Sean Carroll: Is the Universe Twisted? Limits on Lorentz Violation & other Screwy Ideas! (#084)

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Physics, Natural Sciences, Science

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2020

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1990, Sean Carroll’s, George Field and Roman Jackiw wrote an epochal paper that had a tremendous impact on physics, and in particular, on me and my career as a young graduate student in the 1990’s. Recently, evidence for the parity violating effect from Cosmic Microwave Background observations by Planck was announced in Physical Review Letters: https://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/b0070Yf9I0214c6835b00d89342658c8255c84496 Sean will discuss the background physics behind this effect and the implications for physics if the PRL is confirmed by upcoming polarimeters or otherwise convincing evidence is found. I will discuss some of the experimental challenges to making such a measurement and prospects for upcoming experiments such as CLASS, BICEP Array, SPT3G, Simons Array, ACT, LiteBIRD, Simons Observatory, and CMB Stage 4 to make a definitive, high confidence level claim. While you’re waiting for the livestream to start here is some homework 1) Subscribe to Sean’s Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRhV1rWIpm_pU19bBm_2RXw?sub_confirmation=1 2) Enjoy this video from the SETI institute on cosmic birefringence, including a 1997 claim that Sean refuted, that I presented 4 years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QywRTlcocBE 3) Read the original paper by Carroll, Field, and Jackiw: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13277928_Limits_on_a_Lorentz-_and_parity-violating_modification_of_electrodynamics 4) And, read the abstract of the current paper, accepted for publication in PRL: https://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/b0070Yf9I0214c6835b00d89342658c8255c84496 5) Watch my review of Sean’s book, The Big Picture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg4t_snAPwY?sub_confirmation=1 6) Watch my interview with Sean about his latest book, Something Deeply Hidden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKEXbSe0hV0?sub_confirmation=1 Sean Michael Carroll (born October 5, 1966) is a theoretical physicist specializing in quantum mechanics, gravity, and cosmology. He is a research professor in the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics in the California Institute of Technology Department of Physics.[1] He has been a contributor to the physics blog Cosmic Variance, and has published in scientific journals such as Nature as well as other publications, including The New York Times, Sky & Telescope, and New Scientist. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ‍♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Awesome. All right. Well, there's already a bunch of people out there on the intertubes to witness this once in a lifetime.
0:10.4	Maybe maybe it'll happen again next time there's some amazing
0:14.4	announcement amazing discovery but I'm joined today by Sean M Carroll of the
0:19.2	California Institute of Technology which I believe is a small technical college in LA, is that right?
0:23.8	It is, yeah, it's, you know, for vocational students who want to learn a trade.
0:29.0	That's right.
0:30.0	There's no better place to learn a trade, I suppose. Let me close up all these windows here and
0:35.1	you're reading me loud and clear I hope. I can hear you sound good. Great.
0:40.0	So hopefully people out there are watching and it is a treat to welcome none other than Sean Carroll
0:47.1	Professor Dr Sean Carroll of the California Institute technology who has been a great influence on me and many other scientists
0:55.6	throughout the years.
0:57.1	And one of the things that he is best known for in the outside of scientific communication,
1:02.4	as many books, is that he is one of the originators
1:06.2	of a modification to none other than the Maxwell's equations
1:10.6	of electromagnetism that I find quite intriguing and that's something that I thought
1:17.1	of no one better to speak to than Sean about this claimed potential evidence for possible discovery of what is known as
1:26.5	Cosmic Birefringence which would be sort of a mysterious discovery if confirmed let me make sure that Sean is being shown. Yes he is.
1:35.6	And here I am, I'm Brian Keating, you know what I look like, but it's pleasure to bring
1:41.8	you this live today stream and there's a lot of people in the chat room already asking questions I encourage you to ask questions in the chat and we'll try to get to them
1:49.7	and Sean is joining us from his laboratory.
1:53.0	You know, when I came to visit you last time,
1:55.0	you only had Richard Feynman's desk.
	...

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