matter in the universe decay, with the unfortunate side effect that we cease to exist.
Worse still, the transition could happen at any time, anywhere in the universe, and expand at light speed from a tiny bubble until it annihilates the entire universe as we know it, which would be, you know, bad.
Recently, this idea was re-examined within the context of the Standard Model of Particle Physics – the modern quantum theory of subatomic particles and their interactions. Precise calculations dictate that the stability of our universe is intimately connected to the mass of the Higgs boson (and the top quark), a parameter which – thanks to the efforts of Large Hadron Collider – is now known to be about 125 GeV.
It is the conclusions of this re-examination that have raised a furore in the media: the Standard Model predicts that for our universe to be stable, the Higgs mass needs to be larger than 129.4 ± 5.6 GeV, so it only just fits within the uncertainties.
Ergo the end is nigh, at least in the units of time that cosmologists work with. But don’t stock your matter-collapsing-proof shelter just yet – those time scales are billions to trillions of years.
 The article goes on to note that, as the Standard Model doesn't cover everything, there may well be an "out."

The other person who had a lot hanging on the mass of the Higgs was Frank Tipler, who had predicted a Higgs mass way of 220 or so for his Omega Point theory to work.

Sadly, I have not seen any comment by him since the LHC announcement of its measurement last year.

6 comments:

TimT said...

(As you can see no intelligent reflections from me this morning.)

Steve said...

Aren't you worried that the protons in your home made cheese could become unstable and disappear at any moment?

TimT said...

Now that would be incredibly rude of them wouldn't it.

Is Universe End by imminent proton collapse due to happen before or after Armageddon?

TimT said...

I find Biblical-style Armageddon a major head spin. More so than, say, than all the protons in the universe just going *phut*. The easiest way I have of imagining it happening is through the sort of imagery you get in some Auden poems -

'I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.'


Or

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Steve said...

Nice. Although the squawking geese reference seems a bit incongruous. It would all happen in silence, I think...

Actually, I would have thought that black holes spinning at nearly the speed of light would do something mighty strange to the space time around it. I would hope for a funnel in which to escape to another universe, but I could be wrong...

TimT said...

Maybe the black hole is doing something quite drastic to the universe around us, but we're not noticing it!

The end as described in Revelations sounds quite stormy. I think Christ's description of it is quite noisy too? (Something about wars and rumours of wars?)

The poems those quotes are from are neither really apocalyptic in intent, though the surreal imagery is just right. For instance I think it captures the idea of everything being quickly and efficiently dispensed with in the way only the omnipotent could.