Apr 09 2025 124 mins 146
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Today we are joined by theoretical physicist Claudia de Rham for her return appearance on Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal to discuss the possibility that gravity itself has mass. In this mind-bending conversation, she explores how this idea challenges long-held assumptions in general relativity and opens the door to a new understanding of dark energy and the structure of the universe. We also dive into the frontiers of cosmology, quantum gravity, and what it means to question the foundations of physics.
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Links Mentioned:
• The Beauty of Falling (Claudia’s book): https://amzn.to/4i4Z9cx
• Claudia’s published papers: https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/c.de-rham/publications
• Claudia’s first appearance on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve_Mpd6dGv8&t=83s&ab_channel=CurtJaimungal
• Carlo Rovelli on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF4SAketEHY
• Curt’s Substack article on energy: https://curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/what-is-energy-actually
• Neil Turok on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUp9x44N3uE
• Tim Palmer on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlklA6jsS8A
• DESI article on The Economist: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/06/19/the-dominant-model-of-the-universe-is-creaking
• String Theory Iceberg on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4PdPnQuwjY
• Leonard Susskind on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p_Hlm6aCok
• Chiara Marletto and Vlatko Vedral on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uey_mUy1vN0
• TOE’s telling of “The Dark History of Anti-Gravity”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBA3RUxkZdc
• Positive Signs in Massive Gravity (paper): https://arxiv.org/pdf/1601.04068
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
01:20 - Claudia's Approach
09:11 - Claudia's Motivation
14:45 - Dark Energy
23:35 - Causality
27:19 - Other Approaches
45:10 - New Physics
50:47 - Dark Energy (continued)
57:36 - Quantum Gravity / String Theory
01:14:10 - Gravitons & Photons
01:21:44 - Symmetry
01:30:25 - Double Slit Experiment
01:50:15 - Cosmology
01:54:45 - Massive Graviton
02:00:10 - Conclusion
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#science
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