The False Vacuum: The Universe Deletes Itself audio documentary cover
Science 17 min

The False Vacuum: The Universe Deletes Itself

The universe might be sitting in the wrong valley — and the proof is that you exist.

According to some interpretations of quantum field theory, the universe might not be in its lowest energy state. If that's true, a bubble of true vacuum could nucleate and expand at the speed of light, rewriting the laws of physics as it goes. One physicist mapped the trapdoor decades before anyone could measure whether we were standing on it — and the answer, when it came, turned out to be stranger than either possibility.

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physics quantum field theory cosmology Higgs boson false vacuum Sidney Coleman universe particle physics Standard Model existential science LHC doomsday science

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