I hear about the only person around it doesn't have TV coverage of the face and
then they got the black up now you're gonna be the one getting a TV picture is
still yet we are getting a TV picture
10
dialing
yeah
light we all know it travels it
well the speed of light or does it when it comes to the structure of space and
time could like be the key to unlocking the final secrets of the universe
answers may lie in the journey of two photons across seven billion light-years
of space recorded by the Fermi gamma-ray Space Telescope and these two tiny
particles have just opened up a whole new chapter and understanding of light
gravity and the universe around us
we're really excited because we've captured rare experimental evidence
probing the fundamental structure of space and time meet NASA's gamma-ray
detectives led by project scientist Julie McHenry they're searching for
clues about the high-energy mysteries of our universe but don't need more than a
magnifying glass for this the team's one-of-a-kind tool the Fermi satellite
family looks at gamma rays the highest energy form of light and it just
surprised everyone with the discovery about the fabric of space and time so
you might be thinking too tiny particles of light
why is that important well you need to take the very large and very small
together to understand the universe as a whole so far
Einstein's theory of relativity which describe space and time as a smooth
fabric that's distorted or bent by massive objects has been a spectacularly
successful explanation of gravity and the large-scale behavior of the universe
where quantum mechanics another spectacularly successful model describes
the workings of atoms subatomic particles and some of the fundamental
forces of nature but scientists have never been able to reconcile the two
both relativity and quantum mechanics are equally fundamental in their own
regimes so scientists want to find a theory of everything just describes the
universe as a whole and the observations that we've made of these two photons
with firming takes us one step closer to achieving the goal of having a theory of
everything that combines the successful aspects of quantum mechanics and
relativity into one unified theory
yeah
to add to this puzzle other telescopes that observe gamma rays with different
wavelengths arriving at Earth at different times according to Einstein's
special theory of relativity all forms of electromagnetic radiation from radio
infrared to visible light to x-rays and even gamma rays moves at the same speed
so what would explain these differences and arrival times one simple idea is
that maybe the photons were just admitted at different times more
interestingly though maybe there was something in the very fabric of space
that was causing the higher energy particles slow down if this is true good
Einstein have been wrong
could a higher energy particle moves slower than the speed of light
several ideas which attempt to reconcile relativity and quantum mechanics
suggests that space and time are not actually smooth and uniform but are
instead of seething frost when seen at the smallest scale like bubble wrap
viewed from far away at human scales this texture would be invisible a
low-energy long-wavelength photon is unaffected by the lumpiness of space but
a high-energy short-wavelength photon is hindered by the fraud
this makes it move more slowly than lower energy radiation so it breaks
Einsteins law that all light particles must travel at the same speed
however this explanation had little experimental proof either way until for
me around
we observed a gamma-ray bursts gamma ray burst is a huge explosion that gamma ray
bursts produced a large number of photons one of which had enormous energy
very short wavelength those photons troubled seven billion years to reach us
and yet the highest-energy the shortest wavelength photons arrive within nine
hundred milliseconds of the lower energy photons and that's a little bit like
racing two speedboats one through water and the other two molasses and having
arrived at the same time it just doesn't happen because for me so no delay in the
arrival time of the two photons it confirms that space and time is smooth
and continuous as Einstein had predicted and it shuts the door on several
theories of everything that had predicted that space sometime might be
foamy enough to interfere with life
so if space-time really isn't just invisible bubble wrap
what is it families eliminated some ideas from the mix and that means we're
one step closer to potentially unifying relativity and quantum mechanics after
all
science is a process of elimination and unless we keep eliminating we may never
know if this theory of everything actually exist hidden in the math of our
universe but for now we'll have to keep searching for clues beyond our small
planet because the answers truly live among the stars
i could rewrite the only person
it doesn't have TV coverage of the thing and it man they got the black up now
you're gonna be getting a TV picture now epic failure three are gay
one all
badly