Will we ever discover the “Equation of the Universe”?
The Equation of Universe becomes more and more doubtful as we lost the legendary Stephen Hawking.
The universe is full of secrets and humans are striving hard to know as much of them as possible. Astronomy has helped us the most in this regard as we now have the knowledge of far-off areas of space. A mystery that human mind dearly wants to solve is to know how everything came into place. According to a theory, Albert Einstein tried to formulate a theory of everything on his deathbed.
Stephen Hawking was probably the most intelligent human after him. He was also working on an equation of universe but his progress was cut short by death. Hawking told the world that the best chances we have to understand the theory of universe are dependent on the ‘M-theory’.
The theory of everything proposes a framework where classical physics and quantum mechanics are combined into a unified approach which explains all the laws of the universe. Classical Physics include gravity and electromagnetism which carry a lot of significance on the macroscopic level as they are used to describe the motion of larger objects around us. These laws of Physics are very common in our everyday lives.
On the other hand, quantum mechanics account for dubbed strong and weak interactions that work on a microscopic scale. These properties can be observed only when we are dealing with subatomic activities. Despite all the efforts, scientists are unable to find a unified description that will do justice to both these branches of Physics, simultaneously.
The Standard Model of Fundamental Interactions does provide a unified explanation for three of these forces. The irregular behavior of gravity at incredibly short distances causes all the variations. All these forces are dependent on their constituent particles. Graviton is the name of the particle that is responsible for all the gravitational effects we feel. The behavior of these gravitons is highly inconsistent and it leads to nonsensical infinities.
Hawking was working on a formula in which he was trying to find some sort of consistency in the gravitational behavior so that it could be inducted into the unified framework. This will then give us the complete Theory of Everything. He managed to combine quantum mechanics with classical physics by referring to his revolutionary work with the black holes.
He discovered that a black hole can dissipate in time. This revelation shocked the scientific world as the common belief, as described by the classical physics, was that the black holes are so dense that not even light can pass through them. Knowing that part of the picture, the fizzling out of a black hole was simply out of question. For understanding his views, you need to have a detailed knowledge of black holes and quantum physics. He explained that the perimeter of a black hole, known as the Event Horizon, separates the reality from the unknown as we cannot see beyond this point.
He based his theory on the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics which states that the entropy of a system continues to increase with time. Anything having entropy must have a temperature which means it will radiate energy. He went against the classical beliefs to propose that black holes do radiate energy but the knowledge of quantum mechanics is needed to understand that.
It states that there is nothing like an empty space as subatomic particles, like matter and anti-matter, occupy such regions. These particles are in a continuous state of creation and destruction so their detection is practically impossible. The process where they rapidly collapse back together is known as Annihilation.
Hawking suggested that the particles won’t need to undergo Annihilation if they are too close to an Event Horizon as one of those particles will be sucked into the black hole. It will carry negative energy which will reduce the overall mass of the black hole as energy is being lost (E=mc2). This means that black holes are not forever and according to Hawking they do explode with massive amounts of energy and such an explosion was behind the formation of our universe.
Although M-theory shows a lot of mathematical consistencies, there is no experimental evidence that could lead us to the Theory of Everything. A lot of cosmologists are trying to figure out an explanation that could describe everything but it seems highly unlikely now as we have a lost the sharpest mind in form of Stephen Hawking.
Computer Scientist by qualification who loves to read, write, eat, and travel