Why the Graviton Sucks

 Harrison Teele

29 January 2025

HST401 - Seminar in Science Writing

Professor Horgan


Why the Graviton Sucks


There exists a food truck that is posted about everywhere on social media; everyone is talking about it. Despite the hype, it shows up once every 15 years and parks on the shoulder of I-95 somewhere between Boston and Miami. If someone happens to come across it, it will have been too late, and all they will encounter is the faint smell of a food truck. Obviously I am not raving about a food truck, but this seems to be the same fruitless chase that particle physicists are putting themselves through in order to detect a hypothetical particle–the graviton. This so-called massless fundamental particle has yielded nothing, and in fact only complicates our current understanding of gravity. The graviton sucks, so why do we put so much effort into finding it?


Characterized as the particle that could further a “theory of everything”, physicists, including researchers right here at Stevens (Tobar et. al, 2024), have put incredible amounts of work (and Department of Defense funding) into the search for the graviton. Of course I don’t actually think the graviton sucks and that the search is pointless. The intelligence and funding poured into the completion of a unified theory of physics has led to amazing discoveries with instruments such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). The discovery and explanation of literal forces of nature is something that I still find myself in awe of. The completion, or anything to further the understanding of a unified field theory is something that I wish to see and even be a part of in my lifetime.


To discover and prove these building blocks of nature, incredibly high energies are required to even achieve proper operating conditions to begin applying theories to experimentation. Michael Banks spoke with three physicists at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland regarding the Higgs boson, which was discovered in 2012. Banks asked the “so what?” question regarding particle accelerator projects at CERN. Physicist Philip Burrows explained that their project is vital to learning more about the “top quark, given it is the heaviest fundamental particle that we are aware of” (Burrows, 2024). Even at this moment as I read the article and 20-some Wikipedia tabs I have open about Higgs bosons, CERN, and quarks, I still find myself both amazed and overwhelmed by what researchers are able to accomplish in particle physics. Every tiny experiment, disruptive theory, and acronym that physicists at these facilities research is one step closer to a unified theory.


I think another reason why particle physics excites me so much is that some discoveries are often disruptive of existing models. The graviton further complicated the notion of relativity and quantum gravity, paving the way for more intricate theories like string theory (which not even string theory researchers could explain clearly). My favorite example of this has always been the geocentric theory of the solar system. The obvious answer before particle accelerators and space telescopes was that, of course everything we saw in the sky orbited around Earth, because why wouldn’t it revolve around God’s domain? People believed this for more than 2000 years! Copernicus single-handedly dismantled the cosmic and theological importance of humanity with mathematical models, leading Newton to cite him, where eventually Newton’s theory was also dismantled by Einstein. The dismantling and reorganization of major theories is one of my favorite games to witness when studying physics, especially when every other class in my undergraduate studies says, “Remember that thing you learned two semesters ago? It’s actually been disproven about 100 years ago and here’s how…”.  


Though I don’t expect the graviton to completely uproot the fact that an apple will fall from a tree, I can’t wait for the new discoveries in physics that will guide us to a more complete theory of nature. The graviton, even despite its romanticization, will have a profound impact on a unified field theory. One day I would like to be lucky enough to have done my part in the advancement of a theory of everything. Maybe once that theory is also dismantled, people hundreds of years in the future will say that the graviton sucks.


Works Cited

Banks, Michael. “How a next-generation particle collider could unravel the mysteries of the Higgs boson.” Physics World, 22 October 2024, https://physicsworld.com/a/how-a-next-generation-particle-collider-could-unravel-the-mysteries-of-the-higgs-boson/. Accessed 29 January 2025.

Tobar, Germain, et al. “Detecting single gravitons with quantum sensing.” Nature Communications, vol. 7229, 2024. Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51420-8. Accessed 28 January 2025.

Weber, Joseph. “Gravitation and Light.” NASA Technical Reports Server, NASA, 1966, https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19680004835/downloads/19680004835.pdf. Accessed 28 January 2025.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Molecules, Models, and Magic: The Exciting World of Computational Chemistry

Vrinda Modi I often spend time in a little cubicle in McLean in the freezing corporate cold wrapped in a blanket in the Hoboken summers sipping on free coffee from the office above. It almost always tastes like chalk, but the routine is so embedded in me. Hence, this is the perfect opportunity to talk a little more about my research in computational chemistry here at Stevens and the advances I expect in the next few years. This field excites me because it bridges my interest in chemistry with modern computing techniques, a powerful tool for advancing our understanding of chemical reactions and molecular interactions. This means we are a dry lab – running simulations on computers. No chemicals, no PPE, just models and algorithms. But why does computational chemistry exist in the first place, especially when chemistry is so rooted in physical matter? The answer is efficiency. Modeling molecules on a computer saves us from ordering chemicals, waiting for deliveries (a delay in chemistry t...
Read more

Scaling the Potential of Vertical Farming Going into 2025 and Beyond

Image
  Matthew P Kearney Scaling the Potential of Vertical Farming Going into 2025 and Beyond      Vertical farming may seem like something out of a futuristic movie, but they are very real in today’s agricultural industry. Vertical farming may promote a stronger relationship between urbanization and sustainable crop production. Based on recent innovations across agriculture and technology, vertical farming has the potential to revolutionize our current farming system. Through the development of vertical farming-based production lines, cities and otherwise unfarmable areas can be provided with fresh, local, and pesticide-free produce. Vertical farming and other adaptations of agriculture are not new ideas, but instead a historic and human process.      These technologies are ready to meaningfully address global food security through the technological and computational advancements in agriculture. Vertical farming has a promising future, which becomes a case...
Read more

Knot Your Average Problem: How do Tongue Ties Impact Oral Myofunctional Health?

Image
  Hadia Hussain      Knot Your Average Problem: How do Tongue Ties Impact Oral Myofunctional Health? Sitting in the nursery of the dental office where I worked, I reviewed Baby V’s medical history and reports from the Emergency Department at Jersey City Medical Center. I found it odd that, despite multiple visits and clear signs of malnutrition, no physician had been able to diagnose the cause. Baby V, at a low weight of 12 pounds was struggling with difficulty nursing and bottle feeding, excessive gassiness, colic, clicking sounds when feeding, milk dribbling out of the mouth, and mouth breathing—but doctors had dismissed these signs, labeling him as "healthy."  It didn’t make sense as his low weight raised serious concerns.  According to Pediatric specialists Jenny Olson, DNP, and Sarha DeVrieze, ARNP, at the UnityPoint Clinic, a 9-month-old baby boy should weigh anywhere in between the range of 17 to 25 pounds. Baby V's situation was clearly a ...
Read more