This article is a summary of the material on the variability of the laws of physics from the book “Space landscape. String theory and the illusion of intelligent design in the Universe.
More and more theoretical physicists are inclined to believe that the laws of physics can change and these changes are fatal in most cases. However, there are still places that are perfect for our existence. To understand how we ended up in this place, it is necessary to understand the variability of the laws of physics - how wide is the range of changes in the laws and how a region of space can change its character. This brings us to the main problem in the book - Landscape.
The landscape is a space of possibilities. The landscape is unlimited in three dimensions; it extends over hundreds or even thousands of dimensions. This is not a real place. This is a mathematical construction and each point reflects a set of possibilities of the environment, or possible vacuum .
Usually the word "vacuum" is used to denote the space from which air and any other substance was removed. But in theoretical physics, “vacuum” denotes a kind of stage on which physical action unfolds and potentially contains everything that can happen on this stage. These are all elementary particles and fundamental physical constants that can be measured in experiments carried out in this vacuum. After all, it is the environment in which the Laws of Physics take a certain form. Each individual vacuum means a different Law of Physics. Each point of the Terrain is a set of laws that can differ significantly from each other. And our standard model is just one of those points in the landscape of opportunity.
The idea of universes with alternative laws of nature seems like fantasy. But it is more real than it seems. Take MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), for example. The effect of a magnetic field is found in the form of small changes in the energy levels of atoms and is reflected in the radiation spectrum. Of course, the magnetic field of an MRI machine is weak in order to significantly influence the movement of charged particles. But in a very strong field, a person will feel uncomfortable and the influence can become fatal, because a change in the properties of atoms will lead to terrible consequences of the course of chemical and biological processes.
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I would be very glad if you liked this article. I recommend to all those who are interested in the material to read the book themselves, since in the summary I touched on a small part of it.