The universe might exist in a 'false vacuum' that could collapse and erase all matter at the speed of light.

The concept of vacuum decay is rooted in the study of the Higgs field, which was confirmed by researchers at CERN's Large Hadron Collider in 2012. Quantum field theory suggests that a field is at its most stable when it reaches its lowest possible energy state, known as the true vacuum. However, measurements of the Higgs boson's mass, approximately 125 gigaelectronvolts, suggest our universe might currently be in a metastable or false vacuum state.If a high-energy event or quantum tunneling triggered a transition to a lower energy state, a bubble of true vacuum would form. This bubble would expand outward at the speed of light, fundamentally altering the masses of elementary particles and the strength of fundamental forces. This process would essentially dismantle the chemistry required for matter to exist, effectively ending the universe as we know it without any warning.Theoretical physicists like Stephen Hawking have discussed this possibility, noting that the stability of our universe depends on the specific masses of the Higgs boson and the top quark. Current data from the Standard Model of particle physics indicates we are in a state of 'metastability,' meaning the vacuum is stable for now but could theoretically decay. Despite the theoretical risk, calculations suggest the lifespan of our current vacuum state is likely trillions of years longer than the current age of the universe.