Expanding Our Horizon: Matter, Space and the Universe
This session explores the almost unfathomable scales of theoretical physics, from the mysterious properties of dark matter to the depths of our universe and beyond. Experiments, like the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva that smashes together protons at high energies, tell us about the smallest length scales we can observe today while measurements of the universe stretch our observations of large length scales to their limits. Theoretical physicists like Lisa Randall tie the results of these experiments to mysteries about our universe. Professor Randall will tell us about the Higgs boson discovery and its implications. She will also explore possibilities for the nature of dark matter and of space itself. Can there be an unseen extra dimension in our universe? Theoretical physics truly knows no bounds.
| Expanding Our Horizon: Matter, Space and the Universe |
| Related Links |
| The Hunt for the Higgs This is a BBC Horizon documentary presented by Jim Al-Khalili, revealing how CERN is searching for the Higgs particle and why it is so significant. |
| The Particle at the End of the Universe Sean Carroll reveals the history-making forces of insight, rivalry, and wonder that fuelled the Higgs search and how its discovery opens a door into the mind-boggling domain of dark matter and other phenomena we never predicted. |
| The Higgs Boson and the Fate of the Universe The discovery of the Higgs boson at the CERN Large Hadron Collider poses new challenges to our understanding of basic quantum physics. |
| Revealing the Nature of Dark Matter Dr. Dan Hooper, a Theoretical Astrophysicist at Fermilab, explores the current status of the dark matter search and some new thoughts on the nature of this mystery. |
| Particle Physics: Basic Concepts Revolutionary new concepts about elementary particles, space and time, and the structure of matter began to emerge in the mid-1970s. Theory got far ahead of experiment with radical new ideas such as grand unification and supersymmetry, but the concepts have never been experimentally tested. |
| Particle Physics: Standard Model Professor Leonard Susskind focuses on the foundations of the Standard Model, which describes the interactions and properties of the observed particles. |