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According to Stephen Hawking, experiment near Baden-Württemberg could cause the universe to collapse

2021-09-02T22:10:30.455Z


Physicists have long wanted to find out what the universe is made of. Stephen Hawking warned against such experiments. They are extremely dangerous.


Physicists have long wanted to find out what the universe is made of.

Stephen Hawking warned against such experiments.

They are extremely dangerous.

Stuttgart / Geneva - The famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking was considered a pioneer in his field during his lifetime and is still considered today. In his last message before his death in March 2018, Stephen Hawking spoke about the future of electric cars (

BW24

* reported). A few years before his death, he also issued a warning to mankind: Further research and experimentation with the so-called Higgs particle could destroy the entire universe.

In order to understand what the Higgs particle is about, an excursion into the history of physics is necessary: ​​In the standard model of particle physics (a theory about elementary particles, matter and energy) there are so-called boson particles that serve as mass carriers . One of these is the photon, which moves electromagnetic force. More than 50 years ago, the British physicist Peter Higgs and his Belgian colleague François Englert proposed the theory that there must be a particle whose field gives the elementary particles in our universe their mass. This part was also jokingly called the “god particle” - because, according to the theory of the two physicists, it is what makes the universe what it is.

It has not been proven for a long time whether these “god particles” really exist.

Until, in July 2012, scientists at the CERN nuclear research center near Geneva were able to prove it.

They discovered a particle that also had the properties of the Higgs particle.

And it didn't stop there: after further analysis, the existence of the Higgs boson was officially confirmed.

The joy of the discovery was huge at the time.

But Stephen Hawking of all people then painted a gloomy scenario.

A further search could lead to the destruction of the universe, according to the physicist at the time.

Researchers have also calculated the point in time at which the sun destroys the earth *.

Warning from Stephen Hawking: "The Higgs potential has a troubling quality"

Stephen Hawking was a researcher who kept searching for answers.

But the discovery of the “god particle” worried the astrophysicist.

He urged caution and restraint.

In the worst case, the entire universe could be destroyed, according to the Briton.

Because at a very high energy level, the Higgs boson could lead to a collapse of space and time - and that without prior notice.

The Higgs boson, which gives physicists shape and size after all existing objects, could, according to Stephen Hawking, cause a “catastrophic vacuum drop” under extreme stress conditions, he told the Sunday Times at the time.

At the current state of technology, however, there is still no particle accelerator that is large enough for such experiments.

In his book “Starmus”, Hawking wrote: “The Higgs potential has the unsettling property that it becomes metastable at energies above 100 billion Giga-electron volts (GeV).

As a result, the universe could experience a catastrophic drop in vacuum while a bubble of real vacuum expands at the speed of light. "

Experiment continues despite Stephen Hawking's warning - it could establish a new law of physics

But despite Stephen Hawking's warning, research on the Higgs boson has continued in recent years. Since then, pairs of protons have been collided at extremely high speeds in a CERN particle accelerator near Baden-Württemberg *. The particle accelerator brings them to high energies before they collide. Detectors record the results of these collisions. In turn, the physicists can obtain knowledge about the laws of nature from the protocols.

Among other things, the researchers found that the Higgs particles decay again immediately after they have formed.

Scientists from Tel Aviv are currently conducting a study on the decay process of the particle.

The team found out this year that the duration of the decay process can be characterized more precisely and completely than previously assumed.

The research on the Higgs boson will probably be continued for a long time.

The scientists from Tel Aviv assume that the high rate of decay of the Higgs particles could even establish a new physical law.

* BW24

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-09-02

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