The idea of a world of up to 10 dimensions will be discussed tonight at the annual Hamilton lecture organised by The Irish Timesand the Royal Irish Academy, writes Dick Ahlstrom
WE LIVE IN a three-dimensional world, but suppose for a moment that there are actually four dimensions or five or six, or even more.
One of the world's leading cosmologists wants you to consider just such a possibility as she delivers a lecture on the subject in Dublin this evening.
Prof Lisa Randall, of Harvard University, is in Dublin to deliver the annual Hamilton Lecture, organised by the Royal Irish Academy and The Irish Timesand sponsored by Depfa Bank.
One of the world's most cited authorities on particle physics and the first female theoretical physicist to gain tenure at Harvard, Randall last year featured among Timemagazine's 100 most influential people.
Her work on string theory and the geometry of space-time looks at the intriguing theory that we may be living in a three-dimensional "sinkhole" in a universe that has higher dimensions.
Such warped geometry could explain the relative weakness of gravity that we experience on Earth, as evidenced by the ease with which we can pick up a ball from the ground or use a small magnet to pick up a paperclip despite the planet's gravitational force.
The problem has hounded particle physics for decades, but Randall argues that if the geometry of space-time is warped, gravity could be weak in some regions, like ours, and strong in others, solving the apparent discrepancy we see on Earth.
Tonight in Dublin, she will explore the possibilities of higher dimensions above the familiar three that we see and feel.
"In the talk, I will focus on the idea of extra dimensions. I want people going out with the idea that there may be more beyond the standard model," Randall said prior to her lecture.
Her plan is to discuss a wide range of issues, talking about what particle physics is, and how this fits in with the theories assembled to help explain both atomic theory, which looks at the smallest of things, and also the structure of the universe, the largest of things.
The title of her talk, Warped Passages: Unravelling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions, perfectly describes her plan for the evening. It also is the title of her remarkable book, which helps general readers to understand the newest ideas in the complex world of physics.
"One of the challenges I personally feel is I am trying to explain a difficult thing," she says, attempting to connect the theoretical concepts that describe how the universe is structured with astronomical observations and the experimental discoveries being made by particle colliders based in Europe and the US.
A star of her presentation tonight is the new €4.2 billion Large Hadron Collider, built on the French Swiss border by Cern, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. She will explain how the new collider, which will smash particles together at tremendous temperatures and energies, will help explain matter and possibly provide proof that the universe contains more than three dimensions.
"As particle physicists, we believe there is more out there," she says.
She will ask those attending the talk in the Burke Lecture Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin, to imagine a two-dimensional creature living in a two-dimensional world and then transplant the entity into our three-dimensional existence.
She will then ask people to take themselves from our three-dimensional existence into one where there were different universes, each with a unique set of rules.
Randall's talk is booked out, but a small number of seats may become available before the talk begins at 7.30pm. ( Additional reporting by Claire O'Connell)
• The Hamilton lecture celebrates Ireland's greatest scientist, William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865), who on October 16th, 1843, discovered a new form of algebraic computation that he called quaternions