New data that fundamental physics constants underlie life-enabling universe

Excerpt from spacedaily.com

For nearly half a century, theoretical physicists have made a series of

discoveries that certain constants in fundamental physics seem

extraordinarily fine-tuned to allow for the emergence of a life-enabling

universe.

Constants that crisscross the Standard Model of Particle Physics guided

the formation of hydrogen nuclei during the Big Bang, along with the

carbon and oxygen atoms initially fused at the center of massive

first-generation stars that exploded as supernovae; these processes in

turn set the stage for solar systems and planets capable of supporting

carbon-based life dependent on water and oxygen.

The theory that an Anthropic Principle guided the physics and evolution

of the universe was initially proposed by Brandon Carter while he was a

post-doctoral researcher in astrophysics at the University of Cambridge;

this theory was later debated by Cambridge scholar Stephen Hawking and a

widening web of physicists around the world.

German scholar Ulf-G Meibner, chair in theoretical nuclear physics at

the Helmholtz Institute, University of Bonn, adds to a series of

discoveries that support this Anthropic Principle.

In a new study titled “Anthropic considerations in nuclear physics” and

published in the Beijing-based journal Science Bulletin (previously

titled Chinese Science Bulletin), Professor Meibner provides an overview

of the Anthropic Principle (AP) in astrophysics and particle physics

and states: “One can indeed perform physics tests of this rather

abstract [AP] statement for specific processes like element generation.”

“This can be done with the help of high performance computers that allow

us to simulate worlds in which the fundamental parameters underlying

nuclear physics take values different from the ones in Nature,” he

explains.

“Specific physics problems we want to address, namely how sensitive the

generation of the light elements in the Big Bang is to changes in the

light quark mass m_q and also, how robust the resonance condition in the

triple alpha process, i.e. the closeness of the so-called Hoyle state

to the energy of 4He+8Be, is under variations in m_q and the

electromagnetic fine structure constant a_EM,” he adds.

Brandon Carter initially posited the theory: “The universe (and hence

the fundamental parameters on which it depends) must be such as to admit

the creation of observers within it at some stage.”

Stephen Hawking, expert on the Big Bang and cosmic inflation, extended

the dialogue on the Anthropic Principle in a series of papers and books.

In “A Brief History of Time,” he outlines an array of astrophysics

phenomena and constants that seem to support the AP theory, and asks:

“Why did the universe start out with so nearly the critical rate of

expansion that separates models that recollapse from those that go on

expanding forever, that even now, ten thousand million years later, it

is still expanding at nearly the critical rate?”

“If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller

by even one part in a hundred thousand million million,” he explains,

“the universe would have recollapsed before it ever reached its present

size.”

Professor Ulf-G Meibner, in explaining his new groundbreaking study,

states: “The Universe we live in is characterized by certain parameters

that take specific values that appear to be remarkably fine-tuned to

make life, including on Earth, possible. “

“For example, the age of the Universe must be large enough to allow for

the formation of galaxies, stars and planets, and for second- and

third-generation stars that incorporated the carbon and oxygen

propagated by earlier exploding stars,” he says.

“On more microscopic scales, he adds, “certain fundamental parameters of

the Standard Model of light quark masses or the electromagnetic fine

structure constant must take values that allow for the formation of

neutrons, protons and atomic nuclei.”

And while the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis gave rise to hydrogen nuclei and

alpha particles (4He nuclei), elements widely regarded as essential to

life including carbon and oxygen were only produced later, inside

massive stars that burned bright and died quickly, some through a

supernova explosion that spread these elements to later generations of

star systems.

In one series of experiments involving intricate computer simulations on

JUQUUEN at Forschungszentrum Julich, Professor Meibner and his

colleagues altered the values of light quark masses from those found in

Nature to determine how great a variation would prevent the formation of

carbon or oxygen inside massive stars.

“Variations in the light quark masses of up to 2-3 percent are unlikely

to be catastrophic to the formation of life-essential carbon and

oxygen,” he concludes.

And earlier, during the Big Bang’s generation of the nuclei of first two

elements in the Periodic Table, he notes, “From the observed element

abundances and the fact that the free neutron decays in about 882

seconds and the surviving neutrons are mostly captured in 4He, one finds

a stringent bound on the light quark mass variations … under the

reasonable assumption that the masses of all quarks and leptons

appearing in neutron b-decay scale with the Higgs vacuum expectation

value.”

“Thus,” Professor Meibner states, “the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis sets

indeed very tight limits on the variations of the light quark mass.”

“Such extreme fine-tuning supports the anthropic view of our Universe,” he adds.

“Clearly, one can think of many universes, the multiverse, in which

various fundamental parameters take different values leading to

environments very different from ours,” Professor Meibner states.

Professor Stephen Hawking states that even slight alterations in the

life-enabling constants of fundamental physics in this hypothesized

multiverse could “give rise to universes that, although they might be

very beautiful, would contain no one able to wonder at that beauty.”

Professor Meibner agrees: “In that sense,” he says, “our Universe has a

preferred status, and this is the basis of the so-called Anthropic

Principle.”

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New data that fundamental physics constants underlie life-enabling universe