News tagged with quantum gravity

Physicists search for new physics in primordial quantum fluctuations

(PhysOrg.com) -- Inflation, the brief period that occurred less than a second after the Big Bang, is nearly as difficult to fathom as the Big Bang itself. Physicists calculate that inflation lasted for just ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Mar 26, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (26) | comments 99 | with audio podcast feature

Looking at quantum gravity in a mirror

Einstein's theory of gravity and quantum physics are expected to merge at the Planck-scale of extremely high energies and on very short distances. At this scale, new phenomena could arise. However, the Planck-scale ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Mar 18, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (27) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Why we've got the cosmological constant all wrong

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some scientists call the cosmological constant the "worst prediction of physics." And when today’s theories give an estimated value that is about 120 orders of magnitude larger than the ...

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 05, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (41) | comments 152 | with audio podcast feature

In the early universe, rapid expansion or something very weird

(PhysOrg.com) -- The widely-accepted theory of cosmic inflation states that our universe expanded rapidly in the moments after its birth, resulting in the immense expanse we see today.

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 27, 2012 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (14) | comments 141 | with audio podcast

Repulsive gravity as an alternative to dark energy (Part 2: In the quantum vacuum)

(PhysOrg.com) -- During the past few years, CERN physicist Dragan Hajdukovic has been investigating what he thinks may be a widely overlooked part of the cosmos: the quantum vacuum. He suggests that the quantum vacuum has ...

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (77) | comments 143 | with audio podcast report

Physicists propose test for loop quantum gravity

(PhysOrg.com) -- As a quantum theory of gravity, loop quantum gravity could potentially solve one of the biggest problems in physics: reconciling general relativity and quantum mechanics. But like all tentative ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jan 03, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (34) | comments 106 | with audio podcast feature

Four reasons why the quantum vacuum may explain dark matter

(PhysOrg.com) -- Earlier this year, PhysOrg reported on a new idea that suggested that gravitational charges in the quantum vacuum could provide an alternative to dark matter. The idea rests on the hypothesis that particles ...

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 28, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (67) | comments 124 | with audio podcast report

One clock with two times: When quantum mechanics meets general relativity

The unification of quantum mechanics and Einstein's general relativity is one of the most exciting and still open questions in modern physics. General relativity, the joint theory of gravity, space and time ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Oct 19, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (22) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Escaping gravity's clutches: The black hole breakout

New research by scientists at the University of York gives a fresh perspective on the physics of black holes.

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 11, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (17) | comments 18 | with audio podcast

Probing the laws of gravity: A gravity resonance method

Quantum mechanical methods can now be used to study gravity: At the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna), a measurement method was developed, which allows to test the fundamental theories of physics.

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 18, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (15) | comments 24 | with audio podcast

Physicists investigate fate of five-dimensional black strings

(PhysOrg.com) -- While black holes in four-dimensional space-time are stable and can persist for a long time, their higher-dimensional analogues are usually unstable. One such theoretical analogue is a five-dimensional ...

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 10, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (36) | comments 14 | with audio podcast feature

Physicists develop model that pushes limits of quantum theory, relativity

All of the matter in the universe -- everything we see, feel and smell -- has a certain predictable structure, thanks to the tiny electrons spinning around their atomic nuclei in a series of concentric shells or atomic levels. ...

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 03, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (29) | comments 94 | with audio podcast

Time travel theory avoids grandfather paradox

(PhysOrg.com) -- The possibility of going back in time only to kill your ancestors and prevent your own birth has posed a serious problem for potential time travelers, not even considering the technical details ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jul 21, 2010 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (55) | comments 96 | with audio podcast report

Revised theory of gravity doesn't predict a Big Bang

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Big Bang theory has formed the basis of our understanding of the universe's origins since it was first proposed in 1927 by Georges Lemaitre. And for good reason: the theory is supported ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jul 12, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (77) | comments 213 | with audio podcast feature

Planck Mission: Space Probe Peers Into Dark Cosmos

(PhysOrg.com) -- Imagine watching the birth of the universe -- the Big Bang -- from the outside. What would you have seen?

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jun 10, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (16) | comments 20 | with audio podcast