Presentation Transcript

1. Building Blocks of the Universe

   13.75 ± 0.11 billion years in couple of hours Mohammad Ahmed, TUNL
2. What are the building blocks of the Universe? Building blocks means fundamental units of a given instance in a multiverse A Universe is all that exist and can exist A Universe is space, time, matter, energy, constants, and the governing principle A close approximation of the governing principle is what we call set of universal laws (e.g., ma = F)
3. Our understanding of the universe Laws are formulated from the need to explain the observations and they carry the power of prediction Constants are special numbers which play a role in formulating laws. We do not know how the constants come into being and why do they have the values they do. Each universe may have its set of constants called universal constants Governing Principle Constants Space, time Matter, energy Space-time, matter, and energy are all knitted in a fabric which defines the past, present, and the future “events”.
4. Physical Laws as Building Blocks of the Universe
5. The laws approximating the governing principle q Q2 Q1 r
6. The laws approximating the governing principle Symmetries and their consequences Conservation Laws Energy Momentum Angular Momentum Time Space Angles Reflection (Parity), Charge Conjugation, Isospin
7. The conservation laws Hamiltonian invariance under space translation Is the conservation of momentum
8. Laws and Theories Laws of motion, Coulomb’s Law, Law of Gravitation, etc Aggregate of laws paint a picture of a theory A theory is a collection of statements (or equations) which are all defined to be true All theories unified is the best approximation of the governing principle of this universe
9. Theories of large and small distance scales
10. Our current understanding of theories
11. Our current understanding of theories
12. Our current understanding of theories Energy (q = 1015 GeV) ? Gravity G TOE Strong Interactions S GUT Weak Interactions ? W Electro-Weak Electromagnetic Interactions Q
13. Constants as Building Blocks of the Universe
14. Constants Depending on who do you talk to, you will get a different number of “universal constants” Dimensional Dimensionless NIST accepted number of universal constants is about 8
15. Constants An example of dimensional constant The speed of light c [c] = [L] / [T] c = 299792458 m/s
16. Constants An example of dimensionless constant The fine structure constant a a = 1/137
17. Constants The eight universal constants
18. Constants Are they really constant, i.e., not changing in time? Time variability of a over 2 billion years -0.11< Da/a <0.24 x 10-7 C. R. Gould, Oklo Reactor Data Analysis (1.7 Billion Years, few hundred thousand years life of natural fission reactor near Gabon, Africa.
19. Constants Constants and Observational Multiverse a can be described by e, e, h, c If e, e, h, c were different in another universe, however, they adjusted their values such that a still comes out to be 1/137, this universe will be observationally similar to our universe
20. Constants Different set of fundamentally pure numbers gives rise to different instances of universe within a multiverse
21. Building blocks of seen and unseen universe: Space-time, matter and energy
22. Minkowskidiagram and Space-time (ct,x1,x2,x3) Inside = time-like Along = light-light Outside = space-like Worldlines and imaginary mass in space-like region
23. Space-time curves and geodesic Light travels along the shortest path between two points in space-time This path is called a geodesic If a geodesic is curved, light travels in a curved space Curved space-time is gravity
24. Curved space-time and orbits
25. Curved space-time and orbits
26. Curved space-time and orbits
27. Organization of Matter
28. Major Events in the history of the universe Hadron Era 10-6 s 1012 K n/p set Lepton Era 100 s 1011 K n  p + e- + ne Photon Era 101 s 1010 K kT BBN Era 102 s 109 K 2H,3He,4He,7Li CMB Era 1012 s 103 K Transparent Universe
29. Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe WMAP Results
30. Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe Age of universe is 13.73 billion yearsctowithin 1% Curvature of space is within 1% of "flat“ Ordinary atoms make up only 4.6% of the universe (to within 0.1%) Dark Matter makes up 23.3% (to within 1.3%) of the Universe Dark Energy makes up 72.1% of the universe (to within 1.5%), causing the expansion rate of the universe to speed up
31. Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
32. The organization of the visible universe
33. The organization of the visible universe
34. N-N Interactions
35. Can we make a Helium nucleus by adding a proton ? Hydrogen p p e
36. Yes you can, but … Electrostatic force will oppose it Hydrogen p p e You will have to throw the proton at a very high speed
37. How does this happen ? Fast Hydrogen p p e
38. How does this happen ? EM repulsion increases p p e Still not within the range for the nuclear force to take over
39. Bosons for Strong NF Start to Exchange p EM repulsion still increases p e Bosons which mediate nuclear force start to reach the incoming Fermion (the other proton) and “catch it”
40. A Helium nucleus is formed ! Short Range NF p p
41. A 2He nucleus is formed ! p p p Pions (or more generally mesons) keep two nucleons together in a nucleus
42. How about adding a neutron ? Hydrogen p n No EM repulsion ! e Distance is still too large for strong NF to act, “not in the range to catch”.
43. How about adding a neutron ? You can bring it in slowly !!! Hydrogen n p e
44. Even a neutron at rest will be captured ! n p e
45. A 2H nucleus requires less energy to make than a 2He nucelus p p n
46. How about comparing 3He and 3H? p n p p n n We know the EM part of the force is different. If we account for It, can we calculate the binding energies with simple 2-body NF?
47. No !! We get the answer wrong, i.e., measured and calculated binding energies are different ! There seems to be another type of NF present  3-NF n p n
48. Understanding N-N interactions (Fermi’s Golden Rules)
49. Understanding N-N interactions (Fermi’s Golden Rules) TME Physics of Interaction DOS Cross Section
50. Understanding N-N interactions (Feynman) Time Space b) Mfi ~ a c) Mfi ~ a2
51. Understanding N-N interactions (Phase)
52. Understanding N-N interactions (Phase)
53. Understanding N-N interactions (Phase)
54. Understanding N-N interactions (Potential)
55. Understanding N-N interactions (Mesons)
56. Understanding N-N interactions (Mesons)
57. Can we predict the observables associated with the ground state properties (e.g., binding energies, etc), and the dynamics of their interactions (e.g., cross sections, analyzing powers, etc.) 2NF,3NF 2NF,3NF,4NF 2NF Ideal Laboratories for Few-Body Studies in NP Understanding N-N interactions
58. The Local Accelerator facilities Tandem Laboratory Duke Free-Electron Laser Lab. (HIGS)
59. Man-made – Compton Backscattered g-Ray Sources Ee El Laser Electrons Eg For example
60. How HIGS Works
61. RF Cavity Optical Klystron FEL Booster Injector Mirror LINAC The High Intensity Gamma-Ray Source REU Lecture
62. HIGS Parameters
63. The Tandem
64. Tandem Parameters LENA is another accelerator
65. Nuclear Physics @ TUNL Fundamental understanding of the building blocks on this universe (Basic Nuclear Physics) Greater good of the community (Applied Nuclear Physics)