Peterson Public Lecture - 2007
Dr. Lawrence Krauss
Case Western Research University
Einstein's Biggest Blunder?: A Cosmic Mystery Story
Monday, March 12, 2007
7:00 p.m.
K-State Alumni Center
In 1915 Einstein completed his greatest triumph, the General
Theory of Relativity. This remarkable theory laid the basis not just for our
understanding of the motion of objects within the Universe, but the motion of
the universe itself! Yet, in 1916, it looked as if Einstein's theory did not
properly account for observations of the universe on large scales. To resolve
this problem, he added an additional term to his equations, the so-called
"Cosmological Constant". Within a decade however, observations indicated that
such a term was not necessary to obtain agreement with observations, and
Einstein called this addition his "biggest blunder". Over the past decade, new
observations have led to a revolution in cosmology. The standard model of
cosmology built up over a 20 year period up until the early 1990's is now dead.
Its replacement may be far more bizarre. In particular, new data from a wide
variety of independent cosmological and astrophysical observations, combine
together to strongly suggest most of the energy density of the universe today
may be contained in empty space! Remarkably, this is exactly what one would
expect if Einstein's Cosmological Constant really exists! If it does, its
origin is the biggest mystery in physics. I will close by briefly describing
possibile implications for our understanding of nature, for physics, and for
life, of this astounding new result.