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2010-09-03

Testing the Theory of Everything

Researchers Devise the First Experimental Test of Controversial, Confusing String Theory | Popular Science

Is everything in the universe made up of vibrating one-dimensional strings? For the first time, scientists think they can concretely test string theory, the mind-blowing “theory of everything” that has dominated physics for the past two decades. It turns out that string theory predicts the behavior of entangled quantum particles, which can be tested in a lab — therefore testing string theory.

Collected from: Researchers Devise the First Experimental Test of Controversial, Confusing String Theory | Popular Science

New study suggests researchers can now test the 'theory of everything'

Professor Michael Duff FRS, lead author of the new study. Credit: Imperial College London

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers describe how to carry out the first experimental test of string theory in a paper published tomorrow in Physical Review Letters.

String theory was originally developed to describe the fundamental particles and forces that make up our universe. The new research, led by a team from Imperial College London, describes the unexpected discovery that string theory also seems to predict the behaviour of entangled quantum particles. As this prediction can be tested in the laboratory, researchers can now test string theory.

Collected from: New study suggests researchers can now test the 'theory of everything'

String theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

String theory is a developing theory in particle physics which attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity.^[1]
String theory posits that the electrons and quarks within an atom are not 0-dimensional objects, but rather 1-dimensional oscillating lines ("strings"), possessing only the dimension of length, but not height or width. The theory poses that these strings can vibrate, thus giving the observed particles their flavor, charge, mass and spin.

Levels of magnification:
1. Macroscopic level - Matter
2. Molecular level
3. Atomic level -- Protons, neutrons, and electrons
4. Subatomic level -- Electron
5. Subatomic level - Quarks
6. String level

However, prominent physicists such as Richard Feynman and Sheldon Lee Glashow have criticized string theory for not providing any quantitative experimental predictions.^[7]^[8] Like any other quantum theory of gravity, it is widely believed that testing the theory directly would require prohibitively expensive feats of engineering.

Collected from: String theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quantum entanglement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quantum entanglement, also called the quantum non-local connection, is a property of the quantum mechanical state of a system containing two or more objects, where the objects that make up the system are linked in a way such that one cannot adequately describe the quantum state of a constituent of the system without full mention of its counterparts, even if the individual objects are spatially separated.

Collected from: Quantum entanglement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Researchers discover how to conduct first test of ‘untestable’ string theory

Professor Duff and his colleagues realised that the mathematical description of the pattern of entanglement between three qubits resembles the mathematical description, in string theory, of a particular class of black holes. Thus, by combining their knowledge of two of the strangest phenomena in the universe, black holes and quantum entanglement, they realised they could use string theory to produce a prediction that could be tested. Using the string theory mathematics that describes black holes, they predicted the pattern of entanglement that will occur when four qubits are entangled with one another. (The answer to this problem has not been calculated before.) Although it is technically difficult to do, the pattern of entanglement between four entangled qubits could be measured in the laboratory and the accuracy of this prediction tested.

“Four-qubit entanglement from string theory.” Physical Review Letters 2010

Corresponding authors: Professor M. J. Duff FRS, Imperial College London.
Co-authors: L. Borsten, D. Dahanayke , W. Rubens (Imperial College London), A. Marrani (Stanford University)

Download a copy of the study using this link: https://fileexchange.imperial.ac.uk/files/6b579a6086/1005.4915v2.pdf

Collected from: Researchers discover how to conduct first test of ‘untestable’ string theory

Sources: Researchers Devise the First Experimental Test of Controversial, Confusing String Theory | Popular Science; New study suggests researchers can now test the 'theory of everything'; Researchers discover how to conduct first test of ‘untestable’ string theory; String theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; Quantum entanglement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Related: Scientists Say They Can Now Test String Theory | Universe Today; Researchers discover how to conduct first test of 'untestable' string theory | e! Science News; String Theory Finally Does Something Useful | Wired Science | Wired.com; Researchers discover how to conduct first test of 'untestable' string theory; String Theory: Testing The Untestable?; Imperial College London; Professor Michael Duff

2007-10-26

String Theory in Two Minutes (video)

Science in Two Minutes or Less

Columbia University physicist Brian Greene recently chose the winner of the String Theory in Two Minutes or Less user-generated video contest. Watch the video below to see Greene introduce the winner.

Science and Technology News, Science Articles | Discover Magazine

via: Neatorama » Blog Archive » String Ducky
related: String theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2008-02-06

Beyond Four Dimensional Space-Time

According to some advanced physical theories more than our four dimensional space-time dimensions are needed for a complete description of the physical universe. The nearly-completed Large Hadron Collider (LHC) may be able to provide insight in the shape of these alternate dimensions.

clipped from www.universetoday.com

Large Hadron Collider May Help Us Glimpse Into another Dimension

High energy collisions by the nearly-completed Large Hadron Collider (LHC) may be able to generate particles that are sensitive to dimensions beyond our four dimensional space-time. These exotic particles, called Kaluza-Klein gravitons, would be highly sensitive to the geometry of extra-dimensions, giving scientists an idea about what lies beyond our universe. If these particles are detected, and if their characteristics can be measured, then perhaps the extra dimensions predicted by string theory may be proven to exist…

clipped from www.sciencedaily.com

Particle Accelerator May Reveal Shape Of Alternate Dimensions

ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2008) — When the world's most powerful particle accelerator starts up later this year, exotic new particles may offer a glimpse of the existence and shapes of extra dimensions.

Adds Underwood, "If the cosmology and particle physics data agree, it's an indication we're on the right track."

2007-11-21

More about the New 'Theory of Everything'

A computer-generated illustration is of the E8 root system, an arrangement of 240 vectors in an eight-dimensional space. The image is a two-dimensional projection of that eight-dimensional arrangement. [Technology Review: Simplified Complexity]

A few more interesting facts about the New 'Theory of Everything', as discussed in

Breakthrough on the theory of everything, is Garrett Lisi another Einstein?

The model based on the E8 Lie Group seems to extend the standard model of nuclear physics to include gravity.

Lie groups are continuous groups such as the group of rotations of a sphere or a torus.

E8 is known as the exceptional simple Lie group and is the largest of this category possible. Anything larger has infinite dimensions.

The full structure of E8 was only revealed in March 2007 after hours of computation on a Super Computer.

The new theory could be complementary to String Theory because string theorists were already looking at E8

At first glance this model might appear to be similar to String Theory because it involves an eight dimensional manifold, but a deeper analysis reveals that it will lead to physics quite unlike String Theory.

Extending Quantum Field theory into the E8 structure envisaged by Lisi would lead to a new physics very different to string theory.

2011-03-18

The LHC Could Cause Matter to Travel in Time

Large Hadron Collider could be world’s first time machine | Research News @ Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt University

If the latest theory of Tom Weiler and Chui Man Ho is right, the Large Hadron Collider – the world’s largest atom smasher that started regular operation last year – could be the first machine capable of causing matter to travel backwards in time.

“Our theory is a long shot,” admitted Weiler, who is a physics professor at Vanderbilt University, “but it doesn’t violate any laws of physics or experimental constraints.”

One of the major goals of the collider is to find the elusive Higgs boson: the particle that physicists invoke to explain why particles like protons, neutrons and electrons have mass. If the collider succeeds in producing the Higgs boson, some scientists predict that it will create a second particle, called the Higgs singlet, at the same time.

According to Weiler and Ho’s theory, these singlets should have the ability to jump into an extra, fifth dimension where they can move either forward or backward in time and reappear in the future or past.

“One of the attractive things about this approach to time travel is that it avoids all the big paradoxes,” Weiler said. “Because time travel is limited to these special particles, it is not possible for a man to travel back in time and murder one of his parents before he himself is born, for example. However, if scientists could control the production of Higgs singlets, they might be able to send messages to the past or future.”

Illustration of singlet time travel theory. When a pair of protons collide in the Large Hadron Collider, the resultant explosion may create a special type of particle, called a Higgs singlet, that is capable of traveling forward and back in time. It would do so by leaving familiar three-dimensional space to travel in an extra dimension. (Jenni Ohnstad / Vanderbilt)

Weiler and Ho’s theory is based on M-theory, a “theory of everything.” A small cadre of theoretical physicists have developed M-theory to the point that it can accommodate the properties of all the known subatomic particles and forces, including gravity, but it requires 10 or 11 dimensions instead of our familiar four. This has led to the suggestion that our universe may be like a four-dimensional membrane or “brane” floating in a multi-dimensional space-time called the “bulk.”

Collected from: Large Hadron Collider could be world’s first time machine | Research News @ Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt University

YouTube - The LHC Time Machine, Higgs Boson, and God's Light Particle Wave.wmv

Collected from: YouTube - The LHC Time Machine, Higgs Boson, and God's Light Particle Wave.wmv

Higgs boson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive elementary particle predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. The existence of the particle is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in current theoretical physics, and attempts are being made to confirm the existence of the particle by experimentation, using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and the Tevatron at Fermilab.

A simulated event, featuring the appearance of the Higgs boson

Collected from: Higgs boson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Introduction to M-theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[...]

In the 1980s, a new mathematical model of theoretical physics called string theory emerged. It showed how all the particles, and all of the forms of energy in the universe, could be constructed by hypothetical one-dimensional "strings", infinitely small building-blocks that have only the dimension of length, but not height nor width. Further, string theory suggested that the universe is made up of multiple dimensions. Height, width, and length constitute three-dimensional space, and time gives a total of four observable dimensions; however, string theories initially supported the possibility of ten dimensions – the remaining six of which we cannot detect directly. This was later increased to 11 dimensions based on various interpretations of the ten dimensional theory that led to five partial theories as described below. Super-gravity theory also played a significant part in establishing the existence of the 11th dimension.

[...]

In the mid-1990s, a string theorist named Edward Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study and other important researchers considered that the five different versions of string theory might be describing the same thing seen from different perspectives. They proposed a unifying theory called "M-theory", in which the "M" is not specifically defined, but is generally understood to stand for "membrane".

Superstring theory

Collected from: Introduction to M-theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Related

2007-02-14

Extra spatial dimensions

A map of the cosmic microwave background made by NASA's WMAP satellite shows density fluctuations in the early universe – regions of higher density were slightly warmer than voids. Similar maps by Planck may reveal the existence and shape of extra spatial dimensions (Image: NASA/WMAP Science Team)

"Some theories – such as string theory – that attempt to unify all known forces into a single "theory of everything" posit the existence of extra spatial dimensions beyond the three familiar ones. [...] the detailed shape of those extra dimensions could be distinguished by Europe's Planck satellite, which is set to be launched in July 2008"

Satellite could see shadow of extra dimensions - space - 12 February 2007 - New Scientist Space

Zie ook: LinkNotes: Experimentele Test voor de Snaartheorie ('String Theory')]

2007-01-24

Experimentele Test voor de Snaartheorie ('String Theory')

De snaartheorie is een theorie uit de moderne fysica die probeert de 4 fundamentele natuurkrachten de elektromagnetische kracht, de sterke en zwakke kernkracht en de zwaartekracht in één universele omvattende theorie onder te brengen.

Op de website van de Universiteit van Amsterdam stond een soort persbericht n.a.v. de Spinozapremie, gewonnen door Robbert Dijkgraaf:

"Snaartheorie is de extreemste vorm van theoretische fysica en de belangrijkste kandidaat voor een kwantummechanische beschrijving van de zwaartekracht. Dat is nodig omdat de huidige theorieën, in het bijzonder de relativiteitstheorie, onvolledig zijn. Snaartheorie werkt niet met elektronen of quarks maar met een soort mini-elastiekjes die op allerlei wijzen kunnen trillen. Alle verschillende elementaire deeltjes om ons heen zouden dan ontstaan als de trillingen van een enkele snaar, zoals de boventonen van een vioolsnaar. Op deze wijze is het mogelijk ook de zwaartekracht volgens de wetten van de kwantummechanica te beschrijven. Met dat uitgangspunt kan snaartheorie bijvoorbeeld extreem zware én erg kleine objecten beschrijven, zoals zwarte gaten en het heelal vlak na de oerknal."

De snaartheorie is dus van grote fundamentele betekenis. Ze is echter ook zeer omstreden, met name omdat het tot dusverre nog niet gelukt was een experiment te bedenken waarmee de theorie getoetst zou kunnen worden. Hierin is nu echter verandering gekomen:

Physicists Develop Test for 'String Theory'

Een mooie inleiding tot de achtergrond van dit onderwerp vormt de documentaire The Elegant Universe, uitgebracht door PBS en ook beschikbaar als Google video's:

The Elegant Universe Part 1 - Einstein Universe

The Elegant Universe Part 2 - Strings

The Elegant Universe Part 3 - Welcome to the 11th Dimension

2009-02-26

A Hard Days Math

Clipped from: YouTube - A Hard Day's Night

A Hard Day's Night

Clipped from: Beatles "A Hard Day's Night" Chord Mystery Solved Using Fourier Transform

"It’s been a hard day’s night
And I’ve been working like a dog"

The opening chord to "A Hard Day’s Night" is also famous because, for 40 years, no one quite knew exactly what chord Harrison was playing.

Clipped from: The "A Hard Day's Night" Chord - Rock's Holy Grail@Everything2.com

"The Songwriting Secrets of The Beatles") summarises 21 different interpretations of the famous chord - just a mere selection of the interpretations he found in his research. Here are a few candidates suggested over the years:

A dominant 9th of F in the key of C
G-C-F-Bb-D-G
C-Bb-D-F-G-C in the key of C
A polytriad ii7/V in Ab major
G7sus4 (open position)
D7sus4 (open position)
G7 with added 9th and suspended 4th
A superimposition of Dm, F, and G
Gsus4/D
G11sus4
G7sus7/A
Dm11 with no 9th
Gm7add11
G9sus4/D

Clipped from: Beatles Unknown "A Hard Day's Night" Chord Mystery Solved Using Fourier Transform

Beatles Unknown "A Hard Day's Night" Chord Mystery Solved Using Fourier Transform

There were theories aplenty and musicians, scholars and amateur guitar players all gave it a try, but it took a Dalhousie mathematician to figure out the exact formula.

Four years ago, inspired by reading news coverage about the song’s 40th anniversary, Jason Brown of Dalhousie’s Department of Mathematics decided to try and see if he could apply a mathematical calculation known as Fourier transform to solve the Beatles’ riddle. The process allowed him to decompose the sound into its original frequencies using computer software and parse out which notes were on the record.

Clipped from: A Hard Day's Night (song) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

According to Brown, the Rickenbacker guitar wasn't the only instrument used. "It wasn't just George Harrison playing it and it wasn't just the Beatles playing on it... There was a piano in the mix." Specifically, he claims that Harrison was playing the following notes on his 12 string guitar: a2, a3, d3, d4, g3, g4, c4, and another c4; McCartney played a d3 on his bass; producer George Martin was playing d3, f3, d5, g5, and e6 on the piano, while Lennon played a loud c5 on his six-string guitar.[25]

Clipped from: Professor Uses Mathematics to Decode Beatles Tunes - WSJ.com

Math Professor Figures Formula for Beatles Success

Jason Brown listens to the Beatles with a uniquely analytical ear. The mathematics professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, says he's figured out the math behind the best of the Fab Four. Now, using "mathematical tricks" he's picked up from the band, he's written a very Beatles-esque song of his own. WSJ's Christina Jeng reports.

2010-04-16

A Random Number Generator Based on Fundamental Principles of Quantum Mechanics

Clipped from: Random, but not by chance: A quantum random-number generator for encryption, security

Random, but not by chance: A quantum random-number generator for encryption, security

Researchers have devised a new kind of random number generator, for encrypted communications and other uses, that is cryptographically secure, inherently private and - most importantly - certified random by laws of physics.

That is important because randomness is surprisingly rare. Although the welter of events that transpire in the course of daily life can certainly seem haphazard and arbitrary, none of them is genuinely random in the sense that they could not be predicted given sufficient knowledge. Indeed, true randomness is almost impossible to come by.

[...]

Now, however, a team of experimentalists from the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) , in partnership with European quantum information scientists, has demonstrated a method of producing a certifiably random string of numbers based on fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. They report their results in the 15 April 2010 issue of Nature.

Clipped from: Randomness is no lottery thanks to entangled ions - physicsworld.com

Randomness is no lottery thanks to entangled ions

Monroe's team employed a method known as a Bell test, named after the late physicist John Bell who invented it in 1964. They placed two atomic ions in separate enclosures one metre apart, and then "entangled" them by passing single photons through them. Once entangled, the state of one atom is inextricably linked to the superposed state of the other, so that a measurement of one – in this case, a measurement made by recording the emission of light – causes the states of both atoms to collapse.

Over the course of a month, the researchers measured the states of more than 3000 entangled atomic ion pairs, generating a string of 42 binary digits. Because the correlations between the measured states were less than a certain value, as given by Bell's famous "inequality", they were – according to quantum mechanics – certifiably random.

Clipped from: Random Numbers -- But Not By Chance

Random Numbers -- But Not By Chance
April 2010

Every time their apparatus signaled that entanglement had been achieved, the researchers rotated each atom on its axes according to a random schedule and then took a measurement of each atom’s emitted light. [See Figure 1.] The value from each of two atoms was then used to generate a binary number. [See animation.]

Quantum Random Number Generator from JQI Admin on Vimeo.

Sources:

Related:

2006-12-08

Mannen, dit kan echt niet!

Op Planet - Hawaï-bloesje kan écht niet lezen we:

"Aan duizend vrouwen is gevraagd welke mannelijke kledingkeuze zij onbegrijpelijk vinden. Dit is de complete top-tien:

Kleding van goedkope stof met foute prints (John de Wolf bloesjes/Hawaï/Batik) (19 procent)
Witte sokken (15 procent)
Open schoenen met sokken (sandalen/slippers/klompen) (14 procent)
Te strakke (spijker)broek (11 procent)
Een string (10 procent)
Hoogwater broek (5 procent)
Ballenknijper en Speedo zwembroek (5 procent)
Korte broek met lange sokken (4 procent)
(Te) strak of te klein shirt (3 procent)
Slechte boxer (3 procent)"

2007-12-03

TREC - Clean Power from Deserts

Africa's desert can bring Europe power

Europe is considering plans to spend more than 5 billion pounds on a string of giant solar power stations along the Mediterranean desert shores of northern Africa and the Middle East.

clipped from www.desertec.org

The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) is an initiative that campaigns for the transmission of clean power from deserts to Europe.

Euro-Supergrid with a EU-MENA-Connection:
Sketch of possible infrastructure for a sustainable supply of power to EUrope, the Middle East and North Africa (EU-MENA).

The DESERTEC Concept of TREC is to boost the generation of electricity and desalinated water by solar thermal power plants and wind turbines in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and to transmit the clean electrical power via High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission lines throughout those areas and as from 2020 (with overall just 10-15% transmission losses) to Europe.

Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) Homepage

via: KurzweilAI.net
related:
LinkNotes: Revolutionary Alternative-Energy Sources
LinkNotes: Floating solar island generates power
LinkNotes: Batteries to Store Wind Power
LinkNotes: EU Approves European High Power laser Energy (HiPER) Project
LinkNotes: Fusion power as a sustainable energy source
LinkNotes: Dynamic Skyscraper
LinkNotes: Vliegende windmolens
LinkNotes: Gecontroleerde Kernfusie
LinkNotes: WaveRoller - Groene stroom uit zee

2007-11-16

A New 'Theory of Everything'

A new unified theory all particles and forces of the cosmos

clipped from www.newscientist.com

Is mathematical pattern the theory of everything?

GARRETT LISI is an unlikely individual to be staking a claim for a theory of everything. He has no university affiliation and spends most of the year surfing in Hawaii. In winter, he heads to the mountains near Lake Tahoe, California, to teach snowboarding. Until recently, physics was not much more than a hobby.

That hasn't stopped some leading physicists sitting up and taking notice after Lisi made his theory public on the physics pre-print archive this week (www.arxiv.org/abs/0711.0770). By analysing the most elegant and intricate pattern known to mathematics, Lisi has uncovered a relationship underlying all the universe's particles and forces, including gravity - or so he hopes. Lee Smolin at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, describes Lisi's work as "fabulous". "It is one of the most compelling unification models I've seen in many, many years," he says.

[...] Despite this unusual career path, his proposal is remarkable because, by the arcane standards of particle physics, it does not require highly complex mathematics.
Even better, it does not require more than one dimension of time and three of space, when some rival theories need ten or even more spatial dimensions and other bizarre concepts. And it may even be possible to test his theory, which predicts a host of new particles, perhaps even using the new Large Hadron Collider atom smasher that will go into action near Geneva next year.
[...]
The reason for the excitement is that Lisi's model also takes account of gravity, a force that has only successfully been included by a rival and highly fashionable idea called string theory, one that proposes particles are made up of minute strings, which is highly complex and elegant but has lacked predictions by which to do experiments to see if it works.
[...]
Lisi's inspiration lies in the most elegant and intricate shape known to mathematics, called E8 - a complex, eight-dimensional mathematical pattern with 248 points first found in 1887, but only fully understood by mathematicians this year after workings, that, if written out in tiny print, would cover an area the size of Manhattan.
E8 encapsulates the symmetries of a geometric object that is 57-dimensional and is itself is 248-dimensional. Lisi says "I think our universe is this beautiful shape."

Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything - Telegraph

via: How a Surfer Dude Stunned the World of Science With the 'Theory of Everything' | The Daily Galaxy: News from Planet Earth & Beyond
related:
[0711.0770] An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything
Is mathematical pattern the theory of everything? - fundamentals - 17 November 2007 - New Scientist

2009-08-27

Levitation Revealed

clipped from www.skepdic.com

levitation

Levitation is the act of ascending into the air and floating in apparent defiance of gravity. Spiritual masters and fakirs are often depicted as levitating. Some take the ability to levitate as a sign of blessedness. Others see levitation as a conjurer's trick. No one really levitates; they just appear to do so. Clever people can use illusion, "invisible" string, magnets, and other trickery to make things or
people appear to levitate.

clipped from www.youtube.com