Higgs boson – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 Vacuum of Space to Decay Sooner Than Expected (but Still Not Soon) https://www.quantamagazine.org/vacuum-of-space-to-decay-sooner-than-expected-but-still-not-soon-20240722/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/vacuum-of-space-to-decay-sooner-than-expected-but-still-not-soon-20240722/#respond Mon, 22 Jul 2024 13:45:36 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=139255 The post Vacuum of Space to Decay Sooner Than Expected (but Still Not Soon) first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]>
Vacuum decay, a process that could end the universe as we know it, may happen 10,000 times sooner than expected. Fortunately, it still won’t happen for a very, very long time. When physicists speak of “the vacuum,” the term sounds as though it refers to empty space, and in a sense it does. More specifically, it refers to a set of defaults, like settings on a control board. When the quantum fields...

Source

]]>
https://www.quantamagazine.org/vacuum-of-space-to-decay-sooner-than-expected-but-still-not-soon-20240722/feed/ 0
Are There Reasons to Believe in a Multiverse? https://www.quantamagazine.org/are-there-reasons-to-believe-in-a-multiverse-20230517/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/are-there-reasons-to-believe-in-a-multiverse-20230517/#respond Wed, 17 May 2023 18:40:14 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=126041 The post Are There Reasons to Believe in a Multiverse? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]>
By definition, the universe seems like it should be the totality of everything that exists. Yet a variety of arguments emerging from cosmology, particle physics and quantum mechanics hint that there could also be unobservable universes beyond our own that follow different laws of nature. While the existence of a multiverse is speculative, for many physicists it represents a plausible explanation...

Source

]]>
https://www.quantamagazine.org/are-there-reasons-to-believe-in-a-multiverse-20230517/feed/ 0
What Is Quantum Field Theory and Why Is It Incomplete? https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-quantum-field-theory-and-why-is-it-incomplete-20220810/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-quantum-field-theory-and-why-is-it-incomplete-20220810/#respond Wed, 10 Aug 2022 20:35:53 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=117754 The post What Is Quantum Field Theory and Why Is It Incomplete? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]>
Quantum field theory may be the most successful scientific theory of all time, predicting experimental results with stunning accuracy and advancing the study of higher dimensional mathematics. Yet, there’s also reason to believe that it is missing something. Steven Strogatz speaks with David Tong, a theoretical physicist at the University of Cambridge, to explore the open questions of this...

Source

]]>
https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-quantum-field-theory-and-why-is-it-incomplete-20220810/feed/ 0
How the Physics of Nothing Underlies Everything https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-physics-of-nothing-underlies-everything-20220809/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-physics-of-nothing-underlies-everything-20220809/#respond Tue, 09 Aug 2022 13:32:15 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=117672 The post How the Physics of Nothing Underlies Everything first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]>
Millennia ago, Aristotle asserted that nature abhors a vacuum, reasoning that objects would fly through truly empty space at impossible speeds. In 1277, the French bishop Etienne Tempier shot back, declaring that God could do anything, even create a vacuum. Then a mere scientist pulled it off. Otto von Guericke invented a pump to suck the air from within a hollow copper sphere...

Source

]]>
https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-physics-of-nothing-underlies-everything-20220809/feed/ 0
Particle Physicists Puzzle Over a New Duality https://www.quantamagazine.org/particle-physicists-puzzle-over-a-new-duality-20220801/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/particle-physicists-puzzle-over-a-new-duality-20220801/#respond Mon, 01 Aug 2022 13:50:29 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=117159 The post Particle Physicists Puzzle Over a New Duality first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]>
Last year, the particle physicist Lance Dixon was preparing a lecture when he noticed a striking similarity between two formulas that he planned to include in his slides. The formulas, called scattering amplitudes, give the probabilities of possible outcomes of particle collisions. One of the scattering amplitudes represented the probability of two gluon particles colliding and producing four...

Source

]]>
https://www.quantamagazine.org/particle-physicists-puzzle-over-a-new-duality-20220801/feed/ 0