Daily Archives: May 14, 2020

3 Simple Reasons Why Wolfram’s New ‘Fundamental Theory’ Is Not Yet Science – Forbes

Posted: May 14, 2020 at 5:43 pm

From simple rules, complex structures and relationships are well-known to emerge, something that... [+] predated Stephen Wolfram by many years. The notion that all of fundamental physics can be derived from such an approach is speculative, at best, today.

Every once in a while, a revolutionary idea comes along that has the potential to supersede our best scientific ideas of the day. This happened numerous times in theoretical physics during the 20th century, as Einstein's General Relativity replaced Newtonian gravity, quantum physics replaced our classical view of the Universe, and the quantum field theory-based Standard Model superseded the early-20th century version of our quantum Universe.

Over the past half-century, many novel ideas have sought to surpass the current limitations plaguing theoretical physics, from supersymmetry to extra dimensions to grand unification to quantum gravity to string theory. The ultimate idea of many is to arrive at one unified theory of everything: where one framework elegantly encompasses the entirety of nature's laws. The latest contender is Stephen Wolfram's new approach to a theory of everything, heavily publicized last month. But not only isn't it particularly compelling, it isn't even science at this point. Here's why.

Countless scientific tests of Einstein's general theory of relativity have been performed,... [+] subjecting the idea to some of the most stringent constraints ever obtained by humanity. The presence of matter and energy in space tells spacetime how to curve, and that curved spacetime tells matter and energy how to move. But there's a free parameter as well: the zero-point energy of space, which enters General Relativity as a cosmological constant. This accurately describes the dark energy we observe, but does not explain its value.

When we use the word "theory" in a conventional sense, we talk about it the same way we'd talk about the word "idea" or "hypothesis." We mean that sure, we have our conventional way of thinking about things that we generally accept, but maybe things are actually this other way instead.

To a scientist, though, a theory is a far more powerful thing than that. It's a self-consistent framework that has the quantitative power to predict the outcomes (or sets of probable outcomes) of a large set of systems under a wide variety of conditions.

A successful, established theory goes even farther. It contains a large suite of predictions that agree with established experiments and/or observations. It's been tested in a large number of independent ways, and has passed every test thus far. It has a range of validity that's well-understood, and it's also understood that the theory may not be valid outside of that particular range.

A Universe with dark energy (red), a Universe with large inhomogeneity energy (blue), and a... [+] critical, dark-energy-free Universe (green). Note that the blue line behaves differently from dark energy. New ideas should make different, observably testable predictions from the other leading ideas. And ideas which have failed those observational tests should be abandoned once they reach the point of absurdity.

Which means, if you want to surpass that theory in a scientific sense, you have a tall order ahead of you. You have to do better than the old theory that you're seeking to replace with your new idea, and that means you have to take these three very difficult steps.

This is asking a lot, and most new ideas never make it this far.

An early photographic plate of stars (circled) identified during a solar eclipse all the way back in... [+] 1900. While it's remarkable that not only the Sun's corona but also stars can be identified, the precision of the stellar positions is insufficient to test the predictions of General Relativity.

When Einstein concocted the general theory of relativity, it took many years for him to understand how to take the weak-field limit of the theory: at large distances from point-like masses, which allowed him to recover Newton's old theory of gravity. When you got too close to a large mass, however, the predictions differed. This allowed for a successful explanation for Mercury's orbit (which Newton's theory couldn't account for), as well as a new prediction about light deflection near the limb of the Sun (confirmed years later by the 1919 solar eclipse).

Einstein's General Relativity is a standout example of a successful scientific theory on all three of these fronts, but things don't always go in order the way you'd hope they would. Still, you have to clear all three of these hurdles if your goal is to push our understanding of the Universe forward in some fundamental way.

The quantum fluctuations that occur during inflation get stretched across the Universe, and when... [+] inflation ends, they become density fluctuations. This leads, over time, to the large-scale structure in the Universe today, as well as the fluctuations in temperature observed in the CMB. New predictions like these are essential for demonstrating the validity of a proposed fine-tuning mechanism.

General Relativity succeeded everywhere that Newtonian gravity does, but also where it does not. It has a larger range of validity. Relativistic quantum mechanics superseded the version developed by Bohr, Pauli, Heisenberg and Schrodinger, only to later be superseded itself by quantum field theory and the eventual arrival of the Standard Model. The Big Bang won out because its predictions were borne out by the Universe; inflation superseded the idea of a singular origin because it cleared those three critical hurdles (despite doing so out of order).

But many great ideas haven't been met with successful predictions, and they can only be considered speculative theories at best. Supersymmetry, extra dimensions, supergravity, grand unification, and many other ideas have produced a large number of predictive ideas, but none of them have been observationally or experimentally confirmed. General Relativity and the Standard Model, wherever we've challenged them, have always emerged victorious.

The Standard Model particles and their supersymmetric counterparts. Slightly under 50% of these... [+] particles have been discovered, and just over 50% have never showed a trace that they exist. Supersymmetry is an idea that hopes to improve on the Standard Model, but it has yet to make successful predictions about the Universe in attempting to supplant the prevailing theory. If there is no supersymmetry at all energies, string theory must be wrong.

Still, many hope that we'll discover a more fundamental set of laws that encompass all the successes of General Relativity and the Standard Model, while explaining the puzzles like dark matter, dark energy, the values of the fundamental constants, quantum gravity or black hole paradoxes, etc. that they cannot yet fully account for.

The most popular candidate for such a "theory of everything" is string theory, which at least has been demonstrated to contain all of General Relativity and the Standard Model within it. Yes, it also contains much more (extra dimensions, extra free parameters, extra couplings, extra particles, etc.) that don't appear to be present in nature, as well as ambiguous-at-best predictions that have not been borne out by experiment.

For Wolfram's novel idea, however, the same cannot be said.

Although the mathematical structures one can arrive at are beautiful and intricate by many metrics,... [+] their connection with the physical laws and rules governing our Universe remains speculative at best.

There are all sorts of mathematical structures that one can develop or concoct that have interesting properties, as well as simple rules from which complex structures emerge. Wolfram takes the latter approach, something he's been toying with for decades (including in his book, A New Kind of Science), and is clearly enamored with it.

But can he get known physics out of it? The answer appears to be "not yet," as he himself points out:

"...there is much left to explore in the potential correspondence between our models and physics, and what will be said here is merely an indication and sometimes a speculative one of how this might turn out."

He does not recover all of General Relativity; he does not get the Standard Model or Quantum Field Theory out of it. He has not progressed to the point of making predictions, much less novel ones that differ from what we already have.

An example of how a series of binary but indeterminate events can lead to many possible outcomes may... [+] have shades of probabilistic quantum mechanics in it, but the correspondence between Wolfram's approach and actual, reality-reflecting quantum physics has not been established.

He's only playing a game of applying rules to make structures, then attempting to find analogies between those structures and the actual physics of our Universe. This is a popular route (one taken by Verlinde, among others) when you're in the early stages of a new idea, butnot one that's been fruitful. None of the three critical criteria have been met so far, and what's more troubling is thatWolfram does not appear to believe his idea needs to. As he publicly stated:

"In the end, if were going to have a complete fundamental theory of physics, were going to have to find the specific rule for our universe. And I dont know how hard thats going to be. I dont know if its going to take a month, a year, a decade or a century. A few months ago I would also have said that I dont even know if weve got the right framework for finding it.

But I wouldnt say that anymore. Too much has worked. Too many things have fallen into place. We dont know if the precise details of how our rules are set up are correct, or how simple or not the final rules may be. But at this point I am certain that the basic framework we have is telling us fundamentally how physics works."

A visual summary of Stephen Wolfram's new 'path to a fundamental theory' that he published in April... [+] of 2020. At this point in time, his idea has failed to meet any of the three criteria necessary for a scientific theory to supersede the pre-existing one.

These are not words that carry any legitimate scientific weight behind them. Wolfram a former physicist who's been scientifically trained is going off of what he feels. Deep in his gut, he knows that he's embarked down a road that must lead to the ultimate destination: a fundamental theory of everything. Whereas an objective observer would see ambiguous signposts with no clear indication of what lies farther down the road ahead, Wolfram unshakably believes he's on the path to Victory Road.

And that's the problem: you need to know those precise details (the ones he's glossing over) in order to evaluate your idea in a scientific manner. The only way to know the scientific value of an idea is to confront it with reality, and ask to what precision both your established and novel predictions agree and disagree with the prevailing theory it's trying to supersede. If you cannot quantify your predictions, and then (at least in principle) go out and test them, you do not yet have a scientific theory.

The idea that the forces, particles and interactions that we see today are all manifestations of a... [+] single, overarching theory is an attractive one, requiring extra dimensions and lots of new particles and interactions. The lack of even a single verified prediction in string theory, combined with its inability to even give the right answer for parameters whose value is already known, is an enormous drawback of this brilliant idea.

Which isn't to say that Wolfram's new idea is wrong, or that his approach will never bear any fruit. It's very hard to have a new idea in physics, and it's even more difficult for that new idea to actually be any good. Wolfram's general approach to physics is not new in and of itself, but his specific angle is novel and isn't obviously wrong. But what he's presented to the world isn't fully-baked or even half-baked; it's an early-stage idea that's still not ready to leave the sandbox.

Much like String Theory, we won't know whether this path is the road to a new fundamental theory of everything or whether it's a blind alley irrelevant for our reality until we get to the end. But unlike String Theory, it is not yet clear that all of General Relativity or Quantum Field Theory can even be extracted from this approach. Until this (or any) new idea can reproduce all of the successes of our pre-existing leading theories, solve problems they cannot solve, and make novel-but-testable predictions, it will not meet the necessary criteria of a scientific theory.

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The Era of Anomalies – Physics

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Anomalies may be regarded with skepticism, but they often open the door for theorists to play. One of the most promising sandboxes for model builders has been anomalies in B physicsinteractions involving B mesons, which are particles composed of a bottom quark or antiquark plus another type of quark. A coterie of results from LHCb at CERN, Belle in Japan, and Babar in the US, point to potential problems with the standard model predictions for some rare B meson decays.

Alone, each notable B physics result is only a few-sigma discrepancy. But taken together, the aggregate of the results isdepending on whom you aska 5- to 7-sigma deviation from the standard model estimates. Ive worked in the field for a long time, says Isidori. Weve seen a lot of anomalies here and there popping up and going back, but this time I think its different . For the first time, its not just one thing that doesnt fit with the other, but its a coherent set of things.

If the anomalies are a hint of something real, the simplest explanation is a new particle called the Z, a partner to the Z boson that differs only slightly in its interactions with other particles (see Synopsis: Closing in on the Z' Boson). Isidori is not a big fan of the Z; he prefers a leptoquark. This hypothetical particle would form a bridge between leptons (electrons, muons, and taus) and quarks (see Viewpoint: A Challenge to Lepton Universality).

Many theorists attempt to link anomalies together in models. For example, a new anomaly from KOTO, an experiment at JPARC in Japan, measuring the lifetime of neutral kaons, has piqued theorists attention. Jia Liu, a theoretical physicist at the University of Chicago, wrote a paper that proposed a light, Higgs-like particle, or scalar boson, that would interact with muons and would explain both the KOTO anomaly and the muon anomaly. While theorists like finding one explanation for multiple anomalies, its often difficult to match all the data. Attempts to find a combined explanation for both the B physics and muon anomalies have mostly fallen flat. Two anomalies to deal with is my limit, because it is not easy, Liu says jokingly.

The best models, according to theorists, are those that fit the data naturally, without too much finagling. Neutrinos have been the focus of several recent anomalies, such as unexpected oscillations in the flavors of neutrinos observed by MiniBooNE at Fermilab in 2018 (see Viewpoint: The Plot Thickens for a Fourth Neutrino). To explain neutrino anomalies, the most straightforward thing to do is to introduce one new neutrino says Mona Dentler, a neutrino physicist at the University of Gttingen, Germany. The trouble is that this addition, called a sterile neutrino, is a possible dark matter candidate, which means it must agree with cosmological data. Constraints like this can require highly tailored solutions from theorists. You normally have to kind of stand on your head and add a bunch of different epicycles to somehow make the data fit your models, says Patrick Meade, a theorist at Stony Brook University, New York.

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Exploring new tools in string theory – Space.com

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String theorists are shifting focus to solve some rather sticky problems in physics.

Over the past few years, string theory has been less about trying to find a unifying description of all forces and matter in the universe, and more about exploring the AdS/CFT correspondence, a potential link between the tools and methods developed in the string community and some strange physics problems.

While it doesn't have a particularly catchy name, the AdS/CFT correspondence, it is a potentially powerful (but so for unproven) tool to solve complex riddles.

Related:Putting string theory to the test

The "AdS" in the AdS/CFT correspondence stands for "anti-de Sitter," which doesn't explain much at first glance. The name was inspired by Willem de Sitter, a physicist and mathematician who played around with Einstein's theory of general relativity shortly after it was published in 1917. De Sitter experimented with the idea of different kinds of theoretical universes, filling them up with various substances and figuring out how they would evolve.

His namesake, the "de Sitter universe," represents a theoretical cosmos completely devoid of matter but filled with a positive cosmological constant. While this isn't how our universe actually is, as the universe continues to age it will look more and more like de Sitter's vision.

The anti-de Sitter universe is the exact opposite: a completely empty cosmos with a negative cosmological constant, which is quite unlike what we see in our real universe.

But, while this strange theoretical "anti" universe isn't real, it's still a handy mathematical playground for string theory.

String theory itself requires 10 dimensions to be complete (6 of which are tiny and curled up to microscopic proportions), but versions of it can be cast into only 5 dimensions in an anti-de Sitter spacetime, and, while useful for our universe, can still function.

The other side of the AdS/CFT correspondence, CFT, stands for conformal field theory. Field theories are the bread and butter of our modern understanding of the quantum world; they are what happens when you marry quantum mechanics with special relativity and are used to explain three of the four forces of nature. For example, electromagnetism is described by the field theory called quantum electrodynamics (QED), and the strong nuclear force by the field theory called quantum chromodynamics (QCD).

But there's an extra word there: conformal. But before we get to conformal, I want to quickly talk about something else: scale invariance (trust me, this will make sense in a minute). A field theory is said to be scale invariant if the results don't change if the strength of interactions are varied. For example, you would have a scale invariant engine if you got the same efficiency no matter what kind of fuel you put in.

In strict mathematical terms, a conformal field theory is just a certain special case of scale invariant field theory, but almost all the time when physicists say conformal, they really mean scale invariant. So in your head every time you read or hear conformal field theory you can just replace it with scale invariant field theory.

Our universe is, by and large, decidedly not scale invariant. The forces of nature do change their character with different energy scales and interaction strengths some forces even merge together at high energies. Scale invariance, as beautiful as it is mathematically, simply doesn't seem to be preferred by nature.

Related:The history and structure of the universe (infographic)

So, on one side of the AdS/CFT correspondence, you have a universe that doesn't look like ours, and on the other, you have mathematical theory that doesn't apply to most situations. So what's the big deal?

The big deal is that over twenty years ago, physicists and mathematicians found a surprising link between string theories written in a five-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime and conformal field theories written on the four-dimensional boundary of that spacetime. This correspondence so far unproven, but if there is a connection, it could have far-reaching consequences.

There are a lot of tools and tricks in the language of string theory, so if you're facing a thorny physics problem that can be written in terms of a conformal field theory (it's not common, but it does happen occasionally), you can cast it in terms of the 5d string theory and apply those tools to try to crack it.

Additionally, if you're trying to solve string theory problems (like, for example, the unification of gravity with other forces of nature), you can translate your problem into terms of a conformal field theory and use the tried-and-true techniques in that language to try to crack it.

Most work in this arena has been with trying to use the methods of string theory to solve real-world problems, like what happens to the information that's fallen into a black hole and the nature of high-energy states of matter.

Paul M. Sutteris an astrophysicist at SUNY Stony Brook and the Flatiron Institute, host of Ask a Spaceman and Space Radio, and author of Your Place in the Universe.

Learn more by listening to the episode "Is String Theory Worth It? (Part 7: A Correspondence from a Dear Friend)" on the Ask A Spaceman podcast, available oniTunesand on the Web athttp://www.askaspaceman.com. Thanks to John C., Zachary H., @edit_room, Matthew Y., Christopher L., Krizna W., Sayan P., Neha S., Zachary H., Joyce S., Mauricio M., @shrenicshah, Panos T., Dhruv R., Maria A., Ter B., oiSnowy, Evan T., Dan M., Jon T., @twblanchard, Aurie, Christopher M., @unplugged_wire, Giacomo S., Gully F. for the questions that led to this piece! Ask your own question on Twitter using #AskASpaceman or by following Paul @PaulMattSutter and facebook.com/PaulMattSutter.

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Probing reality through physics, philosophy, and writing – MIT News

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A day in the life of Michelle Xu might include attending a quantum gravity seminar over Zoom, followed by some reading on the philosophy of time, capped off by a couple hours of writing fiction.

If these activities seem wildly diverse, for Xu they all emerge from the same place: this desire to understand how the universe works, she says. I was just never particularly picky about which way to figure it out.

Xu is a senior majoring in physics and mathematics, with an added focus on philosophy. Her studies have centered on large questions in cosmology, including looking at the earliest days of the expanding universe through their impact on primordial black holes with Professor Alan Guth in the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. Lately Xu has been studying high energy theory and quantum gravity under the guidance of Professor Daniel Harlow, both topics which she hopes to continue studying in graduate school at Stanford University next fall. Throughout her time in the physics department, professors Robert Jaffe, Tracy Slatyer, and David Kaiser have been strong role models and mentors as well, she says. My path in physics has been shaped and encouraged by all of these people, and without them, I wouldnt be where I am today.

Although she was interested in physics when she first came to MIT, it was the research experience that confirmed for her that she was on the right career path. My biggest doubt was, OK, so I can do [problem sets], and I enjoy thinking about these concepts, but if I were tossed a bunch of equations and had to create something myself, could I actually do this? Xu recalls. Each summer as I worked on a different research project, I became more and more convinced that this was something I could do.

At home in Pennsylvania during the coronavirus pandemic, Xu is continuing her research with Guth and hopes to meet virtually with Harlow as well. She is staying touch with friends through social media, even starting a book club while they are scattered throughout the country. Ive been stripped of some of my usual responsibilities, like running clubs, so Im focusing more on personal interests like writing and some puzzling topics in physics and philosophy, she says.

Xus parents are scientists, and she was raised in a household where everything was approached from a scientific perspective, she says. They watched a lot of science documentaries, like Brian Greenes The Elegant Universe, that raised early questions about the nature of reality.

It was the class 24.02 (Moral Problems and the Good Life) that inspired Xu to delve deeper into philosophy as another way to probe reality. She later discovered that most of her philosophical interests lie in metaphysics and not ethics, but the problems were nevertheless interesting enough to get her hooked initially. She recalls one class discussion centered around morality and meaning in ones life, in relation to ideas like motivation and duty, that sparked an intense discussion with the classs teaching assistant. I got nerd sniped, Xu jokes. When someone poses such an interesting question or argument, you have to just drop everything to reply to it.

The TA invited her to sit in on a graduate philosophy reading group, and Xu also joined the MIT Undergraduate Philosophy Club and became a member of its executive board. She spent the spring 2019 semester at Oxford University studying philosophy and physics and in the summer participated in a weeklong summer school on mathematical philosophy for female students at Ludwig Maximilian University.

The jargon of academic philosophy can be as dense as physics terminology, Xu admits, but I think everyone could use a little philosophy in their lives. I think questions about life and the world around us can be structured in fascinating ways through the different modes of thinking in philosophy.

Thoughts about morality and responsibility came into focus for Xu during the Independent Activities Period in 2018, when she worked with the volunteer group Cross Cultural Solutions at the Ritsona refugee camp in Greece, through the Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center. People have asked her how the volunteer work fits in with her other academic interests, and she says the short answer is that it doesnt.

I may not make a career out of public service, but I am a human being, and just like any other human being, helping the world is important to me, Xu explains. Out there, I can do what any human can do do laundry or distribute food, and help people through an incredibly difficult time of their lives.

Xu shared her experiences at the refugee camp in writing, another long-time interest of hers. Inspired by the interdisciplinary science magazine Nautilus and looking for writing partners, Xu founded Chroma, MITs student-run science and humanities magazine. As editor-in-chief, she has been proud to encourage new writers, artists, and designers on campus to cross-pollinate ideas.

I think MIT is one of the few places where something like this can blossom, because everyone here is interested in the sciences in some way, she says.

Xu mostly writes fiction these days, which she calls variably OK, but hopefully improving. Last fall she took the class 21W.755 (Writing and Reading Short Stories) to sharpen her skills, because I have these things that I want to express in my writing but feel like I lack the technique to do. But especially now that Im quarantined, Im trying to write more just getting the reps in.

Writing also helps her grapple with the nature of reality in a different way, she says. To write is to build another reality. And to build something, you have to understand it.

Despite her consistent interest in the fundamental nature of reality, Xu says she does sometimes worry that perhaps she is spread across too many departments. If I want to do something significant and contribute to this world, does that mean I am lacking focus to do that correctly?

But I think you have to stay true to doing the things that pull you in, and thats the only way you can make a significant contribution to the world.

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Why 14.7% unemployment doesnt tell the whole story: Yahoo U – Yahoo Finance

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The U.S. unemployment rate soared to 14.7% in April, but the headline unemployment number might not tell the whole story for how deeply the novel coronavirus has hurt the labor market.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate rose to the highest level on record since the monthly data collection began in 1948.

The 14.7% figure comes from the BLSs measurement known as U-3 unemployment, which presents the total amount of unemployed people as a percent of the civilian labor force.

[See also: What is a recession: Yahoo U]

The BLS defines unemployed people as people who do not have a job but are currently looking for one. That definition presents unique challenges in capturing job loss among the millions of Americans who lost their jobs and still want one but are not actively searching.

The BLS has other classifications of labor underutilization not counted in U-3 unemployment:

Marginally attached: People who are not working and not looking for work, but indicate that they want and are available for a job

Part-time: People who want full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule of less than 35 hours a week

These two groups likely constitute a large amount of workers pushed to the sidelines in the pandemic. People who had been abruptly laid off are likely to want a job when the recovery comes, but in the meantime are not actively searching for a job (for safety reasons or because there are no jobs available).

People walk past empty stores and restaurants closed due to impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) in Beverly Hills, California on May 8, 2020. - An unprecedented 20.5 million jobs were destroyed in April in the world's largest economy, the biggest amount ever recorded, the Labor Department said in a report released Friday, the first to capture the impact of a full month of the lockdowns. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP) (Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)

Many others may have been former full-time employees who were forced to take on reduced work schedules, in which case they would not have been counted as an unemployed person under U-3 unemployment.

The BLS has an alternate unemployment measure called U-6 unemployment, which adds marginally attached people and part-time workers to the base of unemployed workers.

For April, the U-6 unemployment rate was 22.8%, an eight percentage point difference from the U-3 and U-6 rate.

Both the U-3 and the U-6 unemployment rate could still understate the true unemployment rate because of a measurement error that may have defined furloughed workers as employed.

Economists have warned that the April unemployment rate is unlikely to be the peak. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told Yahoo Finance May 11 that the unemployment rate will likely rise further.

Brian Cheung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance and Valentina Caval is a producer.

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TSMC to Build Chip Plant in Arizona With Government Support – Yahoo Finance Australia

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(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is planning to build a multibillion-dollar chip plant in Arizona, a potential realignment of global trade designed to allay U.S. concerns over supply chain security.The Taiwanese company is negotiating a deal with the administration of President Donald Trump to manufacture semiconductors in the U.S. to create jobs and produce sensitive components domestically for national security reasons, according to people familiar with the situation. Talks have been progressing swiftly in recent days and an announcement could come as early as Friday, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the deal is not public yet.

We are now actively evaluating the U.S. fab plan, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu said on a recent analyst conference call, referring to fabs, the industry term for chip factories. There is a cost gap, which is hard to accept at this point. Of course, we have -- we are doing a lot of things to reduce that cost gap.

TSMC is the largest and most advanced maker of chips for other companies. Its factories, which are primarily located in Taiwan, produce important components designed by Apple Inc. and most of the largest semiconductor companies, including Qualcomm Inc., Nvidia Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Chinas Huawei Technologies Co. That makes TSMC a crucial part of many electronic devices, such as smartphones, laptops and servers running the internet, and corporate and government computer networks.An agreement would call for TSMC to build a plant in Arizona by 2023, according to the people. Its unclear what type of support the project will get from the federal government or the state of Arizona.

A cutting-edge fab is expensive to build. TSMC spent NT$500 billion ($17 billion) to build an advanced facility in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan that will churn out components for new iPhones this year. It plans another $16 billion in capital spending this year.

If the federal government provides cash for a U.S. plant, itll mark a shift in policy and rhetoric from a Republican administration. Trumps White House has rarely supported such direct industrial intervention, favoring market dynamics. However, emerging trends may be forcing a reconsideration. The U.S. government is already giving or lending billions of dollars to keep companies afloat in the midst of a pandemic-fueled recession. The crisis has also highlighted how vulnerable global supply chains are to such shocks.

Meanwhile, Trump has attacked international trade deals and tried to limit Chinas access to semiconductor technology. A TSMC deal to bring high-skilled work to Arizona may help Trumps re-election prospects this year. However, a similar government-backed effort with Foxconn in Wisconsin has so far not created as many jobs as expected.

Read more: Foxconn Factory Subsidy Estimate Slashed by Wisconsin Agency

Shares of Applied Materials Inc., Lam Research Corp. and KLA Corp. rose on optimism that these U.S.-based providers of chipmaking equipment may face fewer export controls when supplying TSMC.

By producing chips for many of the leading tech companies, TSMC has amassed the technical know-how needed to churn out the smallest, most efficient and powerful semiconductors in the highest volumes. Concentrating such valuable capabilities in the hands of one company in Asia, is a concern for the U.S., especially when, across the Strait of Taiwan, China is rushing to develop its own semiconductor industry.

TSMCs local rival, GlobalFoundries Inc., has given up on advanced manufacturing and Intel Corp., the worlds largest chipmaker, mainly manufactures for itself. Its attempt to become a so-called foundry, has failed to gain major customers. TSMCs only other significant challenger is South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co.

(Updates with details on Wisconsin project in eighth paragraph.)

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Coronavirus: What American workers should know about their rights as the economy reopens – Yahoo News

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For one manicurist at a nail salon in Texas, May 18 looms large. Its the tentative date that she must return to work, but her fears over the coronavirus pandemic remain.

Doing someones nails is an extremely close contact job. Youre constantly in someones face, said Anh, 54, who asked to go by her first name only to avoid any conflict with her employer and customers. Many customers didnt think COVID-19 was something to be afraid of, and therefore did not halt travel and social plans.

Ahn is scared to return to work because she gets sick easily and her husband, who is 65, is at a higher risk of developing a serious illness if he contracts the virus. But many of her customers have been messaging her and her manager, asking when the salon will reopen.

Theres a pressure to open and keep customers happy, said Ahn, who is the sole provider for her family.

Laura Spencer, a recruiter at the corporate offices of the Fox Restaurant Concepts' Phoenix-based eateries, cleans off surfaces as she helps out at Flower Child restaurant as Arizona slowly relaxes restrictions due to the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Ahn is one of many workers facing the prospect of going back to work as states reopen their economies during a pandemic. Questions of whether you can be forced back to work are mounting, and in most cases, employees have to return unless the work environment isnt safe or theyre considered high risk.

Generally speaking, if the employer requires you to return to work, you must return to work, said Daniel Feinstein, a labor and employment lawyer at Davis & Gilbert LLP, unless you could show that there's an imminent danger of returning to work.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSH Act, allows workers to refuse work if theres an imminent danger or your employer is not taking responsible steps to ensure a safe working environment.

Read more: Workers rights: Here's how the new coronavirus legislation protects you

So, if your employer is taking steps to protect you such as promoting social distancing measures, having the office cleaned regularly, and ensuring people who have tested positive for COVID-19 don't come to the office this means you likely wont be protected under the OSH Act.

In Ahns case, the employer is taking extra precautions, which means her employer likely would have the right to let her go if she refuses to return to work.

My employer is requiring masks for customers upon entering the store, Ahn said. Workers will also have masks and will be sitting six feet apart from each other.

People who are at higher risk for a more severe illness if they contract the disease may be allowed not to return to work. That could include those who have diabetes, chronic lung disease or are immunocompromised, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A customer arrives for a pickup dinner at a downtown restaurant In Lawrence, Kan., Monday, May 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

If returning to work or commuting to work could endanger them, then they may be protected under the disability laws, Feinstein said. If an employer lets them go for not returning to work, they could have legal exposure.

Guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says employers must find ways to mitigate the risk for people with underlying conditions under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

If employees refuse to return to work and arent protected by ADA or OSH Act, they likely will lose access to unemployment benefits, too, unless they have a good cause.

Story continues

Read more: Coronavirus: How to find a job in a tough economy

A good causeincludes situations such as having a health issue or needing to care for a close family member who has a health issue. If you must provide childcare because your child is not in school is also considered a good cause, along with having unsafe working conditions.

But the outcome is really decided on a case-by-case basis.

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In the absence of good cause, if an employee refuses to return to work, that will generally mean that they're not entitled to unemployment insurance, Feinstein said.

Some states such as Ohio, Texas, Ohio, Vermont, and South Carolina are asking employers to report to the state department of labor if an employee refuses to come to work without good cause.

If you have health reasons for not returning to work, you may have the legal right to negotiate your future work arrangements.

Your legal right will really be dependent on if you have a reason why it's necessary, Feinstein said. You and your employers are supposed to engage in what's called the interactive process to determine how best to accommodate that medical condition.

Read more: Coronavirus: Here's how to make the best work-from-home arrangement

Employers may be more open than before to negotiate work arrangements after offices reopen. One in 6 employers are investing in the development of their employees and my provide re-skilling and training, according to a survey by Society for Human Resource Management.

Signs are posted for social distancing as Dan Loftus organizes books at Half Price Books, Monday, May 11, 2020, in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

I always advise any worker and any employer to have honest conversations and to request things in any situation, said Alex Alonso, SHRMs chief knowledge officer. The worst possible outcome is that you're told no. As long as youve asked for it and make a case, there's a good reason to pull this together.

The recently-passed Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) gives more leeway to employees who cant work because they have childcare responsibilities because schools are shut down.

Theyre now entitled to these 10 weeks of leave at partial pay, Feinstein said. The partial pay is around two-thirds of the employees usual pay.

Yes. Under the FFCRA, many employers are required to provide paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for COVID-19-related reasons through the end of 2020.

Read more: How to file for unemployment insurance

The paid sick leave provisions apply to certain public employees and private employers with fewer than 500 employees, while small businesses with fewer than 50 employees may qualify for exemption in some cases.

If employees are sick or if they've been quarantined, Feinstein said, then they're entitled to two weeks of sick leave at their regular salary for coronavirus-related reasons.

Denitsa is a writer for Yahoo Finance andCashay, a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter@denitsa_tsekova.

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Companies are dropping big hints about the ‘new normal’ once coronavirus lockdowns end – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 5:42 pm

Officials are delineating the parameters of relaxing stay-at-home orders that have throttled the global economy, yet a few companies are already giving the public a glimpse of life once stringent coronavirus restrictions begin winding down.

Currently, states and cities are crafting a pell-mell retreat away from lockdowns designed to contain the COVID-19 crisis but that have decimated growth and the jobs market. Yet, it's widely acknowledged that social distancing protocols that enforce small crowds and require the use of face masks in public will remain in effect.

Already, a range of big and small businesses around the country are actively implementing the post-lockdown new normal. Its become a catchphrase that has defined public discourse since COVID-19 upended societal norms, and brought the global economy to its knees.

Its also a dynamic consumers will be forced to navigate in the near-term, with many citizens desperate to resume public life, but without an approved coronavirus treatment or vaccine on the immediate horizon.

From cashless transactions, to smaller office footprints with fewer on-site workers, to cleaner hotels and less crowded casinos (alas, with no buffets), the post-lockdown era will be characterized by changes to public life that will be both subtle and dramatic.

To be honest I think were going to be seeing structural changes within the U.S. economy, and other economies around the world as well, because this has opened up new opportunities too, ING Chief International Economist James Knightly told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview.

Knightly believes that with so many white-collar professions working remotely, employers are likely to ask hard questions about whether they need as much office space, and whether business travel is necessary.

Last month, Barclays (BCS) CEO Jes Staley told reporters that the notion of putting 7,000 people in a building may be a thing of the past. And already, companies are reconfiguring existing offices to conform to the imperatives of preventing the spread of the deadly virus, and planning for more to work from home.

There could be longer-term implications for the airline industry, hotel chains and of course hospitality, INGs Knightly said.

That runs the risk of making the recovery story last longer, or take longer to come to fruition, the economist said adding that it could take 2 years to recoup the growth lost in the wave of lockdowns that put the economy in suspended animation.

There are over 1.3 million coronavirus cases in the U.S. (Graphic: David Foster/Yahoo Finance)

The hospitality industry, which includes hotels and casinos, have been hemorrhaging money, and are deeply invested in a return to normal. However, whether consumers feel safe returning to public life in droves is very much an open question.

Hilton (HLT) CFO Kevin Jacobs told Yahoo Finance on Monday that the chain was pushing heightened level of cleanliness for guests, while Las Vegas Sands (LVS) COO Robert Goldstein warned on an earnings call that it will take time for Americans to 'acclimate' to this new world.

Separately, Andre Carrier, the COO of Eureka Casinos in Las Vegas said recently that the gaming industry is in the process of imagining what a socially-distant casino experience will look like once the city reopens for business.

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Clearly distancing is part of that, were blessed that by their nature, casino floors are large, and we do have the ability to spread out games and equipment, Carrier told Yahoo Finance last week.

Casinos will have more equipment and processes to sanitize and enforce social distancing, he said. Meanwhile, at the behest of Nevada regulators, elaborate open air buffet dining a staple of the Las Vegas dining experience will be a thing of the past for now, as will jam-packed casino floors.

I think you may see fewer games on the floor to provide the spacing required, so some casino environments have 2000 games, there may be fewer when we come back, the executive said.

NEW YORK, NY- MAY 11: Antibody Testing for MTA Employees at Grand Central Station's Vanderbilt Hall during the coronavirus pandemic in New York City on May 11, 2020. Credit: Rainmaker Photos/MediaPunch /IPX

The wealthy yet densely populated East and West Coasts have been epicenters of the U.S. outbreak, which has infected over 1.3 million and killed about 80,000.

According to some observers, a major overarching theme in the post-coronavirus future is the potential for a migratory shift away from bustling coastal regions that include New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, all hotbeds of coronavirus infections.

A subplot to this global vs. local dynamic is urban vs. rural. The virus outbreak has been hardest felt in dense urban areas, which are also major hubs of business activity, according to Antonio DeSpirito, a managing director and CIO of U.S. Fundamental Active Equity at BlackRock.

Along with turbocharged virtual life trends like online learning, streaming and gaming, DeSpirito thinks the move away from traditional office spaces may fuel a move away from big city life.

We could see a shrinking office footprint as populations gravitate away and remote workforces grow, he wrote in a recent note to clients.

Meanwhile, less-urban areas could benefit in several ways: on-shoring of manufacturing would likely go to these areas; the ability to work remotely means people can relocate from urban hubs; and retirees who preferred culture centers like New York City may see disadvantages of dense areas and look to more rural settings, DeSpirito added.

INGs Kingsley cautioned that the staggering job losses seen over the last two months could take longer to come back, mainly because protocols that block large crowds will still be in effect while consumer psychology may take longer to heal.

We have to be cognizant of the risks people dont want to take, people dont want to go to as many bars or restaurants, they dont want to go to as many stores, Kingsley said. These issues all do make it... a risk that we see a much more prolonged period before we regain the lost output.

Javier David is an editor at Yahoo Finance. He can be reached at @TeflonGeek.

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Wuhan reopened last month. Now, new coronavirus infections spark mass testing and renewed fears – Yahoo News

Posted: at 5:42 pm

People line up for coronavirus testing in Wuhan, China, where the city government has required that all residents be tested after new cases were reported on May 10, 2020. (For The Times )

Red lanterns swayed in the wind above beeping thermometers. A queue jerked forward every few minutes, moving like toy soldiers through a socially distanced assembly line. Medical staff in goggles and face shields manned three tables: one for registration and temperatures, two for testing.

Open your mouth, the staff commanded over and over. The residents in the Jade Belt apartment complex obeyed, wincing, sometimes gagging, as the workers scraped the backs of their throats with long cotton swabs. Security guards hovered around the area, cordoned off with string.

The Jade Belt residents a few wearing raincoats as protection were among the first in line after the city government ordered Monday that all Wuhan residents be tested for the coronavirus within 10 days. The action was a swift response to six new cases of COVID-19 reported on Sunday the first such infections since early April.

The 10-day time frame appeared implausible based on the citys testing capacity. It was also somewhat impractical given that the limited accuracy of the nucleic acid virus tests were not followed by restrictions on movement. One could test negative Wednesday morning, have lunch with an asymptomatic person that afternoon, and become infected without knowing.

But this was Wuhan, ground zero for a pandemic, and a city the Chinese government was determined to keep under control. The community workers got the message: Test everyone. All residents. No household left behind, recited Ms. Duan, a worker in the Jade Belt complex.

Chinas residents live under a grid-style social management system: All residential areas are divided into geographical blocks, and street-level authorities assign individual workers to manage each of them.

The system enforces social stability in regular times, with these workers monitoring their assigned residents and reporting them for undesirable activities such as gambling or religious gatherings. During the pandemic, theyve become responsible for enforcing restrictions on movement, registering people for tests, and caring for the vulnerable under lockdown.

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Everyone is pretty self-aware, Duan said. Four people had died in Jade Belt during the first lockdown, she said. Twenty-eight had been infected, a low number compared with many other neighborhoods. Most residents were now eager to cooperate with testing and anything else that might prevent another outbreak.

Temporary lockdown is for the sake of long-lasting freedom, declared the large white characters on a red banner hung outside the testing area. Yet one month after Wuhans celebrated reopening, that freedom seems still far out of reach.

More than 10 million people were sequestered in Wuhan as the pandemic spread across China in January. Many were kept inside their apartments for nearly three months. Thousands of residents died, many of them at home with their families, unable to find space in overwhelmed hospitals.

The world waited as Wuhan hunkered down in those days. Snow and rain swept the city's empty streets as its people sent endless pleas for help on social media. It took weeks before enough makeshift cabin hospitals were built to house the sick and quarantine mild cases and their contacts, and months before the deaths and infections finally dwindled.

Only when the lockdown lifted on April 8 did the city breathe again.

Green banners were hung on apartment compounds declared coronavirus-free, emblazoned with the slogan: All Peoples Anti-Epidemic War Decisive Battle, Decisive Victory.

One grade of high schoolers was allowed back to school, though some had to wear watches with QR codes tracking everywhere they went. Swimmers returned to the Yangtze River. Nail salons reopened to customers, who complained that they were gaining weight, now that they could finally relax.

Relieved residents punched holes and removed bars from the blockades that had been erected around their communities, climbing out to see their city again. It felt as if an unwelcome stranger had been banished.

Then came the new cluster: only six cases, a seemingly immeasurable fraction compared to the 50,000 total reported in Wuhan and millions more across the world. But rumors took flight, spurred by lingering distrust and anxiety from the lack of government transparency in January. Residents shared unverified videos online of elderly people dragged into ambulances in different compounds, and warned one another to stay home.

Should we get our team back together? wrote a volunteer in a WeChat group of Wuhan citizens whod spent three months braving the first outbreak in makeshift protective gear, delivering medical supplies and driving patients and nurses to and from hospitals when public transportation was shut down.

By Tuesday afternoon, many communities began blocking their streets again.

Residents of one neighborhood in Qiaokou district were caught by surprise as a makeshift roadblock orange, yellow, blue and teal shared bicycles stacked on top of one another appeared at one of their main street entrances.

Whats happening? Were closing again? a woman shouted over the bikes at a security guard on the other side. As he struggled to secure a tarp over the blockade, another woman clambered over the bicycle mountain, determined to take her planned route home.

Please scan and enter. Please scan and enter, a robotic voice in a Hubei accent repeated at a tent outside one building inside the neighborhood. A community worker sat in front of the tent, taking temperatures and pointing to a QR code that residents were asked to scan to keep track of every entry or exit.

One middle-aged woman stepped out of her apartment on the buildings second floor. The room behind her was filled with stacks of sealed cardboard boxes. Her family ran an online stationery store and delivery service, she said, sending school supplies around the country.

During the lockdown, though, theyd only been allowed to go outside once a day, and packages sent to the outside world from Wuhan were restricted. Shed spent 76 days at home with her husband and their undeliverable boxes.

We only just started going out for groceries again, she said. Shed been nervous about a second wave in the fall. But is it already getting worse?

In another neighborhood, a couple stood on their balcony two floors above a supermarket, lowering a plastic bag on a rope to the ground. A worker loaded eggs and vegetables in the bag before they hauled the bag back up, the wife telling her husband to watch out as it swung in the wind.

This is easier than putting on our gloves and masks and goggles to go outside, the woman explained from above.

By Wednesday evening, news of the citywide testing had spread across Wuhan and China, though some residents said they still hadnt received any such notification from their community workers. Another community worker in Qiaokou district said shed notified her residents of testing, but didnt know when it would be done.

Whether restrictions on movement are reinstated makes little difference for some. As residents of one neighborhood hollered from their balconies and bikes on Tuesday afternoon, asking questions about the new tests and roadblocks, a gray-haired woman stood in front of an old building, hunched slightly with her hands behind her back.

She hadnt left her apartment building since January, she said, pointing to her stunted legs: Its hard for me to walk. But she came outside occasionally, blinking at the sudden shift from her dark room, to look at a tree across the street.

See how the leaves are moving, she said then fell silent, gazing as they rustled in the light.

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Wuhan reopened last month. Now, new coronavirus infections spark mass testing and renewed fears - Yahoo News

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Why this inactive slugger might be MLB’s highest-paid player in 2020 – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 5:42 pm

The 2020 Major League Baseball season if it happens will feature several unique elements. That much is already clear as the league and MLB Players Association attempt to formulate a plan to resume play amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the strangest possibilities that exist? The highest-paid player this season might be an inactive slugger who has not appeared in a game since July 18, 2016.

According to The Athletics Ken Rosenthal, former Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers first baseman Prince Fielder is in position to hold that distinction if there are no significant changes to the shortened-season pay structure previously agreed to by the owners and players.

Heres how, per Rosenthals report:

Prince Fielder, owed $24 million in the final year of his contract with the Rangers, is to receive his full termination pay under terms of the March agreement between the owners and players regarding a shortened or canceled 2020 season.

The amount Fielder receives might decrease if the parties reach a subsequent deal to reduce the pay of players who were released before the COVID-19 pandemic, but such an adjustment is unlikely, sources say. The players are no longer on 40-man rosters, and the sports collective-bargaining agreement seemingly protects the guarantees in their contracts.

In the March agreement referenced by Rosenthal, the players agreed to prorated salaries for the 2020 season based on the number of games played. On Monday, the owners approved a league proposal calling for an 82-game season. The players have not yet agreed to the proposal, but if they do players will receive just a little over half of their 2020 salary.

The owners are also seeking a 50-50 split of revenues, which didnt sit well at all with union executive director Tony Clark. In other words, the money issues are far from settled. But the current agreement would bump Fielder into an unusual position.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is currently slated to be MLBs highest-paid player this season at $37.7 million. Gerrit Cole is close behind at $36 million. The 29-year-old right-hander signed a nine-year, $324 million free-agent deal with the New York Yankees over the winter.

Trout would receive just under $19 million, while Coles salary would drop to just over $18 million if the prorated salaries stay in place. They are two of 24 players scheduled to earn at least $24 million this season.

Retired slugger Prince Fielder could be MLB's highest paid player in 2020. Here's how.. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

Fielder, who was deemed medically unable to play after suffering a second herniated disk in his neck in 2016, would have been entering the final year of the nine-year, $214 million contract he originally signed with the Tigers.

The Rangers officially released Fielder after the 2017 season.

Editors note: This article previously described Prince Fielder as retired. He has not officially retired, which is why hes still eligible to be owed money.

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