Quantum steps towards the Big Bang

[josephpalazzo]

In Einstein's relativity theory, space is a continuum. Oriti now breaks down this space into tiny elementary cells and applies the principles of quantum physics to them, thus to space itself and to the theory of relativity describing it. This is the unification idea.

A fundamental problem of all approaches to quantum gravity consists in bridging the huge dimensional scales from the space atoms to the dimensions of the universe. This is where Oriti, his colleague Lorenzo Sindoni and Steffen Gielen, a former postdoc at the AEI who is now a researcher at the Perimeter Institute in Canada, have succeeded. Their approach is based on so-called group field theory. This is closely related to loop quantum gravity, which the AEI has been developing for some time.

The task now consisted in describing how the space of the universe evolves from the elementary cells. Staying with the idea of fluids: How can the hydrodynamics for the flowing water be derived from a theory for the atoms?

This extremely demanding mathematical task recently led to a surprising success. "Under special assumptions, space is created from these building blocks, and evolves like an expanding universe," explains Oriti. "For the first time, we were thus able to derive the Friedmann equation directly as part of our complete theory of the structure of space," he adds. This fundamental equation, which describes the expanding universe, was derived by the Russian mathematician Alexander Friedman in the 1920s on the basis of the General Theory of Relativity. The scientists have therefore succeeded in bridging the gap from the microworld to the macroworld, and thus from quantum mechanics to the General Theory of Relativity: they show that space emerges as the condensate of these elementary cells and evolves into a universe which resembles our own.

 Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-09-quantum-big.html#jCp

[Colanth]

And what's the latest development in the Bible?


Oh.

I can't even pretend to grasp what the math behind this would look like, let alone understand it, but I understand enough to see that it's a real WOW moment.  Macro and micro reconciled.  What's next - the GUT?

What a time to be alive.

[Jason78]

I take it that quantum steps are smaller than baby steps :)

[SGOS]

A unified theory, finally?  Some physicists thought Einstein wasted the second half of his life trying to find it.  That may be true, considering he didn't.  I'm not saying there won't be some unified theory.  Maybe there will be, but I have wondered why such a theory would be necessary.  And suppose special relativity turns out to be flawed?  In that case, it would be replaced, rather than unified into the whole.  Maybe we will simply move on to a better explanation.

Apparently an electron's spin can signal a sister electron's spin trillions of miles away instantaneously.  What does this say about nothing traveling faster than the speed of light?  And what does that do to the theory of relativity?

[josephpalazzo]

A unified theory, finally?  Some physicists thought Einstein wasted the second half of his life trying to find it.  That may be true, considering he didn't.  I'm not saying there won't be some unified theory.  Maybe there will be, but I have wondered why such a theory would be necessary.  And suppose special relativity turns out to be flawed?  In that case, it would be replaced, rather than unified into the whole.  Maybe we will simply move on to a better explanation.

The search for unifying GR and QM is of the utmost importance. That idea looming large over pretty much all the research going on.

Apparently an electron's spin can signal a sister electron's spin trillions of miles away instantaneously.  What does this say about nothing traveling faster than the speed of light?  And what does that do to the theory of relativity?

To be more technically correct, the entangled electrons are in correlation, not really signalling instantaneously.

[Colanth]

Apparently an electron's spin can signal a sister electron's spin trillions of miles away instantaneously.  What does this say about nothing traveling faster than the speed of light?  And what does that do to the theory of relativity?

To be more technically correct, the entangled electrons are in correlation, not really signalling instantaneously.

Maybe Doc Smith was correct?

[SGOS]

I can't even pretend to grasp what the math behind this would look like,  

0 = 1, for starters.

[josephpalazzo]

Apparently an electron's spin can signal a sister electron's spin trillions of miles away instantaneously.  What does this say about nothing traveling faster than the speed of light?  And what does that do to the theory of relativity?

To be more technically correct, the entangled electrons are in correlation, not really signalling instantaneously.

Maybe Doc Smith was correct?

He was one of the first to use the concept of a wormhole -- though in those days, he was probably familiar with the Einstein-Rosen bridge as it was commonly called.

[Colanth]

Well ...

I was referring to his use of the concept that everything existed all over, but just "manifested" in a single place.

[josephpalazzo]

Hah!