One of the biggest unsolved problems in physics has to do with combining quantum mechanics and general relativity – two theories that are equally successful. And the latest attempt to close the bridge brings into the equation the explosion that started everything: the Big Bang. In a recent paper in Physical Review Letters, physicists at … Read more
Elliot McGucken These photos of 70-foot-tall cones of light shining in the California desert may look pretty, but they have a surface and actually represent some interesting ideas about the evolution of space-time. Dr. Elliot McGucken is a nationally recognized photographer and Ph.D. a physicist. He likes to combine his two passions, which he believes … Read more
Astronomers have long argued that dark matter is the invisible scaffolding that holds galaxies together. Without its immense gravitational pull, the galaxies’ rotating necks would force them to fly sideways. But now, scientists have found a series of galaxies that do not seem to have their dark matter completely. The latest in this string, known … Read more
A Theory of Gravity That Could Rewrite the Universe’s First Minutes The first fraction of a second after the Big Bang has always posed a problem. Physics can explain a lot about the universe once it’s stable and expanding, but in the beginning, when heat and energy were extremes, it was still hard to pin … Read more
Modern cosmology is built on three theoretical pillars: special relativity, Newtonian gravity, and quantum mechanics. Each is supported by considerable experimental evidence, but each describes the physical world in a way that contradicts the other two. Quantum theory describes a small. Objects that are driven by electromagnetic forces, both strong and weak. The dim world … Read more
For more than two decades, textbooks and science fairs have been telling the same story that the universe is not only expanding, but accelerating. Now a new wave of data is quietly shaking up that picture and giving new life to a mysterious ending called the Big Crunch, where everything in the universe finally collapses … Read more
Researchers say a new theory to deal with the Big Bang could change the way physicists think about the early history of the universe. A team from the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics has taken a different approach to analyzing the origin of the universe from previous efforts, with a … Read more