A discovery that was deemed thrilling news by experts in the scientific world just last year only opened a door to what could lead to the end of the universe according to a report by LiveScience.
During an annual meeting at the American Association for the Advancement of Science this week, scientists discussed their troubles over the Higgs boson particle, also known as the "god particle," and how it could confirm the end of the universe billions of years from now.
"This calculation tells you that many tens of billions of years from now there'll be a catastrophe," Joseph Lykken, a theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science."It may be the universe we live in is inherently unstable, and at some point billions of years from now it's all going to get wiped out."
The Higgs boson particle is reportedly a manifestation of an energy field spread through the known universe we live in called the Higgs field, which explains why particles have mass according to LiveScience.
After many decades of research, proof that the particle existed was discovered in July 2012 by physicists at the LHC.
"This discovery to me was personally astounding," said I. Joseph Kroll, a University of Pennsylvania physicist who also works at the LHC according to LiveScience. "To me, the Higgs was sort of, it might be there, it might not. The fact that it's there is really a tremendous accomplishment."
Scientists believe more research is needed to confirm the particle's definitive identity, but they're almost positive it's the Higgs according to the report posted this week.
If they have found Higgs, than in not only confirms the theory on how particles get mass, but it allows scientists the chance to make new calculations that weren't believed possible before.
"The mass of the Higgs is related to how stable the vacuum is," explained Christopher Hill, a theoretical physicist at the Ohio State University. "It's right along the critical line. That could either be a cosmic coincidence, or it could be that there's some physics that's causing that. That's something new, which we didn't know before."
While we won't have to worry about the end of the universe as everyone currently alive will be long gone billions of years from now, it will happen eventually, people just won't be able to see it.
" Fireballs of doom will form spontaneously and destroy the universe," said Lykken during the meeting. "You won't actually see it, because it will come at you at the speed of light. So in that sense don't worry."
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