Voyage of the Stars.

Chapter 1362 Cosmic Phase Transition
"So this is the fourth phase transition in the universe..."

Listening to the Star Defenders, some still hold onto a last hope that the future of the universe is not so bad.

However, it backfired.

The Star Guardian exclaimed, "Electromagnetic separation phase transition!"

The Star Guardians extinguished everyone's last glimmer of hope; the universe appears to be utterly ruined.

The crowd fell into a long silence because of this shocking news.

The cosmic phase transition—everyone present actually knew what was going on, but they were simply unwilling to believe that such a method actually existed.

As is well known, the universe has undergone three major phase transitions in its evolution from nothing to something, at least so far.

In the early days of the universe, at the beginning of time, gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force, and the strong force were all parts of a single force.

In the theories of various civilizations, this force is referred to as superforce.

According to the cosmological evolution theories of various civilizations, when the age of the universe reaches 10^-43 seconds, its diameter will be only 10^-33 centimeters. At this time, matter and energy will be composed of complete superstrings.

At that time, quantum gravity, as described by superstring theory, was the dominant force in the universe.

It was at this time in the universe that the first phase transition occurred, namely the gravitational separation phase transition.

10^-43 seconds after the Big Bang, the ten-dimensional universe decomposed into a four-dimensional and a six-dimensional universe. The six-dimensional universe collapsed and shrank to a size of 10^-32 meters, while the four-dimensional universe expanded rapidly and reached a temperature of 10^32 Kelvin. At this temperature, a super-force phase transition occurred, and gravity separated from the super-force.

From then on, the universe entered an era in which the Grand Unified Force and gravity coexisted.

Until 10^-35 seconds, the temperature of the universe dropped rapidly due to inflation, and the Grand Unified Force also underwent a phase transition under such conditions, namely the second important phase transition of the universe. The strong interaction force separated from the Grand Unified Force and no longer interacted with the weak electromagnetic force.

At this time, the universe contained gravity, the strong force, and the electroweak force. The universe was about the size of a bowling ball, but it was still expanding rapidly.

At 10^-9 seconds, the temperature of the universe rapidly dropped to 10^15 Kelvin. At this point, the universe underwent another phase transition, the third phase transition. This phase transition caused the electromagnetic force and the weak interaction to separate, forming the two different fundamental forces we know today.

The universe is also undergoing inflation, forming our visible universe.

As space expanded and the temperature plummeted, quarks began to coalesce into neutrons and protons. This occurred approximately 10^-3 seconds after the Big Bang.

Within three minutes of the Big Bang, protons and neutrons condensed into stable atomic nuclei. Due to the expansion of space, the energy of random collisions was no longer strong enough to break the newly formed atomic nuclei.

Stable atomic nuclei began to appear.

However, because ions are opaque, the universe is still opaque at this time.

30 years after the Big Bang, the universe entered the era of the four fundamental forces and the first atoms were born. The temperature of space also dropped to 3000 Kelvin. At this time, hydrogen atoms could be formed without being torn apart by collisions.

It was during this period that the universe began to become transparent, because light could travel several light-years without being absorbed.

The universe was approximately 30 billion years old when the first quasars appeared. 50 billion years later, the first galaxies appeared.

Ten billion years later, although the universe appears highly asymmetrical and fragmented, with the four fundamental forces vastly different from each other, they still formed magnificent starry skies. While the universe contains more than just the four fundamental forces, their respective roles have indeed created the magnificent universe we see today.

According to the original theory of cosmic evolution, such a magnificent universe would continue to exist indefinitely.

The universe will remain in the era of the four fundamental forces until its final end.

According to the Big Freeze theory or heat death theory, the universe went through five periods from its birth to its end: the primordial period, the period of star-filled universe, the period of regression, the period of black holes, and the dark period. This is a cosmological model derived from the third law of thermodynamics.

The three phase transitions of the fundamental forces of the universe occurred in the primordial period.

The period of abundant stars was the process by which hydrogen gas was compressed by gravity and ignited to form stars that illuminated the sky. This period lasted a very long time, from the appearance of the first stars to the present universe.

The degenerate phase refers to the period when the energy of stars in the universe is exhausted, and all the stars eventually turn into lifeless, dead nuclei, in the form of dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes. The stars in the sky no longer shine, and the universe gradually falls into darkness.

The black hole era, as the name suggests, is when the only remaining energy source in the universe is the energy from the evaporation of black holes. All intelligent life that has not yet been extinguished may end up like homeless people, crowding around the last embers of the black holes that are about to go out, trying to absorb the last bit of warmth until the black holes have completely evaporated.

Finally, there is the Dark Age. By this time, all the black holes have evaporated, leaving only a floating sea of ​​photons and a thin soup of weakly interacting particles.

Back then, scientists believed that positron-emitting atoms with diameters reaching the scale of the universe appeared during the Dark Ages, and thus made some speculations about the possible forms of life that might have existed during the Dark Ages.

But now, the intelligent system at Observatory 764 tells everyone that the fourth phase transition has occurred.

That unknown civilization used the fourth phase transition to wipe out the powerful Observer civilization in one fell swoop.

Scientists from every civilization are using their knowledge to match the environment under the fourth phase transition. Under such a blow, the macrocosmic environment undergoes another phase transition, and the electromagnetic force splits into electric and magnetic forces, which are no longer related.

"What a world that is!"

A sigh echoed in the long-silent virtual hall.

Many more people are still lost in their own imaginations.

Electromagnetism no longer interacts with each other, just as gravity does not interact with other fundamental forces.

The first thing that comes to mind is that all physical rules related to electromagnetic force will become invalid, including Maxwell's equations, Lorentz force transformation, Coulomb's law, Abe's law, Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction, the generation of magnetism by electricity, and the generation of electricity by magnetism cutting magnetic field lines.

Not only the laws of physics, but everything based on electromagnetic forces will cease to exist.

Tables, chairs, televisions, refrigerators, houses, mountains, the sky, the sea, you and me, and even the glittering stars in the sky—everything we see in our daily lives will vanish into thin air.

They still exist, but in a form that people have never seen before.

Now, human civilization and the Awakener civilization finally understand why, when they initially went to observe, they did see "matter," but it was an indescribable substance.

That is indeed something beyond our comprehension, something that could not possibly exist within the existing scientific framework. Such a thing is naturally difficult for life to understand, because these so-called life forms are also life forms born within the existing scientific system.

(End of this chapter)