Oct 25, 2022 08:20 PM
Is a new anomaly affecting the entire Universe?
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/...-universe/
KEY POINTS: The most puzzling, unexplained anomaly in all of cosmology is the Hubble tension: the difference in the measured expansion rate depending on which method is used. However, a second, less-publicized anomaly is also extremely puzzling: a difference in our observed motion through the Universe and how different things appear in various directions. We have many different methods of estimating how the Universe differs in different directions, and they're not all consistent with one another. That's a real, unsolved, but important problem! (MORE - details, lots of graphics)
Scientists Looked for a 'New Space-Time Structure' Deep Under the South Pole. This Is What They Found
https://www.vice.com/en/article/3adj4v/s...they-found
EXCERPT: . . . Lorentz symmetry essentially means that the cosmos should look the same to two observers that are traveling at a constant speed relative to each other. In other words, the universe at large scales is basically isotropic and homogeneous, even though it appears more varied at smaller scales, including the planetary perspective we experience as humans on Earth.
Researchers are obsessed with detecting violations of this symmetry because they might expose the long-sought missing link between gravity and the standard model of particle physics that governs quantum mechanics.
“For the last 100 years, people have tried to find evidence that Lorentz symmetry is not true, and no one can find it,” Katori explained. “This is one of the most traditional studies of modern physics—people challenging this spacetime theory.”
“If something is wrong in the Lorentz symmetry or something is beyond the Lorentz symmetry, you might have some connection, for the first time, to gravity in the standard model,” he added. “Quantum gravity is something many people are hoping is really the next generation, or an open door to the next stage.”
Astrophysical neutrinos offer a promising test of Einstein’s theories because they might encounter unexplored regions of spacetime that are affected by quantum gravity. Neutrinos that pass through such areas could potentially switch flavors in surprising ways that would leave a record of spacetime anomalies in their signatures that could be read by scientists that capture them on Earth.
“Neutrinos switch flavors even without this spacetime effect,” Katori noted. “We are looking for anomalous changes, or unpredicted ways to change. That's the focus of this research.”
IceCube’s search found no anomalies in neutrino flavor conversion, leaving the notion of Lorentz symmetry intact for now... (MORE - missing details)
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/...-universe/
KEY POINTS: The most puzzling, unexplained anomaly in all of cosmology is the Hubble tension: the difference in the measured expansion rate depending on which method is used. However, a second, less-publicized anomaly is also extremely puzzling: a difference in our observed motion through the Universe and how different things appear in various directions. We have many different methods of estimating how the Universe differs in different directions, and they're not all consistent with one another. That's a real, unsolved, but important problem! (MORE - details, lots of graphics)
Scientists Looked for a 'New Space-Time Structure' Deep Under the South Pole. This Is What They Found
https://www.vice.com/en/article/3adj4v/s...they-found
EXCERPT: . . . Lorentz symmetry essentially means that the cosmos should look the same to two observers that are traveling at a constant speed relative to each other. In other words, the universe at large scales is basically isotropic and homogeneous, even though it appears more varied at smaller scales, including the planetary perspective we experience as humans on Earth.
Researchers are obsessed with detecting violations of this symmetry because they might expose the long-sought missing link between gravity and the standard model of particle physics that governs quantum mechanics.
“For the last 100 years, people have tried to find evidence that Lorentz symmetry is not true, and no one can find it,” Katori explained. “This is one of the most traditional studies of modern physics—people challenging this spacetime theory.”
“If something is wrong in the Lorentz symmetry or something is beyond the Lorentz symmetry, you might have some connection, for the first time, to gravity in the standard model,” he added. “Quantum gravity is something many people are hoping is really the next generation, or an open door to the next stage.”
Astrophysical neutrinos offer a promising test of Einstein’s theories because they might encounter unexplored regions of spacetime that are affected by quantum gravity. Neutrinos that pass through such areas could potentially switch flavors in surprising ways that would leave a record of spacetime anomalies in their signatures that could be read by scientists that capture them on Earth.
“Neutrinos switch flavors even without this spacetime effect,” Katori noted. “We are looking for anomalous changes, or unpredicted ways to change. That's the focus of this research.”
IceCube’s search found no anomalies in neutrino flavor conversion, leaving the notion of Lorentz symmetry intact for now... (MORE - missing details)