If our (the universe as we know it) reality disappears--there will obviously be another one elsewhere---we do not have to know about it.
On Sat, Feb 23, 2013 at 8:30 PM, nominal9 <nomin...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > http://news.yahoo.com/why-higgs-boson-may-seal-fate-universe-115810396.html > > The apparent discovery of the Higgs boson particle last year has opened > doors to new calculations that weren't previously possible, scientists say, > including one that suggests the universe is in for a cataclysm billions of > years from now. > > "It may be the universe we live > in<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AjN6he2giIFp7h6orX9vUmOtFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFqMDgxZXM0BG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzEEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12korodi1/EXP=1362849095/**http%3A//www.space.com/13393-universe-endless-void-big-crunch.html>is > inherently unstable, and at some point billions of years from now it's > all going to get wiped out," Joseph Lykken, a theoretical physicist at the > Fermi > National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., said Monday (Feb. 18) > at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of > Science. > > That projection is based on a calculation of the universe's "vacuum > instability" that depends on the mass of the Higgs boson, which physicists > think they've found at the world's largest particle accelerator, the Large > Hadron Collider in Geneva. Scientists there discovered a new > particle<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AvyayZkLUqBFiD0Mwxw9tBOtFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFqaWd2Ymg3BG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzIEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12r7f57n7/EXP=1362849095/**http%3A//www.livescience.com/21380-higgs-boson-particle-lhc-findings.html>whose > properties suggest it's the Higgs, though further proof is needed to > be certain. > > But what does this particle have to do with the fate of the universe? > > First of all, the Higgs boson is related to the Higgs field, an energy > field pervading space that is thought to imbue many particles with mass. > Just as swimmers get wet moving through a swimming pool, the thinking goes, > particles get mass moving through the Higgs field. [Gallery: Search for > the Higgs > Boson<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=Ai0Ji5mdc_y_OtZCtsDmH7OtFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFqaTNjbzlmBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzMEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12sco6rqa/EXP=1362849095/**http%3A//www.livescience.com/17439-photos-search-higgs-boson-cern-lhc.html> > ] > > *Hills and valleys* > > The Higgs field has a certain potential energy related to the way it > interacts with itself. Just as a field of grass has hills and valleys — > maximums and minimums — the Higgs field can have potential energy minimums > and maximums, as well, explained Tim Barklow, a physicist at the SLAC > National Accelerator Laboratory in California. > > Currently, calculations suggest, the Higgs field is at a potential > minimum, but it's possible, at some point, that the field could "tunnel" to > another potential minimum that would give it different properties. > (Tunneling is the quantum mechanical equivalent of boring through a hill > from one valley to another, rather than traveling up and then down the > hill.) > > But if the universe's Higgs field tunneled to a new potential energy > minimum, it could become much stronger, causing the universe's particles to > gain mass. Any change in the mass of fundamental particles like the proton > and electron would have drastic repercussions. Atoms, planets, stars and > galaxies would no longer hold together as they do now if their fundamental > constituents were altered. > > "Then all the laws of physics change and everything is torn apart," said > Barklow, who is a member of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron > Collider, one of the projects that discovered the possible Higgs boson. > > *Higgs mass* > > The likelihood of whether or not this eventuality comes to pass depends on > a number of properties, including the mass of the Higgs > boson<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AtINjvTs1MHabMGFcPuAav.tFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFqc2Fobm1zBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzQEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12ipblmh8/EXP=1362849095/**http%3A//www.livescience.com/24858-higgs-boson-lhc-particle.html>. > That wasn't known until just recently, when the Large Hadron Collider > produced a never-before-seen particle that looks to be the Higgs. This > particle's mass is about 126 billion electron volts, or about 126 times the > mass of the proton. > > The vacuum instability of the universe also depends on the mass of the top > quark, one of the ingredients of the protons and neutrons that make up all > the atoms in the universe. > > Both the Higgs mass and the top quark mass turn out to be just what's > needed to create a fundamental instability in the Higgs field, and > therefore to doom our > universe<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AubyOrWbUFVUq2_.rOauo06tFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFqaGFmbHBnBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzUEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12lvtoka7/EXP=1362849095/**http%3A//www.livescience.com/27218-higgs-boson-universe-future.html>. > [End of the World? Top 10 Doomsday > Fears<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=Avf_vl8yXOHSNMhCqf5xiJGtFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFqY2dxYjVxBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzYEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12si0omtq/EXP=1362849095/**http%3A//www.livescience.com/14173-doomsday-scenarios-apocalypse-2012.html> > ] > > "The presence of this phenomenon depends on the top quark being heavy and > the Higgs being very light," said SLAC theoretical physicist Michael > Peskin. "It turns out the top quark is very heavy and the Higgs is lighter > than a lot of people thought it would be." > > *Doom and gloom* > > It seems to be a perfect storm to spell a dismal end to our universe in > many billions of years. But don't worry too much. > > "Other things, like the sun going nova, will happen before this happens," > Peskin said, so humans probably won't be around to mind. > > Plus, the situation isn't locked tight just yet. For one thing, the mass > of the top quark isn't known precisely enough yet. > > And furthermore, the whole Higgs instability scenario depends on there > being no new particles beyond the ones known now. Since many physicists > suspect the universe is actually rich with particles they haven't yet > discovered, such as the plethora of particles predicted by the theory of > supersymmetry<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AmNvG0dOaGrNZPMEL_hddqitFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFqZG1vZW1rBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzcEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=13dlqreh5/EXP=1362849095/**http%3A//www.livescience.com/13593-exotic-particles-sparticles-antimatter-god-particle.html>, > the Higgs instability could be moot. > > "This observation is very interesting, but there's a big debate about what > it means," Peskin told LiveScience. Some experts think that the fact the > Higgs boson has the mass it does is because the universe truly is unstable. > > "And there are other people like me, who say it's just a curiosity and > after we discover supersymmetric particles, people will say it's totally > irrelevant," Peskin said."We don't know who's right, that's what's so > beautiful about this." > > *Follow Clara Moskowitz on Twitter > **@ClaraMoskowitz*<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AikkgF_XnTggnsS7i_2IgdCtFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFqZTJrMXNoBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzgEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=11lsjmj1m/EXP=1362849095/**http%3A//twitter.com/ClaraMoskowitz> > * or LiveScience > **@livescience*<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AhcDIMH79MKPR4k46jV0me2tFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFqcjE2NDhqBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzkEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=11nea4qmk/EXP=1362849095/**http%3A//twitter.com/%23%21/livescience> > *. We're also on > **Facebook*<http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AqQqB9HUjrJwd58Ph1vVybGtFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFrb2pndWQ3BG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzEwBHNlYwNNZWRpYUFydGljbGVCb2R5QXNzZW1ibHk-;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=11s65omau/EXP=1362849095/**http%3A//www.facebook.com/%23%21/livescience> > * & > **Google+*<https://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=Asfe7X6AyfYGd6HFvBnAdiWtFWFH;_ylu=X3oDMTFrM2g5cm4zBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzExBHNlYwNNZWRpYUFydGljbGVCb2R5QXNzZW1ibHk-;_ylg=X3oDMTJxNmNhdnE4BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNzhiZjQ2OGEtMjQ5Zi0zZTJmLWJlMTEtMWViYzVjNTY2N2U3BHBzdGNhdANzY2llbmNlBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=0/SIG=12p8oc9pf/EXP=1362849095/**https%3A//plus.google.com/b/115527392301630827938/115527392301630827938> > *.* > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Epistemology" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to epistemology+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to epistemology@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/epistemology?hl=en. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Epistemology" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to epistemology+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to epistemology@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/epistemology?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
