The figure illustrates three events in Minkowski spacetime. Event 𝐵 is neither in the past nor in the future of 𝐴, 𝐴 ∼ 𝐵, and event 𝐶 is neither in the past nor in the future of 𝐵, 𝐵 ∼ 𝐶. Despite this, 𝐶 ≁ 𝐴. Indeed, 𝐶 is in the future of 𝐴: 𝐶 ≻ 𝐴. Credit: Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-71907-0
Topics: General Relativity, High Energy Physics, Theoretical Physics
A group of Brazilian researchers has presented an innovative proposal to resolve a decades-old debate among theoretical physicists: How many fundamental constants are needed to describe the observable universe? Here, the term "fundamental constants" refers to the basic standards needed to measure everything.
The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The group argues that the number of fundamental constants depends on the type of space-time in which the theories are formulated; and that in a relativistic space-time, this number can be reduced to a single constant, which is used to define the standard of time. The study is an original contribution to the controversy sparked in 2002 by a famous article by Michael Duff, Lev Okun, and Gabriele Veneziano published in the Journal of High Energy Physics.
The whole story had begun ten years earlier, in the summer of 1992, when the three scientists met on the terrace of the cafeteria at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. During an informal conversation, they discovered that they disagreed on the number of fundamental constants.
"In the summer of 2001, we returned to the subject and discovered that our opinions were still different. So we decided to explain our positions," the three write in the abstract of their article.
In short, Okun stated that three basic units—meter (length), kilogram (mass), and second (time)—were necessary to measure all physical quantities. In other words, he reaffirmed the so-called MKS system (M, for meter; K, for kilogram; S, for second), which was later incorporated into the International System of Units (SI). Veneziano, for his part, argued that in certain contexts two units would suffice: one for time and one for length. Duff was equivocal, stating that the number of constants could vary depending on the theory in question.
Explaining the new article, Matsas says, "The goal is to find the most fundamental description of physics possible. The question raised by Okun, Duff, and Veneziano is by no means trivial. As physicists, we're faced with the need to understand what's the minimum number of standards we need to measure everything."
A study claims all observables in nature can be measured with a single constant: The second
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