A vast cavern is the stage for tests to find the 'God particle'

The Times ^

[Aric2000]

I haven't the foggiest notion, I am NOT a physicist, I don't even play one on TV.

Ask Physicist, he probably knows the theory.

I toss in comments here and there just to let people know that I am here and interested, other then that, don't expect a lot from me on a physics thread.

[Future Snake Eater]

This is a topic greatly discussed in this book I had to read for AP Physics back in high school. Pretty interesting if you're into particle physics...which I wasn't...

[A. Pole]

Cheap at any price, even £1.5 billion, to get us a little closer to understanding the universe.

Or will prick with the scientific needle the bubble of universe. If so, it might be much more spectacular than bursting of Internet bubble.

[PatrickHenry]

If PH can manage to read Guth's book on Inflationary Cosmology without his head exploding ...

No problem. I just skim until I get to the dirty parts.

[longshadow]

Doesn't gravity travel at the speed of light?

A change in gravitational potential propogates at the speed of light, as I understand it.

[AndrewC]

A change in gravitational potential propogates at the speed of light, as I understand it.

It seems to me that going from nothing to something is a change.(perhaps it should be stated as from nowhere to somewhere)

[longshadow]

It seems to me that going from nothing to something is a change.(perhaps it should be stated as from nowhere to somewhere)

And....?

[AndrewC]

And....?

Well, inflation involves a volume(dimensional) change over time in which points are moved "apart" faster than light, if I understand inflation correctly.

[man of Yosemite]

The bible says faith is the substance of things hoped, the evidence of things not seen. You could call faith a precursor of the truth that is yet to be manifested. Real faith that is birthed by the Spirit of God will have it's day, no doubt. The faith that Jesus had that Lazurus would rise again, defied all science, yet it became the truth.

[longshadow]

Well, inflation involves a volume(dimensional) change over time in which points are moved "apart" faster than light, if I understand inflation correctly.

The distance between pre-existing "points" in space increases drastically during inflation. The inflationary epoch lasted some very very short length of time, so, yes the expansion of space is said to be "super-luminal."

And...?

[AndrewC]

Does a field exist independently of the particles associated with it?

[man of Yosemite]

Since you seem to be a real scientist, I'll share an incident that happened several decades ago that has left me wondering all these years. I was in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the vicinity of Mammoth Lakes during the third week in July. My brother and I were lying on our backs looking up at the stars when one of them seemed to appear to pop; the light just rushed away in all directions in a split second. I would compare it to the popping of a soap bubble in the air. I have never mentioned it to a astronomer, but if we saw a star explode it would be provable, the missing star would be on someone's chart. I'm not sure that is how these things happen, but we certainly saw something.

[ALS]

Seen the precise same thing one night in, I think, 1977, in Oklahoma watching the Perseids in August, wee hours.

[longshadow]

Does a field exist independently of the particles associated with it?

I'm not sure what you mean by this.... and I'm not sure where you're trying to go with it all.

If you are suggesting that super-luminal expansion of the Universe violates the proscription of Special Relativity against travelling faster than light, it doesn't. SR precludes matter or energy travelling faster than light, but makes no prohibition on space expanding at super-luminal rates.

If you're trying to make some other point, ....?

[AndrewC]

but makes no prohibition on space expanding at super-luminal rates.

But it is not only space that is "expanding", something is moving along with it.

[Aric2000]

As I said, if I handed you a stack of ancient documents that PROVED, beyond a shadow of a doubt that your bible was false, would you believe me?

No, you wouldn't, why, because you have faith, science is NOT a faith based discipline, otherwise it would be called religion, NOT science.

Have fun with your religion, I hope it brings you great joy, but don't fight science with it, they are noncompatible.

Science cannot prove nor disprove the existence of god, therefore science should NOT be a threat to you.

[Physicist]

I can't say what you saw, but it certainly wasn't a star exploding. Naked eye supernovae are extremely rare events (one every several hundred years). Their brightness ramps up over the course of hours, but even then their apparent size would be pointlike. It takes decades for their ejecta to appear as an extended object to our most powerful telescopes, and you'd never see it as an extended object with your naked eye.

So what could it have been? It must have been in the atmosphere, or just outside of it. Perhaps it was a meteor coming directly at you. That's a highly unlikely event, but it must happen to some people.

Further questions: what year was it? How bright was it compared to the stars? Or compared to the full moon? Was it any particular color? In what part of the sky did it occur? When you say that the light rushed away in all directions, did it come out as a solid circle, or as an empty ring or sphere, or did it shoot rays outwards, like spokes? Finally, how big did the distribution of light get before it faded?

[man of Yosemite]

I might have thought I was seeing things, but my brother and I both saw it. We were at 10,000 feet on a moonless night. The view was spectacular, and the incident took place straight above our heads. There was no sound and we hadn't seen any satellites at that particular moment. It left an indelible impression on my mind.

[AndrewC]

Good, does that mean you will not use the jesuit ploy again?