this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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Astronomers have used the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes to confirm one of the most troubling conundrums in all of physics — that the universe appears to be expanding at bafflingly different speeds depending on where we look.

This problem, known as the Hubble Tension, has the potential to alter or even upend cosmology altogether. In 2019, measurements by the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the puzzle was real; in 2023, even more precise measurements from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) cemented the discrepancy.

Now, a triple-check by both telescopes working together appears to have put the possibility of any measurement error to bed for good. The study, published February 6 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggests that there may be something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe.

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[–] [email protected] 99 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Yesssss I yearn for new physics

[–] [email protected] 35 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

The prospect of irregular and unpredictable physics gives me anxiety

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

With the universe is not being locally real, and now this... Oh man. Exciting times for sure.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

Yes, discovery is awesome, and this is some crazy shit— it’s just that I prefer that the the rules that govern time and space make sense, lol.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It makes sense — we just don’t understand it yet 😀

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I predict bubbles warping time but not space, thus distorting the apparent speeds of objects we see through them. Star Trek taught me that anything is possible. 😆

And just imagine the new fields of math such a discovery would create...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

“I’m just going to round it anyways” - Engineering

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

The Intel floating-point math error strikes again.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If something warps time, doesn't it inherently warp space, and vice versa?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Normally yes, but if an exception was found then that too would fundamentally change what we think we know. I doubt it will come down to anything quite that simple, but on the other hand gravity is one of those forces that we still don't completely understand and when dealing with things on a galactic scale perhaps this new observation will start to crack open that particular mystery. It's easy to speculate at this point, but really my hope is that this will lead to a better understanding of something huge. I think the most boring outcome of this would be something like "oops we made a mistake in our math."

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

With the universe is not being locally real

What do you mean by this?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Sometimes popular science goes a bit too far. Entanglement of particles and the fact that hidden variables don't exist does not mean that stuff is not "real". At least I feel that is abusing the word "real".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Not following you. That's literally what they awarded the Nobel for.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Well the link you just posted says they got the prize "for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science". They didn't get the prize for showing that "the universe is not locally real". That's just something the article makes up in the headline to draw readers in.

I mean I get it, it's hard to make science exciting and you need a bit of flair but I feel sometimes it goes a bit too far and kinda gives people the wrong idea.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

The magazine did not make up locality lol.

In theoretical physics, quantum nonlocality refers to the phenomenon by which the measurement statistics of a multipartite quantum system do not allow an interpretation with local realism.

They literally did prove, and was awarded for, showing that the universe is not locally real.

Edit. To be clearer, realism means

the assumption that measurement outcomes are well defined prior to and independent of the measurements.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

The word "real" and "locality" is not the same. The "lol" is unnecessary btw, there's no need to try to ridicule me.

The magazine is taking a very technical term like "realism", which means something specific in physics literature, and uses it in a headline and even just makes it "real". The word "real" and "realism" is not the same. This goes into philosophy and not so much science.

Most people will read that as if reality is an illusion or some other nonsense like that. You can't get to "the universe is not real" from what is actually said in the contents of the article.

A Wikipedia quote is not an argument btw.

EDIT to address your edit: you've hit the crux of the issue. That definition is not what most people think when they hear the word "real".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm sorry you seem to be refusing to understand it. The science is real, well documented, and proven. Regardless of your opinion on it. I recommend reading more into it on your own time.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I don't think it's my opinion that the article is using misleading terms in its headline. It doesn't say "realism" or "locality", it says "real", and this is misleading. Of course it wouldn't get as many views or clicks if it used the more technical terms.

I'm not a physicist but I've read and learned a lot even so and I find the article goes a little too far in the headline.

The science is real

This word choice here is very ironic gotta say 😅.

To be clear, I am not questioning the science, the contents of the article is fine. I'm saying the headline is misleading and makes people say stuff like "the universe isn't real" when that doesn't really make sense. Physicists mean something very specific and technical when they say "local realism" and this is lost in that headline.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

eli5 this universe not real thing. i can never wrap my head around it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

It's as real as anything gets. What constitutes as "real" is more of a philosophy questions than physics question. Make up your own answer.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (2 children)

This article https://nautil.us/chaos-makes-the-multiverse-unnecessary-236664/ made me very uncomfortable back when it was published. It takes what you say to the philosophical limit.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Uh, I hate how that article says 'she' for a scientist (just as I would hate if it said 'he'). Say 'they'!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (3 children)

As a science bitch I’ve never believed in the Big Bang… I think everything has always been and will always be and it goes on forever in every direction and when I think about that my feet feel weird

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Do you have evidence to support your position? Or is this just wishful thinking?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Well technically it would be skepticism

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

Actually it's the opposite, skepticism isn't the questioning, it's the proportioning of conviction to the amount of available evidence.

Disbelieving the claim of the Big Bang might be warranted, depending on the level of personal ignorance, but there's much much more evidence for a big bang than an "eternal, ever expanding void" supported by tingling feet.

Feel free to refer to the Wikipedia article on Scepticism, and better sources.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

If I remember correctly, that's basically the Einstein - de Sitter universe, one of the early cosmological models. Einstein also didn't like the accelerated growth of the universe, he called the cosmological constant (what's now known as dark energy) a big mistake.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

So when you run that model backwards a few billion years in your head then what do you think that looked like? I don't follow what you mean.