Amplutihedron
– Highly interesting article making the rounds. Could open up an entirely new Physics. Space and time may no longer be prime-time players.
– dennis
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Beyond making calculations easier or possibly leading the way to quantum gravity, the discovery of the amplituhedron could cause an even more profound shift, Arkani-Hamed said. That is, giving up space and time as fundamental constituents of nature and figuring out how the Big Bang and cosmological evolution of the universe arose out of pure geometry.
“In a sense, we would see that change arises from the structure of the object,” he said. “But it’s not from the object changing. The object is basically timeless.”
– To the article: ➡
“Quanta Magazine is an online publication whose mission is to enhance public understanding of research developments in mathematics and the physical and life sciences”
Mission NOT accomplished!
Dennis, your friends are undoubtedly bright and well-read … but COME ON!!
Time permitting, shoot me an email with the laypersons “condensed version”, please.
Joel,
If I understand this article better than you, it is only marginally. The point is, these are reputable folks working at the edge of our human understanding and they’ve said that this is very likely “big”.
Laymen, who have been following what they can glean of physics, will know that there are several big questions that have stymied the field for years. Like how to reconcile the laws that govern the very large with the ones that govern the very small.
These folks are saying something’s given way in their push to break through to new understandings. From what I read, they only understand what this new ‘something’ is in a very partial manner themsleves so far but they are excited because a new door has, apparently, opened and it has been sometime since such a door has been found and entered.
Think of it this way: If someone in the 16th century came back and said they’d discovered a ‘new continent’ on their voyages into the unknown, the details that the people of the time would have been able to glean would have been absolutely minimal and their understanding of what this was going to mean to human history just as sparse. Bu the excitement would have been palpable.
It is the same just now for everyone who is even partially interested in physics.
Dennis