Monthly Archives: March 2024

Netflixs 3 Body Problem premiered March 21, and theres a lot of science! The new Netflix series from screenwriter Alexander Woo and Game of Thrones shepherds David Benioff and D.B. Weiss adapts a bestselling sci-fi trilogy by Chinese writer Liu Cixin, an engineer with a high-level understanding of physics. The story that unfolds over 3 Body and its two sequels, also known as the Remembrance of Earths Past series, won acclaim for its vision of a future based on a variety of ideas about quantum mechanics and how they might impact a future interstellar existential crisis. In 3 Bodys fictional universe, far-flung theory plays out in real time in the lives of a far-away alien species and its attempts to both interact with and influence humans here on Earth.

Fortunately for audiences who arent Einsteins, the Netflix series shifts much of the drama away from the skies and onto humans it even creates a bunch of entirely new characters to give us people to care about in between all the physics. Lius series includes two more books following the first novel; the Netflix series follows the first book, then spins off in its own direction for a while before setting us up for book two. What they both have in common is a zoomed-out view of quantum mechanics and astrophysics underlying all the cool space stuff. Our heroes and villains are all scientists whose decisions and conflicts dictate humanitys course both now and in the distant future. With the assistance of an actual astrophysicist, lets go through the basics you need to know to understand what the heck is happening in this show.

The three-body problem has existed ever since humans began to understand gravity and how it works. You probably know that the Earth rotates around the sun because the suns gravitational field is exerting a pull over our planet and all the others in our solar system. Were able to interact with the sun in that way because as planets, our individual gravitational spheres are all less powerful than the sun, and none are powerful enough to exert a hold on each other. Its the same with our moon its caught in Earths gravitational field, so it floats along hanging out with us.

In other words, two objects whose gravitational fields interact will always form stable orbits along a predictable, unchanging path. Newton figured this out, along with the formula for predicting their orbits, in 1687. Its sometimes called the two-body problem. If you were to introduce another star into the mix, youd probably wind up with a binary star system where both stars form stable orbits around a gravitational center. The most common sort of star is one with a stable binary partner, which makes our sun, a solo star, fairly rare. Binary star systems can have stable planets, too, and these types of systems can often be mapped and plotted and predicted by astronomers and physicists.

But that only works with two objects with gravitational forces. When you add a third object into the mix, all bets are off. Instead of stabilizing, the third element creates chaos and causes the objects to fly around and interact in completely unpredictable ways spinning off into space, crashing into each other, or bouncing off one anothers gravitational spheres and careening in completely different directions.

To explain why this happens, I turned to astrophysicist Dr. Charles J. Horowitz, who told me that the key here is the law of conservation of energy thats the one that tells us that energy in a closed system can never be created or destroyed. Conservation of energy implies that a planet will orbit a single star forever and can never escape to infinity, Horowitz wrote in an email. In other words, once a planet becomes trapped inside of a stars gravitational field, it cant create the additional energy it would need to propel itself out of it.

Two stars, on the other hand, can exchange energy and possibly eject an orbiting planet, Horowitz said.

This, then, is the three-body problem: How do we stabilize three gravitational objects or predict what their orbits might be?

For centuries, scientists were unable to find any starting point from which the three objects could form stable orbits in relationship to one another. In recent decades, scientists have come closer; increasingly, using computational algorithms and, in at least one instance, modeling their predictions on intoxicated humans, weve found multiple solutions to create stability among our three hypothetical objects. But the majority of these solutions are difficult if not impossible to model in reality, so its not clear how well they work out of the realm of theory.

The central conceit of 3 Body Problem is exactly this scenario an alien species on a distant planet has evolved the capacity to become a technologically advanced civilization but its planet exists within a solar system with three different suns.

Because of the three-body problem, these suns are constantly exerting gravitational chaos over one another, flinging each other to and fro across the cosmos and in the process wreaking climate havoc on the planet caught in the middle. The alien race, called the Trisolarans, has thus had its civilizations wiped out and destroyed, over and over, for millennia.

I asked Horowitz how likely this scenario would be, and he essentially backed up Three Bodys author, Liu Cixin. In the short term it might be fine, Horowitz said. Over very long times (say, billions of years) many orbits of planets around two stars are thought to be unstable.

If life takes billions of years to evolve (as it did on Earth) then such a planet may not provide a suitable environment. However, there may be certain configurations of the three bodies that are stable for long times and could be suitable for life. Or life could develop or colonize the world more quickly, he added.

This is precisely the situation the Trisolarans face: From time to time, their three bodies stabilize for long periods, giving their civilizations enough time to rapidly advance and flourish. Inevitably, though, the stable eras give way to chaotic eras, when their suns resume their volatility.

The existential problem of the Trisolarans which a select group of Earthlings eventually devote themselves to solving as well is how to know and prepare for a chaotic era when you cant predict one. In essence, theyre living out the three-body problem in real time.

This scenario might sound improbable, but its actually not and its a crucial part of the plot of 3 Body Problem. In the show, we learn that the Trisolarans are able to essentially spy on Earth through the use of a proton thats been transmitted to Earth to act as a simultaneous receiver and transmitter for its twin proton, which remains on Trisolaris.

This is possible through a mind-bending phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Scientists have observed this property in subatomic particles which essentially operate as one entity, even when theyre separated by billions of light years. In fact, notes Dr. Horowitz, [Its] perhaps better to say the two entangled particles share the information rather than receive and transmit it. In other words, they arent so much communicating with one another as simultaneously receiving information from both locations even though theyre on completely different planets.

This may sound like the most unbelievable part of the 3 Body series even in the show, when our plucky cosmologist, Jin Cheng, presents the idea to her colleagues, they laugh at her and dismiss the idea as a silly game rather than real science.

In fact, Chengs idea is based on a real phenomenon known as nuclear thermal propulsion, sometimes called nuclear pulse propulsion. As it turns out, nuclear propulsion produces very little radiation if the engines using it are activated in space instead of on Earth and the benefits include reduced energy use, reduced exposure to cosmic radiation, and speedier rockets. The Department of Energy even has a web page devoted to touting the benefits of nuclear propulsion.

Although the series presents Chengs domino effect idea as far-fetched, the US has a history of experimenting with nuclear thermal propulsion. As Horowitz explained, Project Orion, early in the Cold War, tried to develop a rocket powered by small atomic bombs.

However, if youre wondering about all that radiation, youre not alone. The first version of Project Orion was ultimately canceled because mid-century scientists were unable to solve the big problem: the near-certainty of deadly nuclear fallout that would result from any attempt to launch a nuclear-powered rocket into space from Earth.

A shame, really. It would have been a very good rocket, Horowitz said. Modern iterations of Orion have focused on launching similar rockets from within space and limiting astronauts exposure to radiation.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of 3 Body to conceptualize involves exactly what the Trisolarans do to the aforementioned proton before they shoot it off into space: They unfold its multiple dimensions into a massive, planet-sized amount of space, inscribe a giant super-computer onto its planes, and then re-fold it back into its original microscopic size.

This is a difficult feat to imagine, much less conceive in reality. Yet this practice exists, at least in theory, as an idea of multidimensional unfolding. Imagine this the way you might imagine creating a simple paper fortune-teller. The paper shape starts out almost fully flat, on a single plane but it can be uncompressed to reveal more and more layers, until you have a neat schoolyard divination tool.

Now imagine this happening on a grand scale, and with even more dimensions than the three we experience here on Earth. There are multiple processes for how to do it, and multiple ways to try to illustrate what examples might look like in reality. The most famous example is an object that mathematicians and physicists call a hypercube or a tesseract (no, not that one) a cube equivalent that exists in at least four dimensions. Heres one attempt to imagine what one might look like:

Humans have devoted considerable time to trying to capture the essence of this; one famous early work of science fiction, Flatland, was published in 1884 by Edwin Abbott Abbot as a satirical attempt to introduce Victorians to the whole idea of higher dimensions by positing the existence of a society of people who existed in two planes only. Today, we can find equivalent thought experiments in places like YouTube:

Of course, none of this fully explains whether it would be possible to unfold a proton into the size of a planet and then inscribe a super-computer onto it. When I asked Horowitz about this, he replied with ??

And honestly, that might be a fair way to respond to many of the scientific ideas we find in Lius expansive series. Ultimately, its built less on whats real, and what we definitely know, than whats possible given the incredible advances weve made in theoretical physics emphasis on theory.

In other words, 3 Body collides science and fiction like two protons. The result is a wild, unique ride thats worth suspending a little disbelief.

No. Do not try this trick at home. Thankfully, some parts of 3 Body remain purely in the realm of the fantastic.

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Netflixs 3 Body Problem: The science explained by an astrophysicist - Vox.com

Article Highlight | 22-Mar-2024

Quantum entanglement changes in atomic nuclei in ways that differ from other systems

DOE/US Department of Energy

image:

Left: partitions where the set of blue points occupy one region and the set of black points another region, similar to how many systems work. Right: the partitions that occur in nuclei, where the partitions of blue and black points occupy the same regions

Credit: Image courtesy of Thomas Papenbrock.

Entanglement is what Einstein called spooky action at a distance. It is a key part of what distinguishesquantum mechanicsfrom our everyday experience. In quantum mechanics, scientists use a measurement called entanglement entropy to quantify the amount of the entanglement between two subsystemsfor example, between a system being studied and its environment. Large entanglement entropies indicate that a system has strong correlations to its environment. In many systems, the entanglement entropies are proportional to the area that separates a system from its environment. This is also true for black holes, where the energy-related entropy growth is proportional to the area of the event horizon. But thenucleiof atoms are different. The complicated interactions innucleilead to entanglement entropies that grow like the volume of the system of interest, not like its surface area.

Computing the state of a quantum system is hard because doing so requires scientists to accurately capture the systems entanglement with its environment. New research quantifies entanglement entropies forneutronmatter. Using related measures, the research also quantifies this entropy for atomicnuclei. This work can contribute toquantum computingby helping researchers understand how the number of operations necessary to prepare a state on a quantum chip grows with increasing entanglement entropy.

The researchers studied entanglement entropies between the mean-field space and its environment in nuclear systems. As entanglement entropies are hard to compute, the researchers also derived relations to easier-to-compute measures. The research showed that entanglement entropies are related to other quantities that are easier to compute and that can serve as entanglement witnesses. General arguments also suggest that the entanglement entropy in nuclear systems fulfills a volume law instead of an area law. This work tested and confirmed these results by computing entanglement entropies of models for atomicnucleiand neutron matter.

This material is based on work supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics and by the Quantum Science Center, a DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center. Computer time was provided by the Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program. This research used resources from the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Entanglement entropies of nuclear systems gro - EurekAlert

By University of Virginia College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences March 23, 2024

The quest for a theory of everything, tracing back to before Archimedes and significantly advanced in the last century through Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity and quantum mechanics, has encountered a major challenge due to their conflicting explanations of gravity. Kent Yagis innovative research at the University of Virginia, utilizing artificial intelligence and backed by a prestigious CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation, aims to bridge this gap, offering new insights into gravity and the universes fundamental forces, while also enhancing STEM education through community and educational outreach. (Artists concept). Credit: SciTechDaily.com

Long before Archimedes suggested that all phenomena observable to us might be understandable through fundamental principles, humans have imagined the possibility of a theory of everything. Over the past century, physicists have edged nearer to unraveling this mystery. Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity provides a solid basis for comprehending the cosmos at a large scale, while quantum mechanics allows us to grasp its workings at the subatomic level. The trouble is that the two systems dont agree on how gravity works.

Today, artificial intelligence offers new hope for scientists addressing the massive computational challenges involved in unraveling the mysteries of something as complex as the universe and everything in it, and Kent Yagi, an associate professor with the University of Virginias College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences is leading a research partnership between theoretical physicists and computational physicists at UVA that could offer new insight into the possibility of a theory of everything or, at least, a better understanding of gravity, one of the universes fundamental forces. The work has earned him a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation, one of the most prestigious awards available to the nations most promising young researchers and educators.

One aspect of Einsteins theory of general relativity is that objects moving through space generate waves, much like a boat moving through the water, but even when those waves are created by planets, stars and galaxies, or even black holes that can create the strongest gravitational fields possible, they are still incredibly small. Consequently, it was almost a hundred years after Einstein first published his ideas on gravitational waves that the technological means to observe them were developed. In 2015, a program known as LIGO, or the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, one of the largest projects ever funded by the NSF, detected gravitational waves for the first time, which led to a Nobel Prize in Physics for the projects leaders.

Physicist Kent Yagi, an associate professor with the University of Virginias College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences has won a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation, one of the most prestigious awards available to the nations most promising young researchers and educators. University of Virginia College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

The discovery was one of the most important moments in physics in the last hundred years, Yagi said.

And as the technology needed to observe subatomic phenomena advances, the computing capacity necessary to process massive amounts of data astronomers are collecting about the universe has also advanced. Additionally, new developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence in recent years are allowing scientists to create and test complex mathematical models describing the phenomenon they observe at a pace that was once unimaginable.

Yagi studies the massive gravitational waves generated by pairs of black holes and binary neutron stars some of the densest objects in the universe that are as much as 1013 times more powerful than a typical fridge magnet, according to Yagi and he uses those phenomena to test Einsteins theories about gravity and to probe the fundamental laws of nuclear physics looking for information that will help resolve the disconnect between Einsteins theory and quantum mechanics.

The CAREER grant, which will bring $400,000 in funding to the College over the next five years, will create opportunities for current and future graduate students interested in developing and applying machine learning algorithms that will help explain and predict gravitational wave observations and give us a deeper understanding of gravitys behavior.

Once the computational algorithms are fine-tuned a process that should take as little as a few weeks Yagi said his team will be able to process the data collected by LIGO to test Einsteins theory a hundred times faster.

And the amount of space we can search for that data will increase by a factor of ten, Yagi said.

One of the requirements of the CAREER award is that recipients also build educational and community outreach projects into their work, and some of the funding will create jobs for undergraduates who will work with Yagi to develop educational software for high school students interested in physics, which, Yagi hopes, will inspire the next generation of Nobel-prize winning scientists.

How much closer will this bring us to a theory of everything?

There are still a lot of problems to be solved, Yagi said. Im hoping Ill see it in my lifetime, but I dont want to be too optimistic.

Proving a theory is almost impossible, Yagi explained. Theres always going to be measurement error in any experiment, but were going to keep trying to see if we find some evidence to disprove general relativity. At the same time, we just keep discovering how beautiful and correct it appears to be.

Yagis work and the attention its receiving drew praise from his colleagues and leaders at UVA.

Theres been a very big push recently to better understand gravitational waves not only as a theoretical prediction or concept but to be able to directly detect them, said Phil Arras, chair of UVAs Department of Astronomy. That effort has opened up an entirely new window into the universe and given us a new way to check our theories about how stars evolve. Kents research has been very important for our understanding of that.

Despina Louca, chair of UVAs Department of Physics called Yagi a highly respected astrophysicist with a vast research portfolio.

Kent is an engaging educator and a sought-after mentor whose work has had tremendous impact across several physics disciplines, Louca added. He is paving the way to using machine learning to test general relativity while exploring astrophysical properties of neutron stars, and his work with UVA students building online games that integrate research and education will inspire young people around the world.

Professor Yagis work is remarkable, said Christa Acampora, dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Were proud to have him as a member of our faculty, not only for the recognition hes receiving as he advances the boundaries of our understanding about the universe but also for his commitment to innovation in STEM education.

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The Quest for a Theory of Everything Scientists Put Einstein to the Test - SciTechDaily

In a stunning achievement in quantum physics, researchers have synchronized the shift of a quantized electronic energy level with atomic oscillations, achieving this at a speed exceeding a trillionth of a second.

This achievement, accomplished by physicists from the University of Regensburg, is akin to manipulating the height to which a ball is thrown.

However, this was done within the quantum realm where energy levels resemble steps on a ladder, each step representing a quantized energy value unique to quantum particles like electrons.

The significance of quantized energy levels is paramount in modern technology, underpinning the functionality of qubits in quantum computing, light-emitting quantum dots awarded the Nobel Prize in 2023, and other quantum devices.

These energy levels, however, are susceptible to alterations through interactions with other particles, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity for researchers aiming to harness quantum behaviors for advanced technologies.

Leveraging a state-of-the-art ultrafast microscope, the Regensburg team has accomplished the direct observation and control of how an electrons energy is adjusted by the atomic vibrations of its environment.

This was observed with unprecedented atomic resolution and at speeds previously deemed unattainable, marking a significant leap towards the realization of ultra-fast quantum technologies.

The researchers focused their study on atomically thin materials, specifically examining how the movement of such a material can influence discrete energy levels.

Their observations centered around a vacancy, a void created by the absence of an atom, within these two-dimensional crystals. These vacancies, akin to atoms, have distinct energy levels making them promising candidates for quantum computing qubits.

By inducing vibrations similar to those of a drums membrane on the atomic scale, the team discovered they could alter the energy level of a vacancy, effectively controlling it through the surrounding atomic movements.

These findings, detailed in Nature Photonics, could pave the way for future nanoelectronics and quantum computing technologies.

Overcoming numerous challenges, including achieving atomic resolution and capturing extremely rapid movements, the teams method integrated a scanning tunneling microscopes high energy and spatial resolution with custom-tailored ultrashort laser pulses.

This innovative approach allowed them to observe the dynamic shifts of energy levels in what can be likened to slow motion.

In summary, brilliant physicists at the University of Regensburg have set a new benchmark in quantum physics by intricately manipulating and observing the quantum states of electrons with unprecedented precision and speed.

This remarkable achievement deepens our understanding of the quantum world while opening a new realm ripe with possibilities for the development of advanced quantum technologies and materials.

Through their innovative approach and collaborative effort, they have paved the way for future breakthroughs that could revolutionize how we interact with and harness the power of quantum mechanics.

This astounding breakthrough promises a future where the once-theoretical aspects of quantum physics become the cornerstone of practical, real-world applications.

The collaborative effort, spearheaded by Carmen Roelcke, Lukas Kastner, and Yaroslav Gerasimenko, alongside the expertise of Jascha Repp, Rupert Huber, Maximilian Graml, and Jan Wilhelm, was crucial in deciphering the interaction between atomic movements and electronic energy levels.

The full study was published in the journal Nature Photonics.

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Vibrating atoms are seen 'tuning' the energy of a single electron - Earth.com

In this weeks Innovator Spotlight, hear from Joseph Maciejko, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Tier-II Canada Research Chair in Condensed Matter Theory. As interim director of the Edmonton node of Quantum Horizons Alberta, Joseph is helping build a world-class team of researchers in theoretical quantum physics and related areas.

I study something called quantum materials. Materials like iron, copper or silicon are made up of huge numbers of extremely small particles such as electrons. How those particles interact with each other and what their collective behaviour might be control to a large extent the technologically useful properties of the materiallike how well it conducts electricity. In quantum materials, the collective behaviour of electrons is controlled by quantum mechanics and this can give rise to surprising effects like magnetism and superconductivity. As a theoretical physicist, I employ mathematical models and theories to try to understand this behaviour and predict new materials that might have novel useful properties.

First an analogy. Think of electrons as Lego bricks, and of quantum mechanics as the rules specifying how two bricks can snap together. An interesting quantum material is a beautiful Lego creation with so many bricks arranged in such creative ways that it doesnt look like Lego at all. I want to understand mathematically or classify the range of all possible collective behaviours that the building blocks of nature and the laws of quantum mechanics allow. For example, what is there beyond magnetism and superconductivity?

Innovation to me means thinking something deep that hasnt been thought of before. It could be establishing an unexpected connection between two areas of science. Or it could be revisiting an old problem and discovering a hidden gem that has been overlooked and perhaps it turns a whole field of research around.

In recent years, this would be the initial idea that led to the inception of hyperbolic band theory, which I consider to be a radically new direction in my research area of condensed matter physics. The idea was to recognize that concepts from pure mathematicslike number theory and algebraic geometry, which traditionally have had limited application to physicscould help understand a fundamentally new type of quantum material, called a hyperbolic lattice, that had been recently synthesized in a lab at Princeton University. I enjoy when ideas from completely unrelated areas of science and mathematics must somehow team up to explain a physical phenomenon. It testifies to the unity of all human knowledge.

My best ideas have typically come out in either casual, unstructured conversations with students, postdocs or colleagues while scribbling equations on a chalkboard (yes, with real chalk!); or by reading and physics daydreaming in a quiet space such as my office or my car in a traffic jam. Also, lots of coffee!

The U of A is a wonderful place to work because of all the wonderful people here. The culture in the Department of Physics is highly collegial and collaborative. Ive been fortunate to work with many dedicated students and postdocs and have received lots of great support from my colleagues as well.

Over the years, Ive benefited greatly from the support and mentorship of many senior colleagues in the Department of Physics, such as Drs. John Beamish, Mark Freeman, Frank Marsiglio, Roger Moore and Mauricio Sacchi. Those individuals have been incredibly generous with their time and advice and I am extremely grateful and indebted to them. Renowned theoretical physicists in our department like Drs. Valeri Frolov and Don Page are also a great source of inspiration.

It is sometimes hard to quantify the immediate impact of purely theoretical research like the work that I do. In theoretical physics, we take a long view of a word like impact." When Einstein was developing the theory of relativity in the early 20th century, no oneincluding himselfcould have foreseen that it would become a crucial part of how the global positioning system (GPS) works. Without the theoretical physicists who laid the foundation of quantum mechanics in the 1920s, there would be no computer chips, lasers or medical resonance imaging (MRI) machines. I believe that continually striving to understand how nature works at the most fundamental level always pays off in the long run. It enriches our collective intelligence and creates the conditions for lasting technological breakthroughs.

I have lots of research projects on the go with my U of A team members and external collaborators, most immediately to further understand the full breadth of possible collective behaviours in hyperbolic lattices. More broadly, I am excited by the possibilities that will be opened up by Quantum Horizons Alberta (QHA), a new $25M pan-Alberta initiative to support fundamental research in quantum science. In my capacity as interim director for the U of A portion of this initiative, I look forward to helping build a world-class team of researchers in theoretical quantum physics and related areas. The more hands on deck we can have to unlock the mysteries of the quantum world, the better. The fun has really just begun.

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Innovator Spotlight: Joseph Maciejko | The Quad - University of Alberta