In March the "discovery" of gravitational waves, the telltale sign of the inflation of the universe right after the Big Bang, made headlines all over the world. Just a few days later the news was followed by a "deflation," astrophysicists realized that the apparent signal probably was caused by dust and magnetic fields in our galaxy, leaving the researchers without a direct proof of inflation. An increasing group of astrophysicists are also concerned by the absence of a direct proof of the existence of dark matter and dark energy.
In 1900 the great physicist Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) announced that in the field of physics everything that could be known was known. There were only two “small clouds” on the horizon which he believed would soon be cleared away: an apparent absence of the “ether,” a kind of fluid that would carry light waves just like air carries sound (the Michelson and Morley experiment), and a missing explanation of why heated objects radiate heat as infrared waves. He couldn’t have been more wrong. The absence of the ether gave rise to Einstein’s theory of relativity, and the second problem spurred the development of quantum theory, both theories that are viewed as the core of the revolution in physics at the beginning of the 20th century.
Today, physicists and astrophysicists are faced with much bigger ‘clouds’ than those perceived by Kelvin. The first one is that both relativity and quantum theory are valid in their own domain, but are not represented by a single theory. The other unresolved problems are the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
Another conundrum is the question of what exactly caused the “inflation” of the universe right after the Big Bang, an idea needed to explain the present structure of the universe. This is why a number of scientists argue that we are on the verge of a new revolution in physics.
For many years now scientists have tried to develop a Grand Unification Theory (GUT), also known as a theory of everything, that would reconcile gravitation and relativity with the quantum world.
One of the current attempts is string theory, which tries to build up a model of the universe on mathematical principles. However, a growing number of physicists have started viewing the idea of unifying quantum theory with gravitation as doomed to fail. They argue that both space and gravitation are not fundamental but emergent phenomena, reflections of a yet hidden reality. Emergence is the idea that a physical system can have properties that aren’t just the combination of the properties of its components, but are new. The concept of “emergent” properties is now increasingly, albeit reluctantly, accepted by the scientific community. Other scientists contest some of the standard tenets of cosmology. An increasing number of astrophysicists are arguing that there was no big bang, and no inflation. Many also reject the idea of an expanding universe, and say that the origin of the cosmic background radiation is local. However, the ’old guard’ rejects these ideas outright, and some fear that this attitude might impede the emergence of new ideas.
The article (5000 words) will include interviews with physicists and astrophysicists who are best placed to play an important role in the forthcoming scientific revolution. I will also talk to scientists with dissenting positions, such as those arguing that there was no big bang.
Most importantly, I will talk to physicists who have views that might lift the veil on the many mysteries of fundamental physics.How scientists are looking for explanations for dark matter, dark energy, and other open questions, and how some try to use unorthodox approaches to resolve these problems
With the funds raised, I will subsidize my interviewing and writing.