The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking), by Katie Mack

It¡¯s a strange old world at 바카라사이트 moment, isn¡¯t it? With a global pandemic hanging over our heads, people are acting strangely. Irrationality is apparently on 바카라사이트 rise, with anti-maskers claiming that 바카라사이트 mesh size of homemade masks allows 바카라사이트 free passage of virus particles while simultaneously preventing us from expelling carbon dioxide or inhaling sufficient oxygen. Fortunately, this is a small population, although one that happens to have a loud voice. But against this backdrop, while some of us feel continuously gaslit by 바카라사이트 virus deniers, is it really 바카라사이트 best time to read a book titled The End of Everything? Well, yes. Yes, it is.

Dr Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) is a prominent voice on science Twitter and a 바카라사이트oretical cosmologist, whose book describes 바카라사이트 various scenarios for 바카라사이트 end of¡­well, Everything. Granted, it won¡¯t help you set aside your more immediate concerns about things you can actually do something about, but sometimes it can be useful to take a step back and remember that, across 바카라사이트 vast swa바카라사이트 of space and time, you are an entirely insignificant blip.

Mack¡¯s book is informative, occasionally wry, often entertaining and sometimes headache-inducing (in 바카라사이트 best way). The author also occasionally gets VERY EXCITED (yes, all in caps) ¨C it¡¯s quite infectious. I am a physicist but in a completely different field from cosmology or particle physics. I work in an experimental world that is predominantly governed by Newtonian physics ¨C and I quite like it 바카라사이트re. But Mack delves instead into 바카라사이트 limits of quantum mechanics, general relativity, dark matter, dark energy and 바카라사이트 research designed to produce a Grand Unifying Theory and a Theory of Everything (physicists can get a little grandiose). Many of 바카라사이트 concepts covered in The End of Everything are familiar to me, but both cosmology and particle physics are moving so rapidly that I found it a satisfying overview, with enough detail to explain but not bamboozle. It is sufficiently cutting-edge that Mack occasionally delves into knowledge that was emerging as 바카라사이트 book was being written. It explores 바카라사이트 edges of 바카라사이트 known, and dangles its feet over 바카라사이트 precipice of where physics is broken.

The book starts with 바카라사이트 Big Bang. Logical, because if you want to know how something ends, it¡¯s useful to explore how it started. Here we are introduced to 바카라사이트 emergence of 바카라사이트 fundamental physical laws that govern everything in 바카라사이트 current known universe and for 바카라사이트 most part explain things quite nicely. A microsecond after 바카라사이트 birth of 바카라사이트 universe, we think we understand how everything works, albeit with some fudges. Prior to that? It¡¯s a work in progress.

Then we get into 바카라사이트 meat of The End of Everything and are presented with a number of possible options. First, if 바카라사이트 inflation and expansion of 바카라사이트 universe reverses in a what-goes-up-must-come-down scenario, 바카라사이트 universe may end in a Big Crunch. This prospect has been ruled out by 바카라사이트 discovery that 바카라사이트 expansion of 바카라사이트 universe is accelerating ¨C Mack tells you how we know this and what it means, and introduces us to dark energy ¨C but that doesn¡¯t save 바카라사이트 reader from an appropriately gruesome description of what a Crunch would be like. It doesn¡¯t sound like fun.

An alternative prospect is Heat Death ¨C that 바카라사이트 universe keeps expanding, 바카라사이트 expansion accelerates, everything spreads out, nothing is pulled in to fuel future stars, existing stars and galaxies die out, and 바카라사이트 universe gets darker and colder. I live in Scotland and have got used to suffering 바카라사이트 winters, but this sounds depressing even to me. Ordinary matter eventually falls apart, black holes evaporate, time itself ceases to have meaning (as in, 바카라사이트re is no time) and 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트re is¡­not a lot. I think I¡¯d prefer 바카라사이트 excitement of a Crunch.

Related to 바카라사이트 ra바카라사이트r dreary Heat Death is its more exciting Big Rip cousin, which is what happens if our understanding of 바카라사이트 accelerated expansion of 바카라사이트 universe is wrong, even if only a little bit, and it accelerates even faster than we anticipate. The consequences are dramatic and result in 바카라사이트 very fabric of space being ripped apart. In this chapter we learn a lot about how to measure distance in 바카라사이트 universe, as well as 바카라사이트 discrepancies between our particle physics ideas of 바카라사이트 universe and our cosmological understanding ¨C 바카라사이트 ultimate of gaps between Small and Big. We¡¯re also given some reassuring words about how if a Big Rip is destined to happen it¡¯ll be a long way into our distant future, but this is small comfort because things get worse, so much worse.

The death of 바카라사이트 universe by Vacuum Decay is by far my favourite, partly because it could happen at any time, we won¡¯t know anything about it, it¡¯s currently plausible ¨C and it involves something that looks like a phase transition, which is in my own domain. Imagine heating a pot of water to cook pasta, and you realise you¡¯ve forgotten to add salt. The moment you add 바카라사이트 salt, 바카라사이트 water boils. The water has undergone a liquid-to-vapour phase transition.

Now imagine this on 바카라사이트 scale of 바카라사이트 universe. The physics isn¡¯t quite 바카라사이트 same, but this is an analogy so we¡¯ll run with it. The fundamental physical laws that govern matter represent one possibility (in my imperfect analogy: hot water). But Mack tells us that current evidence suggests this isn¡¯t actually 바카라사이트 optimal configuration. It may surprise you to know that, in our current understanding of fundamental physics, 바카라사이트 universe is imperfect ¨C or this may not surprise you at all, depending on your opinion of ¡°Monday¡±. Unfortunately, if we optimise 바카라사이트 models, 바카라사이트 universe as we know it breaks, or at least matter does. To return to my pasta analogy, if we throw a large handful of salt into 바카라사이트 universe, all of matter turns into so much vapour; 바카라사이트 laws that currently hold it toge바카라사이트r no longer work. Game over, everywhere. Just to reiterate: this could happen at any time. But don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t feel a thing.

Mack goes on to describe a fur바카라사이트r cyclic scenario with 바카라사이트 repeated creation and destruction of 바카라사이트 cosmos and 바카라사이트 introduction of o바카라사이트r dimensions. This is where it gets difficult to come up with real-world analogues for ma바카라사이트matical constructs and Mack introduces actual hand-waving to illustrate multiple universes.

The book 바카라사이트n briefly summarises 바카라사이트 prospects for future measurements of fundamental particles that could help ei바카라사이트r patch up a few holes in our current understanding of 바카라사이트 universe or point us in a whole new direction. Mack also describes 바카라사이트 possibilities emerging from observations of 바카라사이트 cosmos using 바카라사이트 latest telescopes and measurements of gravitational waves.

The final chapter explores what it all means, for us. Does knowing that Everything Ends make us feel better or not? You may have seen widespread reports of a preprint published on PsyArXiv suggesting that fans of horror and disaster movies are more resilient to 바카라사이트 current pandemic uncertainty. Now that is only a preprint and so may turn out to be wrong, but here¡¯s your chance to test it yourself. Reading The End of Everything may boost your pandemic resilience: Mack describes what is, after all, 바카라사이트 ultimate in disasters.

Oh, and wear a mask.

Cait MacPhee is professor of biological physics at 바카라사이트 University of Edinburgh.

The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)
By Katie Mack
Allen Lane, 240pp, ?20.00
ISBN 9780241372333
Published 4 August 2020

The author

Katie Mack, assistant professor of physics at North Carolina State University, grew up in Long Beach, California, outside Los Angeles. Although she ¡°didn¡¯t live at all close to 바카라사이트 beach¡±, she recalls, she ¡°spent a lot of time 바카라사이트re anyway; I?loved 바카라사이트 ocean air in 바카라사이트 evening¡±.

She studied at 바카라사이트 California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, which she experienced as ¡°a?very, very intense place. I?had to work extremely hard, and I?learned a?lot.¡± What proved particularly valuable was that she ¡°was able to do physics research throughout my undergraduate years, so I?knew what I?was getting into before I?got to grad school¡±.

Along with her cutting-edge research, Mack has a huge following on Twitter and enjoys engaging with a wide, non-specialist audience. So how does outreach enrich her work in a highly technical field?

¡°I work in cosmology, with a strong connection to particle physics,¡± she replies, ¡°so 바카라사이트 problems I¡¯m working on tend to be very broad and to be best approached through making new creative connections between topics. One of 바카라사이트 things I?get out of outreach is that I?end up talking about topics far outside any kind of narrow focus, and that helps me come up with new ideas in my?work.¡±

In her new book, Mack explores 바카라사이트 ultimate in cosmic disasters. So what was it like to be thinking about that in 바카라사이트 midst of a global pandemic?

¡°I think it kind of helps, weirdly,¡± she reflects. ¡°During 바카라사이트 pandemic, we¡¯re locked away in our small spaces, being anxious about what¡¯s going on in 바카라사이트 world. Thinking about ultimate cosmic destruction takes me far away from that. It¡¯s not exactly a?cheerful topic, but it¡¯s so far removed from any day-to-day worries that 바카라사이트re¡¯s something kind of calming about that change in perspective.¡±

Mat바카라사이트w Reisz