WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.480 --> 00:00:05.599 Welcome to the quark Side. Quantum Physics Podcast, an exploration 2 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:10.880 of the fundamental structure of reality, where quantum laws govern matter, energy, 3 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:16.239 and information. Here, uncertainty is a feature, not a flaw, 4 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:19.239 and understanding begins at the smallest scales. 5 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:29.440 All right, before we get started, I want you to 6 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:30.320 try something for me. 7 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:34.560 Oh, okay, a little audience participation. I'm in right now 8 00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:37.000 wherever you are, just I don't know, reach out and 9 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.479 touch the table in front of you, or grab the 10 00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:40.240 arm of your chair. 11 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:42.960 Okay, I am tapping the desk right now. It's solid, 12 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:45.359 cool to the touch, definitely real. 13 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:49.479 Exactly, it feels solid. Your hand stops, You don't fall 14 00:00:49.479 --> 00:00:52.880 through your floor, your coffee cup doesn't just phase through 15 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:54.479 the table like some kind of ghost. 16 00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:56.119 Right. We take this for granted. 17 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:58.920 We take it for granted every single second of our lives. 18 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:03.600 It is the basic fundamental fact of our existence. Things 19 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:07.120 are solid. But here's the question that, and I'm not kidding, 20 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:08.120 keeps me up at night. 21 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:11.840 Why why is the world solid? It sounds like a 22 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:13.719 question of five year old would ask, doesn't it? 23 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:16.879 But why it does? And it's a great question. But 24 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:19.400 the more you know about physics, the right the weirder 25 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:22.439 that question gets because we know if we zoom in, 26 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:25.319 and I mean way way in, that desk isn't a 27 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:27.280 solid block of anything, not at all. 28 00:01:27.319 --> 00:01:29.200 It's mostly empty space, a cloud. 29 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:31.640 Of atoms, and those atoms are what ninety nine point 30 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:34.760 nine percent emptiness? Oh more than that, it's more like 31 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:37.400 ninety nine point nine nine ninety nine percent. If you 32 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:41.200 imagine an atom is the size of a huge football stadium. Okay, 33 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:44.640 the nucleus would be like a marble sitting on the 34 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:47.719 fifty yard line, and the electrons would be these tiny 35 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:51.799 little gnats buzzing around in the absolute nosebleed seats and 36 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:56.599 everything in between void nothing right. So logically, if matter 37 00:01:56.680 --> 00:02:00.599 is almost entirely empty space, why doesn't the entire universe 38 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:04.719 just I don't know, collapse into a single microscopic point. 39 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:07.680 Why doesn't my hand just pass straight through this table 40 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:09.080 like smoke through a screen door. 41 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:10.120 Why can we touch things? 42 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:11.120 Yes? Why? 43 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:14.080 It is a profound question, And the answer isn't just 44 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:16.919 because matter is hard. The answer is actually a rule, 45 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:20.639 a very specific, very strict rule written into the operating 46 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:21.759 code of the universe. 47 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:24.879 The rule that if it were broken, even just a tiny, tiny, 48 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:30.400 bit would mean that chemistry, life, stars, basically everything we 49 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:32.800 know and are would instantly cease to exist. 50 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:36.000 You're talking about the poly exclusion principle, the absolute hero 51 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:38.919 of today's deep dive. We are talking about the very 52 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:42.599 bedrock of reality. But here's where it gets really interesting 53 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:44.319 and honestly a little bit nerve wracking. 54 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:44.800 Go on. 55 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:48.039 We assume this rule is perfect, we assume it's absolute. 56 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:50.759 But what if it isn't? What if there's a loophole? 57 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:54.360 Ah? That is the question, and that is the question 58 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:58.159 that sent a team of physicists deep deep underground in 59 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:01.599 Italy to try and catch the universe cheating at its 60 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:02.120 own game. 61 00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:04.599 And that's what we're digging into today. We are looking 62 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:07.759 at a report from fizzdot org dated February five, twenty 63 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:11.280 twenty six, which covers this massive, high stakes study. It 64 00:03:11.319 --> 00:03:14.159 was published in Scientific Reports a few months prior, back 65 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:15.520 in November twenty twenty five. 66 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:17.599 It's all about the VIP two experiment. 67 00:03:17.719 --> 00:03:20.280 The IP two. This is the absolute cutting edge of 68 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:23.120 foundational physics, it really is. And their mission was simple, 69 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:28.159 but I mean incredibly audacious. Break the poly exclusion principle, 70 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:30.319 find a crack in the foundation, and what. 71 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:33.560 They found, or maybe what they didn't find tells us 72 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.080 something just incredible about the nature of our reality. 73 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:39.120 It's a story about copper, new electrons and a number 74 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:42.280 so vanishingly small it's hard to even visualize. 75 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:43.520 So we're going underground. 76 00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:46.360 So let's unpack this. We're going to Grand Sasa, We're 77 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:48.360 going to the quantum realm, and we're going to find 78 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:51.000 out why you're not currently sinking through your chair. 79 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:51.840 Sounds like a plan. 80 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:54.879 I'm ready, okay, So let's start with the cornerstone, the 81 00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:01.599 rule itself, the poly exclusion principle. Sounds very bureaucratic, doesn't it. 82 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:05.680 The exclusion principle like a velvet rope at some exclusive club. 83 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:10.120 That is actually a surprisingly accurate analogy. The principle was 84 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:14.840 formulated by Wolfgang Polly, an Austrian Swiss physicist, way back 85 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:15.960 in nineteen twenty five. 86 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:18.720 Set the scene for us. Nineteen twenty five, what's happening 87 00:04:18.759 --> 00:04:19.319 in physics? 88 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:21.680 Oh, it was the golden age of quantum mechanics. You 89 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:24.639 have to understand at this time physicists were in a 90 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:26.839 state of equal parts panic and excitement. 91 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:28.800 A good stit to be in for discovery. 92 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:32.560 The best, the old comfortable rules of Isaac Newton, where 93 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:35.920 things moved in predictable lines like clockwork. They were just 94 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:39.160 falling apart. When they looked at Adams, electrons weren't behaving 95 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.759 like little planets orbiting a sun right the old Boar 96 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:45.160 model exactly. They were jumping around, disappearing and reappearing. It 97 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:48.040 was just chaos. Nobody could make sense of the data 98 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:50.319 they were seeing from spectroscopy. 99 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:52.800 And Polly comes along and acts as the sheriff, lays 100 00:04:52.839 --> 00:04:53.560 down the law. 101 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:57.399 He essentially does. Polly was known for being incredibly critical, 102 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:01.360 just famously sharp. People called him the conscience of physics. 103 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:03.240 The conscience of physics. I love that. 104 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:05.839 Yeah. If he thought a theory was sloppy or poorly 105 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:08.279 thought out, he wouldn't just say it was wrong. He 106 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:11.000 had this famous brutal put down. He'd say, that isn't 107 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:11.560 even wrong. 108 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.279 Ouch, that's colder than saying it's wrong. 109 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:17.319 It meant it was so incoherent it wasn't even worth discussing. 110 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:21.839 He demanded precision, and in nineteen twenty five he proposed 111 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:25.639 this principle to finally explain the structure of atoms. Why 112 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:28.040 electrons arraigned themselves the way they did. 113 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:31.399 So what does the law actually say in simple terms? 114 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:33.839 Oh, understand it. We first have to understand that in 115 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:37.160 the quantum world, particles are divided into two main tribes. 116 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:39.879 You're the bosons and you have the fermions. 117 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.160 Okay, tribes, I like that. What's the difference. 118 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.000 Bosons are the party. 119 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:45.279 Animals, the social butterflies. 120 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:48.680 Totally. These are particles like photons, you know, light particles. 121 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:53.800 The defining characteristic of a boson is that it loves company. 122 00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:57.360 You can pile as many bosons as you want into 123 00:05:57.399 --> 00:05:59.279 the exact same quantum state. 124 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:00.720 Give visual for that. 125 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.839 Think of a laser beam. In a laser you have 126 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:07.879 trillions upon trillions of photons, all marching in perfect lockstep. 127 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:11.600 They overlap, They occupy the same space at the same time, 128 00:06:11.639 --> 00:06:14.879 with the same energy, same direction. They are perfectly happy 129 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:16.519 to stack right on top of each other. 130 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:17.560 They don't mind crowds. 131 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:20.279 They love crowds. They are, in a word. 132 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.160 Social, right, They stack like, I don't know, like thoughts. 133 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:24.839 You can have a million thoughts in your head at once. 134 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:26.879 That's a poetic way to put it. Sure, they are 135 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:29.360 permeable to each other. But then then you have the 136 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:33.000 fermions and electrons, which are the stars of our story 137 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:34.360 today are fermions. 138 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:37.120 And let me guess fermions are not party animals. 139 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:41.920 They are antisocial, deeply, deeply antisocial. The poly exclusion principle 140 00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:45.800 basically says no two identical fermions can occupy the same 141 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:47.959 quantum state at the same time period. 142 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:49.839 This seat is taken precisely. 143 00:06:50.439 --> 00:06:54.879 It's the ultimate one per customer rule. If an electron 144 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:58.000 is in a certain energy state, you can think of 145 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.199 it like a designated parking spot in a garag. No 146 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:03.639 other electron in that atom can park there. It is 147 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:04.560 strictly forbidden. 148 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:07.160 Now, when you say parking spot or quantum state, we're 149 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:09.319 talking about more than just location, right, It's a bit 150 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:10.480 more specific than. 151 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:14.160 That, right, Yeah, good point. In quantum mechanics, a state 152 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:16.560 is defined by a set of numbers. We call them 153 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:19.120 quantum numbers. It's like a unique address. You have the 154 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:23.439 energy level, the angular momentum, the magnetic moment and critically 155 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:27.279 the spin spin up or spin down exactly. So Pauli's 156 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:29.439 rule says you cannot have two electrons in the same 157 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:31.720 atom with the exact same list of numbers. You could 158 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:34.000 have two in the same energy level, but one must 159 00:07:34.040 --> 00:07:36.000 be spin up and the other must be spinned down. 160 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:39.000 Once both those spots are taken, that level is full. 161 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:41.120 So if I'm an electron and I want to join 162 00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:43.920 an atom, I'm naturally drawn to the lowest energy spot, 163 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:46.319 the best parking spot, right near the interest. 164 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:48.439 That's where you want to go, less energy expended. 165 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:51.160 But if there's already an electron there with spin up 166 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:55.680 and another with spin down, that level is completely full. 167 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:58.879 You cannot enter. You are physically barred from that state. 168 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:02.279 To or says no, you have to go to the 169 00:08:02.279 --> 00:08:04.399 next level up, and if that's full, the next one 170 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:06.000 and the next one after that. 171 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:08.240 This sounds like a real hassle for the electrons. 172 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:11.279 It is. They want to be in the lowest energy 173 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:13.959 state possible. They want to relax down in the basement, 174 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:18.639 but the exclusion principle forces them to stack up one 175 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:21.720 by one into these layers or shells around the. 176 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:25.920 Nucleus, and the stacking, this fourcelayering. This is the key 177 00:08:25.959 --> 00:08:27.120 to everything, isn't it. 178 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:29.240 It is the key to the entire universes. We know 179 00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:31.959 it because if they could all just crash down into 180 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.200 that bottom level, if they could all pile up. 181 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:36.360 Like bosons, what had happened, what would an atom look like. 182 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:39.480 You wouldn't have chemistry at all. Think about the periodic table. 183 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:43.519 The entire reason carbon behaves differently than oxygen, which behaves 184 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:47.000 differently from iron, is entirely because they have different numbers 185 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:50.240 of electrons arranged in different shells. Because of this exclusion rule. 186 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:50.519 Ah. 187 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:53.720 Of course, carbon has four electrons in its outer shell, 188 00:08:53.960 --> 00:08:56.639 so it wants to form four bonds. It's the basis 189 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:00.399 of all organic life. Oxygen has six in its outer shell, 190 00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:03.360 so it behaves in a completely different way. If they 191 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:06.200 all just piled into the basement, every atom would just 192 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:09.720 be a slightly heavier, slightly more negative version of hydrogen. 193 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:11.679 They'd all behave roughly the same. 194 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:15.399 So there'd be no complex bonds, no molecules. 195 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:20.200 No DNA, no proteins, no water, no life. You and 196 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:23.799 I would not be having this conversation. Chemistry is basically 197 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:26.120 just the consequence of electrons dealing with the lack of 198 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:26.919 parking spaces. 199 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:29.200 That is a fantastic way to think about it. Chemistry 200 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:30.519 is the result of overcrowding. 201 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:33.840 It is, and it goes beyond just chemistry. This rule 202 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:36.480 is what creates the rigidity of matter. Thus solidity. 203 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:38.159 Tay back to the table I'm touching right. 204 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:40.919 Now, exactly when you press your hand against the table. 205 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:44.159 What's actually happening. The electrons in the atoms of your 206 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:46.440 hand are pushing against the electrons in the atoms of 207 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:49.759 the table. They literally cannot occupy the same space. 208 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:52.080 So the feeling of solid. 209 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:56.440 That resistance, you feel, that solidness isn't the physical matter 210 00:09:56.559 --> 00:09:59.080 of your hand touching the physical matter of the table. 211 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:00.440 That's not what's ha happening. 212 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:00.960 What is it? 213 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:04.360 Then? It is the poly exclusion principle in action. It 214 00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:07.000 is a quantum force. We call it a degeneracy pressure 215 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:11.799 that is screaming back off. This space is taken at 216 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:12.759 an atomic level. 217 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:15.799 That is wild. I'm not feeling wood, I'm feeling a 218 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:16.840 quantum law. 219 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:20.639 You are feeling the fundamental architecture of the universe refusing 220 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:21.960 to collapse on itself. 221 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:24.159 And this scales up, doesn't it. I mean, this isn't 222 00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:26.799 just for desks. The source material mentions stars. 223 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:28.919 Oh, it scales up in a huge way. Look at 224 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:32.480 white dwarf stars. These are the dead, collapsed cores of 225 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:36.080 stars like our sun. They are incredibly dense. We're talking 226 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:38.200 about the mass of the Sun packed into a sphere 227 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:39.399 the size of the Earth. 228 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:41.519 And gravity is trying to crush them even further into 229 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:42.279 a single point. 230 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:46.240 Yes, gravity is relentless, it's pulling everything inward. But the 231 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:49.840 star stops collapsing at that certain size. Why because the 232 00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:53.639 electrons inside are packed so incredibly tight that the exclusion 233 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:56.840 principle kicks in. On a macroscopic scale, the parking garage 234 00:10:56.840 --> 00:10:59.960 is full. The parking garage is full on a stack. 235 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:04.240 The electrons are screaming. We cannot get any closer. That 236 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:08.240 outward pressure, that absolute refusal to occupy the same state 237 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:11.720 holds the entire star up against the crushing weight of 238 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:12.600 its own gravity. 239 00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:14.840 So from the table in my kitchen to a dead 240 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:18.320 star in deep space, this one simple rule is the 241 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:21.519 structural engineer keeping everything from imploding. 242 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:24.679 It is the load bearing wall of the universe. Without it, 243 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:27.639 the universe would be a soup, a very small, very hot, 244 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:28.799 very dense soup. 245 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:31.480 Which makes the source material for this deep dive so 246 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:36.600 well terrifying. Because we have this quote from Catalina Curciano, 247 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.840 a physicist from the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics 248 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:44.399 the i NFN. She's the spokesperson for this VIP two experiment. 249 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:47.000 Yes, I remember this quote. It's a very stark warning. 250 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:50.200 She said. Quote. If the poly exclusion principle were violated, 251 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:53.879 even at an extremely small level, the consequences would cascade 252 00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:56.799 from atomic physics all the way to astrophysics. 253 00:11:56.919 --> 00:11:59.879 It's a domino effect. If the rule is even slightly squishy, 254 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:03.200 if an electron can just occasionally sneak into an occupied seat, 255 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:06.559 then all of matter as we know it is fundamentally unstable. 256 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:07.480 The domino's fault, all. 257 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:08.399 Of them all at once. 258 00:12:08.759 --> 00:12:11.759 So naturally, knowing that the fate of the entire universe 259 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:16.279 rests on this one single rule, scientists decided, Hey, let's 260 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:16.919 try to break it. 261 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:19.600 Well, that is the scientific way, isn't it. You don't trust, 262 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:22.799 you verify, And the most rigorous way to verify something 263 00:12:23.159 --> 00:12:25.919 is to try your absolute hardest to destroy it. 264 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:29.399 But seriously, let's play Devil's advocate for a minute. If 265 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:31.759 this rule is so perfect, if it's the only thing 266 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:35.440 keeping us solid and stable, why are we spending millions 267 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.720 of dollars in years of time trying to prove it wrong. 268 00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:39.399 Why poke the bear? 269 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.679 It's the itch, It's the fundamental scientific itch. We have 270 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:46.960 this incredibly successful theory called the Standard Model of particle physics, right. 271 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:50.639 Our best description of well, almost everything exactly. 272 00:12:50.679 --> 00:12:54.360 It predicts the behavior of particles with just insane accuracy. 273 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:57.200 It is the most successful scientific theory in human history, 274 00:12:57.799 --> 00:13:01.120 and built into its very foundation is the assumption that 275 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:05.240 the poly exclusion principle is exact perfect, zero exception. 276 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:06.519 There's always a butt. 277 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:08.919 But we know the Standard Model isn't the final word. 278 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:12.960 It's beautiful, but it's flawed. It has holes. It doesn't 279 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:15.240 explain everything we see in the universe. 280 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:16.679 Like what what are the big holes? 281 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:20.039 Well, it has nothing to say about dark matter, which 282 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.480 we think makes up about twenty five percent of the universe. 283 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:26.080 It has no explanation for dark energy, which is causing 284 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:29.080 the expansion of the universe to accelerate. And the biggest 285 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:32.960 one of all, it doesn't include gravity. 286 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:35.440 It's like having a perfect map of the world that's 287 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:37.519 missing an entire continent exactly. 288 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:41.080 We know there is new physics out there, but deeper theory, 289 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:43.799 we just don't know where to find it. So physicists 290 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:46.840 are like detectives looking for cracks in the Standard Model. 291 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:50.080 They're looking for any place where the rules bend, even 292 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:50.840 just a little bit, and. 293 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:53.879 That's what they mean by exotic physics, right, And what was. 294 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:56.039 The most fundamental place is to look for a crack 295 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:00.639 is right at the foundation? What if the exclusion principle 296 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:04.879 isn't a hard absolute no, but more of a mostly no, 297 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:05.600 like a no. 298 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:08.159 But maybe if you're really really quick and nobody is looking, 299 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:09.759 sort of rule exactly. 300 00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:13.120 And there are actual theoretical models. These are speculative, but 301 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:16.399 they're out there, things called Quan models that play with 302 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:20.960 this idea quon as in q yes. In standard physics, 303 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:24.919 a particle is either a fermion, which is antisocial, or 304 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:27.200 a boson, which is social. It's binary, it's one or 305 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:31.559 the other, flagger white. But Quan models speculate what if 306 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:34.360 there's a spectrum. What if a particle could be, say, 307 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:38.879 ninety nine point nine percent fermion, but have a tiny 308 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:40.879 tiny bit of boson character mixed in. 309 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:42.519 It could occasionally cheat the system. 310 00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:46.399 It could occasionally cheat. It creates a loophole, a slight violation, 311 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:49.879 and if that happens, even incredibly rarely, it would be 312 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:53.279 a huge clue to a deeper level of reality. Atels 313 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:55.960 that are neat categories of fermion and boson are just 314 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:59.639 approximations of something much more complex and interesting. 315 00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:01.919 And the source. It also mentions another possibility this could 316 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:04.279 point to, which is the structure of the electron itself. 317 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:06.840 This really blew my mind. We usually think of electrons 318 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:09.840 as just dots, little points of charge. 319 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.080 Correct in the standard model, electrons are fundamental particles. They 320 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:16.919 have zero size. They are just a point of charge 321 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:19.480 in mass. You can't cut an electron in half. 322 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:22.799 But if the exclusion principle can be violated, that might 323 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:23.879 change our view of that. 324 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:27.600 It could imply that electrons aren't fundamental at all, that 325 00:15:27.639 --> 00:15:30.039 they might have an internal structure, that they are made 326 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:31.600 of even smaller things. 327 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:35.679 Like little gears inside or components, or that they are squishy. 328 00:15:36.440 --> 00:15:39.639 Think about it this way. If two perfectly rigid billiard 329 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:43.000 balls hit each other, they bounce off they cannot occupy 330 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:46.080 the same space. But if two tennis balls hit each 331 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:49.480 other hard enough they can press they deform for a moment. 332 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:53.639 So if electrons have internal parts, maybe under extreme pressure 333 00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:57.320 they can. They can deform slightly and squeeze into a 334 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:00.200 state where a perfectly rigid point particle couldn't fit. 335 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:03.399 That's the idea exactly. So if we find a violation 336 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:05.919 of poly. It's a very strong hint that the electron 337 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.519 isn't a simple dot, but a complex object with moving parts. 338 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:11.519 And then there's a big one, the one everyone's chasing, 339 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:12.960 quantum gravity. 340 00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:14.320 The holy grail of modern physics. 341 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:19.879 We are desperately, desperately trying to merge Einstein's general relativity, 342 00:16:20.279 --> 00:16:23.639 which governs gravity and big stuff like planets and galaxies, 343 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:28.039 with quantum mechanics, which governs the small stuff like atoms 344 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:28.759 and particles. 345 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:31.080 And they hate each other. They just they do not 346 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:33.879 get along mathematically. They speak different languages. 347 00:16:34.039 --> 00:16:35.799 But some of the theories that are trying to build 348 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:38.799 that bridge, like certain versions of string theory or quantum 349 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:42.799 loot gravity, they actually predict that the poly exclusion principle 350 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.159 might have tiny, tiny cracks, right. 351 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:48.200 Yes, some of them do. Some theories suggest that space 352 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:51.679 time itself might not be a smooth, continuous fabric. It 353 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:54.679 might be fuzzy or discrete, like it's made of pixels 354 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:58.720 at the smallest possible scales, the Plank scale, right, And 355 00:16:58.759 --> 00:17:01.240 if space is bumpy at that level, it might mess 356 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:04.240 with the strict rules of quantum mechanics. It might cause 357 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:07.559 an electron to slip or tunnel into a forbidden state 358 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:08.480 every once in a while. 359 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.519 So finding a violation would be like finding a loose thread. 360 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:14.240 You pull on it and the whole standard model unravels, 361 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.359 But underneath you might find the real fabric of the universe. 362 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:20.279 That is the hope. That is why they search. Finding 363 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:23.400 a violation wouldn't be a disaster for science. It would 364 00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:25.880 be the greatest discovery of the century. It would be 365 00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:29.279 the signpost pointing the way to the theory of everything. 366 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:32.680 So the stakes are just incredibly high. Either we confirm 367 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:34.839 the stability of reality as we know it, or we 368 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:37.480 find a portal to a whole new level of physics, 369 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:41.680 which brings us to the experiment. How do you actually 370 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:44.279 test this? How do you catch an electron cheating? 371 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:49.359 This is the VIP two experiment. VIP stands for violation 372 00:17:49.559 --> 00:17:50.559 of the poly principle. 373 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:52.680 And I love the sitting. This isn't happening in a 374 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:55.680 shiny lab in a university basement. This is deep. 375 00:17:55.480 --> 00:17:59.559 Underground Grandsasso National Laboratory. Yeah, it's really an amazing place, 376 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:03.160 a series of massive experimental halls that have been hollowed 377 00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:05.359 out from inside a mountain in Italy. You have to 378 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:08.000 drive through a long highway tunnel to even get to 379 00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:08.559 the entrance. 380 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:11.480 Why hide under a mountain. Are they hiding from the electrons? 381 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:15.680 No, they're hiding from noise. We are right now constantly 382 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:19.400 being bombarded by cosmic rays. These are high energy particles, 383 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:24.799 mostly protons, flying in from space from supernovas and distant galaxies. 384 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:25.920 And they're hitting our atmosphere. 385 00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:29.599 They hit the atmosphere and create a shower of secondary particles, 386 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:32.839 and some of those particles, especially the ones called muons, 387 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:35.759 make it all the way down to the surface. Billions 388 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:37.920 of them are passing through your body as we speak. Well, 389 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:41.079 that's comforting. It's totally harmless to us. But if you're 390 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:43.960 running an experiment that is as sensitive as VIP two, 391 00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:48.279 a single cosmic ray hitting your detector would be a 392 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:51.480 disaster because it would create a flash of energy signal 393 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:54.039 that could look just like the violation you're hunting for. 394 00:18:54.359 --> 00:18:55.880 It would be like trying to listen for a pin 395 00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:57.440 drop in the middle of a thunderstorm. 396 00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:00.119 So the mountain acts as a giant umbrella. 397 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:03.400 Giant rock umbrella. It's over a kilometer of solid rock 398 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:06.680 overhead that blocks out almost all of the cosmic noise. 399 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:09.359 Creating one of the quietest places on Earth in terms 400 00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:09.960 of radiation. 401 00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:15.279