The Expanding Universe and Dark Energy's Uncertain Fate

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Today we are joined by theoretical physicist Claudia de Rham for her return appearance on Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal to discuss the possibility that gravity itself has mass. In this mind-bending conversation, she explores how this idea challenges long-held assumptions in general relativity and opens the door to a new understanding of dark energy and the structure of the universe. We also dive into the frontiers of cosmology, quantum gravity, and what it means to question the foundations of physics.

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Links Mentioned:

•⁠ ⁠The Beauty of Falling (Claudia’s book): https://amzn.to/4i4Z9cx

•⁠ ⁠Claudia’s published papers: https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/c.de-rham/publications

•⁠ ⁠Claudia’s first appearance on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve_Mpd6dGv8&t=83s&ab_channel=CurtJaimungal

•⁠ ⁠Carlo Rovelli on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF4SAketEHY

•⁠ ⁠Curt’s Substack article on energy: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/what-is-energy-actually

•⁠ ⁠Neil Turok on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUp9x44N3uE

•⁠ ⁠Tim Palmer on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlklA6jsS8A

•⁠ ⁠DESI article on The Economist: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/06/19/the-dominant-model-of-the-universe-is-creaking

•⁠ ⁠String Theory Iceberg on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4PdPnQuwjY

•⁠ ⁠Leonard Susskind on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p_Hlm6aCok

•⁠ ⁠Chiara Marletto and Vlatko Vedral on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uey_mUy1vN0

•⁠ ⁠TOE’s telling of “The Dark History of Anti-Gravity”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBA3RUxkZdc

•⁠ ⁠Positive Signs in Massive Gravity (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/1601.04068

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

01:20 - Claudia's Approach

09:11 - Claudia's Motivation

14:45 - Dark Energy

23:35 - Causality

27:19 - Other Approaches

45:10 - New Physics

50:47 - Dark Energy (continued)

57:36 - Quantum Gravity / String Theory

01:14:10 - Gravitons & Photons

01:21:44 - Symmetry

01:30:25 - Double Slit Experiment

01:50:15 - Cosmology

01:54:45 - Massive Graviton

02:00:10 - Conclusion

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