That Signal From the Beginning of Time Could Redefine Our Universe
The physics world was on fire yesterday after an announcement that astronomers had detected a signal from the beginning of time. This is exactly as cool as it sounds. Maybe even cooler. And it might lead to us learning further crazy things about our universe.
Besides coming as a shock to most of the community, the discovery once again proved that we don’t quite know many things about our universe. Ordinarily sober-minded scientists went to hyperbolic lengths to describe just how significant the results were. Depending on who you ask, they were as important as finding the Higgs boson, directly detecting dark matter, or discovering life on other planets. Nobel Prizes are already being discussed.
“I find it hard to imagine a more powerful, more transformative experimental result anywhere in fundamental physics, short of a discovery of extra dimensions or of a violation of quantum mechanics,” wrote physicist Liam McAllister of Cornell University in a guest post on The Reference Frame, a blog dedicated to physics.
Now before they can be given the scientific seal of approval, the results need to be confirmed by an independent team. But if the same signal is seen in another telescope, they could potentially touch on many different areas of physics, including the origins of the universe, quantum gravity, particle physics, and the multiverse. As a way to get acquainted with this new world, let’s take a look at all the different ways that yesterday’s announcement could change our understanding of the cosmos.
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Lots more of interest: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/03/bicep-physics-shakeup
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