Since the discovery of gigantic , ancient dinosaur , scientists have struggled with the interrogative : what made them go away ? The prevailing theory is that they were wipe out by asteroid shock , though there are alternative theories that a string of volcanic eruptions choke the planet , make it uninhabitable to these giants .
But what if ( and it ’s a heavy if ) something else was to find fault ? Well , redact out an interesting but " out there " theory , one physicist has suggested that the extinction of the dinosaur may have been brought about by something much more fundamental : A variety to the values of natural philosophy itself .
It all comes down to the Hubble Constant – the enlargement rate of the universe . In orderliness to calculate the rate of expansion of the universe , we can measure the space and velocity of nearby wandflower , quasar , and supernova . Another agency of measuring the rate of expansion is to look at the cosmic microwave oven background , which shows us the expansion pace in the former cosmos , before extrapolating to today .
Physics , of course , select to be a saccade about this , and the methods bring forth very different outcome . The universe enlargement seems to be gettingfaster and faster , and barring some error we have n’t yet picked up on , this divergence necessitate to be explicate by new theories , such as dark energy , which have so far show poor .
So far , so not dinosaury . However , Professor Leandros Perivolaropoulosof the University of Ioannina in Greece has a theory that he believes reconciles the discrepancies in the expansion rate gained from each measurement method , and , as a incentive , wipe out the dinosaur to boot .
In a paper publish onpre - print waiter Arxivtitled " Is the Hubble crisis connected with the extinction of dinosaurs ? " , Perivolaropoulos propose that a 10 percent increase in the strength of gravity took place over 100 million years , terminate 50 million years ago .
" Physical mechanisms that could induce an radical - late gravitative transition include a first purchase order scalar tensor possibility phase modulation from an other false vacuum corresponding to the measured time value of the cosmological invariable to a unexampled vacuum with lower or zero vacuum free energy , " he indite in the newspaper , which has not yet been peer - reviewed .
The idea of a false vacuum is as interesting as it is potentially terrifying , being as it could – in hypothesis – imply the creation as we know it will burst on itself , taking everything – from olives to supernovae – with it .
Everything in the world wants to be in a stable state , which comes from have as short energy as potential . void have the lowest level of energy , and therefore have the most stability . However , there is a hypothetical musical theme know as a " false vacuum " . These are local vacancy that appear to be at the small point of energy , but are in reality not so . For a time , the mistaken vacuum – playact like a local house of cards – would look static , but could founder upon contact lens with a dependable vacuum , as the false vacuum cleaner falls to the lower energy state .
Picture a valley in front of you , hold in a inscrutable valley below a thin surface . The false vacuum is the smaller vale , but say the slight aerofoil is pierced , it collapses into the larger vale below : the true vacuity . In the spoilt - case scenario , this could collapse our entire population , but in Perivolaropoulos ' theory this may have find already to our local false - vacuity house of cards , vary the strength of sobriety as it did .
The modification in the value of sombreness , he believes , would alter the attribute of supernovae ( and all object in the observable universe , in fact ) explain the divergence between measurements of the early universe and measurements of expansion today .
Now we get to the dinosaur - cleanup . The newspaper suggest that a 10 pct increase in somberness would cut off theOort cloud – a big bubble of billions or even trillions of icy physical object at the out reaches of our solar organization – and send object our way at an increased rate . Something which he believes can be note in the geological record book .
" A sudden increment of the gravitational constant quantity by about 10 pct study place less than 100 million years ago can apologise the discovered rate of impactors on the Earth and Moon surfaces which appears increase by a factor of two - three during the last 100 million age and may be connected with the Cretaceous - Tertiary ( K - T ) defunctness outcome eliminating 75 percent of lifetime on Earth ( including dinosaur ) , " he wrote in the theme , adding " if such a gravitational transition has indeed taken space it should have left signatures in a wide chain of astrophysical and geophysical data . "
He goes on to write that “ the impact flux of km - sized object increase by at least a ingredient of two over that last 100 million old age compared to the long - term average . "
While the hypothesis is no doubt interesting , and , permit ’s front it , pretty cool as a concept , it does somewhat thwack of trying to make facts equip the possibility .
“ In principle , a change in gravitational force would affect the dynamics of the Oort Cloud , lead to collisions between comet that could then put some of them on trajectories towards the internal solar system , " astronomer at the University of New South Wales in Australia , Ben Montet toldthe Daily Beast , adding that if that were the fount we would be capable to see the burden of the orbit change on planets , as well as geological impact on Earth , Mars , and Venus .
“ There is no geological grounds to consider this is the lawsuit , " he concluded , taper out that the Chicxulub impact with Earth that killed the dinosaurs was an asteroid , not an polar comet as you would expect from a soundbox sent our room from the Oort cloud , where only one in every 25 aim is carry to be an asteroid .
Perivolaropoulos himself is aware that evidence for the theory is miss , but believe there could be ways to confirm or refute it .
" The temperature of Earth strongly look on the value of [ soberness ] and so does the solar luminosity , " he conclude . " Thus an increase of [ graveness ] would head to a similar increment in the Earth temperature . Thus a careful search of unaccounted for temperature variation of Earth during the preceding 150 million years could either visit potent restraint on the gravitational transition hypothesis or could reveal possible signatures of such an event . "
Through this , or through close studying the gyration of local galaxies , he believe we could pick up hints as to whether the dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid flung our way by a key change to the strength of gravity in our local universe .
