Laws of Physics Vary Throughout the Universe, New Study Suggests


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Laws of Physics Vary Throughout the Universe, New Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2010) ? A team of astrophysicists based in Australia and England has uncovered evidence that the laws of physics are different in different parts of the universe.

The team -- from the University of New South Wales, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Cambridge -- has submitted a report of the discovery for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters. A preliminary version of the paper is currently under peer review.

The report describes how one of the supposed fundamental constants of Nature appears not to be constant after all. Instead, this 'magic number' known as the fine-structure constant -- 'alpha' for short -- appears to vary throughout the universe.

"After measuring alpha in around 300 distant galaxies, a consistency emerged: this magic number, which tells us the strength of electromagnetism, is not the same everywhere as it is here on Earth, and seems to vary continuously along a preferred axis through the universe," Professor John Webb from the University of New South Wales said.

"The implications for our current understanding of science are profound. If the laws of physics turn out to be merely 'local by-laws', it might be that whilst our observable part of the universe favours the existence of life and human beings, other far more distant regions may exist where different laws preclude the formation of life, at least as we know it."

"If our results are correct, clearly we shall need new physical theories to satisfactorily describe them."

The researchers' conclusions are based on new measurements taken with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, along with their previous measurements from the world's largest optical telescopes at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

Mr Julian King from the University of New South Wales explained how, after combining the two sets of measurements, the new result 'struck' them. "The Keck telescopes and the VLT are in different hemispheres -- they look in different directions through the universe. Looking to the north with Keck we see, on average, a smaller alpha in distant galaxies, but when looking south with the VLT we see a larger alpha."

"It varies by only a tiny amount -- about one part in 100,000 -- over most of the observable universe, but it's possible that much larger variations could occur beyond our observable horizon," Mr King said.

The discovery will force scientists to rethink their understanding of Nature's laws. "The fine structure constant, and other fundamental constants, are absolutely central to our current theory of physics. If they really do vary, we'll need a better, deeper theory," Dr Michael Murphy from Swinburne University said.

"While a 'varying constant' would shake our understanding of the world around us extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. What we're finding is extraordinary, no doubt about that."

"It's one of the biggest questions of modern science -- are the laws of physics the same everywhere in the universe and throughout its entire history? We're determined to answer this burning question one way or the other."

Other researchers involved in the research are Professor Victor Flambaum and PhD student Matthew Bainbridge from the University of New South Wales, and Professor Bob Carswell at the University of Cambridge (UK).

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100909004112.htm via gizmodo

incorrect measurements or some other factor Physics hasn't thought possible ?

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I thought the fact that it can be measured means there

is, in fact, some constant at work. Which would therefore

mean that the constant is the same everywhere, it's just

affected by different forces away from earth than the

forces here on earth.

Light, for example. The fact that a black hole sucks it up

doesn't mean that light, itself, works any differently around

a black hole than it does elsewhere in space.

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Sorry, what loopholes?

Consider light. A photon is a subatomic particle. But one that also acts as if it was a wave.

This is very well accepted, but if you stop to really think it sounds crazy. A particle that is also a wave. Aren't these things supposed to be completely separate entities?

Not necessarily a loophole, but it's something very odd.

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And the universe continues to scare me... I can imagine it now, I'll be getting married and all of a sudden... poof! My atomic structure, the ground's atomic structure, and my wife's atomic structure... all become corrupted causing us to fade away into an oblivion, no more year 2020, no more Neowin, no more English, time as we know it has been reset! It's terrible to think about, but if the universe has no limits, imagine I said this over 50 billion times since humanity, Earth, physics, has all happened 50 billion times... :(

An advanced civilization like Krypton could've existed... It just shows that creativity isn't really creativity... :( Our thought process probably has been duplicated 50 billion times. :/

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Sorry, what loopholes?

Dark energy/matter. I'd say that's the biggest fudge in physics today, and they use it whenever they don't understand something.

With regards to the OP, this is pretty much a given. If you look at the history of physics, you will see that new theories are constantly replacing old ones. It's in a state of perpetual evolution, much the same as every other body of knowledge. Einstein's relativity is most likely wrong on a fundamental level. This has been seen for some time in the quantum world. but now scientists are actually questioning the bases of modern day physics, which is a good thing, since the worst case scenario is when scientists think they fully understand something, for this inevitably leads to complacency, ego, and hubris, which are the enemies of enlightenment.

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And the universe continues to scare me... I can imagine it now, I'll be getting married and all of a sudden... poof! My atomic structure, the ground's atomic structure, and my wife's atomic structure... all become corrupted causing us to fade away into an oblivion, no more year 2020, no more Neowin, no more English, time as we know it has been reset! It's terrible to think about, but if the universe has no limits, imagine I said this over 50 billion times since humanity, Earth, physics, has all happened 50 billion times... :(

Don't worry about what you can't control. If it happens, it happens :)

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A particle that is also a wave. Aren't these things supposed to be completely separate entities?

Not necessarily a loophole, but it's something very odd.

Modern physics calls it wave-particle duality, It's a property of quantum mechanics. at least that's what I was taught at university. It may seem odd, but remember those staple images of nicely formed nuclei and the electrons spinning around them are actually wholly inaccurate, for matter is energy, and energy can be matter, thus the distinction is a matter (excuse the pun) of the properties they exhibit at anyone time. The fact is we still don't really know what they are, because we can only observe the effects they have on other matter (similar to gravity), or by viewing in our limited spectrum of light.

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