Failure™ Magazine

The Edge of Physics

Anil Ananthaswamy journeyed to Earth’s extremes to bring the world “The Edge of Physics.”

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under Science & Technology

What is happening in physics?
Some would say that physics is in crisis. We can only explain about four percent of the universe with the theories at hand. The rest of the cosmos we don’t really understand. Physicists have intriguing names for these mysterious components: dark matter and dark energy. We have known about dark matter—which makes up most of the mass of galaxies—for decades. The discovery of dark energy—the energy of the fabric of space time itself—is about decade old. On top of this, there is the issue of reconciling Einstein’s general theory of relativity with quantum mechanics. One describes the physics of the very large and the other of the very small. But they don’t work well together. Our best bet for combining the two into a theory of quantum gravity is string theory. But string theory is far from being experimentally verified, and some of its implications—such as the existence of extra dimensions and a vast number of other universes—are, for some physicists, hard to stomach. Something has to break this impasse. That’s where the next generation of telescopes, detectors and experiments come in. They are gathering the data that will help separate the theoretical wheat from the chaff. And maybe even point us towards a theory of quantum gravity.

Why are these cutting-edge physics experiments held in some of the most extreme environments on earth?
To get away from either the polluting influences of human populations or the deleterious effects of Earth’s atmosphere, or to escape the “noise” from cosmic rays on the Earth’s surface.

In the case of optical telescopes, dark skies are an absolute necessity and these can only be found far from inhabited regions. The Earth’s atmosphere is also an enemy: the presence of water vapor and the constantly varying thermal properties of air can smudge the light from distant galaxies. It’s best to go to places that are high up (so that you are above lower, denser layers of the atmosphere), and very dry (to minimize the amount of water vapor in the column of air above the telescope).

When it comes to building a neutrino telescope that uses a block of ice as a detecting material, there’s no other place on Earth that has so much ice as Antarctica. Physicists have no choice but to trek to the bottom of the world.

Finally, going deep underground is a necessary evil for experiments that are trying to detect dark matter. On the ground, interactions with cosmic rays can swamp detectors, and the best way to shield experiments from such particles is to establish labs inside abandoned mines. But it’s extremely challenging to build labs inside mines, as they require tens of thousands of tons of equipment, and access is usually limited to a single mine shaft.

Page 2 of 6 pages « First < 1 2 3 4 > Last »