Multiversal Journeys Founding Editor: Editorial Advisory Board: Farzad Nekoogar, President Multiversal Journeys Thomas Buchert, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon, France Lawrence M. Krauss, Arizona State University Mark Trodden, University of Pennsylvania
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7919
Yasunori Nomura Bill Poirier John Terning Farzad Nekoogar Founding Editor Quantum Physics, Mini Black Holes, and the Multiverse Debunking Common Misconceptions in Theoretical Physics 123
Yasunori Nomura Department of Physics University of California Berkeley, CA, USA ynomura@berkeley.edu John Terning Department of Physics UC Davis Davis, CA, USA terning@physics.ucdavis.edu Bill Poirier Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX, USA Bill.Poirier@ttu.edu Founding Editor Farzad Nekoogar Multiversal Journeys 17328 Ventura Blvd. Encino, CA 91316, USA nekoogar@mvjs.org Multiversal Journeys TM organization is a trademark of Farzad Nekoogar and Multiversal Journeys, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Multiversal Journeys ISBN 978-3-319-41708-0 ISBN 978-3-319-41709-7 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41709-7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017954954 Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Anne Longo Bill To my parents Farzad To Laura, Jackson, and Maya John v
Preface A Sun manifested itself as a particle, And little by little uncovered its face. All other particles vanished in it; The world became intoxicated by it and became sober. Rumi 1207 1273 There is a wide gap between the public understanding of scientific findings and the actual theories developed by scientists in the area of physical sciences. The gap is very noticeable for concepts in theoretical physics and cosmology primarily due to the level of complexity and highly mathematical nature of these theories. Meanwhile, there is a significant amount of misconceptions about theories involved in theoretical physics mainly due to the existence of pseudoscience among some members of the general public. This book explores, explains, and debunks some common misconceptions about quantum physics, particle physics, spacetime, and multiverse cosmology. It seeks to separate science from pseudoscience. The material is based on a Multiversal Journeys conference at the Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley in 2015 with authors of this book as the speakers. Section one, addressing quantum physics, clarifies what the basic experimental facts imply about the nature of non-locality, the wave function, and what can be measured. It discusses two key quantum experiments: the double-slit experiment and the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) experiment. In both cases, reasoning is by analogy with everyday situations that the reader is vii
viii PREFACE already familiar with, while the mathematics is kept to a bare minimum. Interactive web-based animations for the double-slit experiment can be found at www.mvjs.org. Section two covers misconceptions about the size of elementary particles (no observable size, yet), the structure of atoms (not like mini solar systems), particle colliders (how they are different from but related to microscopes), mini-black holes (why they couldn t have destroyed the Earth when the LHC turned), the Higgs boson destroying the universe (what Stephen Hawking was really talking about), and parallel universes among other topics. The final section covers multiverse cosmology and related misconceptions, showing that it follows the standard methodology in science: forming a hypothesis about the natural world based on observation (with the help of mathematics) and then looking for evidence that further supports it. The multiverse concept is at a different stage of development when compared to quantum physics and space-time theories. It is a subject of current research activity, rather than a construct of pseudoscience. This section clarifies that the multiverse concept is based on mathematics and that it is a prediction of string theory and eternal inflation. A related documentary about the multiverse is available online at www.mvjs.org. The material is presented in a layperson-friendly language, followed by additional technical sections which explain basic equations and principles. This feature is very attractive to nonexpert readers who nevertheless seek a deeper understanding of the theories and wish to explore beyond just the basic description. I am grateful to Professor Sean Carroll for reviewing the book. I would like to thank Professor Ken Wharton for his detailed review of the section on quantum physics misconceptions. I am indebted to the members of our book advisory council: Professor Thomas Buchert, Professor Lawrence M. Krauss, and Professor Mark Trodden, for their suggestions and advice. I would also like to thank the staff of Springer, especially Tom Spicer and Cindy Zitter, for making this project happen.
PREFACE ix Finally, I would like to thank the authors of each section, Professor Yasunori Nomura, Professor Bill Poirier, and Professor John Terning for co-authoring the book, and also for their patience throughout the book publication process. Special thanks to Professor Bill Poirier for the macros and formatting style that was used for the book. Multiversal Journeys September 2017 Farzad Nekoogar
Contents I Misconceptions in Quantum Physics 1 Bill Poirier 1 The Singular Quantum 3 1.1 Why Is Quantum Physics Weird?.... 3 1.2 What Do the Experts Say?... 4 1.3 WhatHopeIsTherefortheRestofUs?... 6 1.4 WhatMaterialWillBeCovered?... 8 1.5 HowtoUseThisBook... 10 2 The Bipolar Quantum: Wave-Particle Duality 13 2.1 Wave,Particle,or Wavicle?... 13 2.2 Quantum Probability Waves... 16 2.3 Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.... 20 3 Quantum Soccer: The Double-Slit Experiment 25 3.1 A Reasonable Doubt...... 25 3.2 Single-Slit Experiment: Classical.... 27 3.3 Single-Slit Experiment: Quantum.... 28 3.4 Double-Slit Experiment: Classical... 29 3.5 Double-Slit Experiment: Quantum... 30 xi
xii CONTENTS 4 The Plural Quanta: Expanding the Wavefunction 35 4.1 Many-ParticleWavefunctions... 36 4.2 WavefunctionMeasurement... 38 4.3 Collapse and Schrödinger s Cat..... 42 5 The Spooky Quantum: Nonlocality 47 5.1 Entanglement and Hidden Variables... 47 5.2 Bell s Theorem.... 48 5.3 EPRBasaGameofCoinToss:ClassicalVersion... 50 5.4 EPRB as a Game of Coin Toss: Quantum Version..... 54 5.5 Playingthe WhatIf? Game... 56 6 Where the Weird Things Are 61 6.1 WhereAreThey?WhereAreWe?... 61 6.2 Interpretations of Quantum Physics... 63 6.3 Popular Depictions of Quantum Physics..... 65 Appendix I: Looking Under the Hood: The Mathematical Method Behind the Madness 69 Appendix II: Further Reading 73 Appendix III: Glossary 75 II Misconceptions About Particles and Spacetime 79 John Terning 7 Particles 81 7.1 WhatAreParticles?... 81 7.2 Atoms... 83 7.3 Seeing Atoms.... 86
CONTENTS xiii 8 Mini Black Holes 95 8.1 BlackHoles... 95 8.2 BlackHolesandExtraDimensions... 98 9 Particle Colliders and the Universe 105 9.1 TheHiggsBoson... 105 9.2 ParallelUniverses... 111 10 Physics in the News 119 10.1 Cell Phone Radiation..... 119 10.2 ColdFusion... 123 11 Epilogue 127 11.1 Spinach: A Cautionary Tale... 127 11.2 MovingForward... 128 12 Extra Material: The Equations Behind the Words 131 12.1 UnitsandCoordinates... 131 12.2 Einstein s Special Theory of Relativity...... 135 12.3 Quantum Mechanics and Scattering... 141 12.4 Gravity... 145 12.5 BlackHoles... 150 12.6 BlackHolesinExtraDimensions... 153 12.7 TheLargeHadronCollider... 155 12.8 ComplexNumbers... 156 12.9 Group Theory: Rotations and Spinors... 157 12.10TheHiggs... 161 12.11Fusion... 168 Further Reading... 171 More Technical Reading... 171 ImageCredits... 171
xiv CONTENTS III Misconceptions about the Multiverse 175 Yasunori Nomura 13 The Basic Picture 177 13.1 Definition...... 177 13.2 Motivation: Observational... 182 13.3 Motivation: Theoretical.... 185 13.4 New Spacetime Picture.... 189 14 Demystifying the Multiverse 193 14.1 ScientificandConservative... 193 14.2 Anthropic Principle... 196 15 Relation to Observation 199 Epilogue...... 203 References and Further Reading... 204 Index 207