Higgs Boson may indicate cyclical universe

Posted on Sunday, 24 February, 2013 | Comment icon

44 comments | News tip by: Professor T

Image credit: NASA/ESA/ESO

In several billion years time a whole new universe could open up within our own universe and replace it.

This cyclical universe concept is just one idea physicists have been theorizing on since the discovery of the Higgs Boson which underpins the workings of all the matter we see around us. By exploring the properties of the particle it may be possible to determine what fate awaits our universe in the distant future. The idea of a universe that cycles every so often would potentially sidestep the existing conundrum of what would happen if the universe simply kept expanding forever.

"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," said Dr Joseph Lykken.

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.

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Source: BBC News

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Recent comments on this story

#35 Posted by Mikami on 25 February, 2013, 15:40

I'm having trouple wrapping my head around this conundrum.... takes us to warp 9...

#36 Posted by Atentutankh-pasheri on 25 February, 2013, 18:11

I still think our entire universe is contained in the energy released by a match struck by somebody in an alternate universe, and who's own universe is contained in the energy released by a match being struck by........ Or everything is simply so big and complicated that we are really doing this which leads to this where I've been a long time now

#37 Posted by Ad hoc on 25 February, 2013, 19:10

I don't think he was being a smartass at all. Made sense to me: He's instructing people who want to show that pure research is useful to employ the sarcastic example of electromagnetic research. The sarcasm in that example is so unavoidable that your question about whether he was being sarcastic was actually confusing, and seemed like you might be asking if his overall point was sarcastic. :/

#38 Posted by shrooma on 25 February, 2013, 20:04

. he he he he..... i'm glad someone else around here has a sense of humour!

#39 Posted by Professor T on 25 February, 2013, 20:24

Hmmmm, I saw that quantumn bubble in the bathtub last night.... It smelled funny.. Seriously though, It is of course a possibility.. but then here we are, google scientist, wondering WTF would it be like to be consumed by an alternate universe.. there'd be no warning, it would be done in less than the blink of an eye and we would be nun-the-wiser if we had lived or died. Which makes one wonder, has it not already happened, and are we the unwitting result.

#40 Posted by Eldorado on 25 February, 2013, 20:35

Those 'alternative comedians' had to come from somewhere strange, so you could well be right.

#41 Posted by shrooma on 25 February, 2013, 21:05

. -''google scientist miscredited with someone elses comment'' shocker- film at eleven. ;-)

#42 Posted by DingoLingo on 25 February, 2013, 21:08

The search for the Higgs Field was a important one.. the standard model equation basically explained everything.. but mass.. they could not explain mass.. and that is where the higgs boson came in.. it all comes down to particle physics .. every invention in the modern age has a starting point in particle physics.. Confirmation of the Higgs Boson will actually open a new branch of physics and invention..

#43 Posted by shrooma on 25 February, 2013, 21:12

. don't be posting that man, you'll have creationists turning up worshipping you!! (which won't be as nice as it sounds, trust me....) :-)

#44 Posted by shrooma on 25 February, 2013, 21:16

. so now we know who to blame for the x-factor! bloody stoopid scientists.... :-)

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