�鶹��ý

Skip to content

Space

'Quantum spread' threat to Hawking's bet

By Anil Ananthaswamy

27 January 2010

�鶹��ý. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine. — You bet
(Image: Frederick M. Brown/Getty)

STEPHEN HAWKING is something of a gambler when it comes to physics, placing bets on everything from the action of black holes to the discovery of gravitational waves. The bad news for Hawking is that a touch of “quantum smearing” could significantly lower his chances of winning his latest wager.

In 2002, Hawking bet his University of Cambridge colleague that cosmologists would soon discover primordial gravitational waves and so verify the theory of inflation. Our universe is thought to have undergone inflation – a period of exponential expansion – a fraction…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with �鶹��ý events and special offers.

Sign up

or

Existing subscribers

More from �鶹��ý

Explore the latest news, articles and features

A once-fantastical collider could answer physics’ biggest mysteries

Physics

A once-fantastical collider could answer physics’ biggest mysteries

Features

Space

What does it mean if the universe has extra dimensions?

Comment

Fractal conceptual illustration of supersymmetry or superstrings. Supersymmetry (SUSY) is a particle physics theory that proposes a type of spacetime symmetry relating two basic classes of elementary particles: bosons, which have an integer-valued 'spin', and fermions, which have a half-integer spin. If supersymmetry is a true symmetry of nature, it would explain many mysterious features of particle physics and would help solve paradoxes such as the cosmological constant problem. There is only indirect evidence for the existence of supersymmetry, primarily in the form of evidence for gauge coupling unification. Direct confirmation would entail production of superpartners at collider experiments, such as at the Large Hadron Collider.

Space

A crisis in cosmology may mean hidden dimensions really exist

Features

The bombshell results that demand a new theory of the universe

Space

The bombshell results that demand a new theory of the universe

Features

1

Neanderthal infants were enormous compared with modern humans

2

The biggest threat to Chernobyl is no longer radiation

3

Exclusive report: Inside Chernobyl, 40 years after nuclear disaster

4

Largest ever map of universe captures 47 million galaxies and quasars

5

The man who crawls into the perilous heart of the Chernobyl reactor

6

Monkeys walk around a virtual world using only their thoughts

7

Collapse of key ocean current may release billions of tonnes of carbon

8

How to spot the Lyrid meteor shower tonight

9

How autoimmune conditions can unexpectedly drive mental illness

10

Antioxidant in mushrooms may target uterus cells to ease period pain