Did Einstein have any choice in formulating the general theory of relativity? Brian Greene speaks with Claudia de Rham, professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College London and a pioneer of massive gravity, a framework that asks what happens if the graviton, the particle thought to transmit the gravitational force, carries a tiny but nonzero mass. They trace the idea from Fierz and Pauli in the 1930’s, through the no-go theorems of the 1970s that seemed to rule it out entirely, to the modern breakthrough showing the theory can be made mathematically consistent. Along the way they explore the bounds on the photon and graviton masses, why gravity gravitates, the puzzle of the cosmological constant, and whether massive gravity could explain the accelerating expansion of the universe. Plus, what Einstein himself would make of it all.
This program is part of the Rethinking Reality series, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
This program can be watched here, and on our YouTube channel, starting at 7PM on Friday, July 10.
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