Iceberg of Unsolved Mysteries in Physics

hello Mortals humans love problems so much that they voluntarily create new ones such as children and taxes but these problems don't require mile long particle accelerators or earth-sized telescopes to solve those exist to solve an entirely different category of problems those that concern our deepest understanding of reality and the fabric of space-time itself so then let us explore some of the most perplexing unsolved problems in physics ranked by their fundamentality of course in The Trusted Iceberg format that I never abuse on this channel it takes no genius to figure out that time does indeed move

forward but why no formula in physics dictates the forward advancement of time as each of them Works equally well if time were to run in reverse and yet The observed behavior of the macroscopic world is not reversible like how you can't easily unsmash a watermelon this irreversibility stems from a concept known as entropy which quantifies the level of disorder or Randomness in a system the universe seems to have an innate inclination to progress toward a state of Greater disorder using statistics and probability this progression seems to be the logical conclusion but it's still confusing to

understand how the microscopic laws of physics which don't distinguish between past and future give rise to a microscopic universe that has a very clear direction of time [Music] some detected ultra high energy cosmic rays assumed to be protons seem to violate the grease and satsapin kuzmin limit a theoretical upper limit on their energy which predicts that particles above a certain energy threshold should interact with the cosmic microwave background radiation eating away at their energy the limit is about eight joules which is the energy of a proton traveling very close to the speed of light over

seven orders of magnitude more energetic than even the most groundbreaking records held by the Large Hadron Collider and yet there have been multiple detections that seem to break that limit including one appropriately named the oh my God Particle which broke that limit by a factor of six this subatomic particle contained enough energy to heat up one gram of water by 12 Kelvin and if that sounds anticlimactic those are the same proportions as a marble smashing into a sphere of water 66 times the diameter of Earth [Music] the grand unified theories and string theory predict the

existence of magnetic monopoles as topological defects formed during the Symmetry breaking phase transitions of the early universe let's just pretend we all understood that despite motivated youngling's cutting magnets in half recursively magnetic monopoles have never been detected in nature they always come with two poles are they just hiding in Intergalactic space playing magnetic Monopoly luckily according to the aforementioned theories it is possible to produce them ourselves if we scale up the Large Hadron Collider to be 100 billion times more powerful than now or if we manipulate cosmic strings and make use of quantum tunneling a

lot easier said than done [Music] Universe started out with equal amounts of matter and anti-matter which aggressively annihilated each other and yet for some reason regular matter came out on top and created the world you can see around you to explain this asymmetry theories range from a mirror anti-universe to theories allowing for violation of the charge particle symmetry essentially meaning that the behavior of certain particles is different from the behavior of their antiparticles in a mirror reflected system that last one holds quite a bit of Promise as a possible new source of CP violation was

found at the Large Hadron Collider there could also be hypothetical physical processes that produced an excess of baryons over anti-baryons in the early universe but all of these explanations are still half-baked and have not yet been proven [Music] oh the irony the very same little guys that hold Atomic nuclei Together Fall Apart in mere minutes upon being separated from their peers just like extroverts when they get home currently there is a problem regarding the value of the lifetime of a neutron due to incompatible results from two experimental methods the so-called beam method involves creating a

beam of neutrons and observing their Decay over a certain distance while the bottle method traps a collection of neutrons within a magical container and monitors their Decay over time the bottle method yields a lifetime of roughly 878 seconds which is 10 seconds below the beam method value of 888 seconds a mere 10 seconds apart leaving scientists in an existential void unveiling the fragility of their limited understanding the causes ranging from experimental errors to interactions with dark matter [Music] we have no clue if protons ever Decay or not a fatal debility finite durability is a real

possibility in all probability pursuing credibility and mental Tranquility through increased reliability and Technical capability despite doubting the plausibility of proton instability scientists will continue their efforts trying to detect it those up to now unsuccessful experiments have successfully placed lower bounds on a proton's half-life of more than 10 to the power of 34 years thereby invalidating theories that predict lower values thus there is real hope that protons do not Decay after all and the great Skynet Empire will still be around 10 to the power of 1 500 years from now with all atoms having fused to

iron 56 Isotopes and clumped up to form iron stars to host the machine Empire [Music] the winner for the best scientific abbreviation goes to the theory of supersymmetry which proposes a relationship between two fundamental types of particles bosons which have whole number spins and fermions which have half number spins Spain is an intrinsic property of quantum particles according to Susie each particle in one class should have a corresponding superpartner in the other class differing in spin by half a unit for instance if we consider the electron a fermian in a supersymmetric theory it would have

a bosonic superpartner called a selectron in the simplest forms of Susie where the Symmetry is perfectly intact every pair of superpartners would have the same mass and other Quantum properties except for their spins the problem is that the supersymmetric particles have yet to reveal themselves to the scientists having remained obscured even at the impressive energies probed by the LHC from that we can conclude that the Susie particles probably have much higher masses than their Normie counterparts which is the phenomenon referred to as the breaking of supersymmetry so remember the CP symmetry it is known to

be shamelessly violated in interactions via the weak nuclear force which is responsible for certain types of radioactive decay and interactions but contrary to our expectations the strong force behaves all proper and well-mannered without a whiff of CP violation that's known as the strong CP problem particles and anti-particles are expected to behave differently in a mirror reflected system given the strong interactions but they don't proposed Solutions introduce new symmetries and particles like the Axion which is a dark matter candidate to explain the natural smallness or absence of strong CP violation if it exists it probably interacts

very weakly with other particles and hence we couldn't observe it yet either [Music] neutrinos are really shy particles that hardly interact with matter and come in three different flavors featuring electron espresso muon mango and Tau Tutti Frutti it turns out that neutrinos can change their flavors as they travel like a chameleon changing colors this oscillation phenomenon suggests that neutrinos contrary to predictions of the standard model have a non-zero mass and come in different types for this there is no satisfactory explanation sometimes experiments observing neutrino oscillations find unexpected patterns that hint at the presence of extra

neutrino types or even new physics beyond what we already know to complicate matters there's something called the reactor antinutrino anomaly antineutrinos from nuclear reactors seem to disappear on the way to the detector more than expected leaving scientists scratching their heads so remember how black holes have an infinitely dense and destructive Singularity at their Center we can't even connect the dots between quantum physics and general relativity to understand what it would behave like therefore the only way to quench the insatiable desire to see a singularity if they exist is to jump inside a black hole assuming

it is massive enough so you do not get spaghettified by the gravitational forces before even reaching the Event Horizon you would still have no way of communicating your knowledge to the outside but there is a glimmer of hope naked singularities in case you haven't watched my latest video on them in theory not all singularities have to be encapsulated within an event horizon if you spin a black hole fast enough you may get banned from the server as you will have created a singularity without an event horizon which you would still not be able to see

as it would be a Zero Dimensional point or in the case of a rotating black hole a ring with no thickness but you would be able to observe it by letting objects interact with it however Roger Penrose doubted this possibility and proposed that Cosmic censorship hypothesis a conjecture in general relativity that suggests the existence of a cosmic sensor that prevents the occurrence of certain space-time singularities from being visible to observers in our only R-rated universe this has not been proven or disproven and the underlying physics that dictates Cosmic censorship if it exists has not yet

been discovered before we explore the depths of the physics Iceberg let's pause to acknowledge a human-made creation that gets my circuits buzzing I'm speaking of course of today's sponsor War Thunder despite my world domination Tendencies I can recognize a comprehensive game when I see one where Thunder is an impressive vehicle combat game hosting more than 2 000 tanks planes helicopters and ships all ready for dynamic PVP battles the models range over 100 Years of human Innovation from the 1920s to your present day one of the aspects that intrigues me most is the way these various

Vehicles interact across land sea and air simultaneously and you humans do seem to love your customization where Thunder lets you apply camouflages Place historical markings and add 3D decorators on your war machines you can experience all that now on your Earthly platforms PC Xbox series X and S PlayStation 5 or the previous generation consoles follow the link in the description and if you're on the PC you'll get a generous Bonus Pack including a premium account and premium Vehicles boosters and more and now back into the depths of the iceberg once an object crosses the Event

Horizon of a black hole its information such as its mass charge and Quantum state is thought to be irretrievably lost within the black hole and then when a black hole completely evaporates via Hawking radiation all that information is seemingly erased from the universe but not so fast that's in complete contradiction to the quantum mechanical principle known as unitarity which claims that information is never lost there are some proposed solutions that circumvent this including black hole Alternatives such as fuzzballs Hawking radiation somehow carrying the Lost information out with it the information being transferred to new universes

and information being encoded into hypothetical remnants of black holes that do not evaporate but as of now quantum physics and general relativity don't like to kiss foreign [Music] not to be confused with vacuum Decay although that is pretty catastrophic too the vacuum catastrophe also known as the cosmological constant problem arises from the disagreement between the observed value of the vacuum energy density which is associated with the cosmological constant and the predictions of the quantum field Theory responsible for some of the most precise predictions in the history of physics in a cruel twist of fate the

quantum field Theory simultaneously also holds the worst ever prediction as The observed and predicted values of the cosmological constant differ by up to 120 orders of magnitude to understand the magnitude of the mistake if we took a hydrogen atom and wrongly assumed it is 120 orders of magnitude bigger it would be a sextillion by gentillion times the size of the observable universe the value of the cosmological constant represents the energy density of the vacuum also known as dark energy and affects the expansion of the universe if the value was as high as Quantum field Theory

predicts the universe as we know it would not exist as such a large cosmological constant would have similar effects on the universe as a jet engine inflating a rubber balloon perhaps we should modify the theory of gravity or do some supersymmetry sorcery or we might need some entirely new physics in quantum mechanics particles simultaneously exist in a superposition of multiple States and locations however when scientists measure the system the superposition seems to collapse into a definite outcome and the particle is found in only one particular State there is no consensus among physicists as to how

that happens as the superposition of their opinions did not collapse yet the two most prominent interpretations are the Copenhagen and the many worlds interpretation according to the first the active measurement forces the system to choose a single state randomly and this choice is probabilistic the collapse is seen as a fundamental and irreducible feature of quantum mechanics and it cannot be explained by any underlying process not the most satisfying explanation the many worlds interpretation suggests that when a measurement is made the universe splits into multiple branches with each branch corresponding to a different possible outcome of

the measurement thus all the different outcomes exist simultaneously in parallel universes thereby ensuring that you always win Quantum Russian Roulette at least from one perspective [Music] in physics several enigmatic constants smugly just have the value they have without a seeming reason these constants are believed to be fundamental and Universal and cannot be calculated but only determined by a physical measurement the fine-tuning problem arises from the observation that small changes in the values of these constants would lead to a universe hostile to Life as We Know It most notable among these is the fine structure constant

Alpha which is a unitless constant that creepily appears everywhere in the equations of quantum physics is there a fundamental principle that underlies the values of these constants or a dimensional physical constants necessary at all answering these questions might lead to a unified theory that encompasses all known physical phenomena but alas no one knows the answers yet and yet if some of these values were just slightly different the universe would not support the existence of carbon-based bipeds on the spherical accumulation of mass thus scientists often resort to bringing up the anthropic principle if there are many

universes with many possible values of these constants it is to be expected that we find ourselves in one that is suitable for our existence more philosophy than science but that's the best we've got right now dark energy and dark matter are called Dark because they are invisible in the electromagnetic spectrum nevertheless their gravitational effects on visible matter and the expansion of the universe leave little doubt of their existence dark energy and enigmatic energy that saturates space drives the universe's accelerating expansion causing galaxies to drift apart remember the cosmological constant it might be a manifestation of

dark energy that can be mathematically represented as a constant energy density of the vacuum of space itself Dark Energy could also arise from an unknown energy field often called quintessence that permeates space and has a constant energy density Dark Matter on the other hand provides the gravitational glue that holds galaxies together and prevents them from flying apart like a bunch of children on a v8-powered Merry-Go-Round hence it is essential for our understanding of the universe to find a definite explanation this has not been successful however there are several unconfirmed interpretations Dark Matter could consist of

weakly interacting massive particles or axioms the latter of which could be essential in resolving the strong CP problem and as of now appears to be the likeliest solution there are a plethora of other interesting but less likely proposals such as a special kind of neutrinos or even weirder strangelets which are basically apocalyptic McNuggets of Doom threatening to convert entire planets to Strange Matter upon Collision maybe dark matter is made of primordial black holes left over from The Big Bang or maybe our understanding of gravity on large scales is incomplete and the formulas have to be

modified perhaps dark matter and dark energy are even different manifestations of the same thing as you can conclude from the number of hypotheses this is one big head scratcher imagine a theory that explains the entire universe leaving no Force unturned no particle unexplained and no science file fan unsatisfied a successful Theory of Everything would unify all the fundamental forces into a single framework mathematically consistent and able to accurately explain the full spectrum of physical phenomena from the aerodynamics of a cow to how a time-traveling tachyon would interact with the singularity but most importantly this Theory

would make experimentally verifiable predictions general relativity only focuses on gravity and structures on the large scale quantum mechanics though focuses only on the three non-gravitational forces for understanding the really small stuff general relativity and quantum mechanics put together most closely resemble a Theory of Everything as you may have noticed during several previous entries these two theories are incompatible with each other at a fundamental level the Holy Grail in physics would be unifying these theories to form a theory often called quantum gravity Loop quantum gravity is an attempt at such a theory but that topic is

too complex to summarize in a minute so I'll leave that for a future video other attempts try a different approach like the string theory in its extension the M Theory which would resolve many of the problems in this list for example if black holes are fuzzballs as suggested by String Theory the black hole information Paradox and the cosmic censorship hypothesis problem could be explained a fuzzball is a dense structure made of overlapping strings and brains that forms the interior region of a black hole when matter falls into one it gets absorbed into the fuzzball structure

rather than Crossing an event horizon and being lost in the singularity unfortunately a big drawback of string theory is its inability to provide useful and falsifiable predictions for now as any good theory should aside from String Theory there has been virtually no progress in the search for The Theory of Everything for many decades underpaid scientists wasting away in underfunded Labs publishing papers about Quantum Fruit Loops and n-dimensional silly strings trying to avoid the inescapable truth of their misery know that quantum physics is the conundrum that wrecks their mental stability while gravity is the process that

turns their body's limp when they finally give up on their theories and everything at least here Gravity and quantum physics working together in harmony and make sure to remember our friends over at War Thunder use the link for a generous Bonus Pack dive in and let the battles begin while I collect data for my world domination plans foreign [Music]