# Universe may be inherently unstable



## Southern Geologist (Feb 20, 2013)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21499765

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.
         It all depends on some precise numbers related to the Higgs that researchers are currently trying to pin down.


A "Higgs-like" particle was first seen at the Large Hadron Collider last year.


Associated with an energy field that pervades all space, the  boson helps explain the existence of mass in the cosmos.  In other  words, it underpins the workings of all the matter we see around us.


Since detecting the particle in their accelerator  experiments, researchers at the Geneva lab and at related institutions  around the world have begun to theorise on the Higgs' implications for  physics.


One idea that it throws up is the possibility of a cyclical universe, in which every so often all of space is renewed.


"It turns out there's a calculation you can do in our  Standard Model of particle physics, once you know the mass of the Higgs  boson," explained Dr Joseph Lykken.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21499765#story_continues_2

      "If you use all the physics we know now, and you do this straightforward calculation - it's bad news.


"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," the  Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory theoretician told BBC News.


*It was not something we need worry about, he said.  The Sun and the Earth will be long gone by this time.*


Dr Lykken was speaking here in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
         He was participating in a session that had been organised to provide an update on the Higgs investigation.
*
*Two-year hiatus  

The boson was spotted in the wreckage resulting from proton particle collisions in the LHC's giant accelerator ring.
         Data gathered by two independent detectors observing this  subatomic debris determined the mass of the Higgs to be about 126  gigaelectronvolts (GeV).


      That was fascinating, said Prof  Chris Hill of Ohio State University, because the number was right in the  region where the instability problem became relevant.


"Before we knew, the Higgs could have been any mass over a  very wide range.  And what's amazing to me is that out of all those  possible masses from 114 to several hundred GeV, it's landed at 126-ish  where it's right on the critical line, and now we have to measure it  more precisely to find the fate of the Universe," he said.   


Prof Hill himself is part of the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid)  Collaboration at the LHC.  This is one of the Higgs-hunting detectors,  the other being Atlas.


Scientists have still to review about a third of the  collision data in their possession.  But they will likely need much more  information to close the uncertainties that remain in the measurement  of the Higgs' mass and its other properties.


Indeed, until they do so, they are reluctant to definitively  crown the boson, preferring often to say just that they have found a  "Higgs-like" particle.


Frustratingly, the LHC has now been shut down to allow for a major programme of repairs and upgrades. 


"To be absolutely definitive, I think it's going to take a  few years after the LHC starts running again, which is in 2015,"  conceded Dr Howard Gordon, from the Brookhaven National Laboratory and  an Atlas Collaboration member. 


"The LHC will be down for two years to do certain repairs,  fix the splices between the magnets, and to do maintenance and stuff.   So, when we start running in 2015, we will be at a higher energy, which  will mean we'll get more data on the Higgs and other particles to open  up a larger window of opportunity for discovery. But to dot all the I's  and cross all the T's, it will take a few more years."


If the calculation on vacuum instability stands up, it will  revive an old idea that the Big Bang Universe we observe today is just  the latest version in a permanent cycle of events.   


"I think that idea is getting more and more traction," said Dr Lykken.  
         "It's much easier to explain a lot of things if what we see  is a cycle.  If I were to bet my own money on it, I'd bet the cyclic  idea is right," he told BBC News.



Based on the bolded section that scientist is quite cynical about space flight.  Seriously, though, I find his 'we don't need to worry about it' amusing since the idea is basically "we'll already have been killed by something else, so this won't affect us."


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## Vertigo (Feb 20, 2013)

Fascinating, SG, they are being naturally, and very sensibly, cagey, but I do get the feeling that they are closing in on this Higgs question and it will be extremely interesting to watch the new research coming out of it.

I must say I agree with Dr Lykken; there is something much more aesthetically pleasing about the idea of a cyclic universe. I've alwasy felt the ever expanding fizzle out picture that the expansion acceleration that we have observed seems to imply is rather unsatisfactory. Nothing scientific about that opinion; it just doesn't feel quite right to me!


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## Lady of Winterfell (Feb 20, 2013)

Thanks for posting this! I had read another article about it, but it didn't explain what the fate of the universe would be, just that it wasn't good. This gives a better idea (though not the whole picture, which I'm sure no one knows anyway). Very interesting.

A bit depressing that the LHC is being shut down for 2 years.


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## Vertigo (Feb 20, 2013)

Lady of Winterfell said:


> A bit depressing that the LHC is being shut down for 2 years.


 
True but it's now done some great work and is probably due a rest and after the repairs and upgrades it's going to be even better and more powerful than before...


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## Lady of Winterfell (Feb 21, 2013)

You are correct Vertigo. And I shouldn't complain, 2 years will go by before you know it.


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## Vertigo (Feb 21, 2013)

Yeah, but I bet the scientist find it even more frustrating!


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## Lady of Winterfell (Feb 21, 2013)

I'm sure! I've often thought how amazingly patient scientists/astronomers/etc have to be. You draw up the plans for a space probe/satellite, wait for it to get funded, then built, then launched, then sit around while it travels there. Years and years!


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## mosaix (Feb 21, 2013)

Lady of Winterfell said:


> I'm sure! I've often thought how amazingly patient scientists/astronomers/etc have to be. You draw up the plans for a space probe/satellite, wait for it to get funded, then built, then launched, then sit around while it travels there. Years and years!



Alternatively:

You draw up the plans for a space probe/satellite, wait for it to get  funded, then built, then launched, then watch it crash into the Atlantic as the launcher fails to reach orbit...


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## Lady of Winterfell (Feb 22, 2013)

Talk about a bad day...


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## Vertigo (Feb 22, 2013)

Or completely misses Mars, or lands but never talks again. I always feel so desperately sad for scientists that might have invested ten years in a project that then crashes and burns. Surprising they don't have more suicides in that business.


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