How does quantum physics protect our universe from sudden annihilation?

Could the state of emptiness upon which our universe is based suddenly change and give way to new physical laws that erase everything we know? This theoretical question has preoccupied physicists for decades.

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This issue stems from the equations of the Standard Model of particle physics, where calculations relating to the Higgs field, the field responsible for giving particles their mass, indicate that the universe may currently be resting in a temporary energy state called the pseudo-vacuum.

If this is theoretically true, there remains a remote possibility that the field could leak into a lower and more stable energy state called the true vacuum, through a tunnel called the quantum tunnel, which could lead to a radical change in the nature of matter and its laws, i.e., the collapse of the universe.

A field in physics is an entity that extends across time and space, has a value at every point, and can interact with other fields and influence the behavior of matter and energy.

In quantum physics, each type of elementary particle is associated with its own field that extends throughout the universe, and the particle appears as a quantum excitation or vibration in that field; for example, the electron is an excitation in the electron field, and the photon is an excitation in the electromagnetic field.

The study showed that the interaction of fields in the early universe with their surroundings prevents such a transformation and makes the vacuum state completely stable in what is known as the "cosmic shutdown mode".

A real void and a false one

Gregory says: "In our simplified model, we imagine an energy landscape containing two valleys, or two states of emptiness; one deeper and representing the true emptiness, and the other with higher energy and representing the false emptiness."

Imagine the state of a physical field as a ball resting inside a mountain hollow at a great height. This hollow represents a false vacuum; the ball appears stable within it, but below the mountain lies a deeper valley representing the true vacuum with the lowest energy. According to the classical laws of motion, the ball needs sufficient thrust to rise to the edge of the hollow and roll down into the valley.

But the quantum nature of the particles in the fields sometimes makes them behave like waves whose probabilities spread out in space, allowing them to penetrate the cavity wall and pass directly through a hidden tunnel towards the deep valley without having to climb to the top.

For our current universe, the field remaining trapped in its current cavity is the primary guarantee that the physical laws remain as they are, while its crossing the tunnel means the disappearance of this stability.

Gregory adds: "These interactions actually monitor the field, constantly transmitting information about its state to the surrounding environment. We found that this process can strongly inhibit quantum tunneling, effectively stabilizing the field in its current state. This is closely related to what physicists call the 'quantum Zeno effect,' which has been experimentally observed on much smaller scales in systems such as atoms and quantum bits, where repeated monitoring of a quantum system can impede its evolution."