OT - Higgs Boson - Connecting TWL2000 to 2300AD Universe?

[Cdnwolf]

The potential discovery of the Higgs boson is a gateway to a new era that could see humanity unlock some of the universe’s great mysteries, including dark matter and light-speed travel, scientists have claimed.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) unveiled data from the Large Hadron Collider Wednesday “consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson,” an elusive particle thought to help explain why matter has mass.

Scientists went into a frenzy following the announcement, speculating that it could one day make light-speed travel possible by “un-massing” objects or allow huge items to be launched into space by “switching off” the Higgs.

CERN scientist Albert de Roeck likened it to the discovery of electricity, when he said humanity could never have imagined its future applications.

“What’s really important for the Higgs is that it explains how the world could be the way that it is in the first millionth of a second in the Big Bang,” de Roeck said.

[pmulcahy11b]

I don't have any great understanding of physics -- but I don't understand this yearning by quantum physicists for a particle for every effect or force in the universe. It's like they had the Particle Zoo culled and virtually tamed, and now it's growing and becoming non-understandable again. A particle for every effect and force, virtual particles that pop in and out of existence, elemental-particle-sized black holes all over the place, quantum-sized wormholes that float around, neutrinos zipping all over and hardly ever getting stopped by anything -- to a layman with a History degree and a meager understanding of physics, it's a mess that boggles my mind.

I don't know if the Higgs Bosun is even real or required for quantum physics. They're still arguing over whether the graviton is real, because Einstein's work says there's no actual pulling force causing gravity -- every bit of mass causes a spacetime warp that actually causes the effect that Newton called "gravity." No particle to carry the force of gravity is required, because gravity as a quantum force doesn't actually exist.

As I said, mind-bending.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

I don't have any great understanding of physics -- but I don't understand this yearning by quantum physicists for a particle for every effect or force in the universe. It's like they had the Particle Zoo culled and virtually tamed, and now it's growing and becoming non-understandable again.

I'm a bit confused about your comments, Paul. The physicists aren't "inventing" particles for the lulz, they're trying to find ways to detect sub-atomic particles that are predicted under the modern, standard model of physics but which have not yet been proved to exist. What's not to admire about the quest to gain a deeper understanding of the universe in which we live?

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Targan

I'm a bit confused about your comments, Paul. The physicists aren't "inventing" particles for the lulz, they're trying to find ways to detect sub-atomic particles that are predicted under the modern, standard model of physics but which have not yet been proved to exist. What's not to admire about the quest to gain a deeper understanding of the universe in which we live?

I agree with all that. But it still confuses the hell out of me...

[WallShadow]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

I agree with all that. But it still confuses the hell out of me...

Paul, just run it through your Scott-LaForge TechnoBabble Universal GeekSpeak Translator/Plot Device Device (tm, pat.pend., heirs of Roddenberry, Inc.), and it will all be made right!

[bobcat]

my DM back when i was playing DnD did something similar when one idiot in the party touched off an explosion of epic proportions(it wasn't me, i just built the bomb ) the explosion tore the fabric of the universe and dragged the whole party into another far more hostile dimension.

[RN7]

As far as I know the application of antimatter is not mentioned in the 2300AD universe. It is however used in Transhuman Space and is refined in factories on Mercury by a number of countries and used as a weapon and for powering deep spacecraft.