Physical theory makes it seem that particles and antiparticles ought to
exist in the universe in equal quantities. Yet on earth (and, we can be
quite certain, in the rest of the solar system and even, very likely, in
the rest of the galaxy) protons, neutrons, and electrons are common,
while antiprotons, antineutrons, and positrons are exceedingly rare.
Could it be that when the universe was first formed there were indeed
equal quantities of particles and antiparticles but that they were
somehow segregated, perhaps into galaxies and “antigalaxies”? If so,
there might occasionally be collisions of a galaxy and an antigalaxy
with the evolution of vast quantities of energy as mutual annihilation
on a cosmic scale takes place.
There are, in fact, places in the heavens where radiation is unusually
high in quantity and in energy. Can we be witnessing such enormous
mutual annihilation?
Indeed, it is not altogether inconceivable that we may still have new
types of forces and new sources of energy to discover. Until about 1900,
no one suspected the existence of nuclear energy. Are we quite sure now
that nuclear energy brings us to the end, and that there is not a form
of energy more subtle still, and greater?
In 1962, for instance, certain puzzling objects called “quasars” were
discovered far out in space, a billion light-years or more away from us.
Each one shines from 10 to 100 times as brilliantly as an entire
ordinary galaxy does, and yet may be no more than a hundred-thousandth
as wide as a galaxy.
This is something like finding an object 10 miles across that delivers
as much total light as 100 suns.
It is very hard to understand where all that energy comes from and why
it should be concentrated into so tiny a volume. Astronomers have tried
to explain it in terms of the four interactions now known, but is it
possible that there is a fifth greater than any of the four?
If so, it is not impossible that eventually man’s restless brain may
come to understand and even utilize it.