Harlow suspects that any connecting thread may be too delicate to grasp in our existing universe. For over a century, physicists have searched for ways to unite the two theories and get to the truth of what makes our universe tick. However, Einstein’s theory breaks down when trying to describe how gravity works at quantum scales, while quantum mechanics makes reality-bending predictions when applied at massive, cosmic dimensions. The second - Einstein’s theory of general relativity - describes the influence of gravity and how the fundamental force pulls together matter to build the planets, galaxies, and other massive objects.īoth theories do remarkably well in their respective lanes. The first - the Standard Model of Physics - is the quantum mechanical theory of particles, fields, and forces, and the ways in which they interact to build the universe we live in.

The MIT physicist is searching for answers to one of the biggest questions in modern physics: How can our universe abide by two incompatible rulebooks?

Dan Harlow spends a lot of time thinking in a “boomerang” universe.

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