Closing in on the Goddess Particle

[n2doc]

Updated 16:09 20 August 2010 by Kate McAlpine

The inflaton particle is credited with generating the universe and fuelling its inflation. It has yet to be discovered, but it is fast running out of hiding places, thanks to the theoretical framework known as supersymmetry (SUSY).

Enormous and mainly extinct, supersymmetric particles are the dinosaurs of particle physics. Each of these "sparticles" is the partner of a known particle, and they have already solved several cosmological problems, including smoothing the way for a long-sought grand unified theory of physics.

Now two theories suggest that some sparticles might also be components of the elusive inflaton, which is thought to have driven space-time apart at the dawn of the universe.

If either theory turns out to be correct, it would constitute a first glimpse of the cosmic process of inflation. What's more, one of the new theories will soon be put to the test by collisions occurring at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland.

more

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727743.200-closing-in-on-the-inflaton-mother-of-the-universe.html

[KansDem]

1. What does it mean to say "driven space-time apart at the dawn of the universe?"

At one time were space and time one and the same? :shrug:

[derby378]

2. That's a good question...

In the primordial singularity from whence our universe came, space, time, and all the forces that govern our universe were united. When the singularity began inflating, gravity was the first force to differentiate itself from the rest of the melange. Eventually, the electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear forces followed suit.

But the Big Bang is supposed to have created what we refer to as "space" and "time." Logically, it is possible that there is a such thing as "space beyond space" - after all, what volume did the Big Bang expand into? - but we may never discover it without leaving our own universe, and if we did discover it, there's no guarantee we could make heads or tails out of it, let alone survive in it.

Same goes for time. You can say that there was a linear "time before time" that preceeded the Big Bang, but physicists are at a loss to describe any such proto-time, provided it ever existed.

[KansDem]

3. "what volume did the Big Bang expand into? "

I tried explaining this to my son once. He was 10 or 11 at the time and was wondering about the Big Bang. I tried to illustrate the concept by drawing little circles on a deflated balloon. I first explained that the balloon represented the universe and then I blew up the balloon to show how the tiny circles "expanded" and grew outward and more distant from each other.

I thought I was being clever in providing this demonstration (which was done in his bedroom), but then he wanted to know about what the balloon was expanding into: How big was the "room" the balloon was expanding in.

I couldn't answer him...

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Maybe the premise of the expanding universe is off a tad, most

notably elaborated upon here: http://metaresearch.org/cosmology/BB-top-30.asp

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. ...

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. For you may I suggest The Quick Red Fox Jumps Over

the Lazy Brown Dog. Reading comprehension is important when discussing such matters as these.

[derby378]

5. Have you ever read FLATLAND?

Might be good to share that book with your son, too. The hero of Flatland is a two-dimensional being trying to make sense of a three-dimensional world.

An oversimplification of a theory pondered by some astronomers and physicists is that our universe, with its three spatial dimensions, could be a bubble-like membrane expanding in a larger "metaspace" that contains at least four spatial dimensions - possibly as many as 10 dimensions, not counting time as a dimension. But that is the realm of M-theory, and I don't feel qualified to elaborate much further on this concept.

[pokerfan]

6. Dr Quantum - Flatland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWyTxCsIXE4

[dimbear]

7. Suppose you search a pitchblack room

for a dark colored hat that isn't there. In what sense are you closing in on it?

[Confusious]

11. Space and time are one right now

That's why it's usually referred to as "spacetime"

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

They probably mean that there were fewer dimensions, or so close together that we would perceive them as one. In the first moment they separated into the things we perceive as being separate.

The theory of relativity says that space and time are one, though we perceive them as being separate.

[Silent3]

10. Does Triangle Man beat Sparticle Man?

When they have a fight, does Triangle win?