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posted by martyb on Thursday April 05 2018, @06:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the banged-out dept.

A 2nd 'Big Bang' could end our universe in an instant — and it's all because of a tiny particle that controls the laws of physics

Our universe may end the same way it was created: with a big, sudden bang. That's according to new research from a group of Harvard physicists, who found that the destabilization of the Higgs boson — a tiny quantum particle that gives other particles mass — could lead to an explosion of energy that would consume everything in the known universe and upend the laws of physics and chemistry.

As part of their study, published last month in the journal Physical Review D [open, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.97.056006] [DX], the researchers calculated when our universe could end. It's nothing to worry about just yet. They settled on a date 10139 years from now, or 10 million trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years in the future. And they're at least 95% sure — a statistical measure of certainty — that the universe will last at least another 1058 years.


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  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Friday April 06 2018, @04:40AM

    by Bot (3902) on Friday April 06 2018, @04:40AM (#663263) Journal

    > And they're at least 95% sure

    Good, but they can pretend they know the day and the hour with no problems. If it happens outside the prediction nobody will be around to blame them.

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