CERN talks about the Einstein Machine
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What is the Einstein Machine experiment proposed by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research)? CERN had a lot to say about the machine experiment they proposed last month. The basic concept is that you take the Standard Model (SM) and add another dimension (D-space) and a new term to the Lagrangian of the theory - the Einstein term - so the resulting theory looks like this: The idea of having more dimensions is interesting. Many physicists believe that there are actually many more than 3 spatial dimensions (the usual 3 +1) and they can be rolled up into a small space - the idea of having more than 3 spatial dimensions is not new. However, CERN claims that it is experimentally confirmed that all these extra spatial dimensions must be extremely tiny, as tiny as, say, the width of an atom, so one would expect that there would be no traces of them. The D-space, if it exists, is supposed to be the only thing that exists. The SM in D-space is an attempt to get a unified picture of all forces in nature and a simple theory of mass - it's a nice theory but its one thing and the whole - an attempt to unify, describe and eventually predict all forces and masses - is a huge thing. The Einstein term is something that is really new. The Einstein term is supposed to break the general covariance of the theory, so that the theory is not invariant under the transformation between a frame of reference one to another. This property is essential to the structure of general relativity (GR) and therefore is really, really, really bad. CERN claims that this term can be explained as a possible manifestation of some as yet unknown quantum phenomenon, so there is no direct evidence for this term. However, the experiment would be absolutely amazing if it would work and give direct evidence for the existence of this term, so that's why it is proposed. As for what the name of the experiment is intended to mean, CERN claims that there are two possible terms. CERN calls one of them "the Einstein term" and the other "the term that has no physical meaning". This is the former. "the term that has no physical meaning" - I guess, this one means a different physical quantity. It can still be calculated in GR, but you will get zero as a result. I don't know how to explain that in a layman's language, so you have to use your imagination a bit. This term is supposed to tell something about the structure of the Universe and what the universe is supposed to be. This term doesn't exist in the SM. If it does exist, CERN calls it "the Einstein term". But we do not have any knowledge of this term. So we are actually studying something that is supposed to be known but that we do not know. That is the whole point. If the experiment works, it will give us direct, unambiguous evidence for the existence of the Einstein term and therefore indirectly, the structure of the Universe. If the experiment fails, we don't know anything about the structure of the Universe.
This is a satirical website. Don't take it Seriously. It's a joke.