Centuries of astronomy and cosmology have led to an ever-larger picture of our ‘universe’ — everything that we can observe. For just as long, there have been speculations that there are other regions beyond what is currently observable, each with diverse histories and properties, and all inhabiting a ‘Multiverse’. A nexus of ideas from cosmology, quantum gravity, and string theory lead to the prediction that we inhabit one of the most interesting sorts of Multiverses one could imagine: one that arises as a natural consequence of compelling explanations for other physics, and one that at least in principle can be tested with observations. In this talk, I will outline these ideas, and discuss the first observational tests of the Multiverse using data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe.
There is a strong correlation between the sun rising and the rooster crowing, but to say that the one causes the other is to say more. In particular, it says that making the rooster crow early will not precipitate an early dawn, whereas making the sun rise early (for instance, by moving the rooster eastward) can lead to some early crowing. Intervening upon the natural course of events in this manner is a good way of discovering causal relations. Sometimes, however, we can't intervene, or we'd prefer not to. For instance, in trying to determine whether smoking causes lung cancer, we'd prefer not to force any would-be nonsmokers to smoke. Fortunately, there are some clever tricks that allow us to extract information about what causes what entirely from features of the observed correlations. One of these tricks was discovered by the physicist John Bell in 1964. In a groundbreaking paper, he used it to demonstrate the seeming impossibility of providing a causal explanation of certain quantum correlations. This revealed a fundamental tension between quantum theory and Einstein's theory of relativity --the two central pillars of modern physics. It is a tension that is still with us today.
Ever wonder what a day in the life of a theoretical physicist is like?, Life as a Physicist is an opportunity to ask questions of two Perimeter Institute Faculty members.
Many of the most interesting open issues in physics today are related in one way or another to gravity. For the past 100 years, we have described spacetime and gravity via Einstein's theory of "General Relativity." But when we try to mesh General Relativity with the rest of physics, and use it to describe the cosmos, we encounter a range of puzzles. I'll describe some of these puzzles, and some routes to attacking them that look exciting to me.
