Dec 11, 2020 05:53 PM
(This post was last modified: Dec 11, 2020 05:53 PM by C C.)
Physicists solve 150-year-old mystery of equation governing sandcastle physics
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/12/...e-physics/
“This came as a big surprise. I expected a complete breakdown of conventional physics.”
How the Slowest Computer Programs Illuminate Math’s Fundamental Limits
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-busy-...-20201210/
The goal of the “busy beaver” game is to find the longest-running computer program. Its pursuit has surprising connections to some of the most profound questions and concepts in mathematics.
Fragments of energy – not waves or particles – may be the fundamental building blocks of the universe
https://theconversation.com/fragments-of...rse-150730
EXCERPTS: Matter is what makes up the universe, but what makes up matter? This question has long been tricky for those who think about it – especially for the physicists. [...] We propose that matter is not made of particles or waves, as was long thought, but – more fundamentally – that matter is made of fragments of energy.
[...] while the theories and math of waves and particles allow scientists to make incredibly accurate predictions about the universe, the rules break down at the largest and tiniest scales. ... Einstein proposed a remedy in his theory of general relativity. ... But instead of improving on particles or waves, he eliminated them as he proposed the warping of space and time.
[...] Instead of basing the theory on the warping of space and time, we considered that there could be a building block that is more fundamental than the particle and the wave. Scientists understand that particles and waves are existential opposites: A particle is a source of matter that exists at a single point, and waves exist everywhere except at the points that create them. My colleague and I thought it made logical sense for there to be an underlying connection between them.
[...] Our theory begins with a new fundamental idea – that energy always “flows” through regions of space and time. Think of energy as made up of lines that fill up a region of space and time, flowing into and out of that region, never beginning, never ending and never crossing one another.
Working from the idea of a universe of flowing energy lines, we looked for a single building block for the flowing energy. If we could find and define such a thing, we hoped we could use it to accurately make predictions about the universe at the largest and tiniest scales. There were many building blocks to choose from mathematically, but we sought one that had the features of both the particle and wave – concentrated like the particle but also spread out over space and time like the wave. The answer was a building block that looks like a concentration of energy – kind of like a star – having energy that is highest at the center and that gets smaller farther away from the center.
Much to our surprise, we discovered that there were only a limited number of ways to describe a concentration of energy that flows. Of those, we found just one that works in accordance with our mathematical definition of flow. We named it a fragment of energy. [....] Using the fragment of energy as a building block of matter, we then constructed the math necessary to solve physics problems. The final step was to test it out... (MORE - details)
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/12/...e-physics/
“This came as a big surprise. I expected a complete breakdown of conventional physics.”
How the Slowest Computer Programs Illuminate Math’s Fundamental Limits
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-busy-...-20201210/
The goal of the “busy beaver” game is to find the longest-running computer program. Its pursuit has surprising connections to some of the most profound questions and concepts in mathematics.
Fragments of energy – not waves or particles – may be the fundamental building blocks of the universe
https://theconversation.com/fragments-of...rse-150730
EXCERPTS: Matter is what makes up the universe, but what makes up matter? This question has long been tricky for those who think about it – especially for the physicists. [...] We propose that matter is not made of particles or waves, as was long thought, but – more fundamentally – that matter is made of fragments of energy.
[...] while the theories and math of waves and particles allow scientists to make incredibly accurate predictions about the universe, the rules break down at the largest and tiniest scales. ... Einstein proposed a remedy in his theory of general relativity. ... But instead of improving on particles or waves, he eliminated them as he proposed the warping of space and time.
[...] Instead of basing the theory on the warping of space and time, we considered that there could be a building block that is more fundamental than the particle and the wave. Scientists understand that particles and waves are existential opposites: A particle is a source of matter that exists at a single point, and waves exist everywhere except at the points that create them. My colleague and I thought it made logical sense for there to be an underlying connection between them.
[...] Our theory begins with a new fundamental idea – that energy always “flows” through regions of space and time. Think of energy as made up of lines that fill up a region of space and time, flowing into and out of that region, never beginning, never ending and never crossing one another.
Working from the idea of a universe of flowing energy lines, we looked for a single building block for the flowing energy. If we could find and define such a thing, we hoped we could use it to accurately make predictions about the universe at the largest and tiniest scales. There were many building blocks to choose from mathematically, but we sought one that had the features of both the particle and wave – concentrated like the particle but also spread out over space and time like the wave. The answer was a building block that looks like a concentration of energy – kind of like a star – having energy that is highest at the center and that gets smaller farther away from the center.
Much to our surprise, we discovered that there were only a limited number of ways to describe a concentration of energy that flows. Of those, we found just one that works in accordance with our mathematical definition of flow. We named it a fragment of energy. [....] Using the fragment of energy as a building block of matter, we then constructed the math necessary to solve physics problems. The final step was to test it out... (MORE - details)
