Higgs Boson Mass points to end of our Universe

[Ayelbourne]

At least, that's what physicists at CERN are saying. They say, based on the measurements of the particle's mass, our universe might end in a vacuum decay in a few billion years from now.

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/...rp-higgs-like-particle-suggests-it-might?lite

Well, that would be rather unfortunate.

 

[JarodRussell]

[Morgan Freeman Voice]

Everything is going to be just fine.

[/Morgan Freeman Voice]

 

[Robert Maxwell]

If it really happens in "tens of billions of years," we won't have to wait for the heat death of the universe, proton decay, or anything. An interesting twist, if true.

 

[RoJoHen]

Can't wait for the reboot.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

^

... Do the CERN folks predict whether there be more lens flare in any subsequent Universe?

 

[Christopher]

^No; nor does it predict when a critical mass of people will finally figure out that that joke stopped being funny years ago.

 

[Amaris]

Well, fuck.

[cancels satellite subscription]

 

[gturner]

This is at least better news that CERN figuring out that Higgs decay means the universe ended a couple of billion years in the past.

There was this nice quote though:

"The universe wants to be in a different state, so eventually to realize that, a little bubble of what you might think of as an alternate universe will appear somewhere, and it will spread out and destroy us."

The alternate destructo-universe definitely needs a cool name.

 

[Amaris]

This is at least better news that CERN figuring out that Higgs decay means the universe ended a couple of billion years in the past.

There was this nice quote though:

"The universe wants to be in a different state, so eventually to realize that, a little bubble of what you might think of as an alternate universe will appear somewhere, and it will spread out and destroy us."

The alternate destructo-universe definitely needs a cool name.

Hank.

 

[Christopher]

I'd say this sounds like a science fiction story, but it's already been several science fiction stories. Star Trek has already had one episode (DS9: "Playing God") and at least two novels (The Wounded Sky and The Three-Minute Universe) about proto-universes threatening to expand into and eradicate our universe. And I'm sure I've heard of other SF works about the idea too.

 

[C.E. Evans]

This is at least better news that CERN figuring out that Higgs decay means the universe ended a couple of billion years in the past.

There was this nice quote though:

"The universe wants to be in a different state, so eventually to realize that, a little bubble of what you might think of as an alternate universe will appear somewhere, and it will spread out and destroy us."

The alternate destructo-universe definitely needs a cool name.

The IRS universe.

Might not be cool, but probably appropriate.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

The alternate destructo-universe definitely needs a cool name.

I shall call it "bullshit."

Because after spending billions of dollars to manufacture a gigantic particle accelerator for basically the specific purpose of investigating this one particle whose existence hadn't even been confirmed yet and whose discovery changes virtually nothing meaningful about physics either way, the theory has become indistinguishable from bullshit.

Cosmology and particle physics have both, IMO, turned the corner into a neighborhood that used to be dominated by theologians: they're used to having people believe them without question, even when their theories (like this one, for example) are borderline absurd. Naturally, this is all predicated on a device that only a handful of people in the world have access to and that only a small percentage of THEM are in any way qualified to operate (what are you gonna do, build your OWN hadron collider and find out for yourself?), so even if the theory is even partially based on REAL findings, there is ZERO chance that anyone in the world will ever be able to call them on it.

But since the scientific hocus-pocus that is the Higgs Boson is entirely immaterial for anything RESEMBLING practical applications of physics, the concept itself -- and the "death by alternate universe" theory -- shall be logged on my library under the heading "Quantum Bullshit."

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I'd say this sounds like a science fiction story, but it's already been several science fiction stories. Star Trek has already had one episode (DS9: "Playing God") and at least two novels (The Wounded Sky and The Three-Minute Universe) about proto-universes threatening to expand into and eradicate our universe. And I'm sure I've heard of other SF works about the idea too.

Wasn't the mostly execrable film Supernova (2000) based on a similar premise, where the state change was triggered by an alien artifact and a supernova?

Anyway, that the vacuum isn't in its lowest possible energy state has been mooted since at least the 70s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum

 

[gturner]

The alternate destructo-universe definitely needs a cool name.

I shall call it "bullshit."

...

But since the scientific hocus-pocus that is the Higgs Boson is entirely immaterial for anything RESEMBLING practical applications of physics, the concept itself -- and the "death by alternate universe" theory -- shall be logged on my library under the heading "Quantum Bullshit."

Well, I disagree somewhat with their conclusion. My Excel spreadsheet of the Higgs mass clearly indicates that the new universe, instead of destroying our own, will actually modify the Higgs field and boson-boson interactions in such a way as to give us telekinesis, visions of the future, and probably self-teleportation depending on whether the new-universe electrons have a fractional or integer spin. On the downside we'll have to defeat the orcs again.

/sarc

So like me, you think even von Daniken and Velikovsky wouldn't be associated with such wildly speculative nonsense based on a few rough observations of a particle that's been a fundamental part of the universe since its inception.

 

[Saul]

Well it seems that they are saying that the universe just recycles itself every couple of billion years. Which means we weren't the first universe, or the last and this might have happened lots of times already.

All of this happens has happened before and all of this will happen again?

The science of Star Trek 2009 is getting closer to reality. Black Holes between universes kinda makes sense now....

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

So... we are back from a cold death of the universe hypothesis to a looping universe hypothesis only this time without a big crunch where a new universe just bursts into existance and painting over the old one?
Does that mean, that older universes could theoretically be seen if we had FTL telescopes to see past the "edge" of the current one?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

So... we are back from a cold death of the universe hypothesis to a looping universe hypothesis only this time without a big crunch where a new universe just bursts into existance and painting over the old one?
Does that mean, that older universes could theoretically be seen if we had FTL telescopes to see past the "edge" of the current one?

What's an FTL telescope when it's at home? That's science fiction, I'm afraid - for the moment at least.

Roger Penrose and Vahe Gurzadyan looked for and claimed that they had found signatures of previous universes recorded in the CMB, but the statistical methods they used have been criticized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformal_cyclic_cosmology

 

[Ayelbourne]

This whole thing reminds me of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
In the first book, there's a theory stating the everytime people figure out the universe it's destroyed and replaced by something even more confusing.

 

[Christopher]

Wasn't the mostly execrable film Supernova (2000) based on a similar premise, where the state change was triggered by an alien artifact and a supernova?

Not a clue. Never saw it.

Well it seems that they are saying that the universe just recycles itself every couple of billion years. Which means we weren't the first universe, or the last and this might have happened lots of times already.

No, I don't think that's what they're saying. This wouldn't be an alternate reality with stars and planets like ours. It would be a change of state in the nature of the universe, an alteration of its laws of physics that would make stars and planets and life unable to exist. They're just calling it an "alternate universe" because it would be a radically different type of universe after the change.

That false vacuum article at Wikipedia, linked above, mentions some of the other science fiction works that have used the idea of a vacuum metastability event as a cosmic doomsday scenario, including the story "Vacuum States" by Geoffrey A. Landis and the novels Time by Stephen Baxter and Schild's Ladder by Greg Egan.

 

[Tribble puncher]

Wasn't the mostly execrable film Supernova (2000) based on a similar premise, where the state change was triggered by an alien artifact and a supernova?

Not a clue. Never saw it.

I remember that movie, Something about 9th dimensional matter being encased in a shell that exists in the 3rd dimension...it was a neat concept, too bad it was executed so badly in the film. That film really had only three things going for it, IMHO. The concept, The visuals were great to look at (seriously, there are alot of space beauty shots in this film), and Angela Basset. (I thought she was kinda hot in that movie). Unfortunately, everything else about the film is a nonsensical mess...