The theory suggests that there is only one electron in the entire universe; to understand

Electrons are part of atoms and move as elementary particles around the atomic nucleus, which consists of protons and neutrons. Currently, scientific measurements have already succeeded in analyzing the number of atoms in the observable universe, estimated at 10 to the 82nd power; so this means there are no more than a million electrons – much more than billions or trillions.

It is important to underline that the search for a prediction of the number of atoms and electrons is still a very challenging exercise, as the results are generated from cosmological predictions and theories. But, ThisIn a conversation with his colleague and physicist Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist John Wheeler proposed the hypothesis of the existence of only one electron in the observable universe.

Just like other fundamental particles, all electrons are the same. because they have the same negative charge and the same spin properties. Positrons, the antiparticles of the electron, are also identical to each other. Therefore Wheeler I started to imagine that since all these electrons are indistinguishable, there might just be one electron..

“Suppose that the world lines we previously considered in time and space were an enormous knot – instead of simply moving forward in time – and that when we cut the knot through the corresponding plane a fixed time ago, we would see many, many world lines. And this represents many electrons, a single Except if in one section it’s an ordinary electron world line, in the section where it reverses and rotates from the future, we have the wrong sign for the right time, Wheeler said during his meeting with Feynman: And this is equivalent to changing the sign of the charge. This part of the path will behave like a positron.”

An Electron Theory

If Wheeler is right, The fundamental particle created at the beginning of the universe must have traveled countless times through timebut the majority of the scientific community does not agree that this is exactly the case.

If there was a single electron, the universe would continue to function normally, so some scientists don’t find the idea so absurd. But for this to really work, there must be the same number of positrons and electrons, which is not the case.

In any case, the Single Electron Theory is more of a thought experiment than a theory in its own right, as it is only mentioned a few times in personal conversations. In the end, Wheeler knew that this idea probably didn’t match the reality of the universe.

“Of course, I knew that there were many more electrons than positrons, at least in our corner of the universe, but I still thought it was an interesting idea to think about orbitals that could go infinitely in any direction in space-time—forward. Back in time, up, down, left,” Wheeler wrote in his memoirs. or to the right,” he said.

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