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Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the UniverseWPI

IPMU Colloquium

Date: November 5, 2008, 15:30 - 17:00
Place: Room 633, 6th floor, Kashiwa Research Complex
Speaker: Lawrence Hall (UC Berkeley)
Title: Predictions from the Multiverse. [PDF]
Abstract: String theory suggests there are many universes, each having different values of the fundamental parameters. Is it possible to find evidence for such a multiverse? Introducing certain assumptions, I make predictions for the up quark, down quark and electron masses, as well as the scale of electroweak interactions, in terms of the scale of the strong interactions. These statistical correlations amongst fundamental parameters of the Standard Model agree with observations to an accuracy that varies from 20% to a factor of 3. Of course, these are postdictions; the most interesting parameter of the Standard Model that has not been measured is the Higgs boson mass. Assuming that the Standard Model is valid to very high energies, simultaneous predictions for the top quark and Higgs boson masses yield a Higgs mass of (105 -- 125) GeV, on the edge of present limits. Turning to fundamental cosmological parameters, I argue that the multiverse allows an understanding of several cosmological coincidences, leading to order of magnitude predictions for the amount of dark matter, dark energy and the size of primordial density perturbations, in terms of the electron mass, the proton mass and the fine structure constant.