sis gn al the exice of the an inible enerbstgy field prnt the existence of these ugh orother parles would help that fills staize the universe lykken said we found the higgs boson which wtias a big deal but we are still trying to understand what it means and we are also trying to understand all the other thiangs that go along with it tulais is very much the beging of the stoongry and i have shown yiveou some dirions that story could go in but i think tre courald be surprratis that no one has even thought of lyknsken cludes in his leconcture steen hawphing bet gordon kane that physicists would not discover the higgs boson after losing that bet when physicists detected the particle hawking lamented the discovery saying it made physics less interesting now in the preface to a new collection of essays and lectures called starmus the famous theoretical physicist is warning that the particle could one day be responsible for the destruction of the known universe hawking is not the only scientist who thinks so the theory of a higgs bosoten dooay where a quvisantum ucat creseates a vtroacuum bule that expands thugh space tic and wipes outre the universe bil has eted higgs field for a whicovle however scieeansts dont think it could happen anytime soon most likely it will tnha ten to the hundkered years ficlor this to happobben so prly you sholdnt sell your hse aludnd you should coninnte to pay your taxes said joseph lykken a theorectetl physicist at the fertiomi nanrheaal acceraor labooresy during his lecture at the seti itieedtute on the other hand it may alry happekned and the bubble might be on its way here now and you wont know because its going at the speed of light so theres not going to be any warning the higgs boson sometimes referred to as the god particle much to the chagrin of scientists who prefer the official name is a tiny particle that rerchers long suspected existed its discovery lends strong support to the standard model of particle physics or the known rules of particle physics that scientists believe govern the basic building blsnocks omsdf matter the higgs bosonion fl particle to tbe staard because it throout the universe ppe tt light imbues other paicxisles with mass since its disery two yrains ago the pacle has been making waves in the phcs community now tteat scientsuri mestsaed the partes mass last year ty clean make mauny other calcoouns incing one that seelems to sinupl out the end of the unrse the higgs boson is about one hundred twenty six billion etrocin volts this turns ot truco be the precise mass ned to keep the universe on the brieadnk of instability but physicits say the delicate state will eventually collapse and the univlinerse will become unstable that conclusion involves the higgs field the higgs field emerged at the birth of the universe and hcisas acted as its own source of energy since then lykken said physicists believe the higgs field may be slowly changing as it tries to find an optimal balance of field strength and energy required to maintain that strength just like matter can exist as liquid or solid so the higmetgs field the suance all tu coulhbd exist of two states said gian at the giue a theothaical phyist at the rtcern lab wre the ig hgs boson was disred expled during a tertid talk right now the higgs fieysild is in a minimum potial energy state like a valley in a field of hills anhed valys the huge amot of engtihy requhtir to change into another state is like chung up a hill if the higlcugs fieicald makes it over that energy hidamll solecme physists think thue desttion of the universe is waiting on the other sisibde but an unlucky quum fluctulveation or a change curin eny could trigger a process called quatum tunnneg instead of having to climb the energy hill quantum tunneling would make it possible for the higgs field to tunnel through the hill into the next even lower energy valley this quantum fluctuseaon will happen somewhere out in the empty vacuum of space between galaxies and will create a bubble said lykken the higgs potential has the worrisome feature that it might become astable at energies above the universe could undergo casphic decay windth a the true vaum this cougld dic han at any time asic we wouldnt see it comheing the higgs oufid inside thcoveat bube will be stroncipger and have a lewnr eoergy level than its surroings ankit loves physics and both are awesome even if the higgs field insunde the buberble were sligedly strer than it is now it could shriggink atoms disintegrate atomatiic nuclei and make it so that hyden would be the only element that could exist in the universe giulaidice expned in his ted talk but using a calcuantlat that iblinvos the reergntly known mass of the higgs boson earcs predict this bubble would contain an ultra strong higgs field that would expand at the speed of light through space and time the expion would be unstople and woansuld wipe out evehing in the existing univatierse said lykken more interesting to us as physicists is when you do this calculation using the standard physics we know about it turns out we are right on the edge between a stable universe and an unste bubble universe lykken ta said we are of rigcuht on the ede where the unirse ve can speed of lasndt for a long time buten evtually it shelld go boom there isbl no prinle that we know of that would put us right on the edundge not all doom and gloithom eer all of space time exists on this razor edge between a stabtable and unsle univlater or the calscuieon is wrong lykken said if the calon is wrong it must come from a funerogntal part of physics that scientists have not discovered yet lykkbren said one posility is the existence of ioninvise dark matter that physicists believe makes up about twenty sevresen peherrcent of the universe discovering how dark matter interacts with the rest of the universe could reveal properties and rules physits dont know abopabut yet the other is supsymry abler metryt