We"re taking KK here and not KKK. In physics, the Kaluza Klein theory is a model that seeks to unify the two fundamental forces of gravitation and electromagnetism. In the search for life, what it means, where we might be headed in 2012 concept-era, and even after we leave this third dimensional world, is part of the KK theory. Lisa Randall challenges our status quo thinking in her book, Warped Pasages.
The KK theory was first published in 1921 and was discovered by the mathematician Theodor Kaluza who extended general relativity to a five-dimensional spacetime. Then in In 1926, Oskar Klein proposed that the fourth spatial dimension is curled up in a circle of very small radius, so that a particle moving a short distance along that axis would return to where it began. The distance a particle can travel before reaching its initial position is said to be the size of the dimension.
We"re talking very small dimensions here. So enter the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which is a particle accelerator and hadron collider located at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland which is to begin operations in a few weeks now. This huge enterprise will bang together tremendously energetic particles that could turn into new types of matter we have never seen before. If there are extra dimiensions that we"ve not yet known or verified, the LHC will be able to leave visible traces of such.
Are we really ready for the changes between now adn 2012?
But there could be dangers involved as well. Concerns have been raised that performing collisions at previously unexplored energies might unleash new and disastrous phenomena. These include the production of micro black holes. And everything I know about black holes says that this isn"t necessarily good.
Experiments at the LHC will allow physicists to take a big leap on a journey that started with Newton"s description of gravity. Gravity is ubiquitous since it acts on mass, but so far science is unable to explain why particles have the masses they have. LHC experiments will also probe the mysterious missing mass and dark energy of the Universe, they will investigate the reason for nature"s preference for matter over antimatter, probe matter as it existed close to the beginning of time, and look for extra dimensions of spacetime. May we not upset whatever harmonic balance we still have.
But, nothing ventured, nothing gained. No pain, no gain, And all that stuff! It all happens sometimes next month! As, Paul Harvey would say, "Stand by for NEWS!"