Re: Different laws of physics

On Aug 19, 4:11 pm, Erik Max Francis <m...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Howard Brazee wrote:
Cosmologists sometimes talk about regions of space that don't have our
laws of physics.    This doesn't mean worlds where magic exists - but
I'm wondering what it might mean.   Different values of G?  Different
speeds of light?   Different quantum mechanics?   Different Newtonian
laws?

It might mean all of these things, or more.  We don't know what
"parameters" make up the laws of physics in a Universe.  So nobody
really knows precisely what it means -- or, indeed, even if the concept
is reasonable.  Our laws of physics may be the only internally
consistent ones there are.

Well, we think we know some of them, although we may be wrong. The
concept is at least sufficiently reasonable that several papers have
been published on the subjects of what happens if the parameters are
changed, what might cause them to change, and whether or not regions
with different laws can be accessed from each other.

Note that when cosmologists _do_ talk about these other-physics regions,
they're usually talking about different physical universes, or regions
of spacetime that are casually disconnected from ours.  In other words,
they're talking about places you could never, even in principle, visit
(not that you'd want to) or interact with.

Usually, but not always. One thing that's fairly well established is
that Stuff Works Differently above the energy scales where fundamental
forces become unified. Bits of vacuum operating under those conditions
are separated from 'normal' space by domain walls, but domain walls
can also (so the math says, not that we've ever actually seen it)
separate lower-energy regions where the forces separated differently
when space cooled down.

One of the neater ideas along those lines is a region of space where
electricity and magnetism are decoupled, and photons have mass, which
limits the range of electrical and magnetic fields and puts a minimum
energy requirement on photon emission.

-l.
.

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