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cover of episode Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill

Singularities in Space-Time Prove Hard to Kill

2025/6/10
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Quanta Science Podcast

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C
Charlie Wood
S
Samir Patel
Topics
Samir Patel: 广义相对论和量子力学是物理学中两个最先进的理论,但它们在数学上并不一致。广义相对论描述了引力如何工作,即质量弯曲时空,而量子力学解释了原子和亚原子粒子的行为。为了调和这两个理论,我们需要量子引力理论,这可能需要打破爱因斯坦的引力理论,并研究物质消失和时间停止的地方。量子引力是一个经常出现在物理故事中的问题,因为很多人仍在试图解决它。 Charlie Wood: 广义相对论描述了我们所知的时空,量子理论描述了我们所知的物质。我们不清楚量子物质在时空中会发生什么,这导致了一些盲点。在宇宙的开端和黑洞深处,我们的理论会失效,无法告诉我们发生了什么。当我说“glitches”时,我的意思是数学框架给出了无限的答案。我们可以用水滴的例子来理解“glitches”。流体动力学中水滴无限细的时刻是一个奇点,分子描述可以解决这个问题。如果宇宙中测量到无限大的东西,这意味着我们的理解是错误的,需要一个新的框架。

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Chapters
This chapter explores the conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics, two successful but incompatible theories of physics. It highlights the challenge of unifying these frameworks into a theory of quantum gravity and the emergence of singularities when they are forced to interact.
  • General relativity describes gravity and spacetime.
  • Quantum mechanics describes matter at the atomic and subatomic level.
  • The two theories are mathematically incompatible.
  • Unifying them is a major goal of physics (quantum gravity).
  • Singularities arise when the theories are forced to interact.

Shownotes Transcript

Black hole and Big Bang singularities break our best theory of gravity. A trilogy of theorems hints that physicists must go to the ends of space and time to find a fix.