The Vacuum Catastrophe

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If vacuum energy really does have the enormous value predicted by quantum field theory then our gently expanding, geometrically flat universe shouldn’t exist. This is the vacuum catastrophe.
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Let’s talk about vacuum energy from a theoretical standpoint. From the perspective of quantum field theory, every point in space is represented by a quantum oscillator; one for each elementary particle type. Higher energy oscillations represent the presence of real particles. However even the lowest possible energy oscillation - the one corresponding to the absence of particles - has some energy.
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[@pdmorale]

I’m particle physicist and have been following your channel for over a year now. I just wanted to say that I love how your content fills the gap between oversimplified physics and the over technical approach to such fashionable subjects. Specially like what your doing with the QFT series! Love your channel!

[@maestroanth]

Yes, for just ordinary sorta smart people like me that likes this stuff! :D

[@onestagetospace4892]

Question: is vacuum energy inaccessible, or is zero point energy inaccessible? The latter can't because it is a self-contradiction; but the first one (to exploit or create an imbalance in this equilibrium) is that something that is pursued today in particle physics? Is it merely a calculated or an observed equilibrium? Or is it something we have not found a way to measure yet?

[@Ethan-qe7cr]

I love it how you have to add "I'm a particle physicist" just to boost your ego. Arrogance at its finest.

[@onestagetospace4892]

As long as he gives an answer, it is fine by me. Hint...Hint ;)

[@manavnaik1607]

Hi, I'm a librarian

[@shakesmctremens178]

"So you'll be able to knowledgeably scoff at zero point energy perpetual motion machines." What a relief. Up til now I've had to scoff gut-feelingly at perpetual motion machines.

[@medexamtoolsdotcom]

Actually, there are still ways there could be perpetual motion machines. It's only "zero point energy" perpetual motion machines that you can scoff at. They just have to obey the laws of thermodynamics. For instance, if you found a cosmic string, of the infinitely long variety, that would be a de facto perpetual motion machine. It doesn't technically create energy from nowhere, for the same reason that energy wasn't DESTROYED over the course of the universe even though it's much more vacuous than it used to be, because of the consequences of infinite sets. It's infinitely long, so there's always more of it. And it would constantly be wildly wavering and chopping off pieces of itself which you could use as fuel. And a pretty rich fuel source indeed, since it would have about 1 Earth mass per kilometer of length. Another way would be if exotic (negative mass) substance was possible. You could generate mass and negative mass in pairs and then discard the negative mass as waste. That wouldn't violate thermodynamics, since there's still the same amount of mass, and it would increase entropy, it's just that it would destroy the link between increasing entropy and decreasing capacity to do work. Another way would be if it turned out there was a rotational component to dark energy. If there was, you could have an object follow a large circular path through space and gain energy each time around. Another way is if the constants of nature were not constant. If the charge of an electron changed, or the gravitational constant, or the speed of light, if these things changed over time or varied slightly over space, you could exploit this as well. Another way is if traversible wormholes were possible. Of course to do that you'd already need negative matter. But wormholes would destroy coulomb's law, because electric or magnetic field lines could disappear down the throat of a wormhole and so you no longer would be able to tell how much charge is in a box based on the electric flux integrated over the surface of the box. Meaning you could move an electric charge near the other end of a wormhole and expend less work in so doing than the increase in electric potential it would generate on the other side of the wormhole.

[@patrickwilkie5576]

medexamtoolsdotcom have you read discussions of these ideas elsewhere? They all make perfect sense and are really interesting thought experiments that I hadn’t heard discussed prior.

[@gnosticorderofthewisecounc1812]

Perpetual motion is attained when you no longer see the seperation in things, we are part of a perpetual motion machine. Quantum “mechanics” tries to make sense of this “machine” we exist in. And as far as we know, which this video supports, we can’t escape the machine. Ironically, you deny the existence of something you exist in and part of lol.

[@jameslundquist3936]

If the universe is an infinitely repeating cycle, wouldn't that be considered a "perpetual motion machine"?

[@petarpejic1468]

@@gnosticorderofthewisecounc1812 "Perpetual motion is attained when you no longer see the seperation in things" how did you get to this conclusion can you elaborate? Do you have any other thoughts connected to his one that you find interesting?

[@takeshiC1]

I'm glad the professional field is as confused about this as I am

[@JohnDoe-vz7ff]

They're not. The vacuum energy is simply not well defined in quantum field theory. You can make it be whatever value you want it to be; it is a free parameter just like the coupling constants (fine structure constant for example) or a particles mass (electrons mass for example). You just add a constant counterterm to the Lagrangian and use it to renormalize the vacuum energy. In quantum field theory it is of no observable consequence; only in general relativity would it be important and we can't just say that it's a problem because GR exists, as we don't have a quantum theory of gravity. It's entirely possible that a complete theory of gravity would suppress the vacuum energy due to interactions between the vacuum energy density and gravity.

[@jeandelenfant]

Professional field? What would be the particle and force of this field?

[@nathanielmathews2617]

@@jeandelenfant The particle would be a lab coat and it would have a long range forced similar to gravity. That force is what powers time machines. Particulaly microwave time machines.

[@treasurehunter3744]

@@nathanielmathews2617 Don't microwave time machines turn things to green jello?

[@nathanielmathews2617]

@@treasurehunter3744 No. Only bananas.

[@sciemk8723]

"Infinity - sounds a bit excessive " made my day

[@BornAgain5M]

When you clean out a vacuum cleaner. You become the vacuum cleaner.

[@Corvaire]

Wise words grasshopper! ;O)-

[@thenewtalkerguy496]

Dang That's deep

[@user-vz7mu4su9n]

BornAgain5M Mind blown.

[@jpoconnor2857]

Be the vacuum.. Be the vacuum...

[@josephmarsh5031]

Ham sandwich walks into a bar, sees a sign that says, sorry, this bar doesn't serve food. Sandwich leaves. Sad sandwich...

[@MichaelTheRead]

"Dwarf. Kili the Dwarf. Get it right." The entire video was fascinating and informative, but this was the cherry on top. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[@manit77]

Michael I don’t get it.

[@Roboprogs]

M C watch the last few seconds of the video where the narrator pops back at a troll-ish comment from an earlier video Er, dwarf, not troll 😉

[@jumemowery9434]

Let me know when you think you've got it figured out.

[@wewho1279]

one year.... nothing yet? oh, bummer....

[@Harry351ify]

@@wewho1279 one year and three weeks. Nothing yet.

[@raybin6873]

Are you still alive?

[@LuisSierra42]

@@raybin6873 He's probably in a superposition of states

[@arpitthakur45]

@@LuisSierra42 a person is only alive to you when you think of him or her...other then that they are dead..

[@tnekkc]

It felt like I understood every word of this. That is a great illusion. Whoever is writing this is good. I am subscribing.

[@FairCogent]

Vacuum catastrophe sounds like it would really suck.

[@lonestarlibrarian1853]

Yes, the end of the entirety of everything we know or could even know as the laws of the universe would probably “really suck” to say the least.

[@LuisSierra42]

Well played sir

[@jorgepeterbarton]

every nurse at A+E sees a vaccuum catastrophe at some point in their career.

[@111455]

we would be left feeling empty inside

[@dublininnis9695]

If is sucked that badly wives would fear it.

[@355scaper]

Man I really have to stop watching these before bed

[@Trias805]

Afraid of the dark... energy?

[@kyogrix]

Inertia effect !

[@__mk_km__]

Who needs sleep when you can argue with yourself about the mysteries of the universe all night?

[@LuisSierra42]

This will give you psychedelic dreams

[@manit77]

This helps me sleep.

[@SebHaugeto]

I really want Matt to be the host of the next version of “Cosmos”

[@TheShootist]

Isaac Arthur, ftw

[@MariusRiley]

: "The Anthropic Principle means never having to say you don't know." Dr. Gray, my physics professor when I was in college (Class of 1993)

[@phillipbampton911]

that sounds like a "Love Story" for the fields of science

[@Master_Therion]

Reminds me of the time I tried to vacuum my cat's fur. I thought I had it on the very gentle low setting but it was on high. That was a vacuum CATastrophe.

[@somebody6433]

Thank god someone on my level around here.

[@farmsalot1233]

Some body I was thinking the same,lol.

[@rebelbeammasterx8472]

I see you everywhere and you always make a good joke.

[@cnawan]

Trust humans to find a way to giggle at the ineffable mysteries of the cosmos :3

[@ObjectsInMotion]

I once got yelled at by my teacher for insisting that its should be spelled it's, whether or not it was a contraction or possesive. It was a vacuum apostrophe.

[@esoh4t484]

Even though I hardly ever know what the fuck he is talking about I find these videos so interesting

[@espalorp3286]

sciens muh nigga

[@thenewtalkerguy496]

Yea he is pretty douchey.

[@oscarmike1131]

Cl123 lol. I get most of it, but yeah stuff like this is fascinating to me

[@AspenEmrys]

and this is one of the easier ones to grasp. I get lost when he starts getting deep about equations. that's actually why I had to drop out of Physics 11 in high school. Teacher said I had a surprisingly intuitive understanding, but I told her I just can't handle the math. I aced Math 12 and did well with Finite Math 101 & 102 ... physics is a whole other beast I suppose

[@mantis8326]

im always fried watching these

[@BaronVonQuiply]

Every time I click on this video I'm expecting it to be about a false vacuum collapse and what a catastrophe that would be for physics as we know it.

[@davidinvenio3094]

I was expecting it to be pornographic. So disappointed.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

@@davidinvenio3094 I remember around 10 years ago I saw an ad for a Dyson Ball and I stood there stunned, thinking _"Someone's starting a Dyson Sphere?!?"_ Imagine how disappointed I was to realize Dyson is a vacuum cleaner company.

[@collection6062]

its some kind of holocaust, were living the lives that we've already lost

[@haroldpenisman8693]

I thought this was going to be an episode about vacuum decay. I would love to see an episode about that

[@kingblue3171]

Haha maybe Dr. Matt 'O Dowd is dreading doing a video about it. I remember he was a guest on an episode cosmic quiries with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. When he brought up the topic , I could tell from his reaction he probably doesn't like to think about it. Vaccum Decay is pretty terrible 😳 I don't blame him

[@medexamtoolsdotcom]

Your wish has been granted. Now, 4 years later. Finally you get to see the real answer after the pretentious kurzgesagt and flimsy sciencephile the ai had their whacks at it.

[@TheEthAg]

Whoever makes the visuals and graphics on this show is amazing.

[@purplenanite]

If this is anything like the ultraviolet catastrophe, there's more physics coming our way.

[@maxwyght1840]

Magenta Field The UV catastrophe was due to the premise that you can always divide energy states in half, no matter how small. This gave rise to QFT, or more specifically, to the concept of "quantas": A base measure of energy that can't be subdivided further(Put simply, you can jump from 1/2 to 1/4, because 1/3 doesn't exist). The graph in this vid is essentially the same one from the UV catastrophe, so I'm guessing that someone likely forgot this concept.

[@purplenanite]

so could you, in theory, pull the same shenanigans that solved the UV catastrophe to solve this one? - I doubt it, because if it was that easy, it would be solved by now.

[@massimookissed1023]

Max Wyght , *quanta* is the plural. *Quantas* is the Aussie airline ;)

[@vacuumdiagrams652]

It isn't quite the same, though there has been physics inspired by this sort of thing. Supersymmetry is an example. How successful supersymmetry has been is a different issue, however.

[@sumsar01]

The UV catastrophe has nothing to do with QFT, but rather normal QM and it arises because the energy spectrum of light would give divergent result before harmonic oscillators where used to quantize the energy modes by Planck.

[@EliseLogan]

thank you so much for this channel. It feeds my physics brain. I often have to stop the vids and think about what's being explained for a bit before I get it, and sometimes I just don't get the details - but thank you for feeding my brain.

[@michael3263]

I love this narrator. He's a fellow powernerd. I'm also a huge fan of how the science isn't dumbed down but is still presented in such a way as to be accessible to the audience. Absolutely fantastic. 😀

[@juzoli]

This cathastrophe sounds just like the early issues with black-box radiaton, which has led to quantum physics.

[@zagreb2012]

Body 😂

[@minepose98]

@@zagreb2012 The radiation found only in plane's black boxes

[@martinhutton6294]

It's ironic that the solution to the UV catastrophe problem (QM) set up the emergence of this problem.

[@greywolf4272]

@@martinhutton6294 They are basically the same problem -- and the same brute-force approach to a solution. If you start with a continuum theory you end up trying to stuff in smaller wavelengths below what the underlying physical (particulate/discontinuous) substrate can actually support. Planck's constant "fixed" the theoretical curve for the UV catastrophe (never called that at the time), but did not explain it. The Vacuum Catastrophe has less supporting data ... so the hunt for the "shortest wavelength" is currently unconfined.

[@medexamtoolsdotcom]

@@greywolf4272 No, they aren't nearly the same problem.

[@mikeclarke952]

Que Monty Python skit: "You had a QFT? Luxury! We calculated zero vacuum field energy to infinity and we liked it."

[@PhilipEnders]

I just found this channel and I'm loving the content. Well explained and super fascinating.

[@joelisSHI]

I've been watching this whole series and have never had so much fun. Thank you. Learning and learning and......

[@warren286]

The way I think of it: It seems like spacetime itself, at a high enough vacuum and low temperature seems to boil particles into existence.

[@wewho1279]

I can live with that for now

[@fss1704]

yeahh, tell me more about reversibility and quantum decay... that adiabatic stuff is golden.

[@AyLovTehno]

“The conundrum continues to perplex” is my new favourite phrase

[@ravenlord4]

So, we're back to Luminiferous aether. Sweet.

[@deadsi]

Ye I still think we're gonna go back to aether eventually, just under a different name, the higgs field seems like a kind of aether to me, tho I don't really understand it and I'm prolly wrong

[@iExploder]

Basically: dark matter.

[@mitchwilson1969]

Lol might as well huh?

[@En_theo]

We never left aether, Einstein himself admitted it after he discovered all the implication of General Relativity. Space-time is just a new, more elastic aether.

[@kumard5445]

This is the best lullaby anyone has ever sung to me. Good night!

[@purewaterruler]

Could you put resources for further reading in the description

[@vampyricon7026]

+

[@UrJustSick]

Love trying to predict when he'll finish on... Pause... In spacetime.

[@thenewtalkerguy496]

With his creepy spider hands.

[@Tomyb15]

I'm often bamboozled when I play that game

[@j-man72b72]

About 6 seconds prior to I'm like "Oh, here it comes..."

[@shirleymason7697]

His hands are the evolved flappers, fins, wings, like all of ours. Most remindful of flappers. One can visualize long evolution in all of us if you think about it when you REALLY watch someone - anyone.

[@astrophonix]

Everything in my life sucks, except my vacuum cleaner.

[@Dowlphin]

THAT'S the spirit! 😆

[@Legend-to2rx]

@@humanrightsadvocate r/whoosh

[@nonelost1]

Perhaps your vacuum tried to suck up everything in your life and got clogged. Just two days ago I was making a "battle of the vacuums" video between three different models of Bissells. I laid down three rows of shredder confetti on my carpet. All three got clogged. I think I laid down too much confetti.

[@bnjmnwst]

Now THAT'S a vacuum catastrophe.

[@thomasjamison2050]

If your vacuum needs cleaning, it's not a vacuum.

[@irmese06]

I wish I could "like" a second time for the magnificent appearance of the Dwarf Star at the end of the video.

[@safir2241]

“If you claim to understand quantum mechanics, then you don’t understand quantum mechanics.” -Richard Feynman

[@devrim-oguz]

You have written his name wrong.

[@safir2241]

Ali Devrim OĞUZ Fuk

[@safir2241]

Ali Devrim OĞUZ Actually no, it’s spelt like that

[@louisa.520]

+Safir *Feynman

[@safir2241]

Ben Loui ohhh didnt see that. *facepalm*

[@NewMessage]

My dog was all excited to watch this video until he found out it wasn't a rant about the rec room monster known commonly as 'the vacuum cleaner'.

[@brendanotoole5871]

You're here too? lol

[@hypercuriosity9828]

New Message hi buddy. Back again

[@brendanotoole5871]

So where are you from man? It's interesting, i see you on all my regular KZbin haunts, writing witty things, decent bugs bunny references. You seem like a decent entity.

[@NewMessage]

I'm all over the place.. Gotta have hobbies, right? I'm glad to see you have such great taste in KZbin channels though.

[@TheGesox]

MMD had a dejavue ... my Rottweiler dog one day killed my one when i was at work

[@ihabhassanieh1776]

Thank you for all of these videos, Im a doctor and watching these makes me want to burn my medical degree and join you for coffee

[@mickwilson99]

"ergs per cubic cm"? Why not "horsepower per cubic furlong"?

[@zagreb2012]

Kg/m3 or J

[@robertkesselring]

Because horsepower is not a unit of energy.

[@mickwilson99]

@@robertkesselring Okay... horsepower-weeks, then.

[@robertkesselring]

@@mickwilson99 1 horsepower-week / cubic furlong = 554 ergs / cubic cm.

[@yamansanghavi]

Horsepower x average horse age per cubic furlong

[@vacuumdiagrams652]

The thing is, quantum field theory makes _absolutely no prediction_ about the energy density of the vacuum. This is precisely because physcs is unchanged if a constant value is added to the energy density everywhere, as only energy _differences_ effect measurable outcomes. QFT is just as incapable of predicting the energy density of the vacuum as it is of predicting, say, the mass of the electron. In particular, it's not _necessary_ for the zero point energy at each mode to be hbar omega/2: that's just one particular choice that comes from using the most naive definition of QFT. One of the first thing many quantum field theory books do just before starting to calculate things is to introduce the idea of "normal ordering". This is often made somewhat vague and mysterious, but most of the time it's nothing more than saying "we'll choose the definition of the theory so that the energy of the vacuum is zero". It's not even an unnatural choice, like might be expected: there are several "obvious" quantum theories that serve as "quantum versions" of classical theories. Most of them have unphysically large values for the energy of the vacuum, but one (the one that is actually used in calculations) has an energy density of zero. Of course, the true energy of the vacuum is not zero, but ~1 J / km³. So there is certainly a mystery here, but it's not the same as a failed prediction.

[@feynstein1004]

Hmm. Wouldn't that mean the vacuum catastrophe doesn't actually exist?

[@vacuumdiagrams652]

Depends on what you mean by "catastrophe". It's not a catastrophe in the sense that we have a catastrophically failed prediction (as we did in the ultraviolet catastrophe, because the Rayleigh-Jeans theory really did predict an infinite energy density for your oven), but you could say it's a catastrophe that we don't understand at all why the vacuum energy density is what it is :)

[@Tomyb15]

I'm confused. So what was Matt referring to when he said that qft predicts a huge value and showed us the graph with all the different vacuum energies? I'm genuinely asking because I know nothing past basic classical mechanics.

[@vacuumdiagrams652]

He was showing contributions to the vacuum energy if you write down the simplest, most naive version of the quantum field theory. People sometimes do say that those are "predictions" of QFT, but using those same standards we'd also "predict" an infinite mass for the electron. And for a while, early in the development of quantum field theory, we did. It was only after we realized that we don't get to predict such things using QFT, that nature gives these numbers to us, that we finally managed to turn QFT into a workable theory. John Baez has an excellent text on the subject: math(dot)ucr(dot)edu/home/baez/vacuum.html

[@fuseteam]

Sooo if I get what your saying right vacuum energy _is_ dark energy?

[@luis5d6b]

The fact that we have to multiply the vacuum energy of all the modes together to get the number sounds a lot like the ultraviolet catastrophe to me, maybe just like with Plank's quatinzation there is a deeper idea about space-time and/or information underlying all of this.

[@thenewtalkerguy496]

You're gonna need a good stretch after that reach, buddy.

[@dirm12]

He said add iirc. And they are already quantised. How are you gonna quantise them further?

[@luis5d6b]

Well, by no means I am saying this is true just speculating, but when more space is generated more fields are generated with it, so quantizing space-time may be the way to go, but of course we need quantum gravity for that.

[@Bodyknock]

The deeper idea needed could simply be the anthropic principle mentioned in the video. All that would be required is that there are an infinite number of universes bubbling up and those universes take on random values of vacuum energy. Even though the probability of an extremely small energy value would be low in a given universe, with an infinite number of universes there would be an infinite number that would have approximately the same value as ours. And if intelligent life is only possible within universes with our approximate amount of vacuum energy then for us to even exist to ask the question we would have to be in one of those rare-but-still-infinite-in-number such universes. Obviously there could be another explanation, of course, but I definitely wouldn't be surprised if an infinite multiverse with random values for certain aspects was the reason for the vacuum energy amount.

[@luis5d6b]

That is indeed a great point, the mere fact that we know there are parts of the universe without any causal connection with us and the fact that our current measurements indicate the universe may very well be flat and therefore infinite hint at that possibility, I believe even that may be answered by a quantum gravity theory, some theoretical work hints at the possibility of gravity being something even more essential... Information, information organized in increasingly more complex states (states with more degrees of freedom) The Universe as a whole may very well be eternal with little patches that suffer from inflation when the information that makes such patch is randomly organized in the right conditions (which would be inevitable in an infinite amount of time), and every possible organization of the information can occur inside of each patch, giving rise to the possibility of infinitely many universes like ours scattered throught eternity, well this is still just speculation but nice ideas to think indeed.

[@kcinkg]

Somewhere there is a child whose brother will bounce a ball off their head, thus setting them on a path of wonder that leads to the answers we all seek. Be patient my friends.

[@stewiepid4385]

What type of ball?

[@pizzaface117]

@@stewiepid4385 ball-sized.

[@stewiepid4385]

@@pizzaface117 Now I know why parents adopted my younger brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMFAO Bruh!

[@Qthedude16]

ZPM's in Stargate technically use vacuum energy derived from an isolated portion of sub-space, so they technically aren't going against the laws of physics until they can disprove sub-space.

[@SupLuiKir]

If the concept of Planck time means that time is quantized, that means that 1) there's an upper limit to frequency equal to the inverse of twice the Planck duration, or ~9.28 x 10^42 Hz, which would allow a particle to oscillate between the wave's critical points in alternating consecutive instants, with no time to exist in any other phase of its wave function, or else it'd effectively have a lower energy since the waveform doesn't exist except at two specific phases, so those two slices of the waveform would be its new critical points. Energy is also quantized, so the only phases that could exist are those that align with one of energy levels below its actual energy level. (If you're showing this comment next episode, it'd be advised to come up with a nice graphic to explain it, or good luck summarizing what I'm saying) 2) The integral of the vacuum energy of all possible frequencies wouldn't have an infinitesimal dt, instead it would be equal to the inverse of the Planck time. That would make it a summation instead of an integral! You'd be able to omit the energies of frequencies that can't exist in quantized time, thus bringing the total energy way down, maybe to what it should be according to our observations. I doubt it though, somebody would've thought of using quantized time by now for the Vacuum Catastrophe.

[@fandomguy8025]

@0xFFF1 3) It would be followed by the concept of Plank length as Space and Time are one in the same.

[@fandomguy8025]

@0xFFF1 Also, don't assume that "I won't continue this because it's so obvious someone has probably already thought of it." is necessarily true, who knows, maybe no one has, Einstien figured out gravity first and he probably found it kind of obvious. There was always a first for every scientific idea.

[@Roboprogs]

Fandom guy Newton?

[@deusexaethera]

Good point about the Plank time interval and Planck length imposing upper limits on the frequency of photons. I hadn't thought of that, but it gets rid of a potential infinity quite neatly.

[@KpxUrz5745]

If Carl Sagan were explaining this, I would listen to it "Billions and Billions" of times.

[@medexamtoolsdotcom]

He never actually said that. "Billions and billions" was just something journalists used to mock him, without him ever actually having said it. Much like "Let them eat cake" and Marie Antoinette, or Bob Dole talking about himself in the 3rd person, or William Shatner...... talking....... like this. It's all parodies mimicking other parodies and not the real person. Sagan barely ever even actually said billions, but at no point in the public record, not in any lecture, not in Cosmos, did he ever say billions and billions.

[@KpxUrz5745]

@@medexamtoolsdotcom Not so. I clearly recall Sagan saying those exact words. And so do countless other listeners. This is not up for debate. My memory is excellent.

[@TheOutZZ]

@@KpxUrz5745 "I know I'm right so therefore you are wrong." Who are you, being so wise in the ways of logic? Kidding, but a discussion does not have any more truth value if the one proposing or arguing against it can not provide sufficient evidence. Not trying to attack you, just saying that leaving it at that means nobody did really "win" this.

[@KpxUrz5745]

@@TheOutZZ I did provide evidence: my unfailing memory of hearing Sagan utter those exact words, and in his special unique enunciation. It is preposterous to debate this inconsequential factoid any further. Everyone can go hear for themselves.

[@rproyecto]

It is incredible how much I enjoy all of your videos. Again thank you a lot!!!!!!!

[@GlynWilliams1950]

Great video, answered many of my questions. Unfortunately it also opened the portal (door) of more questions for me.

[@to9100]

What if there are limited a number of frequency modes for each field. Similar to the limited energy packets for photons.

[@garethdean6382]

That would suggest that particle energies are limited in such a way, something we have no evidence for. It can help limit the vacuum energy (At the least at some point any two energies that are close enough become indistinguishable.) but given the 'smoothness' we've already seen it's not enough.

[@adamlovelace7572]

This catastrophe reminds of the ultra violet catastrophe, or renormalization in quantum electro dynamics. I imagine the solution can't be the same as either of those, or we'd have solved it already.

[@BladeOfLight16]

The solution to the ultraviolet catastrophe was to throw out existing theory and develop a new model of black body radiation based on actual readings. ;)

[@baruchben-david4196]

That thought occurred to me...

[@MrNathanParrott]

An erg is approximately the amount of work done (or energy consumed) by one common house fly performing one "push up," the leg-bending dip that brings its mouth to the surface on which it stands and back up. Or in SI units 10^-7 joules Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erg

[@yuryeuceda8590]

As always professor, thank you to share this stuff with us. So perfect you did it. Go well.

[@Vegan4Everything]

After the sun sets, I notice a bunch of bright little dots start to appear in the night sky. What's really crazy is that when the moon doesn't wanna come out, more of these dots appear. o.O

[@Vegan4Everything]

@@patrickjordan4073 I have a theory that "science" doesn't support, but it goes like this: The moon is filled with solar panels. As it charges up, less panels are needed. It stays fully lit for a few days, but starts to run out of juice. That's when the aliens start setting up the solar panels again.

[@Vegan4Everything]

@The Jim Reaper™ Nope. Only the Earth is flat. All other planets are spheres. The cheese part seems plausible, though.

[@Vegan4Everything]

@The Jim Reaper™ Holy "cow", I think you're onto something! Yes, they totally need a fourth guy.

[@cortster12]

A vacuum callapse is my favorite sci-fi apocalyptic scenario.

[@tnekkc]

In 1974 my physics professor with a bubble chamber was Lowell S. Brown. In 1994 he wrote the book "Quantum field theory". He told a couple jokes; 1) He had to convince a Chinese physicist he could not name his new particle a screw off, 2) The publication Physical Review was getting fatter at a rate that would make the end of a shelf of them soon exceed the speed of light. But that is ok, because there is no information.

[@caralladas76]

The best explanation of the vacuum catastrophe i've seen!!

[@billykirkpatrick335]

Hey, just wondering, where do you guys find your information for these videos? I'm very interested in theoretical, particle, and quantum physics, so it would be really helpful to know. Thanks!

[@maxwyght1840]

Will you ever do a video on spontaneous vacuum decay? The hypothesis that posits the higgs field is at a pseudo stable state, and if one area of the higgs field quantum tunnels into the true zero point, it would cause a lightspeed expansion of a point of reality where all the laws of physics would break down?

[@bowiebastard]

just subscribed for the LOL at the end, great delivery science dude!

[@stewiepid4385]

Oh my! The only vacuum catastrophe I have experienced was when my Kirby impeller blade broke.

[@KC-ql6dd]

That "Heisenberg uncertainty principle" tho. You damn right, he blew Tuco's office up with a rock.

[@ryanp1922]

I am too drunk to absorb this right now. Adding to my watch later queue.

[@SystemsMedicine]

Space and time are almost certainly quantized, so there is a limit to the energy (1/frequency) of photons; hence, vacuum energy cannot be as large as calculated/estimated back in the 70s.

[@thedouglasw.lippchannel5546]

To perhaps clarify - the smaller the vibration (wavelength) the higher the energy. Wavelength and frequency being inverse to one another. E=hf. High frequency = high energy (i.e. gamma versus microwave) QM uses the shortest wavelength. Why I don't know. GR is using the longest wavelength. The vacuum of space. This is like comparing the two different sides of the MTS equation. A long long wavelength (small frequency) exists at the Dark Energy side (S side of MTS) (10 to the minus 29 g/cm3) while the shortest wavelength (Planck & 5.16 to the 93rd g/cm3) (high frequency) exists as the extreme density of a black hole (M side of the MTS equation) . Remember The MTS equation is from 0 mph to "c" in the MTS direction. In the STM direction, we go from "c" to 0mph. And with Lorentz transformations along the way. [As a side note I recall I believe out of Chicago two scientists saying that as things were brought an Bose-Einstein condensate, they approached a black hole, well, this appears evident in the MTS equation as the M (black hole) side of the equation is one of no motion. I believe I left a nervous and blathering phone message to one of them some ten or so years ago. ] What I have just realized now is that there are some 10 to the order of 120 magnitudes between the M and S side of the MTS equation. In your vacuum catastrophe you are comparing a short wavelength (high mass-high frequency ) QM environment to a long wavelength (low mass - high space-low frequency) GR environment. Why? The zero point energy of QM has nothing to do with the vacuum of space. You are mixing apples and peanuts.

[@mozgow80]

Could it be that small value of vacuum energy is somehow connected to the small disparity between matter and antimatter after big bang?

[@Boogaboioringale]

My thoughts exactly. Mainly because the difference is so small in both cases.

[@christiancampbell466]

mozgow80 I hold onto this exact conceptual thread for my tenuous grasp on why anything (including all the turtles) exists! At 6:33 Matt says, “Basic supersymmetry only allows us to cancel out photons down to the so-called electroweak energy” -⁠ why is this? Kerry Fitch What do you mean, “both cases”?

[@zachariahstovall1744]

Okay this guys voice is so soothing. I just put on my autoplay and let him read me to sleep.

[@scottre3220]

There is still one way to get vacuum energy perpetual motion (at least for our universe): If you could open a (hopefully small) portal to a universe with a high vacuum energy density, you would get net energy flow until the energy content of both universes equilbriate.

[@davidwilkie9551]

The bit about high energy gas had always been an "Ideal Gas" question I didn't know how to ask, thanks for the info. The situational positioning intro is a "Reciprocal" substantiation of "multi-phase = Mass-Momentum-Potential Energy Quantized Superposition.., = modulated/Timed aspects of one ultimate infinity, Eternity-Now, ..from a WYSIWYG perspective, when you are aware of the QM-Time Projection-Drawing Quantum Operator cause-effect on e-Pi-i Space-time Resonance Structure... Vacuum energy and Quantum Fields, reminds me of sieves and conglomerates of pebbles, sand and dust, and the size distribution of the filtrates that resemble the distribution of primes and co-factor "conglomerates". Until Quantum Computations can resolve the structure of the Universe, this is an assumed/perceived "Anthropically"/biologically stable arrangement of timing-spacing of integrated QM-Time "leaky" pulse cycles of Superspin. Eternity, infinity, means that it's an observable, permanent feature of the Multiverse integration of locked phase-states of Phys-Chem. _____ Wave-particle quantum duality in the Field Modulation Mechanism.., the picture Physics Girl and team produced, of the Naiver-Stokes analysis problem should assist in intuitive skills for dealing with Actuality. It's complicated and messy, and difficult to explain because explanations are the reciprocal of Simplicity-> the QM-TIMESPACE Computational program that is the Holographic information state here-now. Vacuum Energy, Centrally limited by the QM-TIMESPACE connection to the Mathematically observable-by-empirical-calculations Planck Dimension, has the sub structure of frequency-timing harmonic reciprocal field existence, of flat-space "Neutronic" connection at the .dt ground state. It's the orthogonal "outside" quantization surface (of the i-reflection Singularity/central limit) tangentially, to absolute zero, (where all the Entangled "Super properties" are), and the act-ual Origin of "One Electron" modulation-> here-now-> Timing conception imagined by Wheeler and Feynman, (funnily enough), that naturally leads to an understanding of the Actuality, Quantum Fields Modulation Mechanism QM-Time Singularity substantiation of Spacetime. "The true nature of Spacetime..", is "simply" closer than we CAN think, as participant elemental composites of Spacetime..., self-evolving subroutines? (Yep, indescribably chaotic connection of one Infinity, Hotel Hilbert style.., so the the "Grand Unification of Theory" can be assembled at the Eternal Conference held just through the "Resonance Door" to any Universe that can be imagined and "proven" in practice.., but even this Actuality would probably qualify as untested Fiction, when meticulously, religiously, studied, and attempted to formalize without further evolution (!?).

[@noahmccann4438]

Doesn’t a similar discrepancy exist between antimatter and matter? By which I mean - if they perfectly balanced one another then all matter would have been annihilated. If the positive and negative energies of the fields also failed to perfectly balance (leading to the small but not zero value mentioned in the video) could that be related to the inequality in matter/antimatter? I think I’ve also heard that it’s possible that matter only “won” in our area of the universe, and that antimatter might be more prevalent elsewhere. In which case there may only be a local discrepancy.

[@DarkSpar13]

Makes me curious if there are antimatter stars out past the edge of the observable universe. Or possibly within it. Is there any way to tell if a distant star is composed of antihydrogen?

[@Qrzychu92]

Not really, in one of the previous episodes Matt said, that maybe, just maybe, there are anti-galaxies. That would be so awesome! :D

[@aibot1074]

I keep thinking of all the astrophysical jets we see in the Universe emitting along the axis of rotation. If the big bang singularity was rotating and frame-dragging, spewing a stream of both antimatter and matter in quanta, while precessing, wouldn't that cause unevenness that could have separated and survived with vast imbalances?

[@markanthony2919]

My theory , for what it's worth, is that there is a balance between anti matter and matter in the 4 % of the observable universe i.e. the observable universe is 2 % matter and 2% anti matter caused by imperfect mixing when matter formed and that matter and anti matter don't anhiliate but form dark matter at a lower energy state releasing large amounts of energy. So there are matter and anti matter galaxies and maybe even matter and anti matter stars within galaxies

[@Junokaii]

Well said

[@glenn8322]

The Vacuum Catastrophe! Is that like the Ultraviolet Catastrophe? 'cause they sorted that one.

[@rogerkearns8094]

I agree, it seems superficially like it, at least. I believe that the latter was resolved by introducing discrete energy quanta; the video made me wonder whether the former might involve a discrete frequency entity of some kind.. (I'm not a physicist - perhaps that's obvious.)

[@Boogaboioringale]

Jack Sainthill : Yeah, discrete frequency would require discrete wavelengths (they are related ). It seems strange indeed that everything else in the universe is quantized (they want quantum gravity) so wavelengths is possibly quanta (albeit very small). Some theories say space is quantized(loop quantum gravity and string theory).

[@ianm1462]

2:55 It’s a little thing, but the wavelength increasing to ‘max’ looks awesome

[@tgasnier1]

I like his videos. I can not follow almost anything, but when I understand a sentence I am very happy.

[@therealforeignwolf]

"it sounds like a hack, and it sorta is... but we're getting desperate" wowzers!!!!

[@wewho1279]

and that was the honest point....

[@PlasmaHH]

What are the chances that the mechanism responsible for the imbalance in supersymmetric energies cancellation is the same as the one responsible for there being matter (instead of it all cancelling out with antimatter)? Also if we take the 10^-8 vacuum energy and reverse the calculation, what would be the highest allowed frequency that falls out of the equations? Did we ever observe anything higher than that?

[@nachannachle2706]

This is totally flying HIGH above my brainwaves. I need to research what the "erg/cm3" represents before I can make sense of all this. Pr O'Dowd, could you reference your units in a corner of your screen when discussing them, please?

[@MrTripcore]

Excess energy is transferred to motion, dimensions, & causing accelerated expansion. As more energy is added to the universe through the ongoing break in the law of energy conservation, it is transformed into motion, keeping the overall vacuum energy relatively stable.

[@lordofthewoods]

For a minute, I thought this video was about a cat's tail getting caught in the vacuum cleaner or something...

[@fehmeh6292]

I will put this on the same shelf with the matter/antimatter unbalance, and call shenanigans. Dammnit energy. Be one thing at any given onceness. Gawd.

[@BlackHoleForge]

4:08 this reminds me of our relationship with gravity and acceleration. We really don't notice anything until there's a sudden increase or decrease.

[@robinblankenship9234]

Perhaps it already exists, but a "catalog" or a sequential numbering of your episodes, either in the totality of your output or by category, would really help those of us amateurs who love your work but would also like to be able to easily navigate through broad swarths. Thanks.

[@josephmatthews7698]

If I've learned anything about physics it's that if I come across an answer that involves infinity I'm either asking the wrong question or did the math wrong.

[@leroyfrance7086]

I have no clue what im talking about but what if the reason there is a slight energy and not zero has something to do with the balance between regular matter and antimatter in the beginning of the universe. ie supersymmetry but similar to how there is slightly less antimatter there is slightly less supersymmetric counterparts.

[@vicca4671]

For a second I thought it was about what is, and the probability of a "vacuum metastability event". It'd be nice to have a video on that though~

[@MrManerd]

I'm so glad I watched this till the end, that last part was funny.

[@justanotherguy469]

What was the subject matter before the funny part? It was about free energy from the vacuum. The funny part was placed in there in order to discourage us from taking vacuum energy seriously. Nikola Tesla demonstrated a century ago that you can extract energy from the vacuum, something the bankers did not like. Me thinks the bankers are the ones whom own our media and this gentleman is on their payroll.

[@photosinensis]

The Ultraviolet Catastrophe was solved through quantization, which started as a stupid mathematical trick but turned out to be real. Is there a similar effect that could eliminate the infinite range of frequency modes? What would it mean for there to be a smallest step between frequency modes? What if there *are* some excluded virtual particle interactions? Which ones? Why?

[@fandomguy8025]

That would mean Space-Time quantization, plank lengths/time. Which would mean Quantum Gravity, which we don't have.

[@holazach9869]

Video was uploaded a minute ago and there's already dislikes, like bruh do they have notifications on just to dislike it

[@ferdinandkraft857]

Probably flat-earthers.

[@holazach9869]

Jorge Lopez what are you talking about

[@rsandov00]

holazach, yes. i goh on a djsliking spree

[@delphi-moochymaker62]

Religious folk who think there is one answer....God.

[@richarddeese1991]

I really, really enjoy this series. It's very well thought out and very nicely presented. Now, on to my useless speculation. It strikes me immediately that there seems to be a sort of parallel between the 'ultraviolet catastrophe' & the 'vacuum catastrophe.' In both, we try to predict a quantity, & in each case, we get an answer way out of wack [technical term.] In each, we have something that - if we understand it - seems to point to the sum of an infinite series; yet we know this cannot be & is not so. Even the graphs (as shown) look alike. But the similarities seem to end there. Although I'm sure we will one day answer the 'vacuum catastrophe' problem (assuming it actually IS a problem!), I somehow doubt it'll be as easy as quantizing the vacuum energy! The two cases don't 'translate' there. We'll have to find some other way to conceptualize the problem, or rely on fleshing out quantum gravity's math a little, first. Rikki Tikki.

[@purnjay2554]

The background music at 6:17, is so soothing with the explanation of Space and the vacuum states; What is that music if I may know?

[@theamazingfuzzlord]

damn. our extradimensional ai overlords are for sure going to shut down the simulation now

[@jetison333]

Silliam Whakespeare if we did have extradimensional overlords, we'd be the ai not them

[@deusexaethera]

This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. I desperately need more sleep.

[@grbradsk]

It's like that old Arthur C Clark story about compiling the 9 billion names of god. Once they know we're on to them, they'll pull the plug fast -- no one wants a grad school physics project to wake up and know itself, it's against hyper dimensional school rules. Personally, I think we're a simulation that lost a memory reference and just keeps computing with no parent process.

[@marcinnawrocki1437]

Not yet, they can just reset state, get us back to bronze age and start agian. Probably not shut down unless we get console hack somehow.

[@marcinnawrocki1437]

@@grbradsk There are probably rules against killing off simulations, so we are long forgotten simulations in somebodys higher dimensional basement. Even our old myths about gods messing with us long time ago fit this story. We are like abandoned MMORPG that nobody has authority to shut down, all gods are playing new ones, we are Everquest.

[@TooSlowTube]

I hear he's quite tall, for a dwarf.

[@jamesruscheinski8602]

The vacuum for some reason leads to a lot of catastrophe; both the calculated energy of Hubble expansion and the possible Higgs field overcoming energy of false vacuum

[@KryogenKeeper]

I hypothesize that the "Flux-Capacitor" from "Back to the Future", was a device designed to artificially create an area of "zero energy" which "punched a hole" through space time. These chaotic yet miniscule fluctuations in spacetime, each need to be calculated and offset to zero(relative) so the complex, perspective frame based math can be applied. It's the capacitor function of this device that literally holds the magic, though. Once the fluctuations are calculated, usually energy needs to be removed from spacetime. Nothing especially strange. The excess electrons are stored in an old dry-cell style battery, and then used to power the exhaust vents from the primary quantum reaction. sounds kewl -edit- "Fine-Tune" spacetime, that's what it does. =)

[@TheRealFlenuan]

4:59 "…what *matters* …"

[@MusiCaninesTheMusicalDogs]

Any kind of energy is subdued to gravity, therefore vacuum energy would cause expansion of the universe? I don't get it! Shouldn't it attract things together? 😮

[@tehlaser]

L Galicki Band The energy is the same everywhere. Any particular point is pulled in every direction equally, so the attractive effect all cancels out, leaving only the expansionary effect mentioned in the video.

[@MrTripcore]

The universe has negative pressure (no outside force acting upon it). And then you have the break of the law of energy conservation which is also causing the accelerated expansion.

[@cyberbird2014]

The matter of the video is: QFT with it's predictions can't make an useful and/or trustful vaccum energy, because it simply doesn't make sense. What the video explains is that a very tiny supersimmetry predicted by the other mentioned theory can explain in a rational and perfectly practical way vacuum energy. ( Sorry if there's any grammatical mistakes )

[@fd9255]

Hi! From what I "understand" would it be possible that these vaccum energies are in fact the dark energy/matter pair? Thus we could make two mysteries canceling each other out?

[@wearyterror9671]

🎶Hold up..hay..the vacuum measurement seems off🎶

[@fishermikoaj6578]

Maybe source of this catastrophe is the same as cause of matter antimatter discrepancy?

[@gaunterodimm3606]

Yes, that Is my thought also. A matter imbalance could lead to an energy imbalance or vice versa. Would they not be related?

[@damianorotondo1385]

Wow, I thought "the antropic principle is coming!" just a few seconds before it was mentioned :D

[@genxlife]

I would like to suggest that zero point modules don't actually run on vacuum energy. They just couldn't think of a better name for them since ZPMs run on an energy source that unknown to Earth scientists.

[@markkens9]

We exist, therefore there's a non-zero _something_ somewhere.

[@eclipse_t1022]

You've got to wonder if the vacuum catastrophe and the matter/anti-matter problem are related somehow. In both cases you've got an extremely small result left over from very large calculations.

[@kiowanieuwoudt5192]

Im addicted to space videos but this one is totally confusing.

[@mdanieltays]

An idea for an Occam's Razor style answer is that the Quantum value is the maximum local value and the Relativity one is the observed average over the universe.