The Graviton

In Our Time: Science

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2005

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the search for the Graviton particle. Albert Einstein said "I know why there are so many people who love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees the results". Einstein spent the last thirty years of his life trying to find a theory that would unify electromagnetism with gravity, but success eluded him. The search is still on for a unifying theory of gravitational force and hopes are pinned on the location of the graviton - a hypothetical elementary particle that transmits the force of gravity. But the graviton is proving hard to find. Indeed, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN still won't allow us to detect gravitons per se, but might be able to prove their existence in other ways. The idea of the graviton particle first emerged in the middle of the 20th century, when the notion that particles as mediators of force was taken seriously. Physicists believed that it could be applicable to gravity and by the late 20th century the hunt was truly on for the ultimate theory, a theory of quantum gravity. So why is the search for the graviton the major goal of theoretical physics? How will the measurement of gravitation waves help prove its existence? And how might the graviton unite the seemingly incompatible theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics? With Roger Cashmore, Former Research Director at CERN and Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford; Jim Al-Khalili, Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey; Sheila Rowan, Reader in Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for downloading the In Our Time podcast.
0:02.2	For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.
0:07.1	UK forward slash Radio 4.
0:09.4	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:11.7	Hello, Albert Einstein said, I know why there are so many people who love chopping wood.
0:16.8	In this activity, one immediately sees the results.
0:19.9	Einstein spent the last 30 years of his life trying to find a theory that will unify
0:24.0	electromagnetism with gravity, but results eluded him.
0:28.3	The search is still on for a unifying theory of gravitational force and hopes are pinned on the location of the graviton, a hypothetical
0:34.9	elementary particle that transmits the force of gravity. But the graviton is proving hard to find.
0:40.0	Indeed, the next big research project which involves the largest earth-based laboratory in the world,
0:45.2	a circular ring which goes underground for about 27 kilometers and span Switzerland, France and Germany,
0:50.3	still won't allow us to detect gravitons per se, but might be able to prove their existence in other ways.
0:56.0	So why is the search for the graviton the major goal of theoretical physics?
1:00.0	How will the measurement of graviton waves help prove its existence?
1:03.8	And how might the graviton unite the seemingly incompatible theories of general
1:07.4	relativity and quantum mechanics?
1:09.6	With me to discuss the graviton, a Roger Cashmore, former director at Cern and principal of
1:14.2	Brasnose College Oxford, Jim Alkaleini, professor of physics at the University of
1:18.5	Surrey, and Sheila Rowan, reader in physics in the Department of Physics and
1:22.1	Astronomy at the University of Glasgow.
1:24.3	Roger Kashmore, a graviton is a hypothetical elementary particle that we think mediates
	...

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