IMAGINE you might see via on a regular basis objects to the stuff they’re product of. For those who zoomed in on the arm of a chair, say, you’ll see that it’s product of atoms. Zoom in once more and you’ll see that these atoms comprise subatomic particles referred to as protons, neutrons and electrons. Zooming additional nonetheless, you’ll see that the protons and neutrons are composed of quarks.
These are the layers of actuality, and that is how physicists perceive the universe: by breaking every part down into its constituent components, an strategy generally known as reductionism. As a particle physicist, I grew up on this philosophy. It has introduced physics a great distance – it’s how we constructed our present image of matter and its workings, in spite of everything. However now, with additional progress stalling, I’m satisfied we have to go about issues in another way from right here.
Fairly than zooming ever additional inwards, I believe we have to zoom out. In doing so, we might even see that every part there may be, together with such seemingly basic issues as house and time, fragment out of a unified complete. This may sound like philosophy or mysticism, however it’s in truth a direct results of making use of quantum mechanics to the whole cosmos. Once you try this, you realise that the universe isn’t essentially product of separate components in any respect, however is as an alternative a single, quantum object.
It’s a radical thought, and one we’re simply starting to check experimentally. However whether it is right, it may assist remedy a few of the most puzzling mysteries in physics and upend the way in which we take into consideration the …