comes with a self-destruct button

自壊ボタンがあって

to eliminate itself

すべての物質を消し去り

so cleanly and efficiently,

永遠の闇をもたらすとしたら

that every single physical thing

究極にエコな終末

would just stop existing

「真空崩壊」

and life would be impossible

宇宙の自壊には２つの原理が関わる

forever.

１. エネルギーレベル

The ultimate ecological catastrophe -

物質にはエネルギーのレベルがあり

vacuum decay.

レベルが高いとエネルギーが多い

(Theme music)

レベルが高い木は燃えて

To explain how our universe

分子結合のエネルギーを放出し

could destroy itself,

熱に変換する

we need to understand two principles:

残った灰はエネルギーが低い

One - energy levels.

２. 安定性

A core idea in physics is that

すべての物質は安定を求め

everything has an energy level.

エネルギーをより低くしようとする

The higher the level, the more energy is in the system

丘の上のボールは不安定で

Wood, for example, has a high level.

エネルギーが高い

It can be burnt, a process that

落下すれば

releases the chemical energy stored in its molecular bonds

その過程でエネルギーが失われ

and turns it into heat.

下まで行くと安定し そこに留まる

The ash leftover is at a

物質はこれらの原理に従う

lower energy level than the wood before.

エネルギーが高ければ

Two - stability.

それを放出し 安定した場所を目指す

Everything in our universe tries to move

量子の世界でもそうなっている

towards its ground state, in which it's completely stable

今の物理学が正しければ

and has as little energy as possible.

宇宙は場から作られている

For example, a ball on a hill is unstable

詳細は別の動画で

and has a lot of potential energy.

ここでは 場は粒子を動かす

When disturbed, it will roll down into the valey

法則だと考えればいい

and lose its potential energy in the process

エネルギーが最も低い状態を

The ball is now in its ground state and stable.

真空状態と呼ぶ

It will remain like that.

が 真空とは関係ない

Everything in our universe

科学者のネーミングセンスを許そう

follows these two principles.

たいていの場は真空状態にあるが

If something has a lot of energy,

ヒッグス場だけは違う可能性がある

it's unstable and wants to get rid of it

今の安定は偽りかもしれないのだ

to become stable

偽の真空である

and reach its ground state.

ヒッグス場は物質に質量を与え

This is true for every system

相互作用させているが

even in the weird world of

ここが偽の真空だとどうなるか

quantum mechanics.

このボールがヒッグス場だとしよう

If our current understanding of physics is correct, then the universe

この谷間が最低ではなく

gets its properties from quantum fields.

より低い場所があった場合

We explained them in detail

ヒッグス場には

in another video.

高いエネルギーがあることになる

For this video, imagine them

ガソリンに浸った木片のように

as the rules of the universe.

燃えやすい状態だ

They tell particles how to

何か刺激があれば

behave and interact

エネルギーが出ることになる

Like everything in the universe,

いつでもその可能性はあり

they want to be in the lowest energy level possible,

もし真空崩壊が始まれば

which is called a vacuum state.

元に戻せない

This has nothing to do with

ヒッグス場の急降下は

vacuum in space.

大量のエネルギーを出す

It's just called this way

これが周囲を巻き込み

because scientists are bad at naming things

さらにエネルギーを出す

We then call the fields reached their

そしてヒッグス場の球体は

vacuum state, except maybe one.

光速で宇宙に広がっていく

It's possible that the Higgs Field

ガソリンの海に

is not stable, but metastable, which is

火を着けたようなものだ

a fancy way of saying that it

球体は出会うものすべてを飲み込む

pretends to be stable but really is not.

触れたら その物質は消える

It would be a false vacuum.

これが拡大し続け 宇宙は消え去る

The Higgs Field is responsible for

速すぎて事前にはわからず

giving particles their mass,

できることもない

which rules how almost everything

破壊は一瞬だ

in the universe interacts.

次の瞬間 地球は消える

What would happen if the Higgs Field isn't a false vacuum?

それだけではない

Think of our ball in the valley:

ヒッグス場が変われば 物理も変わる

the ball is the Higgs Field.

真の真空での物理法則が

The valley might not be the lowest energy state for the Higgs Field.

どんなものかはわからない

There might an even deeper valley that it wants to get to.

粒子の振る舞いも

This would mean that the Higgs Field has a lot of potential energy,

原子結合も

waiting to be released.

化学反応も

The Higgs Field could be like a piece of wood

真空崩壊は生物どころか

but drenched in gasoline,

化学自体を破壊する

waiting to set the universe on fire.

世界の形が変わるのだ

A random spark like quantum tunneling

一体どんな世界になるのか

could release the potential energy

今の世界は影に過ぎないものなのか

of the Higgs Fields.

真空崩壊は恐ろしい現象だ

This could happen at any time

でも心配はいらない

and without warning.

これは現在の物理学に基づいた話で

If that any point in space,

間違いもありえる

this so-called vacuum decay starts,

定規で大陸を測ったら…

there is no turning back.

"３年後"

As the Higgs Field crashes into

間違った結論が出てくることはある

the lower energy state,

真空崩壊は現実に起こるのか

it releases a massive amount of

ただの想像か

potential energy.

もし今 死の球体が拡大していても

This energy pushes the space around it

宇宙は広く 地球まで数億年はかかる

over the barrier, which releases

宇宙は膨張しているから

more potential energy.

永久に来ないかも

A sphere of the new stable Higgs Field,

光の速さも宇宙の中では遅い

or true vacuum, grows at the

真空崩壊は確かに怖いが

speed of light in all directions.

今は恐れるべきことが他にある

Imagine it like setting a sea of gasoline,

地球の問題の方が

the size of the universe, on fire.

まだ解決もできそうだ

This sphere is surrounded by

Subtitles by the Amara.org community

a shell of energy that devours everything

it comes into contact with.

Whatever it touches

is eliminated for existence.

The bubble will continue to grow forever.

deleting the universe on its way.

There is no way to be warned,

since it's so fast.

But there's nothing we can do anyway.

Our destruction would be instant,

in a fraction of second,

Earth would be gone.

But it actually gets worse.

If the energy level

of the Higgs Field changes,

it changes all of physics.

In the true vacuum of the sphere,

the standard model will be overthrown,

superseded by different physics

that we don't know -

how fundamental particles behave,

how atoms hold together,

how chemicals react.

Vacuum decay won't just destroy life,

it will destroy chemistry itself,

making life as we know it impossible.

We simply have no idea

what it would be like inside.

It might be a shadow of what it is now,

or not.

We don't know.

If vacuum decay happens,

the outlook is indeed grim.

If you feel slightly worried now,

don't be.

At this point, false vacuum is speculation

based on our current understanding of

particle physics, which might be wrong.

It's kind of like using a ruler

to measure a continent.

(playful music)

Sure, you can do it, but you might be off

by quite a bit at the end.

Right now, no-one can say a vacuum decay

is a thing that's real

or just a scary idea.

But even if one or multiple spheres

of death have already started expanding,

the universe is so big

that they might not reach us

for billions of years.

If they're far enough away,

they might not ever be able to reach us

because of the expansion of the universe.

The speed of light is not that fast

on the scale of the universe.

So, while vacuum decay is

fascinatingly scary,

right now, there are other things

we should be more afraid of.

In contrast to vacuum decay,

we have the power to prepare

for most of them.

Videos like this one

take hundreds of hours to make, so

support us on Patreon

if you'd like to learn more about

the destruction of everything.

It really helps us out.

We tried to destroy the universe

at least once every few months.

So let us know in the comments,

if you have doomsday scenarios

you would like us to cover.

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