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How the Physics of Nothing Underlies Everything

The Quanta Podcast

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The Stability of the Higgs Field

Most quantum fields that fill our universe have one and only one preferred state in which they'll remain for eternity. With scalar fields around, the stability of the vacuum is not necessarily absolute. A field's pendulums might have multiple semi-stable angles and a proclivity for switching from one configuration to another. The earths aren't certain whether the Higgs field has found its absolute favorite configuration, the true vacuum.

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