Why Physicist Fear Infinity?
Interesting things Infinity can do.
Infinity represents an endless entity from a mathematical view. But the presence of infinity in physics fears most of the physicists because it arises many problems. In physics, infinity should not exist. It represents inaccuracy and incompleteness. It means that if an infinity occurs in physics then your calculations are wrong or the concept or the model on which you are working does not exist.
This can be seen as whenever we try to put the velocity in the relativity equation greater than the speed of light then we see Infinity every time. This means that the theory of relativity is only valid until the velocity is less than the speed of light and beyond that the concept is meaningless. Infinity breaks the basic laws of the universe. This is the reason that all physicist fears infinity as it will make all their work useless. And that will be a bad result for all their work.
Quantum Electrodynamics is one of the best theories of science whose predictions on the universe are very accurate. But when it is observed experimentally by doing some calculations then we get infinity as an answer. And when infinity is removed by doing some more calculations then we get an accurate answer. If you find infinity as an answer then it can be removed. The process of removing infinity is known as Renormalization.
In the 1980s string theory created great excitement among physicists. They try to investigate string theory because it was the first time that particle physicists have encountered a finite theory. In this theory, the infinity does not represent as it does for others. Where other theories represent basic entities as proton and electron which trace their path in spacetime, basic entities such as strings, lines, and small loops are considered in string theory. String theory is the first finite theory of particle physics.
So, whenever you get infinity in physics then consider that the path you are moving does not follow the laws of physics. That’s why all physicists fear infinity.
Gravitational theory and cosmology also have infinity. Einstein’s theory of general relativity which suggests the expanding universe, tells that the starting of the universe, also called the Big-Bang, has infinite density.
This means that at the singularity point we have infinite density. Einstein's theory of relativity also suggests that when we fall into a black hole then we can encounter the infinite density at the center. This infinity is called Actual Infinity and this infinity exists.
Cosmologists, who come from a particle physics background and interested in the views of string theory on the beginning of the universe, does not consider these actual infinities real. Their notion is that if according to the einstein theory, the center of a black hole has infinite density then it is possible that the theory itself is wrong. As we know that the infinity in physics means mistakes in calculation and needs renormalization. According to Roger Penrose during the big bang, the presence of infinities plays a very important role in the structure of physics. But it is very difficult to predict the actual infinity because the universe has its curious defense mechanism.
Let us assume that the black hole has infinite density but we don’t know whether it is infinitely dense or finitely dense. To find this we need to go to that point. But here the defense mechanism works named as the event horizon. We know that any information when enters the event horizon does not return. This means that we cannot find whether it is infinitely dense or finitely dense at the center. It may or may not be infinite unless we are in the black hole.
This is the reason many of the physicists and cosmologists fear infinity as it has been a mystery to the entire universe. No one knows what can be the effect of infinity on our laws and theories which has been established in the universe. But research and experimentation on infinity might open new mysteries to the world in future.
