1 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, I have a question for you about how 2 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: physics works. All right, shoot, yeah, what happens when it 3 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: doesn't work? Like what happens when you're wrong? That really 4 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: depends depends on what how wrong you are. No, it 5 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: depends on whether you're an experimentalist or a theorist. It 6 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: makes a difference. Oh yeah. For an experimentalist, if you 7 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: are wrong one time, it's like a career death. It's 8 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: like getting caught from murder. You know, once is enough 9 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 1: to send you away forever. You murdered science. If you 10 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: if your results are wrong, you murdered your credibility. But 11 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: not for a theorist. Like if a theorist is wrong, 12 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: there's no consequence. No, almost every single paper written by 13 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 1: a theorist is wrong, and in fact, if they are 14 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: right even one time, they win. The Nobel problem does 15 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: sound like better? Odds, Daniel, Why did you even become 16 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:22,960 Speaker 1: an experimentalist? I asked myself that question every day. I 17 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: am Jorge make cartoonists and the creator of PhD comics. Hi, 18 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 1: I'm Daniel. I'm a particle of physicist, and though I've 19 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: never been wrong in a scientific paper, I have zero 20 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: Nobel prizes, No wait, that's not actually true. I do 21 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:37,959 Speaker 1: have a tiny slice of a Nobel Prize. Well, you 22 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 1: could be wrong about having a Nobel Prize, like you could. 23 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: I could write a paper about having a Nobel Prize 24 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: and they'll be wrong and then get a Nobel Prize 25 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: for it in literature maybe. But anyways, welcome to our 26 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: podcast Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe Even the Wrong Parts, 27 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio, in which we take 28 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: a trip around the universe, giving you a tour of 29 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 1: everything that's amazing, everything that's exciting, everything that's real, and 30 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: everything that's theoretical. Not just what's out there in the universe, 31 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,680 Speaker 1: but what's inside the minds of scientists, what they're hoping 32 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: to discover out there in our universe. That's right, We 33 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: take you on a trip across the cosmos, not just 34 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: to see what's there, but what might be there. What's 35 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: physicists think might be the next big idea that could 36 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: revolutionize how we understand the universe. And we have a 37 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:31,800 Speaker 1: special group of people whose job it is just to 38 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: come up with crazy ideas that might describe our universe. 39 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:37,239 Speaker 1: You have a group of people just to be wrong. 40 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: Is that kind of how it works. They only have 41 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: to be right occasionally. But yeah, basically, just throw ideas 42 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:48,079 Speaker 1: out there. It's like the brain, the brain trust. Yeah, 43 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: it's like a brainstorming, you know, like maybe the universe 44 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: works this way. Go check. Oh no, I guess not. 45 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: Maybe the universe works that way. Go check. Oh no, 46 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,839 Speaker 1: I guess not. Keep coming up with ideas, folks, Yeah, 47 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: because the universe is pretty crazy out there. You know, 48 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: there are a lot of things that we didn't expect, 49 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,839 Speaker 1: and so as crazy as an idea might seem right now, 50 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: it could be right. Yep. Absurdity is no obstacle to reality. 51 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: I mean, you can't take a theory of physics and 52 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: say that's too crazy, because some of these crazy ideas 53 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: turned out to be real, you know, quantum mechanics and relativity. 54 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: There have been moments in history when we had to 55 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: accept things that were very difficult to swallow, and that 56 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: means we need to keep our minds wide open to 57 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: future crazy ideas. Yeah, you could be absurd and be 58 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: right at the same time. That's the situation of the universe. 59 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 1: That's your review of the Universe on its Amazon web page. 60 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: Absurd but right, absurved but true. Five stars. Yeah, that's 61 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: kind of like this podcast a Cartoonists and physicism physics 62 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: for an hour, And I wonder what that's like sometimes 63 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: for a theorist, because I'm not a theorist. You know, 64 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: you spend your life coming up with ideas maybe there's 65 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: this particle, maybe the universe works that way, and and 66 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: predicting them and suggesting ways to check but almost never correct. Right. 67 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: Most theorists who write papers, most of their theories don't 68 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: even get checked because we can't check all of them, 69 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: and when they do, mostly they just get ruled out. Yeah. 70 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: I guess there are a lot of theorists out there 71 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: and they can't all be right right, and they can't 72 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: all be checked. So how does how do these ideas 73 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: come through to get checked? Yeah? Well, if you're a theorist, 74 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: you have some crazy new idea, you say, I think 75 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: the universe works this way, and then you have to 76 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: make a prediction. You have to say, well, if somebody 77 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: did such and such experiment, they could verify my theory. 78 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 1: Like Einstein had his theory relativity, and he predicted something 79 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: would happen when light bent around the sun or when 80 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,160 Speaker 1: light bent around the moon during an eclipse, so it 81 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: make a very specific prediction. Then the key is you 82 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 1: have to find an experimentalist someone to do that experiment 83 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: and check your prediction. If you can't convince anybody that 84 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,040 Speaker 1: your prediction is worth checking, it just doesn't get checked. 85 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: Is there like an app for physicists to match experimentalists 86 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:09,839 Speaker 1: with theories, you know, like a dating app physics or 87 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: or checker. Yeah, I'm not sure. Um, you know it's 88 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: sort of arbitrary. You know, experimentals will read a paper 89 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: and say, oh, that's really cool, I want to check that. 90 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: Or me as an experimentals, I'll go to conferences and 91 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: talk to theorists and hear about the new ideas and 92 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,359 Speaker 1: try to think about what's most interesting to test. Because 93 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,599 Speaker 1: you can't test everything, you have to make your choices. Yeah, 94 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: I guess you swipe left or right depending on whether 95 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: you think it could be right or what are you 96 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,840 Speaker 1: based on? Like is it is it? Are you tempted 97 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:40,920 Speaker 1: by like, oh that would be a big fish to catch, 98 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: or are you tempted by like is this an easy 99 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: fish that I could verify? Well, that's a great question. 100 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: I'm a bit unusual in particle physics. Most people choose 101 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: theories that they think sound sort of aesthetically beautiful, like 102 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: supersymmetry and gravity and all these things. They have like 103 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: a deep fear redical reason to motivate that theory, like 104 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: why we think it exists? Um. For me, I'm more 105 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,160 Speaker 1: interested in stuff that's uh going to be a surprise, 106 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:11,039 Speaker 1: Like I'd like to look for something that isn't predicted, 107 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: So I try to do experiments that nobody's predicted, because 108 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,479 Speaker 1: then if you see something new, a new particle, then 109 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: you get to be the first person to describe it, 110 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:21,720 Speaker 1: and it sort of comes out as a pleasant surprise 111 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,600 Speaker 1: for the community. So it is like a dating app. 112 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:26,599 Speaker 1: You swipe left or right if it's like, oh this 113 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: is beautiful, I like it, or on this floats my boat, 114 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,160 Speaker 1: I'm gonna swipe it. All right, You're right, I give up. 115 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: Physics is just like a dating app. It's basically the 116 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:39,599 Speaker 1: same thing. Well a lot of it. Amazing and incredible 117 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: discoveries have been made this way. For example, the Higgs 118 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: boson was really just a theory out of the blue, 119 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:46,919 Speaker 1: and it was a theory for a long time until 120 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: people decided to try to test it. That's right, and 121 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: people spend decades trying to test this theory, and finally 122 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: we build a collider or powerful enough that we could 123 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: create the Higgs boson and prove that it existed. And 124 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:00,480 Speaker 1: so this theory is to fifty years or Elier had 125 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: predicted the existence of this particle, was proved right and 126 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: got his Nobel prize. Yeah, that was like a like 127 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 1: a twenty billion dollars swipe there, you know, that was 128 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: a big swipe that that was good dollars. Yeah, but 129 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: you know, he wasn't the only one to predict it. 130 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:18,239 Speaker 1: And there was a lot of controversy when we discovered 131 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:20,680 Speaker 1: the Higgs boson. Who was going to get the prize 132 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: for it? Should it just be Higgs, should also be 133 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: this guy Englert who was around and wrote a lot 134 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: of very similar papers but didn't get his name on 135 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: the particle. And then there was a whole other group 136 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: of people that wrote very similar papers, but we didn't 137 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 1: get any part of the prize. That's right, And so 138 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: today we'll be talking about a prediction from a theorist 139 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: that maybe should have gotten the Higgs Nobel Prize but didn't. 140 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: And he made his second prediction about the universe that 141 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about today. That's right. And 142 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: this comes from a question from a listener. Somebody wrote 143 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: it and said, hey, could you explain this to us? 144 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: I just don't get it. Yeah, So this is a 145 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: question that Peter from Poland sent us via email, and 146 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: so to be on the pro and we'll be asking 147 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: the question what is a cosmic string? I don't want 148 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: to string people along. Let's just let's just get down 149 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: to it. Daniel. Yeah, well I was thinking, you know, 150 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 1: silly string versus string theory, and there's a lot of 151 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: different combinations there, but a lot of strings in physics. Yeah, 152 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: it's a great question. Thank you Peter from Poland for 153 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: writing in, and anybody out there, if there's something in 154 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: physics you've heard about but haven't really understood any of 155 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: the explanations, send to us. We're going to try to 156 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: break it down. And this is a tantalizing subject because 157 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: we're not just talking about strings. We're talking about cosmic strings. 158 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: So they sound like a very big deal, and they 159 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: are kind of a big deal. They're not small strings 160 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: like maybe some people might be imagining it. That's right. 161 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,079 Speaker 1: This is not you know, star studied strings in your 162 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: drawer or anything like that. These are things that could 163 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: span the entire observable universe. And so we were wondering 164 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:02,559 Speaker 1: how people had heard of these two words put together 165 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: costmaking strings out there, and how many people maybe even 166 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 1: had an idea but what it could be. So, as usual, 167 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:13,199 Speaker 1: Daniel went out there and as people in the street, 168 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,679 Speaker 1: if they've heard what a cosmic string is, so before 169 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: you hear these answers, think to yourself for a moment, 170 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:20,720 Speaker 1: do you know what a cosmic string is? What would 171 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 1: you say if I asked you on the street. Here's 172 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: what people had to say. It sounds like a Marvel 173 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 1: movie before me? Is that similar to string theory? The 174 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: loops that way upon it's like a fifth dimension potentially? 175 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: Do you know all this stuff? I don't know any 176 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: of this. I don't know any it's something, um, I 177 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: don't have no idea. Cosmic strings something that uh, and 178 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:54,120 Speaker 1: then I think that's what space string. QUITE have no idea. 179 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: If you laugh, is it sound funny? It just sounds 180 00:09:56,559 --> 00:09:59,320 Speaker 1: like like science fiction. I heard of cosmic bowling. You're 181 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: not cosmic cosmic bowling? What's that? That's when they shut 182 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: down the lights for Friday night bowling, strings that you know, 183 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 1: unite like different potential space and time like you Yeah, 184 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: like space and time like a pass I guess in 185 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:21,440 Speaker 1: a way when it's stringing together, str together, I have 186 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: no idea something to deal with. I don't know um energy, energy, 187 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,000 Speaker 1: and I don't have no idea how okay, but so 188 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: very much obviously cosmic, yes, but strings those starts together now, 189 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: all right, Not a lot of familiarity, although I do 190 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: like the answer the person who said it sounds like 191 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: a Marvel movie to me, which it totally does. You know, 192 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 1: infinity stones, cosmic strings, quantum realm. You're you guys are 193 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:54,679 Speaker 1: all watching the same movies. You could put cosmic in 194 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: front of anything. It would sounds like a Marvel movie. 195 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 1: Cosmic quantum, cosmic bowling. I like that answer. I was like, yeah, 196 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:02,080 Speaker 1: that does sound like a good idea. I'd like to 197 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: go to cosmic bowling, cosmic breakfast, cosmic fast. All right. So, 198 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: not a lot of people seem to know what it was, 199 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: although it definitely sounded science and science fiction. A lot 200 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: of people said, oh, it sounds like science fiction, or 201 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,959 Speaker 1: it sounds like something that might be related to string 202 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 1: theory or physics or energy. It definitely has a science 203 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:27,000 Speaker 1: feel to it. Yeah, and it might have just been 204 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: the way my hair looked that day. Maybe it looked 205 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 1: more like a crazy physicist, or maybe it just does 206 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:33,840 Speaker 1: sound like a sort of a physics thing. So people 207 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: are definitely guessing that. I'm trying to imagine how you 208 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,040 Speaker 1: can look more like a physicist, Daniel, It's kind of hard. 209 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:40,959 Speaker 1: It's kind of hard to imagine. I don't know. I 210 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: guess I could put on a lab coat. I mean 211 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:44,680 Speaker 1: I don't usually with a lab code when I'm walking around. 212 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: You put on a marble costume and boom, I need 213 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: an m c U lab coade so I can do 214 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: both things at once. Oh, that would be that's a 215 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: good idea. Actually print um something fun on a lap code. 216 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: M that sounds like merch. Get on that people, next 217 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: product for the Daniel and Jorge explain the universe store. 218 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,080 Speaker 1: But all right, so let's get into it. Daniel, what 219 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:10,199 Speaker 1: what are they? What is a cosmic string? And I 220 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:12,839 Speaker 1: I am totally with the people on the street. I've 221 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,360 Speaker 1: never heard of this concept before this morning. Well there's 222 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: a good reason, because cosmic strings are a pretty crazy idea. 223 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: They're pretty far out there, but they're really fun and 224 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: conceptually sort of mind blowing, which is why I think 225 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: the theory stuck around for a while. People get swiping 226 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: it because it sounded fun. Yeah, everybody wants this theory 227 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: to be true. And so what is a cosmic string? 228 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: A cosmic string is a line in space where the 229 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,719 Speaker 1: space itself is a little bit different from the way 230 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:44,240 Speaker 1: spaces for us, from me and you and most of 231 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: the space in the universe. It's like a little bit 232 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 1: of leftover from the Big Bang where it never quite 233 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: cooled and relaxed the way the space for us has. 234 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 1: It's like a pocket, like a pocket or a bubble, 235 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 1: or like a stretch dog bubble. Is that kind of 236 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: what mean? No, it's a really long, thin line, like 237 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,920 Speaker 1: it's maybe a phemptometer wide, so like super duper tiny, 238 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:06,719 Speaker 1: like the width of a proton. But then it can 239 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: be super long, like it could be as long as 240 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:13,079 Speaker 1: the observable universe, like nine billion light years. It's kind 241 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 1: of like a crack in space itself. Yeah, and you 242 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: have to think about what space is and remember that 243 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: space used to be really different. Right back when the 244 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 1: universe was created. Everything was hot and dense and there's 245 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:30,040 Speaker 1: a lot of energy everywhere. And remember that space is 246 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,959 Speaker 1: not emptiness. Space has all this stuff in It has 247 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 1: these quantum fields. And when you put energy into space, 248 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:39,240 Speaker 1: what you're doing is you're making those fields wiggle. And 249 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:42,280 Speaker 1: so back in the very early universe, those fields were 250 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:45,280 Speaker 1: going crazy because it was so much energy everywhere. So 251 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:47,839 Speaker 1: everything was wiggling really fast, and everything had a lot 252 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: of energy. In our book, we talked about how space 253 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 1: is kind of like a goo. It's like, it's not emptiness. 254 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 1: It's more like it's like something that you're swimming in almost, 255 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 1: and it can wiggle and bed and push you in 256 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: different directions. Right, that's right. Gravity does really weird things 257 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 1: to space. It can stretch it, it can bend it, it 258 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: it can ripple it. But for now, let's just think 259 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:11,040 Speaker 1: about like one unit of space, Like what's in that 260 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:13,560 Speaker 1: box of space? And in that box of space are 261 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:16,600 Speaker 1: quantum fields. Now, the universe started out really hot and 262 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: dense and really energetic, and those fields had a lot 263 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 1: of energy in them. But the space that we're familiar 264 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: with that operates in the way that we expect, like 265 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: has electrons in it and and atoms and stuff that 266 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: only came about after the universe relaxed a little bit. 267 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:35,280 Speaker 1: We talked about on the Higgs Boson episode that there's 268 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: one of these quantum fields, the Higgs one, that when 269 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,160 Speaker 1: it relaxed, when the universe cooled down, that this field 270 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:43,240 Speaker 1: didn't go all the way down to zero, sort of 271 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:47,240 Speaker 1: got stuck on a shelf. Right, Like the field that 272 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 1: the universe is made out of are not necessarily static, 273 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: like they can be kind of buzzing with energy. That's right. 274 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: Every time you have a particle that's a ripple in 275 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: the field, which means you've injected energy into it. Now, 276 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: most of the few can go down to zero like 277 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 1: you've got no electrons in your box of space. That 278 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,200 Speaker 1: fuel is at zero. But the Higgs boson never gets 279 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: down to zero. Got stuck on this shelf. And so 280 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: how does that explain these pockets or these cracks in space? 281 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: So what happens when the universe is expanding, is it 282 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: it's cooling, right, All this energy is getting spread out 283 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,680 Speaker 1: into more and more space. It's like you're stretching out 284 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: the fields, right, Like you're stretching them out basically, and 285 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: so they calmed down. Yeah, you have the same amount 286 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,040 Speaker 1: of energy in more space, and so it gets deluded. 287 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 1: So everything's like cooling and relaxing and sort of like 288 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 1: you know, you you toss your blanket over your bed 289 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: and it sort of settles down and settles over your bed, right, 290 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:45,320 Speaker 1: like a cosmic nap is like a cosmic blanket. Yeah, 291 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: and it settles down. But the Higgs field got stuck. Right. 292 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: But here's the thing. The Higgs field has lots of 293 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:54,240 Speaker 1: different ways to get stuck on that shelf. Is that 294 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: shelf is not just like one little balcony. It's like 295 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: a long round balcony, and the universe can get stuck 296 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: in different spots on that shelf. And so as the 297 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: universe is cooling, if this chunk of space over here 298 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: got stuck on a different spot then that chunk of space, 299 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 1: then there's this sort of boundary between them, this place 300 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 1: between them that doesn't quite work because it's sort of 301 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: trapped between space that got that cooled in two different ways. 302 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: It's kind of like how you know, water or air 303 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: has different states like solid liquid and gas, and you know, 304 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: as you cool something down, you can form these little 305 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: pockets of liquid or gas or what's either one solid 306 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:40,200 Speaker 1: water crystal. Yeah, it's like when you, like when you 307 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 1: stick water into the freezer and it cools down and 308 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:47,280 Speaker 1: forms ice. It doesn't form like this perfect solid of ice. 309 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: It forms like it has bowls and cracks and wiggles 310 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 1: and it is that kind of what you're saying, is 311 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: happened happened? Or how is happening to space right now? 312 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:57,760 Speaker 1: Exactly like that, if you cool water down, then you 313 00:16:57,800 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: get a crystal. But it doesn't, as you say, turn 314 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 1: into a crystal all at once. There's these sites that 315 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: begin because they're the coldest, little dots, and the crystals 316 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: start to form there, and then they form out from 317 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 1: those little spots where they have nucleated. And then what 318 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: happens when two crystals meet, You have this boundary, right, 319 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: and you don't have a perfect crystal. You have a 320 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: defect in the crystal. That's why, like some diamonds are 321 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,440 Speaker 1: perfect and some diamonds are not because there's a defect 322 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 1: there where in the crystal where one half of it 323 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: is cooled in a different time than the other half, 324 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: so they're not all lined up perfectly. The same thing 325 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:33,919 Speaker 1: happened to space, maybe, like there are imperfections in space, 326 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:37,520 Speaker 1: there are imperfections in their defects or cracks in space. 327 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:40,080 Speaker 1: Where on one side the Higgs field, it's at the 328 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 1: same level, right, it's just pointed in a different direction, 329 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:45,240 Speaker 1: because the Higgs field has sort of two we call 330 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:48,159 Speaker 1: them degrees of freedom, the level let it relaxed that 331 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,600 Speaker 1: and also where on that shelf it got stuck. So 332 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:53,439 Speaker 1: if this chunk of space is stuck on a different 333 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 1: spot in the shelf, then that chunk of space, it's 334 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,199 Speaker 1: sort of like your ice cooling at different ways. In 335 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,159 Speaker 1: different ways, the stoles are oriented in different directions, and 336 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:04,400 Speaker 1: so at the boundary you get this thing that doesn't 337 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: quite make sense. So I always thought the universe was 338 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: pretty pretty good, but I guess it's not a triple 339 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: A diamond quality space. I mean, I love our universe. 340 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,159 Speaker 1: I would not trade it in for anything. I think 341 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:18,120 Speaker 1: it's perfect just the way it is. But it might 342 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:20,119 Speaker 1: have these cracks in it, right, And we don't know. 343 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: We have never seen one of these things, but it 344 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: might have these cracks in it. That's the idea. That's 345 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: the concept of a cosmic string, cosmic flaws in space itself. 346 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,720 Speaker 1: And so along that line, it's like the universe never 347 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:34,879 Speaker 1: got to cool because it doesn't know like should I 348 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:36,439 Speaker 1: cool in this way or should I cool in the 349 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: other way. It's sort of like trapped between them, and 350 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: so it still has that energy density from the initial 351 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:45,239 Speaker 1: universe when everything was really hot and dense. And so 352 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,200 Speaker 1: these cosmic strings, even though they're really really thin, they're 353 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: like a femtometer wide. They're incredibly massive, and they could 354 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: be holding energy like the cracks or the flaws in 355 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 1: the universe could be storing some sort of energy or 356 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 1: tension into them. Absolutely incredible amounts of energy. Like two 357 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,200 Speaker 1: centimeters of a cosmic string weighs as much as Mount Everest. 358 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: A kilometer of cosmic string weighs more than the Earth. 359 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 1: And so we're talking about these things. They could be 360 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,879 Speaker 1: like ninety billion light years long. It's an enormous amount 361 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:21,479 Speaker 1: of energy. What you just totally correct my mind here, Daniel, 362 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:26,160 Speaker 1: cosmically cosmically dude. But all right, so let's get into 363 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:30,120 Speaker 1: it and why is physicists think these crazy cracks might 364 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:32,960 Speaker 1: exist and whether or not they're real. But first let's 365 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:47,680 Speaker 1: take a quick break. Okay, so you're saying that as 366 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 1: the universe was cooling or assets cooling right now, you 367 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: might have these areas these lines, these huge lines in 368 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,919 Speaker 1: space that are sort of like cracks, like where space 369 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:05,040 Speaker 1: is kind of freezing into different crystals like structures or 370 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: different modes, and so you have these kind of edges 371 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,679 Speaker 1: to the wrinkles in space itself due to the Higgs 372 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,439 Speaker 1: field precisely, and we are in the crystal part, right, 373 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:16,720 Speaker 1: we're in the part of space that cooled, and these 374 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,920 Speaker 1: chunks of space that all cool sort of together. That's 375 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: like could be as wise nine billion night years like 376 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: the observable universe. So it's not like you have a 377 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:27,560 Speaker 1: little pocket of space, assize your hand and the next 378 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 1: pocket is different, the next pocket is different. If there 379 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,919 Speaker 1: are these pockets and they're vast, they're incredibly enormous, but 380 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:36,480 Speaker 1: then at their edges there can be these cracks. And 381 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: you're saying, these edges, these boundaries look like strings, and 382 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: so why don't they look like walls or like you know, 383 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: planes out in space. Why is it shape like a 384 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: long like you're super thin but really long string. Yeah, 385 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: that's a great question. That's because the Higgs boson. The 386 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: field for the Higgs has a lot of different ways 387 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,199 Speaker 1: you can relax, Like there's one level at which you 388 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:01,639 Speaker 1: can relax one and energy level, but on that energy 389 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:04,439 Speaker 1: level can sort of point in a lot of different directions. 390 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:06,879 Speaker 1: And so the way to get a boundary is like 391 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: if you had two different energy levels and and the 392 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: boundary like a would be like a plane between them. 393 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:16,199 Speaker 1: But um, because there's only one energy level, everywhere in 394 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:18,760 Speaker 1: space has that energy level, but they just point in 395 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:21,479 Speaker 1: different directions. And so what you get is this defect 396 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: that's like a string. And then as you go around 397 00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:27,720 Speaker 1: the string, the Higgs field is pointing in different directions, 398 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: and so it points in a different direction every point 399 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: around the string. And then the only place where you 400 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,200 Speaker 1: can't get sort of like smoothness is along this one 401 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:40,160 Speaker 1: infinitesimally thin line where space doesn't know where to point 402 00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: because every point everything around it is pointing in a 403 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 1: different direction. So it's like I can't relax. I don't 404 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: know which way should I go. It's kind of like 405 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:52,919 Speaker 1: me in this podcast, We're going in every direction. What 406 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: happens if I touch one of these strings? Like what 407 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:57,920 Speaker 1: if I'm touch one of these things and I run 408 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,920 Speaker 1: into like, you know, like a spiderweb, you know, I'm 409 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 1: walking down the street and just run into one. Well, 410 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,359 Speaker 1: I would recommend wearing oven myths first of all, because 411 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: there's a lot of energy there. Oh, that's right, they 412 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,200 Speaker 1: trap energy. It's like a so I guess it's more 413 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:14,680 Speaker 1: like a wrinkle in space. Right, It's not so much 414 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 1: like a crack, but it's more like, you know, like 415 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:19,919 Speaker 1: you're tucking in or you're bending a lot of space 416 00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 1: along the line of it. Yeah, a wrinkle is a 417 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:24,479 Speaker 1: good way to do it. I think a cosmic wrinkle 418 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:26,520 Speaker 1: um would have been a good way to sell this 419 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,919 Speaker 1: thing that could be the sequel to the Plaguind novels 420 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:34,040 Speaker 1: A Wrinkle in Space Time. Turns out there was physics 421 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:37,159 Speaker 1: behind that novel. You would notice one almost immediately if 422 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:39,920 Speaker 1: you saw one, because there's so much mass that they 423 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 1: bend the space around them the way everything does. Everything 424 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:45,639 Speaker 1: with mass bend space, and it would cause a huge 425 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,880 Speaker 1: gravitational lens. So it would really distort the way light 426 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:51,679 Speaker 1: moved around it. Wow, like a black hole. Be like 427 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 1: a black string. Yeah, it would be a lot like 428 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:56,840 Speaker 1: a black hole, except it would be really really thin 429 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,439 Speaker 1: and very very long. Okay, there would be probably crazy 430 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:03,040 Speaker 1: stuff happening around it, right, like a you know, it 431 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: wouldn't just sort of sit there in space that there 432 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:07,680 Speaker 1: would be you know, some kind of you know, cosmic 433 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:11,719 Speaker 1: storm kind of swirling around it. Would there be uh 434 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,400 Speaker 1: in the m c U version of this movie, then yell. 435 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: The visual effects would be dramatic all around it. Is 436 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:18,960 Speaker 1: that what you're thinking? Yeah, yeah, what what does the 437 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:22,200 Speaker 1: gauntlet that holds the cosmic strings look like? No, it's 438 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: actually fascinating because, unlike a black hole, which has enormous 439 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,679 Speaker 1: gravitational pull and so has a huge amount of stuff 440 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: around it, like a maelstrom that's like giving off light 441 00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:34,239 Speaker 1: because of all the gravitational energy and the and the 442 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:39,840 Speaker 1: title forces, cosmic strings don't actually provide a strong gravitational pull, 443 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:45,360 Speaker 1: like they distort space, but they don't necessarily create gravity themselves. 444 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 1: It's a really weird consequence. It depends on the shape 445 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: of the string, if they're a loop or if they're straight. 446 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,400 Speaker 1: It's actually quite complicated. Didn't you say that it has 447 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:58,119 Speaker 1: more mass than the Earth? Yes, or like, you know, 448 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,600 Speaker 1: it's just really massive, but it's a mass but no gravity. 449 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:04,400 Speaker 1: It has mass, it distores space, so it can become 450 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,440 Speaker 1: a gravitational lens, but it doesn't necessarily attract you because 451 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:11,239 Speaker 1: of the configuration of it. It depends precisely on the 452 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,199 Speaker 1: shape of it. Remember, general relativity tells us that gravity 453 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,119 Speaker 1: is much more complicated than just things that have mass 454 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,479 Speaker 1: pull on each other. It depends a lot on the 455 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: shape of that stuff. That's why if you have the 456 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 1: right configuration of stuff, you can even get repulsion like 457 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 1: dark energy. And so these cosmic strings are a really 458 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,199 Speaker 1: weird little object. And and it depends exactly on the 459 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,200 Speaker 1: configuration of it whether you get pulled into it or repelled, 460 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:35,800 Speaker 1: or whether it basically ignores you. So when you say 461 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,879 Speaker 1: it's massive, it's it's really more like the equals mc square, 462 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 1: Like it just has a lot of energy to it. Yeah, 463 00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:43,080 Speaker 1: it has a huge amount of energy, a lot of 464 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,520 Speaker 1: energy density in a really small spot. All right, Well, 465 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: it sounds kind of dangerous and that maybe you don't 466 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:49,760 Speaker 1: want to run into one of these strings out there 467 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 1: in space unless you want to win a Nobel prize, 468 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:57,440 Speaker 1: unless you want to die trying, I guess. But why 469 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,240 Speaker 1: why do phacests think they might exist? Is this thing 470 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,360 Speaker 1: that you're pretty sure of or it's a crazy idea? 471 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: What would what would make someone think of these strings 472 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:10,199 Speaker 1: as possibly being out there? Well, it comes from this 473 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: guy named Tom Kibble, and Kibble was one of the 474 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:15,840 Speaker 1: folks who was around when the whole idea of the 475 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,520 Speaker 1: Higgs boson was being invented, This question of like how 476 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,040 Speaker 1: do particles get mass? And do we need to invent 477 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:26,720 Speaker 1: a new quantum field that fills space that gives particles mass? 478 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,440 Speaker 1: And you know, anytime theorists come up with some new idea, 479 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:32,639 Speaker 1: then they like to play with it and they say, oh, okay, 480 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:34,919 Speaker 1: now we have a new toy, this Higgs field. What 481 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,399 Speaker 1: else does it mean? You know, how can we what 482 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,840 Speaker 1: consequences would it have? And so he was thinking about 483 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: the early universe and how the Higgs field would be 484 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 1: cooling as the universe expanded, and then he hit on 485 00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: this idea. He thought, wait a second, what if it 486 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: doesn't cool evenly? Would you get these cracks? And I 487 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:52,399 Speaker 1: guess that was just really fun to think about. He 488 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:55,440 Speaker 1: also he didn't get included in the Nobil Prize because 489 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:57,399 Speaker 1: he sort of came in a time he'd bit too 490 00:25:57,520 --> 00:25:59,480 Speaker 1: late on those papers. So maybe he was going for 491 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,280 Speaker 1: a backup Nobel Prize strategy. I wonder if his name help, 492 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,880 Speaker 1: you know, maybe the committee was like, we can't give 493 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:09,720 Speaker 1: it no prize to someone named Kimble. You know, there's 494 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: a whole group of people. There's like three folks out 495 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: there who were writing papers right at the same time 496 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: as Higgs and Englert, and they just got totally snubbed 497 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,359 Speaker 1: by the Nobel Prize committee. Wow, it's just about when 498 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:24,199 Speaker 1: they submitted the paper or when when they came up 499 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:27,360 Speaker 1: with the idea. There's a lot of controversy because it's 500 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:30,119 Speaker 1: you know, some journals that the date on the paper 501 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 1: reflects when you submitted it, and in other journals it 502 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,399 Speaker 1: reflects when it was finally accepted after review. And so 503 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,359 Speaker 1: there's a lot of controversy about who came up with 504 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:40,679 Speaker 1: the idea first. And you can only give the prize 505 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 1: to three people. And the three people who everybody mostly 506 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:49,040 Speaker 1: agrees came up with the idea first Higgs, Englert, and Brown. 507 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:52,160 Speaker 1: They were they won the prize except for Brown who 508 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:54,280 Speaker 1: had died already, so it was just split to the 509 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,760 Speaker 1: Higgs and England. And then in the second tier they 510 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,320 Speaker 1: were like three people and so they were like, well, 511 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:01,680 Speaker 1: it either it gives two or we give it to five. 512 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:03,440 Speaker 1: We can't give it to five, so I guess we'll 513 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:06,679 Speaker 1: just snub that whole second tier. Wow, is there a 514 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:11,600 Speaker 1: runner up Nobel Prize honorary. Yeah, it's sort of like 515 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: fake gold, you know, just like hollow plastic. It's not 516 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 1: nearly as cool. Okay, so that's the theory. The theory 517 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,680 Speaker 1: is that asked the universe is cooling, You got these 518 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,880 Speaker 1: kind of flaws and how the Higgs field was cooling down, 519 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,959 Speaker 1: and so you form these crazy strings. But they're not 520 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 1: related to string theory, right. That might be confusing because 521 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:34,520 Speaker 1: they're both strings, but there are totally different scales. That's right, 522 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:36,880 Speaker 1: they're not related to string theory at all. String theory 523 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,320 Speaker 1: deals with like the fundamental nature of the universe on 524 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,959 Speaker 1: the smallest scale, like ten to the minus thirty five meters, 525 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,560 Speaker 1: is everything actually made out of these tiny vibrating strings. 526 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: The thing they have in common is the sort of 527 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 1: analogy we use in our minds where we put them that, like, 528 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:54,439 Speaker 1: you know, this thing is really long and thin, so 529 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,439 Speaker 1: let's call it a string. So fundamental strings that are 530 00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: really tiny we think might be these one dimensional objects. 531 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,160 Speaker 1: So they're really long and thin, not that long actually, um, 532 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: but they're much longer than they are thin and cosmic strings. 533 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,000 Speaker 1: Are you know, light years long and a femptometer thin. 534 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:13,639 Speaker 1: So the only thing they really have in common is 535 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,480 Speaker 1: that name. But there's there were other reasons to think 536 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 1: that cosmic strings might have existed, all right, So then, 537 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:21,679 Speaker 1: so what was the motivation for these Like I know 538 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,639 Speaker 1: they were playing around with the theory of the Higgs field, 539 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:28,720 Speaker 1: but what makes this a particularly fun theory, like you said, 540 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 1: or interesting theory to look for. Well, you're right, it's 541 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: a fun idea and it's fun to play with, but 542 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,439 Speaker 1: there's a lot of things that get theories excited and 543 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,400 Speaker 1: fun to play with. I mean, they're fun strings. That's 544 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: what they do. They just go in their office and 545 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,600 Speaker 1: play with strings. Um No, The thing that made this 546 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: idea sort of stick in people's minds was that they 547 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:50,120 Speaker 1: thought it might solve a problem that we had, which 548 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: is that we didn't understand like why we had galaxies. 549 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,160 Speaker 1: We didn't understand why the universe had structure at all. 550 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 1: We talked about this on the podcast before, like the 551 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 1: universe started totally smooth. How do you get any clumping? 552 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 1: How do you get things started so that gravity can 553 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: take over and give you stars and planets and rabbits 554 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,520 Speaker 1: and hamsters? Right, Like where did that initial texture of 555 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: the universe come from, or the initial clumping of stuff? Exactly? 556 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 1: We could have been in a universe where everything was 557 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,000 Speaker 1: just spread out and bland and boring and gray. Right, 558 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: that's right. And somebody was thinking about cosmic strings early on, 559 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,960 Speaker 1: and they calculated like, well, how many cosmic strings would 560 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 1: there have been? And then they calculated like, well, how 561 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:33,719 Speaker 1: many galaxies are there? And those two numbers were pretty similar, 562 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 1: so that they thought, wait a second, me, me, cosmic strings, galaxies. 563 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,520 Speaker 1: Maybe the reason we have structures because of cosmic strings. 564 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:45,240 Speaker 1: Maybe these cracks in space, these imperfections, are the reason 565 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: that stuff started to clump together and form structure and 566 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: planets and hamsters and ice cream and bananas. So maybe 567 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: cosmic strings explained the universe. It would have tied everything 568 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,120 Speaker 1: up pretty neatly with a string, exactly. It would have 569 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 1: been quite the cosmic solution. That's why people got excited 570 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,680 Speaker 1: about it, because you have this new toy which is 571 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: connected to this fun new theoretical idea of higgs boson, 572 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:09,440 Speaker 1: and maybe it solves the problem you have. All right, Well, 573 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 1: it sounds really tantalizing, and I'm definitely seeing the fun 574 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: of it. And I definitely feel like I'm being strung 575 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 1: along here to some interesting conclusion. So let's get into 576 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:21,920 Speaker 1: whether or not they are real and how we might 577 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: actually see these cosmic strings out in space. But first 578 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:42,280 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break. Okay, Daniel, So our cosmic 579 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: strings real, and how will we know? Are we Are 580 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: we going to see them out in space? Are we 581 00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:49,640 Speaker 1: gonna be looking out into space one day and see, like, 582 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,440 Speaker 1: wait a minute, what is that little crack we check 583 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: our glasses and our telescopes. It's not a crack in 584 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 1: the lens. It's an actual crack in space, in the 585 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 1: universe itself. That would be pretty awesome. I mean, what 586 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,080 Speaker 1: a thing to discover, What a moment that would be, 587 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,840 Speaker 1: to see a crack in space itself. Unfortunately, no human 588 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,239 Speaker 1: has had that experience yet. As far as we know, 589 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,760 Speaker 1: there are no cosmic strings out there. Like how you said, 590 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,160 Speaker 1: no humans. I don't want to rag on alien science, 591 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:18,560 Speaker 1: you know, I'm hoping those guys have made some advances 592 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:20,840 Speaker 1: well past what we have done, so that when they 593 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,440 Speaker 1: come visit, they share with us all those secrets. No 594 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:26,960 Speaker 1: human that we know of, no human that we know of, 595 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:29,240 Speaker 1: and no human would make this discovery, and I think 596 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:31,600 Speaker 1: keep it to themselves because it would be of really 597 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:35,160 Speaker 1: cosmic significance. And remember we also we can't say they 598 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,920 Speaker 1: don't exist. We can just say we haven't seen them, 599 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,480 Speaker 1: so we don't know that they exist. Okay, so we 600 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: haven't seen one yet, but it's a theoretical prediction that 601 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:47,680 Speaker 1: it sounds fun and that might explain some of the 602 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 1: structure in the universe. So are people looking for these 603 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: cosmic cracks or are we just hoping that one day 604 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,560 Speaker 1: we maybe see them, Like, are active search for these cracks? 605 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,040 Speaker 1: I'm just waiting for alien you accords to come pulling 606 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,520 Speaker 1: one and drop it on the Earth. That's what that's 607 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:07,160 Speaker 1: what they used to steer the the cosmic unichorus. They 608 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: used cosmic strings. No, that will be the opening scene 609 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,920 Speaker 1: in the Marvel movie about cosmic strings. Um. But people 610 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,680 Speaker 1: were thinking that maybe this affected the shape of the universe, 611 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: and they had all these predictions like if these cracks 612 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: in space were the things that caused sort of the 613 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,479 Speaker 1: large scale structure, the reason we have galaxies, then they 614 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 1: had predictions for how the universe should have sort of 615 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: been rippling in its first moments. And remember that we 616 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 1: have seen the early universe. We can look back in 617 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 1: time and see what the universe looked like when it 618 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:40,240 Speaker 1: was very young. Called this the cosmic microwave background radiations 619 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,600 Speaker 1: leftover glow from the Big Bang. But didn't these strings 620 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 1: form way after the Big Bang when everything was cooling down? 621 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,120 Speaker 1: Or or was it that it? Did they start wrinkling 622 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:52,960 Speaker 1: right after the Big Bang? Right after the Big Bang? Yeah, 623 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 1: it's when as space was expanding. That's when sort of 624 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,360 Speaker 1: things were cooling and the ice crystals of space were forming, 625 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 1: and and the cosmic microwave background happened like hundreds of 626 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:06,120 Speaker 1: thousands of years later. And now we've seen that. So 627 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: these cosmic strings, the idea was invented before we had 628 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,480 Speaker 1: precise measurement of this cosmic microwave background light, and it 629 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,520 Speaker 1: made very specific predictions for what that light should look like. 630 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 1: And then we saw that light from the early universe 631 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,920 Speaker 1: and it didn't look right. It doesn't look the way 632 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,280 Speaker 1: you would expect it to if cosmic strings were real, Really, 633 00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:27,800 Speaker 1: you would see this in the cosmic microwave background, Like 634 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 1: aren't these I mean, aren't these cracks you're saying they're 635 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 1: one phantometer? Then how would you even see them? In 636 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:37,760 Speaker 1: the cosmic background. If they're there and they did affect 637 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 1: the sort of structure of the universe, you would start 638 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,000 Speaker 1: to see that structure beginning to form in the very 639 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 1: early universe. I mean they've had three hundred thousand years 640 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 1: or so to start to get things starting to wiggle, 641 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:49,680 Speaker 1: and we do see structure in the early universe. I 642 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:52,200 Speaker 1: mean early universe is very smooth because it was early 643 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,600 Speaker 1: on and things were just getting started. But we look 644 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: at that light and we see like hot spots and 645 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 1: cold spots. We can analyze those rates of hot spots 646 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,719 Speaker 1: and cold spots and say what theory would give us 647 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,680 Speaker 1: sort of that level of fluctuation, that level of structure 648 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:08,560 Speaker 1: at that time, and cosmic strings just predicts sort of 649 00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: a different distribution of hot spots and cold spots than 650 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,200 Speaker 1: we see. Really, even if them, what if there aren't 651 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:17,560 Speaker 1: as many strings as you thought there might be, you 652 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:19,960 Speaker 1: know what I mean, like maybe there's just just far 653 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:21,880 Speaker 1: and few in between for you to see them. Know, 654 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,720 Speaker 1: the pattern is just wrong. It's not like about the number, 655 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:27,440 Speaker 1: it's about the distribution, how far apart they are and 656 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:30,240 Speaker 1: sort of how they affect the shape of space. Instead, 657 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 1: it's totally consistent with just quantum fluctuations in the early 658 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 1: universe then getting blown up by inflation. So there were 659 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:41,200 Speaker 1: sort of two competing theories, like this random fluctuation plus 660 00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:45,399 Speaker 1: inflation or cosmic strings. And now the data really look 661 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,960 Speaker 1: a lot like random fluctuations plus inflation and not like 662 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 1: cosmic strings. I guess that's good, right, because if it 663 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:54,359 Speaker 1: turned out that the the universe as a baby had 664 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,440 Speaker 1: a lot of wrinkles in it, that would be kind 665 00:34:56,440 --> 00:35:01,760 Speaker 1: of strange and disturbing, wouldn't Who wants to see a wrinkly, 666 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:05,080 Speaker 1: old looking baby. Man, if the universe is listening to 667 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 1: this podcast, you're in trouble. I'm already in troubled in 668 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 1: But you know, if cosmic strings do exist, they don't 669 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: have to have formed the structure. This is like, if 670 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,239 Speaker 1: they caused the structure, here's what that structure should look like. 671 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:21,399 Speaker 1: But they could still exist. It could be that they're 672 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:24,320 Speaker 1: still out there. They're just not responsible for the structure 673 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:26,760 Speaker 1: of the universe as we know it. Oh, I see, 674 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: we know that there. They maybe didn't have a hand 675 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: in structuring the universe, but they could still be out there. 676 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,399 Speaker 1: They're just sort of like under the radar more than 677 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:38,160 Speaker 1: you thought they would be. That's right, and so we 678 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:40,680 Speaker 1: have other ways to look for cosmic strings that people 679 00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:42,960 Speaker 1: are actively doing right now. What are some of the 680 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,040 Speaker 1: ways that we can search for these cosmic strings. Well, 681 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: cosmic strings have a lot of energy density, and so 682 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:52,160 Speaker 1: they do this gravitational lensing thing. They bend space, and 683 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,359 Speaker 1: so if you have a really bright source of light 684 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:57,279 Speaker 1: behind a cosmic string and you're standing in front of it, 685 00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:59,480 Speaker 1: then you see like sort of a doubling of an 686 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:01,720 Speaker 1: image because the light we get bent around the string. 687 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:04,360 Speaker 1: Like if I had a flashlight and there's a cosmic 688 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:06,879 Speaker 1: string between us, and I turned on my flashlight, you'd 689 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: see two bulbs, right, But wouldn't aren't these strings really thin? 690 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: You know, I'm trying to think about how much distortion 691 00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:17,320 Speaker 1: a little string, and Megan, it would be kind of tiny, 692 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:20,440 Speaker 1: right would it would be really hard to see, Like 693 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,840 Speaker 1: a small imperfection in such a huge canvas would be 694 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,719 Speaker 1: really thin, but it'd be really really massive. Right. Say 695 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,320 Speaker 1: we took them Mount Everest and squeezed it down to 696 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,760 Speaker 1: a tiny string, right then it could have a significant impact, 697 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,520 Speaker 1: all right, So and we would we would maybe see 698 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:39,200 Speaker 1: not not as a lens but like a kind of 699 00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:41,799 Speaker 1: like a lens in the form of a string, kind 700 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:46,239 Speaker 1: of like we would see doubles all along the string itself, precisely. 701 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:47,759 Speaker 1: And so what we've done is we looked out in 702 00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: the space and we look for this kind of effect. 703 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:52,840 Speaker 1: And we see gravitational lensing all the time in space. 704 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,880 Speaker 1: Usually it's black holes or blobs of dark matter, this 705 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:57,960 Speaker 1: kind of stuff. But as you say, a cosmic string 706 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,400 Speaker 1: would look a little different. And people have seen like 707 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:03,400 Speaker 1: pairs of galaxies in the sky near each other that 708 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,360 Speaker 1: looked really really similar, and they thought, oh, wait, maybe 709 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:09,040 Speaker 1: that's a cosmic string, but then they look closer when 710 00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:11,680 Speaker 1: they discovered nope, it's just two similar galaxies. It's not 711 00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:14,880 Speaker 1: a reflection. It was just Bob's hair that fill in 712 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:19,439 Speaker 1: the lens of our telescope. Yeah, And so these days 713 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:21,759 Speaker 1: there's another way to look for cosmic strings that people 714 00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:24,160 Speaker 1: think is the most promising. What's that? And that also 715 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:27,760 Speaker 1: has to do with their gravitational effects, because these cosmic strings, 716 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:29,880 Speaker 1: we don't think they're just floating there. We think that 717 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,760 Speaker 1: they are so much energy, they're like whipping and ripping 718 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:37,600 Speaker 1: and crackling. No way, what Yeah, like you know, lightning 719 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:43,680 Speaker 1: bolts um coming from fingertips in a marble movie. Right, yeah, Oh, 720 00:37:43,719 --> 00:37:49,280 Speaker 1: they're active, these strings, These boundaries can move, yeah, because 721 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,960 Speaker 1: I guess the the field is shifting around it, and 722 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:56,759 Speaker 1: so the boundaries is like fluid. Yeah. And also the 723 00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,439 Speaker 1: strings can get twisted and if they cross over each other, 724 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,319 Speaker 1: they can break, and then you get ends, and those 725 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:07,240 Speaker 1: ends can like whip around like crazy. It's it's pretty nuts. 726 00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:11,399 Speaker 1: Can they form loops and knots? They can form loops absolutely. Yeah. 727 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:14,400 Speaker 1: Can you make a cosmic knot? I cannot make a 728 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:17,520 Speaker 1: cosmic knot, but the universe might be capable. If you 729 00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:20,000 Speaker 1: get one of these crazy strings in a in a 730 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 1: strange shape, then its movement can get generated a lot 731 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:28,800 Speaker 1: of gravitational waves. And we now have gravitational wave detectors 732 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,920 Speaker 1: like Ligo that saw when two black holes aid each other, 733 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:35,400 Speaker 1: or when two neutron stars collided. They create these ripples 734 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,000 Speaker 1: in space itself, and we can see that now. Wow, 735 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:41,799 Speaker 1: it's like a picturing like a snake trashing in a 736 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:45,160 Speaker 1: puddle of water, Like it's moving and it's generating ripples 737 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,160 Speaker 1: that we might be able to see precisely, but we 738 00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:50,399 Speaker 1: don't know how fast they move, and so they could 739 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,960 Speaker 1: be like zipping around really fast, generating enormous signals of 740 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:57,120 Speaker 1: gravitational waves that we could detect. Or it could be 741 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:01,280 Speaker 1: like a cosmic time scale thing where they're like decades 742 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:03,839 Speaker 1: long signals. These ripples, you have to like take data 743 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:06,160 Speaker 1: for a hundred years before you see the up and 744 00:39:06,239 --> 00:39:08,879 Speaker 1: the down, So we don't quite know what to look for. 745 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:12,840 Speaker 1: They could be not whipping around, but maybe just whipping 746 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:20,480 Speaker 1: around precisely, precisely, And so people are using gravitational wave 747 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:23,320 Speaker 1: detectors here on Earth. Do you have these long hauls 748 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:26,880 Speaker 1: filled with vacuum and lasers to measure space really precisely 749 00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,200 Speaker 1: to see if these little ripples, And then people also 750 00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:33,880 Speaker 1: trying to use the entire galaxy as a gravitational wave detector. Yeah, 751 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:35,840 Speaker 1: why not? Well, I mean, I got other things to 752 00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,080 Speaker 1: use the galaxy war but if it's there, if it's there, 753 00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 1: might as well use it to find cosmic blacks whole strings? 754 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:47,719 Speaker 1: Why not? Yeah? And I love this idea because, um, 755 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:49,920 Speaker 1: it just sort of takes what's already out there and 756 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,120 Speaker 1: tries to use it to do science. Like you could 757 00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:56,120 Speaker 1: never build a galaxy size physics experiment, but hey, just 758 00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 1: take the galaxy and turn it into an experiment. I 759 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:01,080 Speaker 1: love this idea. And so what's the idea here that 760 00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:04,480 Speaker 1: the string might as it's moving around, kind of affect 761 00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:06,560 Speaker 1: the things around it. The idea is just to build 762 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,920 Speaker 1: a bigger detector, Like the larger your gravitational wave detector 763 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:14,000 Speaker 1: is the smaller wiggle you can see. It's easier to 764 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,440 Speaker 1: see in a larger detector because it's uh, it's just more. 765 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:19,920 Speaker 1: You have more sensitivity too, because it's over more space. 766 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:22,399 Speaker 1: And so the idea is to build one the size 767 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:24,840 Speaker 1: of the galaxy. You know, you can't build your own detector, 768 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:26,919 Speaker 1: but there are things out there that you can use 769 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,399 Speaker 1: as a detector. And the thing that we can use 770 00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:32,719 Speaker 1: are these stars called pulsars. These are stars that are 771 00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:36,080 Speaker 1: emitting light in a regular pattern like when they were 772 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:39,600 Speaker 1: first discover They you see these these regular beaps from space. 773 00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:42,480 Speaker 1: And so if the space between us and some of 774 00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:46,239 Speaker 1: these pulsars gets wrinkled and a little bit or ripples happen, 775 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:49,640 Speaker 1: then it changes how the pulsing of these pulsars. And 776 00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:51,759 Speaker 1: so the idea is to use all of these sort 777 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:55,040 Speaker 1: of measure the smoothness of space. Oh, I see, but 778 00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:59,520 Speaker 1: that's only if these strings are moving fast enough for 779 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:03,439 Speaker 1: us to sort of noticed them or notice the difference. Yeah. 780 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,960 Speaker 1: If if they take a hundred years to send a signal, 781 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:08,360 Speaker 1: then our grand students are going to be really old 782 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 1: before they get their PAGs. You don't sound that surprised, Daniel, 783 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:16,640 Speaker 1: like it's a big deal. You're like, I might take 784 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:20,520 Speaker 1: a five years or hundred years. I can't. Hey, it's research. 785 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:22,720 Speaker 1: I can't predict, right, That's what I always tell my students. 786 00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:24,920 Speaker 1: You never know. You're the first person to ever do this. 787 00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:27,640 Speaker 1: So you told them that you could be wrong. I 788 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:31,120 Speaker 1: tell him, We've never published a paper knowingly wrong yet, 789 00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:35,680 Speaker 1: so don't be the first. So many caveats in that statement, Daniels, 790 00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:39,480 Speaker 1: So many caveats. I had that vetted by my legal department. 791 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:43,960 Speaker 1: All right, So I guess that answers a question. What 792 00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:47,360 Speaker 1: is a cosmic string. It's a It's like an imperfection 793 00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:50,480 Speaker 1: in this in the fabric of the universe itself. It's 794 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:53,799 Speaker 1: like a wrinkle caused by the stretching of it and 795 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:56,919 Speaker 1: the weird cooling of the hicks Field. I can't believe 796 00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,200 Speaker 1: I just said that in one sentence. Yeah, and you 797 00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:01,520 Speaker 1: know these quad and fields are not just an idea, 798 00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:05,040 Speaker 1: they're real. They're out there. And as the universe cooled 799 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:09,120 Speaker 1: from the like hot nasty quantum fields, too cold crystallized 800 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:12,040 Speaker 1: quantum fields that we have today, then how that cooling 801 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:14,720 Speaker 1: happened could have affected the way the universe is formed. 802 00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:16,520 Speaker 1: And it's cool to think that what we might do 803 00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:20,000 Speaker 1: with this knowledge, right, Like, if we know that space 804 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,680 Speaker 1: can wrinkle and crack like this, who knows what we 805 00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:26,879 Speaker 1: could do with space? Possibly? Can we faul space? Can 806 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:30,959 Speaker 1: we make space origami? The one thing we can never 807 00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:35,080 Speaker 1: do is get the Nobel Prize for Tom Kimble. Oh 808 00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:38,840 Speaker 1: did he pass away? He passed away? So he missed 809 00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:41,600 Speaker 1: the Nobel Prize for the Higgs boson. And if he 810 00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:45,160 Speaker 1: was right about cosmic strings, he missed that one also, Right, 811 00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:47,400 Speaker 1: But you can still get in on the party by 812 00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:49,719 Speaker 1: maybe being the president of the food discovers it? Right, 813 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:53,320 Speaker 1: that's right, and maybe time people will get another kind 814 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:56,880 Speaker 1: mentioned in the Nobel Prize acceptance speech, which is almost 815 00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:59,920 Speaker 1: like a run rough prize. Right. Well, I guess the 816 00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:02,839 Speaker 1: idea is that maybe someone listening to this out there 817 00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:04,920 Speaker 1: might be the person who discovers it. Might be you 818 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:08,000 Speaker 1: might be me. Might be someone listening to this who 819 00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:13,680 Speaker 1: discovers these wrinkles in reality that's right, or something even crazier. 820 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:16,200 Speaker 1: The next time you hear a theorist talk about some 821 00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:19,640 Speaker 1: totally bonkers notion about the way the universe or space 822 00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:23,120 Speaker 1: might work, then remember there are crazier ideas out there 823 00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:27,560 Speaker 1: that are actually real. That's right. They could still be crazy, 824 00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:31,200 Speaker 1: but they might also be right. You never know, m 825 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,000 Speaker 1: that's the wrinkle on your reason. Thank you very much, 826 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,240 Speaker 1: Peter for that question. I love email questions from listeners, 827 00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:39,960 Speaker 1: so please, if there's something you'd like to hear us discuss, 828 00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:43,120 Speaker 1: send it to us two questions at Daniel and Jorge 829 00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:45,600 Speaker 1: dot com. You hope you enjoyed that. Thanks for listening. 830 00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:55,840 Speaker 1: See you next time. Before you still have a question 831 00:43:55,880 --> 00:43:59,319 Speaker 1: after listening to all these explanations, please drop us a line. 832 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:01,520 Speaker 1: We'd love to hear from you. You can find us 833 00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:05,319 Speaker 1: on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Daniel and Jorge that's 834 00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:08,719 Speaker 1: one word, or email us at Feedback at Daniel and 835 00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:12,280 Speaker 1: Jorge dot com. Thanks for listening, and remember that. Daniel 836 00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:14,799 Speaker 1: and Jorge Explain the Universe is a production of I 837 00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:18,479 Speaker 1: Heart Radio for More podcast from my Heart Radio visit 838 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:22,000 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you 839 00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:29,040 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. Yeah,