Congratulations on discovering the Higgs boson!
Thank you, I extend it to the rest of the team, because there were about 3,000 of us (the figure varies depending on the years considered, because the experiment lasted two). Higgs died recently: my admiration for him and the signatories of the essay.
12 years ago. Does it echo in eternity?
At least, it has confirmed all the physics that we have been doing since the 20th century to explain the universe: the so-called standard model. The boson was the essential particle of matter that we were missing and we found it in the CERN particle accelerator.
Are we particles – like the boson – of the universe that explains itself?
Aristotle and Newton already asked about the origin of matter – what we and everything are made of – and physics explains it day by day. I try to bring it closer to everyone.
But who understands quantum?
To begin with, I will tell you that no one –not even the Nobel Prize winners in Physics–, but you have to try.
Why don’t we understand quantum?
Because our brain is the result of an evolution restricted to a very small island in the universe with a tiny duration and energy. Therefore, it is difficult for us to understand phenomena, such as quantum mechanics, that transcend our little island.
Is it asking the monkey to explain metaphysics?
Our perception and reasoning have evolved to understand only that minimal space of reality in which we are and things are solid and predictable for us; because we have not needed to know more.
Do things exist outside our box and can a cat be alive and dead at the same time?
Quantum science tries to explain regimes of which we have no direct experience, but we must assume that they are as real as the one on our little island. And it is wonderful that there is so much more than what we understand today.
Does mathematics demonstrate that reality of which we have no experience?
We have a mathematical apparatus that explains particle behavior precisely, but we are missing the bridge between those particle equations and our perception and experience. That throws us off.
What if there were parallel universes?
That theory takes us to esoteric corners and is fun, but I prefer to talk about other more grounded ones. The most accepted theories still have quite a few holes to explain…!
Why can’t there be multiverses?
Right now there are physicists in the laboratory looking for dark matter or antimatter, but none looking for multiverses.
13.8 billion years ago there was a big bang and the universe expanded out of nowhere?
We know that the universe already existed before the big bang, which was only its great expansion, after a great concentration of energy and the fabric of space-time; and that the universe continues in that expansion, which we can see today in the trajectory of the stars.
The universe does not expand in space, but is space expanding?
And the expansion generated matter with its ten to the power of eighty kinds of particles, like the boson, until, 13.8 billion years later, it formed galaxies with stars and their systems; and the solar system, which is ours.
And do infinitesimal quantum and cosmic astrophysics end up being the same?
Is not it wonderful? And doesn’t it seem absurd that we try to understand it by specializing more and more? The father of the inflation theory of the universe is a particle physicist. He remembers the snake, the Ouroboros, that bites its tail: it is the logic of the cosmos.
What are black holes?
Gravity is the inverse of the square of the distance between two bodies, but it is not invincible: if we launch a ball with the force of a rocket, it escapes the Earth’s gravity; but if we squeezed the mass of the Earth very, very, very much… gravity would be more intense and the ball would not escape.
What if we tightened it as much as possible?
It would be a black hole: a body with gravity so concentrated, ergo with such a capacity of attraction, that it would not let even light escape and matter would collapse.
Have you seen a black hole?
When a star dies, the gravity generated by its thermonuclear reactions is so intense that all its matter collapses in its center. In the 1970s, the first black hole was indirectly observed: CYG X-1k; and, since then, many more have been seen, such as that of the galaxy M87. And one has been photographed, which we can all see.
Are you a better scientist every day?
Life begins at forty. The above was mere research and I have already researched and enjoyed it a lot. I understand who I am.
What does it mean to understand who you are?
It is difficult for us humans to define ourselves and you do not know how to define yourself if you have not experienced it.
Do you already know what you want?
I know what I don’t like and that I’m not good for some things and I accept it. It’s liberating.
