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Astronomers have long tried to
understand our place as tiny specs
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in the vastness of the universe.
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But there is another expanse of the
universe to explore,
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a bizarre realm
in which we are giants,
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the weird world of the very small.
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This is a journey
into the heart of matter,
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a journey down the biggest
rabbit hole in history...
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It's perfectly possible that in the
high-energy end of our data,
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right now we are occasionally making
miniature black holes.
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..a journey smaller than you can
see, smaller than an atom,
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where nothing is what it seems...
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The more fundamental things are,
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the nicer it is to look inside them.
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..into a wonderland which seems
far removed from reality...
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Gravity is leaking
into the extra dimensions.
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..down to the very smallest
structure of the universe.
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We should expect space time to be not
smooth as we presently imagine,
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but more like the foam
of a cappuccino.
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The journey
to find the smallest thing
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may take us into another
universe altogether.
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But then of course,
when you're down to this scale,
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you may have the whole
universe in your hand.
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And at the bottom
of the rabbit hole,
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we may find that our universe
is just one of many.
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On top of an extinct volcano
in the Canary Islands
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a strange telescope called
MAGIC stands guard.
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It's on a ten-second stand-by
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to respond to the most violent
explosions in the cosmos.
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With its laser-aligned panels,
it is detecting the fallout
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from cosmic rays that have travelled
half way across the universe.
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And it's helping physicists answer
an eternal question.
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Well, at the end of the day, the
question comes up, why do we exist,
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and not only we as mankind,
but why does this planet exist,
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the solar system, the universe?
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If you want to know why the universe
exists, you need to look,
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not to the very big,
but to the very small.
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And it turns out there need to be a
very small number of parameters
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very finely adjusted for the universe
to be as it is
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and for us to sit in this universe,
to be able to observe it.
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So I think this tells
why it's important to understand
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how the laws of nature work.
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And the strangest thing about MAGIC,
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is that it's not really
a telescope at all.
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It's the eyepiece of the
biggest microscope in the world.
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It's just one of the incredible
tools scientists have developed
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in their ongoing search for the
smallest thing in the universe.
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Look at that!
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The nucleus and the electrons going
around the atom.
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The exploration of the most distant,
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unreachable territory
in our universe is challenging
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the minds
of our greatest scientists.
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Very nice. This is very complex,
very complicated.
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Am I getting there? Aargh!
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As you look smaller and smaller,
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no-one knows if there
will ever be an end.
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Well, with me you'll see the more
determination to find the next layer.
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I'm going to need
a bigger collider soon.
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So we split, even split the nucleus.
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The hunt for the smallest thing
in the universe
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is challenging our understanding
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of the very nature
of space and time.
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Yes. This is it.
This is the smallest piece.
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That is the smallest thing, isn't
it?
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Nice analogy!
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The search for the smallest building
blocks of the universe
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is one of the oldest in science.
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For almost 1,000 years, this
medieval cathedral has looked over
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the streets of Aachen in Germany,
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an enduring monument
of stone and glass.
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But if you look really,
really closely,
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all is not what it seems.
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Professor Joachim Mayer is a man
with a unique view on the world.
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He sees the bizarre changes
that come about
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when you view the world in terms
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of the building blocks of stuff -
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atoms.
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Where you or I might see red,
he sees gold.
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There are always
two parts of your brain.
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If you look, if you come in as a
human being
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but as a scientist as well,
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you are stunned by what people have
built in these medieval times.
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And then you ask yourself
what kind of materials did they use?
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If you look for example at these
glass windows, it's very well known
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that actually nanotechnology is used
in some of the colours, for example
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gold nanoparticles actually, produce
the most durable red colour
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which can be produced.
And it's still a miracle to us
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how in these ancient times,
you know, the people found out
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that this is the most efficient way
to produce a red colour.
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The red is just an illusion caused
by the massive difference in scale
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between the tiny clumps of gold
atoms and us -
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the giants who see red.
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It's one of the reasons
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scientists are obsessed with
reaching the smallest scales.
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Things don't just get smaller,
they change.
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Scientists have thought
for a long time
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what are the smallest building blocks
of our matter,
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and you can see
beautiful matter around us.
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But just how small are these
building blocks?
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If we start on the
familiar scale of a human
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and zoom in ten times closer,
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we get to the size of a face.
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Magnify by ten once more, and we are
looking at the iris of an eye.
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100 times closer
and we can see a human hair,
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magnified 10,000 times.
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Microscopes have unveiled a world
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smaller than the wavelength
of light.
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But the ability to see individual
atoms has, until recently,
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been a dream.
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As microscopes have got
bigger and more powerful,
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they have allowed us
to peer ever smaller.
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It was the ancient Greeks who first
dreamed up the idea of atoms.
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100 years ago,
scientists proved they exist.
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But it's only in the last ten years
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that we've actually
been able to see them.
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And now, behind these doors,
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Joachim Mayer has a machine that
gives us the best possible view.
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MUSIC: "Also Sprach Zarathustra"
by Richard Strauss
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It looks like a giant coffee maker!
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So this is our new PICO instrument,
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which has been installed
about a year ago.
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And with its special new corrector
for the chromatic aberration,
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is really a very unique machine which
really offers us new possibilities.
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I think with its new capabilities,
we consider it
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as the best electron microscope
in the world.
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Being the best electron microscope
in the world,
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PICO is very sensitive
to its surroundings.
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Even a person's body heat
would disturb it,
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so PICO has to be operated remotely.
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And, safely isolated from humans,
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PICO is able to unveil the secret
world of the very small.
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We start our investigations at a
very small magnification,
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which is equivalent
to the highest magnification,
which you can actually reach
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with a light microscope.
At this magnification,
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the diameter of a human hair would be
about that size.
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And now we can in magnification
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go at least a factor of 1,000 higher.
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And now we start
to see the structure,
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actually these black dots are
individual gold nanoparticles.
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And now you can see
the individual atoms
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as they appear
in this individual nanoparticle.
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So we see individual atoms
aligned in the structure.
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It's hard to imagine just how small
these dots of matter really are.
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But consider
that each of us contains
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about seven billion,
billion, billion atoms.
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That's more than the number of stars
in the entire universe.
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PICO is, quite simply, the most
powerful microscope in the world.
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After magnifying things a
billion times, we can actually see
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the individual atoms that make up
everything in the universe.
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This is the smallest thing
we can see.
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It may well be the smallest thing
we'll ever be able to see.
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These atoms look reassuringly like
what you'd expect -
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solid round balls of stuff.
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But this is merely an illusion.
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If you want to find out what an atom
really looks like,
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you need a whole new way of looking.
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Professor Andy Parker
is trying to find things
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smaller than anyone has ever found.
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Well, the way to look inside an atom
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is to fire something at it
very fast,
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and if you hit it hard enough it you
can break it into little bits.
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He's using the most expensive
experiment
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in the history of physics,
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one he helped design.
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At 17 miles long, and buried
100 metres underground,
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it is the biggest, and most famous
particle accelerator in the world -
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the Large Hadron Collider.
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The ring goes right over behind
the apartment blocks there,
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and then it goes five miles
in that direction,
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roughly to the horizon,
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it comes round under the base of the
mountains to here,
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and it sweeps back round,
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past those buildings there
and back to point one.
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But once you start looking inside an
atom, nothing is what it seems.
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People always imagine atoms
as billiard balls,
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they've seen pictures of atoms
as billiard balls
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or with a little electron going
round quite a big nucleus,
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and this is
a completely false picture.
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If you blew up an atom to the size of
the Large Hadron Collider,
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so it would be five miles
in that direction...
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..all around there on
that piece of landscape...
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..then the nucleus would be
about ten centimetres across,
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about the size of this tennis ball.
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So all the mass, all
the weight of the atom
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is condensed into
this tiny little nucleus,
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and the whole space around it is
empty, apart from these few electrons
buzzing around.
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The illusion of solidity
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comes from the fuzzy cloud
of charged electrons.
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But on their own,
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they weigh virtually nothing
and occupy no space.
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You need to go
a 100,000 times smaller
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to get to the nucleus - a fizzing
ball of protons and neutrons.
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The challenge here at the LHC,
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is to look inside the protons
by smashing them to pieces.
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It's brute force
and ignorance really.
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You are taking two things,
which are very, very small,
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you don't really know what's inside
them to start with,
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and you hit them together
as hard as you can
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and they smash into tiny fragments
and since you really don't know
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what the elaborate structure is
inside, it's kind of like
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colliding two clocks together
and then sweeping up the mess
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that you get and trying to
figure out how the clock works.
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And you can't do it in a subtle way.
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There's no screwdriver
to take a proton to bits
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and there's no plan of what's inside
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so you have to hit them very hard,
then the fragments come flying out
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and from that we can try
and work out,
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how all the cogs and gearwheels fit
back together to make a proton.
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The debris
from the proton collisions
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is detected by a vast
machine called ATLAS.
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Everything interesting happens
at the centre,
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that's where the particles collide.
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This engineering mock-up shows just
one section of the real machine.
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And the sensitive instrument at its
very heart is the part made by Andy.
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So I'm in the middle
of the mock-up of ATLAS,
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and this is where
all the action happens.
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The beams would come in from both
ends through the centre here.
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This would of course be filled
with detectors, but the beam pipe
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would run right through the centre
and the particles, which are
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travelling in vacuum at almost the
speed of light, collide head on
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just here, and do their stuff and
then all the debris comes flying out
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and it flies
through the detector layers...
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..and that's the debris that we use
to reconstruct the collision
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that happens right here
in the middle.
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And what you find when you smash
a proton to pieces,
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is that it too is
largely empty space.
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It is made of three tiny fundamental
particles called quarks.
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But to reach the size
of a quark we have to zoom in
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1,000 times smaller.
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Some of the earliest machines used
to probe the atom
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were bubble chambers, that produced
exquisite pictures
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of the heart of matter.
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What you see here is a sudden
explosion of particles from nowhere
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in the liquid of the bubble chamber
and that is because
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a neutrino has hit an atomic nucleus
there and smashed it to pieces,
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and we see the particles flying off.
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And that's anti-matter.
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That's matter and anti-matter being
created from pure energy.
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Very, very beautiful image.
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So this is the map or a part of the
map, of what nature can do.
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00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,480
So it's part
of the map of the universe.
241
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:43,040
But now, after 80 years of smashing,
the map is complete.
242
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,560
In the summer of 2012
scientists at the LHC,
243
00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:51,600
announced the discovery of the
famous Higgs particle.
244
00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,880
It's the final piece of what's
called the Standard Model -
245
00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,080
a set of 17 fundamental particles
246
00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,240
including quarks and electrons
247
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:04,520
that make up everything we know.
248
00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:15,360
But for physicists like Andy
249
00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:18,560
it's not the end of the story.
250
00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:20,320
Everyone's heard about the Higgs
251
00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:24,120
but the story goes much beyond that.
252
00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:27,320
In fact my main interest
is beyond the Higgs.
253
00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:34,120
Like any great explorer,
Andy is not satisfied
254
00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:36,080
that this is the end of the journey.
255
00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:39,760
There may be plenty more
to discover.
256
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,520
OK so we're in the ATLAS
main control room,
257
00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:47,160
where the experiment crew,
shift crew here
are sitting taking data today.
258
00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:49,560
This is live data
coming from the detector -
259
00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:51,280
collisions that are happening now.
260
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,360
Collisions are happening
40 million times every second.
261
00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,840
And as the energy
of the collisions increases,
262
00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:03,320
Andy will be able to look
on smaller and smaller scales,
263
00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:08,240
even delving inside the so-called
fundamental particles.
264
00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:12,800
Fundamental particles is a myth,
I think.
265
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:14,040
It looks at the moment
266
00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,000
as if quarks and electrons
are point-like particles.
267
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,760
We can't see any size to them
but that is just because
268
00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:22,880
we haven't been able to measure very
short distances around them.
269
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,120
What I'd like to see
is what's going on inside them.
270
00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:28,080
So we're looking
for the innards of the quarks
271
00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,080
by smashing them together
as hard as we can.
272
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,480
In the search for the smallest piece
of the universe,
273
00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:44,320
part of the problem
may be knowing when to stop.
274
00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,000
Each new layer
reveals great secrets.
275
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,040
But does this search have an end?
276
00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:56,280
Or within every small thing,
277
00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:57,840
is there another...
278
00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:00,920
..and another?
279
00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,320
Perhaps the best known of all the
fundamental particles
280
00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,120
is the electron.
281
00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,000
It underpins
much of our modern lives,
282
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,720
from computers to street lights
to televisions.
283
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:36,560
But for theoretical physicist
professor Jeroen van den Brink,
284
00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:40,360
the electron might not be as
fundamental as we think.
285
00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:43,120
The more fundamental things are,
286
00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:45,920
the nicer it is to look inside them.
287
00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:52,240
Physics it's always that
something appears to be fundamental,
288
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:55,640
and just because we believe it's
fundamental we take the next step
289
00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,400
and try to look what's inside it.
290
00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:15,960
Jeroen's idea was that, rather than
smashing electrons into pieces,
291
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:20,680
he could find a different way
to split its properties...
292
00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:26,720
the very properties
that make it so useful.
293
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:31,760
So the electron has three
fundamental properties,
294
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:37,280
charge, spin and orbital
and theoretically
295
00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:43,560
it's definitely possible to split
those three parts of the electron.
296
00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:46,160
If you do the mathematics
297
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:47,720
there is no problem in doing that.
298
00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,560
If you do the quantum mechanics,
it's completely allowed.
299
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,720
So in principle
you can split the electron,
300
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:56,160
at least you can do it on paper.
301
00:21:56,160 --> 00:22:01,800
If you want to want to do it in
practice, you need this...
302
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:03,880
Watch your head here.
303
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:06,520
..the Swiss Light Source,
304
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,440
a million watt light bulb.
305
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,840
This is an in vacuum undulator.
306
00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:17,640
The Swiss Light Source is in fact
the Swiss X-ray Source.
307
00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:19,800
We have digital BPM systems.
308
00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:24,200
Inside the ring, under the care of
Dr Andreas Ludeke,
309
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:28,320
a beam of electrons creates the
ultimate X-ray laser.
310
00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:31,000
This is a superconducting cavity.
311
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:35,320
It's one of the most powerful,
highly focused, narrow X-ray beams
312
00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:37,560
in the world.
313
00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,640
We have a high intense magnetic
field in the middle.
314
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:46,000
The perfect tool for probing down
to the size of an electron.
315
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,400
Jeroen's partner
in electron splitting,
316
00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:51,320
the man who devised
and runs the experiment,
317
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,240
is Dr Thorsten Schmitt.
318
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,320
So here we are
in the so-called optical hutch,
319
00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:02,000
where all the crucial
optical elements -
320
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:07,880
mirrors which are optimized for
X-rays and which are used
321
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:11,520
for shaping the beam quality
are sitting.
322
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:13,520
I can see it here. Yeah.
323
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:20,240
So when I come here I go to the
equipment, I look at it,
324
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:26,080
I admire it and then I go back
and sit behind a computer
325
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:30,760
or take my pen and paper
and start to do the mathematics.
326
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:35,080
I do not really understand what the
stuff out here is exactly doing
327
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:40,080
and I believe, I'm sure Thorsten does
and they do the experiments.
328
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:50,120
We have X-rays, which are coming in
and hit a sample,
329
00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:53,520
and we will then in the end analyse
the X-rays, which are re-emitted
330
00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:57,520
or scattered off from the sample.
331
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:04,640
When the X-ray beam strikes,
332
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:08,360
the electrons split into new
quasi-particles.
333
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:15,200
These particles, called spinons,
orbitons and holons,
334
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,320
carry the properties
of the electron,
335
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,960
and can travel off
in different directions.
336
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,520
This is actually the picture that
tells the whole story.
337
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:31,320
The most important part is here,
this red part,
338
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,800
and what's important
is that it's wavy.
339
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,680
And this waviness tells us that what
happened in this experiment
340
00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:42,000
is that the electron was
split into spinons and orbitons.
341
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,640
So this is the picture
342
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,720
that is the experimental proof
that the electron has been split.
343
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:54,560
Are you proud
of that picture?
344
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:57,320
I'm very proud of the picture.
345
00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:07,320
So the electron can be split into
these three different particles,
346
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:12,360
but, really, what can you do with
those particles when you have them?
347
00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:14,440
I don't have a good answer to that.
348
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:19,280
It's just cool to make these,
make this electron that is so
349
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:23,360
fundamental, that's so part...
That's the first fundamental particle
350
00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:27,400
that was discovered, to see it split
into its three different parts.
351
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,280
That's what I like
about the experiment.
352
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:42,160
The electron has, in one sense,
been split in three.
353
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,520
But it's a measure of just
how weird things are down here
354
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:50,120
that it's still considered
to be fundamental.
355
00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:52,000
Down at this scale,
356
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:55,640
we just have to accept that
the rules become deeply strange.
357
00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:59,080
And if we reach down even further,
358
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,840
we may have to throw out
the rule book altogether.
359
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:17,400
Back at the LHC,
far beyond the Higgs,
360
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,240
smaller than the innards of a quark,
Andy Parker believes ATLAS
361
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:26,920
could reveal something that, at this
tiny scale, shouldn't really exist.
362
00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:31,800
So this great big building here
is at the top of the ATLAS pit.
363
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:33,600
100 metres straight down is the
detector,
364
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:35,320
which is operating at the moment,
365
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,600
so we're not allowed in
the building for safety reasons.
366
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:42,280
He is hoping to make one of the most
fearsome objects in the universe -
367
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:44,440
a black hole...
368
00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:48,120
Si je produis des problemes pour
Atlas, je suis "eeeek"!
369
00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:51,880
..a place where gravity is
so vastly strong that nothing -
370
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,320
not even light - can escape.
371
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:58,600
Problem is, if they open it,
that could set off the pit alarms.
372
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,560
It takes the entire mass
of an imploding star,
373
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,480
condensed into the space
of a small town,
374
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:13,240
to create the extreme
gravitational pull of a black hole.
375
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:19,720
They are normally vast,
and live at the centre of galaxies.
376
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:24,360
And yet Andy Parker is trying
conjure a micro black hole
377
00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:29,080
right here at CERN,
using just a couple of protons.
378
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,320
It's perfectly possible that
in the high-energy end of our data
379
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,360
right now we are occasionally
making miniature black holes.
380
00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,880
The protons are colliding below us,
they come together,
381
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:44,000
they have a lot of energy in them.
And gravity cares about energy.
382
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,560
It's the same as mass as far
as gravity is concerned.
383
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:48,560
So if you put a lot
of energy in a small space,
384
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:50,200
as we're doing right now,
385
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,000
then you could potentially form
a quantum-sized black hole.
386
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:54,640
A very, very tiny black hole.
387
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:56,840
It wouldn't be stable,
it wouldn't last a long time
388
00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,760
and eat the planet, it would
disappear in a puff of radiation,
389
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,000
and we would see that puff
of radiation in our detector.
390
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:10,720
The only way it would be possible
to make these micro black holes,
391
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:14,600
at least 20,000 times
smaller than a proton,
392
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:19,480
is if, on the level of the really,
really small, we discover
393
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:24,080
that gravity is vastly stronger
than it seems in everyday life.
394
00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:31,480
And that would change our view
of the familiar world,
395
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,880
and challenge something
we all take for granted -
396
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,120
that we live in a world
of three-dimensional space.
397
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:42,080
So this seems to be a perfectly
ordinary three-dimensional world.
398
00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:43,560
There are three ways I can go.
399
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,880
I can go forwards and backwards,
side to side, up and down.
400
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,520
There can't be anything much more
than that, can there?
401
00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,680
So if I want to go up the tower,
for example, over there,
402
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:56,040
I go sideways,
I go forwards and I go up.
403
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,040
Seems to be the only possibilities.
404
00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:03,720
But not necessarily.
405
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,280
If we could conjure up
an extra dimension,
406
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:13,280
it could explain how you get super
gravity at the tiny scale.
407
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,560
Because, although gravity seems
strong in our everyday lives,
408
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:20,200
it's actually pretty feeble.
409
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:32,800
Gravity is a puzzle.
410
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:35,200
It's very, very much weaker
than the other forces -
411
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:38,320
actually a million, million, million
times weaker than the other forces.
412
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:40,000
It feels strong to us - right here,
413
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,200
I'm feeling uncomfortable about
gravity pulling me over the edge.
414
00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,120
But that's because there's a whole
planet there pulling me downwards.
415
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,520
The other forces that are hard
at work holding the world together,
416
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,360
including the electromagnetic force,
417
00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,560
are all vastly stronger
than gravity.
418
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:04,360
So here's a little magnet.
419
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,120
And this key, being held down
420
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:12,000
by all the atoms in the entire
planet pulling towards the centre.
421
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,000
And this feeble little
magnet can overcome
422
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,960
the gravity of the whole planet
quite easily.
423
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,720
Now, why is gravity so weak?
424
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,560
Well, one possible explanation
is that it's not actually weak.
425
00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:25,200
It's just as strong
as the other forces,
426
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:26,760
but we're missing part of it,
427
00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:29,880
and gravity is leaking
into the extra dimensions,
428
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,080
and so when we calculate
the strength of gravity,
429
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:33,760
we're only seeing
the piece that's in 3D.
430
00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:40,600
Most of our gravity could be leaking
off into the fourth dimension.
431
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,640
All we get is the leftovers.
432
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,960
This would account
for the feebleness of gravity,
433
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,280
but where could this fourth
dimension be hiding?
434
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,160
Well, if there is an
extra dimension, it's everywhere.
435
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:56,040
The question is, why can't we see it?
436
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,360
All the others we can go off to
infinity along these directions
437
00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:06,520
but maybe the reason we can't see
the fourth dimension is that
438
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:08,120
it's actually curled up.
439
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,480
If you went into it,
you'd go round in a little circle
440
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:13,560
and come back on yourself, just like
if you travelled on the surface
441
00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:16,280
of the Earth far enough, you'd come
back to where you started.
442
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,360
But this would be on a very,
very small scale.
443
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:24,280
Hiding an extra dimension
may sound tricky,
444
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:26,920
but it's all a matter of scale.
445
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:30,200
It's a very strange concept,
446
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,640
but you can see it for people
who live in a flat world.
447
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:36,480
If we look down on the people
down below, then they're
448
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:39,160
moving around on a surface, which
is pretty much flat, and looked at
449
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,080
from this large distance up,
it just looks completely flat
450
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,800
and they move about, they cannot go
up and down because they can't fly.
451
00:31:56,240 --> 00:32:02,360
From a great height, the tiny people
seem to live in two dimensions.
452
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,560
But if we zoom into the same
scale as the ant people,
453
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,760
you realise they can actually
move up and down as well.
454
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,080
Similarly, if we could get down
to a small enough scale,
455
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:21,280
we might find there is a fourth
dimension curled up.
456
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,800
It may sound an outlandish theory,
457
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:29,680
but if Andy spots his baby black
holes, all this would be true.
458
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:33,920
If we did see evidence of black
holes at the LHC, that would be
459
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,240
absolutely amazing because it
tells us that everything we think
460
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:40,920
we know about gravity, general
relativity and so on, isn't right.
461
00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:43,960
Then you would have demonstrated
that the world is not
462
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:47,040
three-dimensional,
but four-dimensional or more.
463
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:49,200
And you would have made
a black hole in the lab.
464
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,560
So you get the Nobel Prize
for making a black hole in the lab,
465
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,360
you get the Nobel Prize for proving
general relativity wrong,
466
00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:55,480
and you get the Nobel Prize
467
00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,120
for demonstrating that the universe
is multi-dimensional.
468
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:00,080
I mean, how cool is that?
469
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:05,200
On our journey to find the smallest
thing in the universe,
470
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:07,880
things have indeed become
deeply strange.
471
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:12,560
We have dived down a rabbit hole
into a bizarre wonderland
472
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:17,240
where extra dimensions may lie
curled and hidden from our view.
473
00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:21,920
But that's just
the beginning of the weirdness.
474
00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:25,600
As we look even smaller,
beyond even the reach
475
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:29,040
of the Large Hadron Collider,
we have to rely on theory alone.
476
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:52,840
Professor Michael Green
is a founding father
477
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,600
of one of the strangest
theories in physics.
478
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:04,080
A theory that tells us that
the universe is made of strings.
479
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:13,200
String theory
starts off simply enough,
480
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:16,520
but it leads to some
mind-boggling conclusions.
481
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,600
The fundamental particles,
instead of being point-like objects
482
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:26,280
are now thought of
as being string-like objects.
483
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:32,040
Instead of the 17 particles
in the standard model,
484
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,640
everything is made
from a single object -
485
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:38,240
an incredibly tiny loop of string.
486
00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:43,160
The characteristic feature
of a string, which makes it
487
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:46,000
different from a point
is that it can vibrate
488
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:50,080
and the different modes of vibration,
the different notes, if you like,
489
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,320
are seen as different
kinds of particles.
490
00:34:55,240 --> 00:34:57,160
So there's this very appealing,
491
00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:01,040
almost poetic way in which string
theory describes all the particles
492
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:03,880
in terms of different notes
on a string.
493
00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,480
It's like the music
of the spheres almost.
494
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,120
It's a beautifully neat idea.
495
00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:18,080
Each note from the vibrating string
produces a different particle.
496
00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:23,760
There are, however,
one or two problems.
497
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:28,560
These strings are so small
498
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:33,680
that no-one has ever seen
anything remotely stringy.
499
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:40,000
Depending on one's viewpoint,
the size of these strings
500
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,640
can vary an awful lot,
501
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,520
from scales, which are sort of
502
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,560
a millionth of a millionth
of the size of a nucleus,
503
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:50,760
to scales, which are
much, much smaller than that.
504
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:56,720
If string theory
turned out to be true,
505
00:35:56,720 --> 00:36:00,360
then a string would be the
smallest thing in the universe.
506
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,600
The trouble is, once we get this
small, the whole notion of small
507
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,280
and big may get turned
completely upside down.
508
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:13,560
Supposing these are quarks and
electrons, photons, the particles
509
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:19,480
that constitute the standard model.
Now we've got a problem because
510
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:23,280
if you believe that they're made
of something smaller, that's fine.
511
00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:25,840
You'll find something
smaller inside.
512
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,400
But if you believe in a theory
like string theory,
513
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,160
then the notion of smallness
no longer means the same.
514
00:36:32,160 --> 00:36:36,200
Ah, I haven't actually reached it.
It's even smaller than that.
515
00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:38,640
And there's an even
smaller one than that.
516
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:44,280
I have a little speck here,
so that must be the smallest thing.
517
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:47,080
But then of course when
you're down to this scale,
518
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:49,680
you may have the whole universe
in your hand,
519
00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:52,320
because the, the universe
itself started
520
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,080
from something this scale and
expanded into everything we know.
521
00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,880
So this thing, which you think is
the smallest constituent,
522
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,520
may in fact be the thing that
contains all of us.
523
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:05,840
So the notion,
the difference between...
524
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:07,360
Oops, I hadn't even got there.
525
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,240
I dropped it,
I dropped the little universe.
526
00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:15,120
The notion that this is the smallest
constituent is paradoxically
527
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:19,200
not at odds with the statement that
it may also be the whole universe.
528
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:30,920
String theory is underpinned
by some fiendishly complex maths.
529
00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:32,640
But to make it work out,
530
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:36,000
the theory invokes not just
one new dimension,
531
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,640
but says that we live
in 11 dimensional hyperspace.
532
00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:45,320
If you could describe exactly
how these extra dimensions
533
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,760
are curled up, you'd be able
to describe the exact nature
534
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:51,680
of everything in the universe.
535
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:03,200
The trouble is, there's more
than one way to curl them up.
536
00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:10,560
So the equations of string theory
537
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:14,520
have very large numbers of solutions,
a humungously large number,
538
00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:17,480
any one of which might
describe a possible universe
539
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:19,040
with its own laws of physics,
540
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:22,120
its own kinds of particles
and its own kinds of forces.
541
00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:26,560
This whole body of solutions
of string theory has been called
542
00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:28,080
the landscape string theory.
543
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,720
Each peak in the landscape
represents a different solution -
544
00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:38,520
a different possible universe.
545
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:44,680
With each one just as
likely to exist as the next.
546
00:38:46,720 --> 00:38:49,240
Most of these solutions
would describe universes
547
00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:51,360
which are completely absurd.
548
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:57,160
The typical ones would be the ones,
which came into being and either
549
00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:02,440
ceased to exist after a very, very
short time or exploded in such a way
550
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:07,640
that matter exploded apart and never
formed galaxies in the first place.
551
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:11,360
The fact that our universe
has existed for long enough
552
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:17,400
for galaxies to form and evolve and
planets to form and for life to form
553
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:23,040
and us to exist tells us that we are
living in a very untypical universe.
554
00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:30,960
If they could find the right
solution - the right one
555
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:34,400
out of 1 followed by 500 zeros,
556
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:38,160
we'd have a neat explanation
for everything in our universe.
557
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:42,880
So the fascinating thing
is the multiverse idea
558
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:45,240
has been around for some time
in astrophysics,
559
00:39:45,240 --> 00:39:48,360
but they didn't have a theoretical
way of understanding it.
560
00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:52,440
And then along came string theory
and then the two got wedded.
561
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,920
Whichever way you look -
whether up to the largest scale
562
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:06,920
or down to the very smallest,
our universe may not be alone.
563
00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:13,360
But for now, string theory
remains a theory,
564
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:15,320
with no experimental evidence
565
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:17,680
for any of its mind-boggling
predictions.
566
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:24,400
As we look down in scale,
things get increasingly cloudy.
567
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:30,600
To stand a chance of seeing strings,
we'd need a particle accelerator
568
00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:33,720
a million, billion times
bigger than the LHC.
569
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:39,360
Is this, then, the end of the line
for the explorers
570
00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:42,120
searching for the smallest
thing in the universe?
571
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:55,760
It turns out there could well be
a bottom of the rabbit hole -
572
00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:58,160
an ultimate limit of
how small we can go.
573
00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:04,640
And there may be a way to reach
this ultimate destination -
574
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,240
it's just a rather roundabout
route to get there.
575
00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:23,120
Dr Giovanni Amelino-Camelia is
a theoretical physicist,
576
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:27,360
who 12 years ago came up
with an idea that could lead us
577
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:31,440
to the ultimate destination
at the bottom of the rabbit hole.
578
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:39,320
An idea that may lead us to question
the very fabric of the universe -
579
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:43,200
the three dimensions of space and
one of time, known as space-time.
580
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:50,760
Space time to an ordinary person
is space time.
581
00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:53,200
What is space time?
There is no answer.
582
00:41:53,200 --> 00:42:00,280
To us, space time is, er... Do you
understand what I'm trying to say?
583
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,000
The challenge is that
I don't have anything to work with
584
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:07,600
because the person who listen to me
thinks know space time very well,
585
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:11,400
but then if I asked what is
space time, he would have no answer.
586
00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:15,520
Space time, they think
they know very well what it is.
587
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:18,600
"For God's sake, space time!
You know!"
588
00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:21,440
But "you know" is all they can say.
589
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:24,080
So your audience is the worst,
590
00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:28,040
because they think they know
a lot about this subject.
591
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:30,920
But then they know nothing,
completely nothing.
592
00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:36,640
You see what I'm trying to say?
It's very tricky.
593
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:42,760
If we have any notion of space-time,
it is that it is smooth.
594
00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:47,200
We can move smoothly from
one cafe to another,
595
00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:50,000
can be reasonably sure how long
a journey will take.
596
00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:58,960
But maybe not
if you get small enough.
597
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:06,360
The ultimate small destination
is known as the Planck length.
598
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:12,600
It is the theoretical limit of how
small anything can possibly be.
599
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:15,920
Some speculate that this could be
the ultimate level.
600
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:20,920
I mean, this could be where the laws
of nature are fundamentally written.
601
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:30,680
But to get to the Planck length,
you have to look a hundred,
602
00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:34,520
million, billion times
smaller than a quark.
603
00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:40,440
At this tiniest of scales,
604
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:45,240
we may find answers not just about
the smallest lump of stuff,
605
00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:48,760
but about the very nature of space
606
00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:52,040
and time in which
all the stuff sits.
607
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:02,880
What could be conceptually
more fascinating than
608
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:05,360
learning about the structure
of space time?
609
00:44:06,720 --> 00:44:11,080
But our current theories with
all their limitations suggest
610
00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:14,560
that at this Planck scale
that we're talking about,
611
00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:21,640
we should expect space time to,
to be not smooth as we imagine
612
00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:27,280
but more like, well,
more like the foam of a cappuccino
613
00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:34,440
and actually perhaps in,
in a violently dynamical way.
614
00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:42,600
The Planck length is where
the rules of the large
615
00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:45,400
and the rules of the small
collide in a heady brew
616
00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:48,560
called quantum gravity.
617
00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:57,120
It's a seething tempest of space and
time known as space-time foam, where
618
00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:03,000
the very fabric of space and time
twist and turn in every direction.
619
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:08,400
It is where the two great pillars
of modern physics,
620
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:11,800
general relativity
and quantum mechanics,
621
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:13,960
may finally be reconciled.
622
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:19,280
If we could understand
what is happening down here,
623
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:22,160
we could end up with
a theory of everything.
624
00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:29,360
We are really far,
far away from, from this realm,
625
00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:36,560
and yet some of the most
conceptually striking questions
626
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:40,280
about what, how is the universe made,
627
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:45,640
what are its basic rules, appear to
reside in this distant scale.
628
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:51,600
So it's... At one side,
we have this feeling of not having
629
00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:57,120
any access to it, and yet
it appears to be the place where
630
00:45:57,120 --> 00:46:02,360
most of the answers
we are seeking are somehow hidden.
631
00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:09,800
All roads in physics lead to
the Planck length.
632
00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:11,760
But until recently,
633
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:17,600
no-one had a clue how we would
ever know anything about it.
634
00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:20,920
It was a problem Giovanni
was determined to solve,
635
00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:23,880
seeking inspiration and reassurance
in the cafes of Rome.
636
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:30,040
I never understood what
triggers an idea.
637
00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:34,720
And it's kind of reassuring to be
reminded that all this is
638
00:46:34,720 --> 00:46:37,360
all about small - important,
conceptually important,
639
00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:40,600
but small - I'm still here,
the Coliseum is still there.
640
00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:45,560
When you're stuck chasing
a certain answer,
641
00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:50,160
you often discover that all it took
to find the answer
642
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:53,800
was to look at the same problem
from a different angle.
643
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:55,200
MOBILE PHONE RINGS
644
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:57,040
From the office.
645
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:00,240
Pronto.
646
00:47:00,240 --> 00:47:03,720
12 years ago,
Giovanni had a flash of inspiration
647
00:47:03,720 --> 00:47:06,360
that we could reach the unreachable.
648
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:13,040
Over the last decade or so,
what we started to figure out is
649
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:17,760
that it is possible to get indirect
information on the Planck scale.
650
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:23,560
We cannot build a microscope
that show us, shows us
651
00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:27,120
the structure of space time
at the Planck scale,
652
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:30,960
but we can get indirect evidence
about the Planck scale
653
00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:34,000
structure of space time is made.
654
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:37,880
Any explorer will tell you that
if the way ahead is blocked,
655
00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:41,280
you have to set off
in a new direction.
656
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:48,520
Instead of trying to look directly
down at the smallest scale,
657
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:53,880
the idea is to look up at the very
biggest scale possible -
658
00:47:53,880 --> 00:47:57,280
the entire universe.
659
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:10,760
It's an idea that is now reality...
660
00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:17,160
..and a trick that is now being
performed by the MAGIC telescope.
661
00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:28,400
The idea is to use the vastness
of the universe
662
00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:30,680
as a giant magnifying glass.
663
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:48,760
Dr Robert Wagner is using this
unique instrument to peer
664
00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:52,600
at some of the most distant and
cataclysmic events in the universe.
665
00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:58,120
Under good conditions,
as we have them right now,
666
00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:01,120
we record 200 gamma ray
or cosmic ray showers per second.
667
00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:09,040
The Earth is constantly being
bombard by high-energy cosmic rays,
668
00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:12,120
gamma rays,
the most energetic form of light.
669
00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:18,200
But Robert is looking for
the most extreme of these -
670
00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:22,640
gamma ray bursts from colliding
neutron stars or exploding
671
00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:25,080
black holes in distant galaxies.
672
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:30,920
Gamma ray bursts are very violent
events in the universe
673
00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:36,080
and one key characteristic of them
is that we cannot predict them.
674
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:39,360
So they can take place at any
time at any place on the sky.
675
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:42,400
We get the information
from satellite experiments.
676
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:45,640
This information is transmitted
in an automatic way down here,
677
00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:49,480
it takes about ten seconds,
and then the telescopes will fully
678
00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:52,120
automatically go to those
gamma ray burst locations.
679
00:49:56,280 --> 00:49:58,640
With these light weight telescopes
680
00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:03,080
we're able to move to any point in
the sky within only 20 seconds.
681
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:13,160
Those bursts last anything between
one and 1,000 seconds.
682
00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:15,480
Most of the bursts
are really short lived.
683
00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:19,920
So it's of great essence to be
there as fast as possible.
684
00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:25,840
Catching these violent
but fleeting events
685
00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:28,440
takes many nights
of patient observing.
686
00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:38,680
Well, this is a place I go right
after the observations,
687
00:50:38,680 --> 00:50:43,040
and this of course gives
a quite different feeling
688
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:45,200
from looking at screens.
689
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:48,200
You look at the real sky
and actually the stuff
690
00:50:48,200 --> 00:50:51,240
we are observing and hoping
to detect is somewhere up there.
691
00:50:55,400 --> 00:51:00,600
Those black holes and galaxies,
they are so far very away,
692
00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:04,320
but at the same time,
when you come here,
693
00:51:04,320 --> 00:51:08,480
you realise they are real because,
you know, all the photons
694
00:51:08,480 --> 00:51:11,520
which hit my eye right now
from those stars, they are real.
695
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:19,280
Although Robert spends
his nights looking out
696
00:51:19,280 --> 00:51:24,640
into the far reaches of the cosmos,
he is actually trying to find out
697
00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:27,600
how the universe works
on the very smallest scale.
698
00:51:31,240 --> 00:51:33,640
Things up there are
so very, very far away.
699
00:51:35,080 --> 00:51:39,640
The farthest galaxy we are looking
at is shining light at the time
700
00:51:39,640 --> 00:51:41,840
when the universe
was just half its age,
701
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:45,480
it takes the light 7 billion years
to get to here.
702
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:48,320
So that's a distance
which, personally,
703
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:53,200
I cannot imagine, myself, right?
It's a very abstract number.
704
00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:56,440
At the same time, the scales we are
looking at if we want to get to
705
00:51:56,440 --> 00:52:01,760
the shortest scales are as similar
small as this distance is large.
706
00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:06,280
So it's really hard to imagine
these things on scales,
707
00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:08,040
which we see here on Earth.
708
00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:15,760
But Robert's not really interested
in the explosions themselves.
709
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:21,240
They act as the biggest particle
accelerator in the universe,
710
00:52:21,240 --> 00:52:24,360
way more powerful than anything
we could ever achieve here on Earth.
711
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:29,880
He is interested in
what happens to the particles,
712
00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:33,640
in this case, photons,
while they travel towards us
713
00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:35,800
on their 7-billion year journey
714
00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:39,880
through what seems like
smooth, empty space.
715
00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:46,200
But any distortions in the structure
of space-time at the Planck scale
716
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:50,680
would affect photons of different
energies in different ways.
717
00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:07,400
Essentially, it's quite comparable
to cars driving on a road.
718
00:53:08,560 --> 00:53:12,200
A big car will not feel
the fine structure of the road,
719
00:53:12,200 --> 00:53:16,680
it will just roll along and will be,
you know, just as fast as normal.
720
00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:19,520
Whereas a small car,
like a model car,
721
00:53:19,520 --> 00:53:24,400
will feel every tiny ripple
in the structure of the street.
722
00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:38,240
The large car would be
the low-energy photon,
723
00:53:38,240 --> 00:53:41,440
because there is nearly no
interaction with the structure
724
00:53:41,440 --> 00:53:43,320
or the ripples in the road.
725
00:53:43,320 --> 00:53:45,880
Whereas the small car would be
the high-energy photon,
726
00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:50,200
because it's smaller, there are more
interactions with the road,
727
00:53:50,200 --> 00:53:52,320
and this makes
the photon travel slower.
728
00:53:57,240 --> 00:53:59,520
The difference in speed is tiny.
729
00:53:59,520 --> 00:54:03,120
But the length of the journey,
half way across the universe,
730
00:54:03,120 --> 00:54:07,840
could magnify the effect into
something we might be able to see.
731
00:54:14,160 --> 00:54:17,600
We just let those photons travel
along the universe,
732
00:54:17,600 --> 00:54:19,960
and of course they travel
for billions of light years,
733
00:54:19,960 --> 00:54:25,160
and only that long travel time makes
this tiny effect visible to us,
734
00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:28,560
which is to say,
after such long travel,
735
00:54:28,560 --> 00:54:32,200
we expect a few seconds' delay
of photons of different energies,
736
00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:35,640
and of course this is a delay
which can easily be measured
737
00:54:35,640 --> 00:54:36,880
with the MAGIC telescopes.
738
00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:50,120
In 2005, just a few months
after switching on the telescopes,
739
00:54:50,120 --> 00:54:55,000
a gamma ray outburst from an
active galactic nucleus tickled
740
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:59,600
the MAGIC mirrors, giving Robert
his first tantalising glimpse
741
00:54:59,600 --> 00:55:02,720
down to the smallest place
in the universe.
742
00:55:02,720 --> 00:55:07,000
It was the first time ever
we observed such an effect,
743
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:10,520
or, to put it in cautious words,
the hint of such an effect.
744
00:55:10,520 --> 00:55:12,440
So clearly we were
absolutely stunned.
745
00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:21,080
Soon, we realised there is something
in this data, which is extraordinary.
746
00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:26,520
As soon as we dig deeper
and deeper in the data,
747
00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:31,960
it became apparent that photons
of different energies may have
748
00:55:31,960 --> 00:55:33,960
different arrival times
at the instrument.
749
00:55:40,360 --> 00:55:44,200
Those photons had to travel
billions of light years.
750
00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:48,560
The effect was on the order
of seconds, maybe five seconds.
751
00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:53,280
The Planck length is so small
752
00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:56,320
that after a race
of seven billion years,
753
00:55:56,320 --> 00:56:01,400
the photons finished with
a gap of just five seconds.
754
00:56:01,400 --> 00:56:04,040
There are two possibilities here.
755
00:56:04,040 --> 00:56:08,400
The first is that the photons
rather inexplicably set off
756
00:56:08,400 --> 00:56:10,240
five seconds apart.
757
00:56:10,240 --> 00:56:14,000
The other explanation
is more revolutionary.
758
00:56:14,000 --> 00:56:18,400
This five-second delay could be our
first glimpse of the smallest thing
759
00:56:18,400 --> 00:56:24,000
in the universe, the first evidence
of a lumpiness in space-time.
760
00:56:25,200 --> 00:56:29,600
If true, it would shatter one
of the most basic rules of physics.
761
00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:35,960
To put it in simple terms,
the speed of light is not constant.
762
00:56:35,960 --> 00:56:38,920
It is dependent
on the energy of the photon.
763
00:56:44,440 --> 00:56:46,400
And that's revolutionary
764
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:48,800
because it's one of the
fundamental laws of physics.
765
00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:51,560
Einstein predicted
speed of light is a constant,
766
00:56:51,560 --> 00:56:53,840
no matter what you do,
no matter where you are.
767
00:56:53,840 --> 00:56:55,800
Under no circumstances
should there be
768
00:56:55,800 --> 00:56:58,400
a difference in the speed of light.
769
00:57:01,200 --> 00:57:05,520
The conclusion from our measurements
that this is not the case
770
00:57:05,520 --> 00:57:08,320
would mean quite
a revolution of physics.
771
00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:20,520
The MAGIC observations provide
a tantalising glimpse
772
00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:23,520
of what awaits us at
the smallest structures of space.
773
00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:29,200
But to get there,
774
00:57:29,200 --> 00:57:32,920
we've had to harness the entire
expanse of the universe.
775
00:57:39,360 --> 00:57:42,760
The journey to the very small is
one of the most epic in science.
776
00:57:45,440 --> 00:57:48,600
It takes us beyond
the limits of what we can see...
777
00:57:50,840 --> 00:57:53,120
..inside fundamental particles,
778
00:57:53,120 --> 00:57:56,160
which may not be
so fundamental after all...
779
00:57:57,400 --> 00:58:01,640
..through a wonderland of extra
dimensions and multiple universes...
780
00:58:04,320 --> 00:58:06,960
..down to the smallest
place in the universe,
781
00:58:06,960 --> 00:58:10,320
a place that could
change the face of physics.
782
00:58:14,520 --> 00:58:19,240
And surely we expect a revolution
in the laws of physics not
783
00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:23,040
smaller than the one that took us
from Newton's laws
784
00:58:23,040 --> 00:58:26,000
to quantum mechanics a century ago.
785
00:58:43,640 --> 00:58:47,120
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