Category Archives: Quantum Physics

Albert Einstein is often held up as the epitome of the scientist. Hes the poster child for genius. Yet he was not perfect. He was human and subject to many of the same foibles as the rest of us. His personal life was complicated, featuring divorce and extramarital affairs.

Though most of us would sell our in-laws to achieve a tenth of what he did, his science wasnt perfect either: while he was a founder of what came to be called Quantum Mechanics, he disagreed with other scientists about what it all meant, and he once thought he had proved that gravitational waves could not exist (an anonymous reviewer of his paper found his mistake and set him straight). Yet Einstein did create one thing that, as far as we can tell, is as correct as anything can be in science. That is his theory of gravity, called General Relativity.

He presented the theory to the world over four consecutive Wednesdays in November 1915 in lectures at the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Einstein was by then well respected in European physics circles, and one can imagine more than one person in the audience that November thinking that hed gone bonkers. Einsteins theory purported to replace the hugely successful 1687 gravity theory of Isaac Newton, which posited gravity as an attractive force between masses, with one where gravity was a result of the curving and warping of space and time by massive objects. And the evidence for this new theory? It managed to account for a tiny discrepancy of 120 kilometers per year in the spot where Mercury makes its closest approach to the Sun. The concepts behind this new theory were so radical and unfamiliar that it was said that only three people in the world understood it.

Yet a few people, like David Hilbert in Germany, Willem de Sitter in the Netherlands, and Arthur Eddington in England grasped the startling implications of this theory. Within four years, Eddington would propel Einstein to science superstardom with the announcement that his team of astronomers had detected the bending of starlight by the Suns gravity and had found that it agreed with Einsteins prediction, not Newtons. Newspapers around the world proclaimed, Einstein theory triumphs.

And that was pretty much it for General Relativity for the next 40 years. Because it was perceived as predicting only tiny corrections to Newtonian gravity, and as being virtually incomprehensible, the subject receded into the background of physics and astronomy. Einsteins theory was quickly superseded by other areas, such as nuclear, atomic and solid-state physics, which were viewed as of both fundamental and practical importance.

Yet in the 1960s, a remarkable renaissance began for Einsteins theory, fueled by discoveries such as quasars, spinning neutron stars (pulsars), the background radiation left over from the big bang, and the first black holes. Precise new techniques, exploiting lasers, atomic clocks, ultralow temperatures, and spacecraft, made it possible to put General Relativity to the test of experiment as never before. During the subsequent decades, researchers performed literally hundreds of new experiments and observations to check Einsteins theory. Some of these were improved versions of Einsteins original tests involving Mercury and the motion of light. Others were entirely new tests, probing aspects of gravity that Einstein himself had never conceived of. Many were centered in the solar system using planets and spacecraft, or in sophisticated laboratories on Earth. Others exploited systems called binary pulsars, consisting of two neutron stars revolving around each other. More recently we have witnessed numerous gravitational wave observations by the LIGO-Virgo instruments, the study of stars orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and the stunning image of the black hole shadow in the galaxy M87.

In this vast and diverse array of measurements, scientists have not found a single deviation from the predictions of general relativity. When you consider that the theory we are using today is the same as the one revealed in November 1915, this string of successes is rather astounding. After more than 100 years, it seems Einstein is still right.

Will this perfect record hold up? We do know, for example, that the expansion of the universe is speeding up, not slowing down, as standard general relativity predicts. Will this require a radical new theory of gravity, or can we make do with a minimal tweak of general relativity? As we make better observations of black holes, neutron stars and gravitational waves, will the theory still pass the test? Time will tell.

Featured Image Credit: by Roman Mager via Unsplash

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Testing Einstein's theory of relativity | OUPblog - OUPblog

The smallest conceivable length of time might be no larger than a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. Thats according to a new theory describing the implications of the universe having a fundamental clock-like property whose ticks would interact with our best atomic timepieces.

In physics, time is typically thought of as a fourth dimension. But some physicists have speculated that time may be the result of a physical process, like the ticking of a built-in clock.

If the universe does have a fundamental clock, it must tick faster than a billion trillion trillion times per second, according to a theoretical study published June 19 in Physical Review Letters.

In particle physics, tiny fundamental particles can attain properties by interactions with other particles or fields. Particles acquire mass, for example, by interacting with the Higgs field, a sort of molasses that pervades all of space (SN: 7/4/12). Perhaps particles could experience time by interacting with a similar type of field, says physicist Martin Bojowald of Penn State. That field could oscillate, with each cycle serving as a regular tick. Its really just like what we do with our clocks, says Bojowald, a coauthor of the study.

Time is a puzzling concept in physics: Two key physics theories clash on how they define it. In quantum mechanics, which describes tiny atoms and particles, time is just there. Its fixed. Its a background, says physicist Flaminia Giacomini of the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada. But in the general theory of relativity, which describes gravity, time shifts in bizarre ways. A clock on the surface of the Earth ticks more slowly than one aboard an orbiting satellite, for example.

In attempts to combine these two theories into one theory of quantum gravity, the problem of time is actually quite important, says Giacomini, who was not involved with the research. Studying different mechanisms for time, including fundamental clocks, could help physicists formulate that new theory.

The researchers considered the effect that a fundamental clock would have on the behavior of atomic clocks, the most precise clocks ever made (SN: 10/5/17). If the fundamental clock ticked too slowly, these atomic clocks would be unreliable because they would get out of sync with the fundamental clock. As a result, the atomic clocks would tick at irregular intervals, like a metronome that cant keep a steady beat. But so far, atomic clocks have been highly reliable, allowing Bojowald and colleagues to constrain how fast that fundamental clock must tick, if it exists.

Physicists suspect that theres an ultimate limit to how finely seconds can be divided. Quantum physics prohibits any slice of time smaller than about 10-43 seconds, a period known as the Planck time. If a fundamental clock exists, the Planck time might be a reasonable pace for it to tick.

To test that idea, scientists would need to increase their current limit on the clocks ticking rate that billion trillion trillion times per second number by a factor of about 20 billion. That seems like a huge gap, but to some physicists, its unexpectedly close. This is already surprisingly near to the Planck regime, says Perimeter physicist Bianca Dittrich, who was not involved with the research. Usually the Planck regime is really far away from what we do.

However, Dittrich thinks that theres probably not one fundamental clock in the universe, but rather there are likely a variety of processes that could be used to measure time.

Still, the new result edges closer to the Planck regime than experiments at the worlds largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, Bojowald says. In the future, even more precise atomic clocks could provide further information about what makes the universe tick.

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Scientists Say This Is the Smallest Unit of Time That Could Exist - lintelligencer

A trio of theorists has modeled time as a universal quantum oscillator and found an upper bound of 1033 seconds for the oscillators period. This value lies well below the shortest ticks of todays best atomic clocks, making it unmeasurable. But the researchers say that atomic clocks could be used to indirectly confirm their models predictions.

Physics has a time problem: In quantum mechanics, time is universal and absolute, continuously ticking forward as interactions occur between particles. But in general relativity (the theory that describes classical gravity), time is malleableclocks located at different places in a gravitational field tick at different rates. Theorists developing a quantum theory of gravity must reconcile these two descriptions of time. Many agree that the solution requires that time be defined not as a continuous coordinate, but instead as the ticking of some physical clock, says Flaminia Giacomini, a quantum theorist at Canadas Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PITP).

Such a fundamental clock would permeate the Universe, somewhat like the Higgs field from particle physics. Similar to the Higgs field, the clock could interact with matter, and it could potentially modify physical phenomena, says Martin Bojowald of Pennsylvania State University in University Park.

But researchers have yet to develop a theory for such a clock, and they still dont understand the fundamental nature of time. Aiming to gain insights into both problems, Bojowald and his colleagues imagined the universal clock as an oscillator and set out to derive its period. Their hope was that doing so might offer ideas for how to probe times fundamental properties.

In the model, the team considers two quantum oscillators, which act like quantum pendulums oscillating at different rates. The faster oscillator represents the universal, fundamental clock, and the slower one represents a measurable system in the lab, such as the atom of an atomic clock. The team couples the oscillators to allow them to interact. The nature of this coupling is different from classical oscillators, which are coupled through a common force. Instead, the coupling is imposed by requiring that the net energy of the oscillators remains constant in timea condition derived directly from general relativity.

The team finds that this interaction causes the two oscillators to slowly desynchronize. The desynching means that it would be impossible for any physical clock to indefinitely maintain ticks of a constant period, placing a fundamental limit on the precision of clocks. As a result, the ticks of two identically built atomic clocks, for example, would never completely agree, if measured at this precision limit. Observing this behavior would allow researchers to confirm that time has a fundamental period, Bojowald says.

Bojowald and his colleagues used the desynchronization property to derive an upper limit of 1033 seconds for the period of their fundamental oscillating clock. This limit is 1015 times shorter than the tick of todays best atomic clocks and 1010 times longer than the Planck time, a proposed length for the shortest measurable unit of time.

Resolving a unit of Planck time is far beyond current technologies. But the new model potentially allows researchers to get much closer than before, says Bianca Dittrich, who studies quantum gravity at PITP. Bojowald agrees. Using the timescale of the desynchronization between clocks to make time measurements, rather than the clocks themselves, could allow for measurements on much shorter timescales, he says.

Another bonus of choosing an oscillating quantum system as the model for a fundamental clock is that such a system closely resembles clocks used in the lab, says Esteban Castro-Ruiz, of the Universit Libre de Bruxelles, who studies problems involving quantum clocks and gravity. The resemblance is key, says Castro-Ruiz, because it brings the question of a fundamental period of time to a more concrete setting, where one can actually start thinking about measurable consequences.

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Study: The Period of the Universe's Clock - lintelligencer

In this ground-breaking book, Eduard Shyfrin shows that the ideas of Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah) resonate with the ideas of 21st century science. From Infinity to Man introduces the reader to basic principles of Jewish mysticism such as the ten sefirot the Divine Attributes of God, the description of God as Ein Sof, absolute perfection, and the idea of Ohr Ein Sof, the unending Divine light. It then discusses basic principles of quantum physics and compares many of the concepts of Kabbalah to those of quantum physics, including the theory of information as discussed in Kabbalah and quantum physics. Additional chapters in the book discuss Creation, Kabbalah and Philosophy, and the Torah and Mathematics. Shyfrin is equally well-versed in Jewish mysticism and physics, and names like Einstein, Heisenberg, and Schrodinger frequently appear alongside Kabbalistic luminaries such as Isaac Luria, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, and the Baal Shem Tov.

From Infinity to Man has enjoyed positive reviews since its publication in January 2019.

Midwest bookreview.com writes that it is exceptionally well written, organized and presentedan extraordinarily thoughtful and thought-provoking read and unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library Judaic Theology/Philosophy collections in general, and Kabbalah studies supplemental studies lists in particular. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject

Ben Rothke, of the Jewish Link of NJ writes that This is an interesting book and Shyfrin does his best to show the dynamic between Torah and science. Quantum physics is an absolutely fascinating topic and certainly can be used to better understand the nature of the world we live in. In much of the book, Shyfrin finds corollaries between kabbalistic ideas and tries to map them to the world of physics. In From Infinity to Man, Eduard Shyfrin has written a thought-provoking and most curious work.

The San Diego Jewish World writes, Using information theory and a number of kabbalistic ideas, such as the Sephirot and Tzimtzum, Shyfrin shows the only reasonable conclusion is creation emanated from nothing. Shyfrin even links the arrow of time, our understanding that time can only flow in one direction from past to present to future, and not the other way around, to Kabbalah by demonstrating that terrestrial information mimics divine information, which continually flows in one direction, from the unknowable God, Ein Sof, to the world. Kabbalah has been studied philosophically, theologically, and even mathematically. In From Infinity to Man, Shyfrin examines Kabbalah from a new position, the combined effect of quantum physics and the Theory of Information, and in doing so brings to light a heretofore unstudied perspective.

The London Jewish Chronicle writes that in his book, Shyfrin uses concepts such as information theory to recast kabbalistic insights in scientific terminology. Or as the motto on the cover of the book puts it, In the beginning, God created information

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Book review: From Infinity to Man: The Fundamental Ideas of Kabbalah - The Jerusalem Post

Travels with Sushi in the Land of the Mind was published in October 2019 and introduces children to quantum physics and classic morality through a journey to another universe. The book is based on stories that author Eduard Shyfrin has told to his grandchildren, and follows the adventures of young Aaron and Stella, siblings who are transported to the Land of the Mind, a fantasy kingdom based on mathematical principles and quantum physics. The plot parallels numerous stories found in the Bible and is intended for children ages twelve and up.

Throughout the book, Travels with Sushi introduces children to positive values such as hope and courage and helps them deal with fear, indifference, and pride. In Shyfrins view, the best way to teach children morals and good character traits is by wrapping them in an exciting story. We dont know what our children will become, he says. Our duty is to give them some direction in life to give them a wider view of life, to introduce them to ideas of God, of science and knowledge, of good moral qualities, and then they will be better equipped to find their way in life.

Travels with Sushi has enjoyed favorable reviews since its publication, and recently received the Independent Press 2020 Distinguished Favorite award.

Library KSP Blogspot wrote, Travels with Sushi in the Land of the Mind by Eduard Shyfrin was a little like being in The Matrix. While not usually a fan of fantasy, I was drawn into the story. Aaron and Stella enjoy spending summers at their grandparents' house by the seashore (or "Down the Shore," as we say in New Jersey). They play on the beach, and then the family goes to eat at their favorite sushi restaurant, where Mr. and Mrs. Ekaku, a polite Japanese couple, serve the sushi. They come to the table and ask Stella and Aaron, salmon sushi connoisseurs, to try a new delicacy that the chef created. It is the most delicious sushi they have ever tasted: "a thousand flavors seemed to burst from within the tiny golden parcels." They close their eyes to fully focus on enjoying the sushi, and when they open them....they are in the Mushi Land of the Mind, where Salmon Mushi, the lead of the Mushi tribe, enlists their help. They must find the Supreme Ruler's Book in a cave on Memory Mountain and return it to the people, which will destroy the power of the Black Queen.

What is fascinating about this book, besides the journey/quest of the children, is how Jewish elements are interwoven into the story. The Supreme Ruler is, well, the Supreme Ruler, and there are snippets of Jewish history, quotes from the Mishnah and the Talmud, a discussion of the Sefirot, a lesson in Middos, and a certain tribe that "does not eat shrimp sushi."

Adding another layer, are the principles of physics and The Golden Ratio, explained in terms clear and simple enough for young readers. Albert Einstein makes an appearance to help the kids get through a wormhole.

Tomislav Tomic's amazing illustrations made the book that much more enjoyable. The detailed black and white drawings complemented the text perfectly.

If you enjoy fantasy, or if you want to expand your horizons and read something you wouldn't normally read, this is a great choice.

Shilo Musings Blogspot wrote, I have grandchildren who are more talented and knowledgeable about sciences than me, so I had an ulterior motive for taking the book. As soon as I finish writing this book review, I'm going to find a way to pass it to them.

To my great enjoyment and utter surprise, I discovered that Travels with Sushi is much, much more than a children's "science book." It's a fable about the Jewish People, our enemies and the Bible.

Aaron and Stella, the brother-sister pair are the main characters. They love and eat sushi, but they don't eat it with shrimp. Hmm what does that make you think of? This Aaron, like the biblical one, partners up with a sibling. But instead of brother Moses, he works with sister Stella. Could the name Stella come from the biblical Esther? Maybe.

Travels with Sushi includes lots of magic, which should attract the Harry Potter fans. Aaron and Stella end up in a mysterious frightening, dangerous world after eating special sushi. There's a Supreme Ruler and a Book and the "good guys" being attacked; BTW they don't eat shrimp. Aaron and Stella must rescue them before their memories are stolen.

I must say that I truly enjoyed reading Travels with Sushi. For those of us attracted to character and plot, the physics and math don't stand out. It's suitable for older children, precocious younger readers and makes a great book to read to your children, too.

Mario Routi, bestselling author, says, Alice in Wonderland meets Narnia and science! A very clever outstanding page-turning fantasy, with interesting characters and many unexpected surprises. Eduard Shyfrin, with his powerful writing, has managed to combine mysticism and fairy-tale with quantum physics, mathematics and philosophy, in a wonderful atmospheric children story, creating for his readers a brilliant adventurous ride with deeper meanings and insights.

Finally, National Geographic for Kids says,

This was an intriguing book and I found every page a new mystery. I recommend it to older readers for its thrill and excitement and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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Book review: Travels with Sushi in the Land of the Mind - The Jerusalem Post

ThinkPlease

@DarkZephyr: I dont want to be insulting, butsaid person has no real idea of what quantum mechanics actually means. Which is fine, neither do I, but Im fortunate to have met one person who did and another who I think did (she was so smart I was never actually sure as we couldnt actually communicate that well).

But (again, no insults here, but the degrees on the wall do say) Im far enough along in physics to realize when Im being bullshitted. In this case, Im being bullshitted. This is not brilliance. If this passes for brilliance these days, its no effing wonder Donald Trump is in the effing White House. We really are that effing stupid.

On the other hand, after Was it that hard for you to follow along, I guess the real answer is, No, it was simply obvious that this queen has no real education. Dont make me expand that conclusion to you. Dont insult others out of the gate would be the takeaway here.

2 hours ago

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WATCH: Follow along as this drag queen connects the dots between quantum physics and queer identity - Queerty

WALTHAM, Mass., July 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) will issue its second quarter 2020 earnings on Tuesday, July 28, prior to the stock market opening. A conference call will take place at 8:30 a.m. ET.

A presentation corresponding with the conference call will be available on the company's website at http://www.rtx.com for downloading prior to the call. To listen to the earnings call by phone, dial (866) 219-7829between 8:10 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. ET. Please limit your use of the phone's speaker mode to optimize the audio quality of the call for all participants.

Analysts who wish to ask a question following the prepared remarks should press "1" on their phone during the call. Your name will be placed in queue. To remove yourself from the queue, press "#." If you need assistance, press "*0" to reach the conference operator.

The call will be broadcast live on the Internet at http://www.rtx.com. A recording will be archived later on the site and will be available for replay by phone from 11:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, July 28, to 11:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, August 11. For a replay, dial (855) 859-2056. At the prompt for a conference ID number, enter 4609655.

About Raytheon Technologies Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. With 195,000 employees and four industry-leading businesses Collins Aerospace Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense the company delivers solutions that push the boundaries in avionics, cybersecurity, directed energy, electric propulsion, hypersonics, and quantum physics. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered inWaltham, Massachusetts

Media Contact Michele Quintaglie C: 860.493.4364 [emailprotected]

Investor Contact Kelsey DeBriyn C: 781.522.5141 [emailprotected]

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Raytheon Technologies to release second quarter results on July 28, 2020 - PRNewswire

From environment to family, transportation to health care, from work and leisure to what well eat and how well age, USC Dornsife faculty share how they think our future world will look. [11 min read]

As the 19th century drew to a close and a new era dawned, an American civil engineer named John Elfreth Watkins consulted experts at the nations greatest institutions of science and learning for their opinions on 29 wide-ranging topics. Watkins, who was also a contributor to the Saturday Evening Post, then wrote an extraordinary magazine article based on what these university professors told him.

Published on Page 8 of the December 1900 issue of Ladies Home Journal a sister publication of the Post it was titled What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years. Watkins opened the article with the words, These prophecies will seem strange, almost impossible. In fact, many of his far-sighted predictions for the year 2000 which included the invention of digital color photography, television and mobile phones proved remarkably accurate.

For this issue of USC Dornsife Magazine, we have repeated the experiment by inviting 10 scholars drawn from USC Dornsife faculty and representing diverse disciplines to predict what the world will look like in the year 2050 and the year 2100.

A Bluer Planet

Astronauts circling the globe in 80 years may find our blue planet looking quite a bit bluer, says Naomi Levine, assistant professor of biological sciences and Earth sciences.

The middle of the Pacific or Atlantic oceans are what we call the deserts of the ocean. Theyre really low in nutrients, and things that live there are usually small. As a result, these areas look very blue because there isnt much ther except water, Levine explains. As the climate warms, we predict that these desert areas are going to expand. So, ocean waters will look bluer from space.

A Brighter Shade of Green

Our planet may also look a bit greener. Travis Williams, professor of chemistry, says that without an active plan for removing the carbon clogging our atmosphere, nature could step in.

If we dont choose a biomass thats going to utilize higher temperatures and that atmospheric carbon, nature is going to choose on our behalf, and I dont think were going to like it, he says. To avoid harmful organism explosions like algae blooms, Williams foresees a human-led reforestation of the planet, at a scale several times the size of the Amazon rainforest.

What's On the Menu?

A greening planet could also be due to changes in our agricultural systems. A move away from monoculture farming and a return to an ancient polyculture approach might be on the horizon, says Sarah Portnoy, associate professor (teaching) of Spanish. Portnoy researches indigenous food cultures of Mesoamerica and suggests that in the future we could adopt the milpa food system. Animals would be grazing on the same land where there are cover crops and squash, corn, beans and all kinds of herbs growing together, she says.

This isnt just a utopian pipe dream. Governments will have to seriously rethink agriculture if they want to reduce rising rates of chronic disease such as obesity, especially among the poor. The agriculture that is supported by the government now is skewed toward crops like soybeans and wheat. Our food system is geared to the cheapest calories, Portnoy says.

The high-calorie, processed foods produced from these monoculture, subsidized crops are less expensive than fruits and vegetables, but do little for our health. Unless we reprioritize which crops get government cash, we can expect disparities in health between economic classes to continue. By 2050, only the privileged might be able to afford strawberries or carrots.

Food supplies will alter in other ways as well, thanks to climate change. The bluer oceans will be less friendly to bigger marine organisms, which means fewer large fish to harvest.

When you change ocean temperatures, it changes what types of organisms can grow, and that cascades up the food web, says Levine. Sushi chefs in 2050 might dish up more avocados and scallops than tuna rolls. This could work for future diners, Portnoy thinks. Theres a move toward being a lot more intrepid as an eater, and toward plant-based diets, she says.

One Big, Happy Family

Starting off your day in 2050 could mean wheeling your toddler to the state-funded neighborhood day care center. Birth rates are currently plummeting across the industrialized world and governments may soon need to tackle the problem as a public health priority, says Darby Saxbe, associate professor of psychology and director of the USC Center for the Changing Family.

Well realize that, when the birth rate goes down, that affects our future workforce, she says. When were not able to replace our population, it ultimately becomes a national security issue. Child care benefits, family leave and subsidized, part-time work schedules for parents could be the governments strategy to encourage a new baby boom.

We may be well into the digital age, but you might not find too many iPads in the nurseries of the future. Increased awareness of the pitfalls of screen time could change our approach to parenting via device. The original scions of social media themselves now admit to limiting their own childrens time online, observes Saxbe. In fact, in some of the more expensive private schools in Los Angeles, you have to sign a no screen time pledge.

The keywords there might be expensive and private. A movement away from childhood spent online could leave behind children from poorer families as technology becomes cheaper and the cost of human labor rises. It will likely soon be less expensive to instruct classrooms of kids via lessons on tablets than by engaging a human teacher.

You might end up with a two-class system, Saxbe warns. You have more kids having a digital childhood thats a little less regulated, especially in neighborhoods where its not safe to play outside. Wealthier families are going to be able to afford more hands-on child care and more hands-on educational activities, instead of leaving kids alone with their technology.

However, technology can still benefit the family in the coming decades. In fact, Saxbe believes this is a largely untapped opportunity with great potential. Silicon Valley technologists primarily childless young men still havent tackled devices like the breast pump or baby monitor, which could both use a redesign.

Has there been a real focus on innovation and investment when it comes to things that serve parents and families yet? asks Saxbe. I think theres a big market there.

Working 10-4

After dropping your child off at day care, you head to work. You likely wont be putting the keys in the ignition of your own car, though. Kyla Thomas, sociologist at the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research and director of LABarometer, a quarterly internet-based survey of approximately 1,800 L.A. county residents, says that by 2030 commuters will probably rely more on public transit and shared, autonomous vehicles to get around.

Public transportation will be faster and more convenient, and increased density in neighborhoods will mitigate sprawl. Parking will be more expensive and harder to find. By 2100, Thomas says, private car ownership will be a thing of the past.

Hopping out of your driverless commuter van, you clock in at the office for your six-hour work day. Patricia Grabarek, lecturer with USC Dornsifes Online Master of Science in Applied Psychology program, believes that the traditional 40-hour work week could get phased out by 2050.

We are in the midst of a job revolution thats on the scale of the Industrial Revolution, Grabarek says. The entire nature of work will change.

Automation promises to replace many jobs, and streamline others. Combine this with the growing emphasis on work-life balance, embodied by current millennials pushing for workplace flexibility, and we could see our work week lighten in load.

Our leaders are recognizing the problem that employees are burning out. People are working too much and they are not as productive as they could be. Bosses will start modeling better behaviors for their employees, Grabarek says. After-hours emails could soon be banned, as is already the case in France and Germany.

This doesnt mean well all be aimlessly underemployed, however. There is a fear that automation will eliminate jobs but, in the past, weve always replaced the jobs that weve lost. Innovators will come out and replace them with new jobs we cant even come up with now, she says.

No matter how advanced computers become, human curiosity remains superior. Automation will be good at analyzing data, Grabarek says, but the questions will still originate with human researchers.

It's Quitting Time

Finished with work for the week, youre off to start the weekend. One item not likely to be on the agenda? Attending a traditional religious service.

In the United States, theres a trend away from institutionalized religion and toward highly individualized spirituality, says Richard Flory, associate professor (research) of sociology and senior director of research and evaluation at the USC Dornsife Center for Religion and Civic Culture. People just arent interested in institutions anymore, and nothing seems to be stepping forward to replace that interface between the individual and society.

Churches and temples could find new life as condos, bars or community centers, with religion relegated to a decorative background.

Rather than kneeling in prayer, people might find themselves downing a psychedelic drug to reach personal spiritual enlightenment. Movements that center around hallucinogens such as ayahuasca, a psychoactive tea from the Amazon, have gained traction in recent years, Flory notes.

Of course, there might just be an app for it all. Consciousness hacking aims to use science to bypass years of devotion to a spiritual practice and give everyone the hard-won benefits of such a practice instantly. In the future, I could see having some sort of implanted device to get to this level of consciousness, Flory says.

Reading the Tea Leaves

You may also use your leisure time to crack open a good book one with a slightly different texture. As climate change threatens our traditional resources, more sustainable alternatives such as seaweed could step in as a paper substitute, predicts Mark Marino, professor (teaching) of writing and a scholar of digital literature.

By 2100, literature could be written across the heavens instead.

Roboticist poets will create autonomous micro-texts that will be able to swarm into collectives, self-organize, aggregate and adapt, says Marino. Bevies of these nano-rhy-bots will create superstructures that can write epics on the Great Wall of China, on the surface of Mars or in the bloodstream of their readers.

Better Living Through Quantum Computing

Aging in the New Age may mean more nontraditional family units. Older adults prefer to age and die at home, but what happens when you dont have a big family network to support that? It may mean people might be more invested in friend networks, or the idea of chosen family, says Saxbe. Cue The Golden Girls theme song.

Sean Curran, associate professor of gerontology and biological sciences, believes that a focus on increasing our health span, the period of life during which one is free from serious disease, rather than simply elongating our life spans, will improve the quality of our longer lives as we age.

The goal is to have a personalized approach to aging that takes into account an individuals genetics, environment and life history, explains Curran. The assisted living facility of the future will be patient-centered, with each resident having a personalized prescription to maintain optimal health.

Eli Levenson-Falk, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, predicts that quantum computing could unlock the development of those drugs.

Quantum computers solve problems much more swiftly and with higher information density than todays computers. Although the technology is still in its infancy, Levenson-Falk predicts that by 2050, practical quantum technologies will be used commercially by major drug companies for research and development.

Enormously complicated computational tasks like simulating a chemicals molecular structure are much more achievable through this technology.

The idea is that with a quantum computer you can sort of emulate nature, he explains. We might have the canonical example for this by 2050: the physical shape of a protein molecule.

Predicting this shape is nearly impossible with a classical computer, Levenson-Falk says.

Measuring it is difficult and requires you to predict the shape first. With a good quantum simulator, we can emulate the protein and just let quantum mechanics do the processing for us, then measure the result at the end.

The Quantum Age

Indeed, quantum computing might solve questions that relate to the very fabric of the universe. Or at least get us closer to the answers.

Dark energy, dark matter, quantum gravity and thequantum classical transition are the principle problems existing in physics today. Quantum technologies are the best bet to solve the last one, says Levenson-Falk. Quantum sensors will probably also be used to help detect dark matter, or at least falsify some theories. And there are some proposals for using quantum technologies to poke at quantum gravity.

We cannot, of course, predict our shared future with 100 percent accuracy, but one thing we can be sure of is that it will be filled with new challenges and opportunities to create a better tomorrow. Although advances in technology will certainly help determine our future, how equitably those advances are shared in our interconnected world will also play a dominant role in shaping it.

This is a tale of two societies: You could either see things get better and more supportive for families, or you might see two-class stratification, Saxbe warns.

As the future unspools, we are given both the invaluable gift and the tremendous responsibility of deciding how we want it to look. Whether our world in 2100 takes on the dystopian qualities of Blade Runner or embodies the utopian, egalitarian ideals of Star Trek remains in the terrestrial hands of those already building that future.

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A Brighter Tomorrow > News > USC Dornsife - USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Let us recall how the story of the Exodus begins.

The Almighty addressed Moses from a burning bush, and entrusted him with a mission to go to Pharaoh and take the Jewish people out of Egypt. Moses, who had a brilliant intellect, spoke logically with the Almighty about the conditions that he believed would ensure the mission's success:

1) Moses asks, Who am I? (In what capacity do I go?) and the Almighty replies that I will be with you (Shemot, 3:11-12).

2) Moses asks God to tell him His name, in order to understand the capacity in which God reveals Himself to the Jewish people. God reponds by revealing to Moses some of the secrets of the divine name (Shemot, 3:13-15).

3) Moses asks what to do if the Jews do not believe him, and God grants him the ability to performs miraculous signs (Shemot, 4:1-9).

4) Moses tells the Almighty that he does not have the gift of eloquence. God responds: Who gave man a mouth, or who makes [one] dumb or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? So now, go! I will be with your mouth, and I will instruct you what to speak. (Shemot, 4:10-12).

5) But this answer does not satisfy Moses and he says, I beseech You, O Lord, send now with whom You would send. The Almighty tells Moses that his brother Aaron will speak for him (Shemot, 4:13-16).

After this conversation, Moses believes that all the conditions for success have been specified, and he sets out for Egypt.

Moses and Aaron went to the Jewish people, performed miraculous signs for them, and told them the joyful news of deliverance. The Jews believed them. After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and delivered the edict from the Almighty to release the Jews. And then something incredible happened: the Pharaoh not only refused to release the Jews, but also made their life and work much worse and more difficult. But that was not the end of the story. The Jews accused Moses and Aaron of being imposters. They said, May the Lord look upon you and judge, for you have made us a foul odor in the Pharaohs eyes. (Shemot, 5:21) This seems to imply the Jews did not believe that Moses and Aaron were messengers for the Almighty. For Moses, who infinitely loved the Jewish people, this meant the complete failure of the mission and a personal disaster. Let us try to logically follow the course of his thoughts.

Moses had already been informed by God that the Pharaoh would not immediately let the Jews out of Egypt, and that he will do so only after great punishments would be inflicted on the Egyptians (Shemot 3:19-20). So he expected that punishments would follow after Pharaohs refusal, which would lead to the Jews deliverance. But when instead of releasing the Jews from Egypt Pharaoh made their lives more difficult, there was no punishment.

The logic of Moses's reasoning can be imagined as follows.

1. The Almighty is all-powerful and always speaks the truth.

2. Therefore, the Pharaoh should have immediately been punished after refusing to release the Jews and, after that, should have let them go.

3. However, the opposite happened.

One of the main tasks of logic is to determine how to reach a conclusion from the prerequisites and obtain true knowledge about the subject of deliberation.

One of the most frequently practiced types of proofs in classical logic is proof by contradiction (ad absurdum). The principle is this: if the conclusion obtained from the prerequisite contradicts reality, then the prerequisite is not true.

From the point of view of classical logic, point 3 refutes point 1. But for Moses, the omnipotence and truth of the Almighty were indisputable. As a result Moses system of logical reasoning crumbles, he experiences a state of moral collapse, and he cannot continue the mission in such a state. He decides to confront the Almighty: O Lord! Why have You harmed this people? Why have You sent me? Since I have come to the Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has harmed this people, and You have not saved Your people. (Shemot, 5:22-23).

How does God respond? He says: Now you will see what I will do to the Pharaoh, for with a mighty hand he will send them out..." (Shemot, 6:1).

Apparently, the answer does not satisfy Moses, as it says what will happen in the future but does not explain the events that have already occurred. But there is more to come in Gods response. Reading further,we encounter the following statement:

God (Elohim) spoke to Moses, and He said to him, I am YHWH. I appeared to Abraham, to Yitzhak, and to Jacob with [the name] Almighty God (El Shaddai), but [with] My name YHWH, I did not become known to them. (Shemot 6:2-3)

This passage from the Torah has been the subject of numerous comments. Let us briefly consider the main ones.

Rashi (based on the Midrash) believes that there is a reproach in the words of the Almighty, You have doubted My ways, unlike Abraham to whom I said, ...For in Yitzhak shall you have posterity, (Bereshit, 17:19) and then said, Bring him up there for a burnt offering (Bereshit, 22:2), and he did not doubt Me (although the first clearly contradicted the second). Rashi sees the words I am YHWH as carrying the message, I am faithful to My promises and I can be relied upon.

Abraham Ibn Ezra, commenting on the Moses question to the Almighty, writes: Moses believed, from the very first time he came to Pharaoh, that it would become easier for the Jews, but it became harder for them. Ibn Ezra comments on the words I am YHWH as follows: This means that My name 'God Almighty' (El Shaddai) became known through the forefathers, and through you My glorious name YHWH will be known all over the world.

According to Nachmanides, the Almighty tells Moses that the Patriarchs did not see Him through the transparent glass as Moses sees Him.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, commenting on Torah passage, explains that Moses served the Almighty mainly through intellect, whereas the Patriarchs did so mainly through emotions. Therefore, Moses question was not wrong. The inability to understand the actions of the Almighty weakened Moses' intellectual connection with Him. Therefore, Moses question was not a challenge, but rather an attempt to approach the Almighty. Rebbe explains the Almightys response as follows: Do not serve Me with intellect alone. Balance your intellect with emotion and faith, so that you can serve Me without any restrictions.

Fully agreeing with the previous commentaries, the author proposes the following additions.

Carefully reading the Torah, we can see how the character and mental qualities of the main figures constantly change in the context of events and their communications with the Almighty. The Almighty not only punishes and rewards, but also, with His every action and word, He teaches the main characters lessons, raising them to higher and higher spiritual levels.

In the Torah we read: God (Elohim) spoke to Moses, and He said to him, I am YHWH There is a full stop after these words. This sentence contains a complete thought. From my point of view, the words I am YHWH are the main message of the Torah .It is not necessary to see this as a rebuke to Moses, and I offer the following understanding of these words of the Torah. In my opinion, the Almighty was saying to Moses:

Your question is correct according the logic of the world around you, which is the external manifestation of My name Elohim. The Patriarchs lived according to this logic; that was their mission. Pharaoh also lives according to this logic.

But I am YHWH, and from now on, the Jewish people and the world will live according to other laws. From this point on, all events will occur according to My logic as YHWH), the logic hidden deeply within My name God (Elohim), the logic of the impossible, the logic of the highest sefirah (divine attribute), Chochmah (wisdom).

According to the 'external' logic of Elohim, the Jews will never leave Egypt, and according to the hidden logic of YHWH, they will come out. And many years later, when a small Jewish people will be dispersed among large and powerful nations, according to the external logic of Elohim, the Jews would have to disappear; according to the logic of YHWH, they will never disappear.

You, Moses, are chosen to rise to the level of my hidden logic of YHWH, to the level of the highest Chochmah, and from this level to bring the Torah to the Jewish people. And for as long as the Jewish people will be with the Torah, the external logic of Elohim, the logic that rules the natural world, will not have power over them.

Abraham Ibn Ezra, who wrote books on astrology, wrote in his commentary on the third chapter of Shemot on the phrase I am the YHWH: The human soul is above the middle world and, therefore, if a person is wise and has known the acts of the Almighty, performed with and without intermediaries, has retired from the passions of this world to cleave to the Glorious name, even if a persons horoscope predicts trouble on a certain day, the Almighty, to Whom the person has cleaved, arranges events so that he will escape from trouble.

It is also necessary to answer the question of how to understand the presence of the hidden logic of YHWH within the name Elohim. This issue has been discussed in great detail in a Hasidic discourse by the Rebbe Rashab (the Fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe) titled VeYadaata, which comments on the phrase from the Torah You must know that YHWH is Elohim).

Here is a brief explanation. The main thesis of the Kabbalah is that in discussing the Almighty in the category of Ein Sof (the infinite), which is inaccessible to our understanding, the existence of creations with their own "self" is impossible. Therefore, at the beginning of creation, the Almighty produced a tzimtzum process, which is allegorically described as the creation of some empty space with the subsequent emission of a beam of light (kav) from which the whole creation originated. This process should be understood not as the creation of some physically empty space, but as the concealment by the Almighty of His infinite light (information) and the radiation of the finite light from which the whole creation originated.

This finite ray of light carried the information of all of creation. In passing through the chains of the worlds, the light (information) was concealed in such a way that in our world we barely see the Divinity. However, it should be understood that information does not disappear anywhere when something is concealed it does not cease to exist. And under certain circumstances, concealed information can be obtained.

Let us give a simple example: If we look at a stone lying on the ground, we immediately obtain information about its color and shape. In fact, however, the information we receive is an insignificant part of all the information contained in the stone. Employing certain methods, we can obtain information about the chemical composition of the stone, its atoms and molecules, electrons, neutrons and protons, etc.

Similarly, reading the Torah simply as a story, we obtain an insignificant amount of information. However, pondering the words of the Torah, analyzing them, finding hidden connections, fulfilling the commandments, we can, step by step, approach a comprehension of the information hidden in the Torah, and thus approach the level of YHWH.

The Patriarchs

Now, let us turn to the second part of Gods communication to Moses: I appeared to Abraham, to Yitzhak, and to Jacob with [the name] Almighty God (El Shaddai), but [with] My name YHWH, I did not become known to them.

In the section Lech Lecha of the book of Bereshit, we read:

And He said to him, I am YHWH, Who brought you forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.

The phrase is similar to the one spoken to Moses. But Abraham asked the question, O Lord God (Adonai YHWH), how will I know that I will inherit it? (Bereshit, 15:7-8). In response, the Almighty told Abraham about the future enslavement of the Jews in Egypt and their exodus (Bereshit, 15:13-14).

Some of the commentaries believe that the Jews exile and slavery in Egypt was in punishment for Abrahams question. I do not share this opinion. In my view, Abraham could not be faulted for asking the question, as he was not aware of the logic of YHWH the logic of the impossible. According to the logic of the world around him, it was incomprehensible that he, and the 318 people who were with him, would inherit a land populated by numerous and powerful nations. However, it is an obvious fact that for the rest of his life, Abraham lived with the thought that his descendants would be slaves.

Similarly, when the Almighty tells Abraham that He will give him a son from Sarah, we read in the Torah: Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed (va-yitzhak, in the Hebrew). And he said to himself, Will [a child] be born to one who is a hundred years old, and will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth? The Almighty heard what Abraham said to himself, and said to him, You shall name him Yitzhak (will laugh) (Bereshit, 17:17, 17:19). Subsequently, when Sarah hears about the future birth of her son, she also laughs, and the Almighty reproaches her for this (Bereshit, 18:12-15).

It is paradoxical that Yitzhak, whose names means will laugh, embodied the quality of Gevurah (constriction, severity, judgment), and, apparently, he rarely laughed. Nor was it a laughing matter for Abraham and Sarah when the Almighty ordered Yitzhak to be sacrificed.

However, after Abrahams circumcision, and the subsequent miraculous birth of Yitzhak, everything changes. Abraham no longer asked the Lord questions, and even when the Almighty ordered him to sacrifice Yitzhak, despite the fact that He promised Abraham offspring from him, Abraham did not ask God questions the lesson had been learned. From this fact, we can conclude that after his circumcision and the miraculous birth of Yitzhak, Abraham was at a much higher spiritual level than he was before. He had begun to recognize the Almighty as He operates with the name of YHWH, with the logic of the impossible.

Pharaoh

Let us now return to the events of the Exodus. When Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh for the first time, they said:

So said the Lord God (YHWH Elohim) of Israel, Let My people go, and let them sacrifice to Me in the desert. And Pharaoh said, Who is YHWH that I should heed His voice and let Israel go? I do not know YHWH, neither will I let Israel go. (Shemot 5:1-2)

We note that Pharaoh did not say, I do not know God (Elohim), from which it can be concluded that Pharaoh also lived within the logic of Elohim. But this can also be proved in another way.

During our conversation, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Berel Lazar, drew attention to the fact that after the sixth plague (boils), the Almighty ordered Moses to tell Pharaoh:

So said the Lord God (YHWH Elohim) of the Hebrews, Let My people go so that they may worship Me. Because this time, I am sending all of My plagues into your heart and into your servants and into your people, in order that you may know that there is none like Me in the entire earth. (Shemot, 9:13-14)

Rabbi Lazar raised the question why were these words said after the sixth plague, and not after any other? In order to answer this question, let us note that the first six plagues did not have any long-term consequences, but the plagues that followed this phrase had long-term (locust, hail) or irreversible (death of the firstborn) consequences.

In order to understand why this happened specifically after the first six plagues, let's analyze Pharaohs behavior. From the text of the Torah, we know that the Pharaohs reaction to the plagues came in two forms:

Pharaoh was unrepentant.

Pharaoh repented, but then changed his mind.

During the first four plagues, Pharaohs behavior is repeated as follows:

did not repent repented did not repent repented

Further on, Pharaohs behavior changes. For two plagues in a row (fifth and sixth), he no longer repents.

It is after the sixth plague that the Almighty orders Moses to utter the aforementioned words on His behalf, and during the four subsequent plagues following these words, Pharaoh repents after each plague.

Pharaoh's actions can be explained as follows. Having tried the same sequence of actions for four plagues (did not repent repented did not repent repented), Pharaoh decided for himself that repentance didn't change anything, because in both the case of repentance and in its absence, the plagues were temporary and stopped by themselves. Pharaoh concluded that repentance made no sense, since the plagues stopped on their own accord. And, starting with the fifth plague, Pharaoh changed his style of behavior and, for the next two plagues in a row (the fifth and sixth), he did not repent.

At this point, we can say, that Pharaoh thought that he understood and estimated the logic of Elohim. The moment that he decided this, the Almighty commanded Moses to convey to Pharaoh the message of this time. Gods words can be interpreted as follows: You thought that you figured out My logic? You said that you don't know who YHWH is? Now, you will discover who YHWH is, and see that the logic of Elohim is no longer operable. Instead, you will now be confronted with the logic of YHWH, the logic of the impossible. And now you will repent to the end. And this is what happened.

The logic of the impossible

At this point we should ask: What is the logic of the impossible?

Modern science gives us distant analogies. For example, the logic of quantum mechanics is fundamentally different from the logic of the world around us. In classical physics, if we measure the speed and coordinates of a tennis ball in flight, the result does not depend on the order of measurement. In quantum physics, if we measure the moment first and then the coordinates, or measure the coordinates first and then the moment, the results will be different.

The same thing happens with Aristotles famous Law of the Excluded Middle, which reads as follows: at a point in time, something can be either A or non-A. In quantum physics, we cannot make a similar statement: either a particle or not a particle. Also, many principles of classical logic, such as commutativity, are not applicable to quantum mechanics.

This example illustrates that there is logic that differs from classical logic, which corresponds to our common sense.

As science develops, we will obviously discover other types of non-classical logic.

However, it is fundamentally important to understand that the logic of YHWH the logic of the impossible is not (God forbid) a pattern of non-classical logic.

This last statement needs clarification.

According to the theory of Alter Rebbe, the soul of man was created in the image of the higher spiritual worlds. The soul has garments in the form of an equivalent of the Sefirot Chochmah, Binah, and so on. The soul is an open system. On the one hand, it receives information from the world around us, while on the other hand, it is connected with the higher sefirot of the spiritual worlds.

Our perception of the world, which we can articulate and formulate in the form of reasoning (the system of thinking), unfolds at the level of Binah (understanding). Binah, in turn, receives information from Chochmah(wisdom), which receives information from our world through Malchut (the sefirah that incorporates speech and action), as well as from the higher Sefira Hokma.

It is important to note the following fundamental points:

The information of Chochmahis not articulated and is not recognized by us through the system of thinking (read more in Sefer Yetzirah with comments by Aryeh Kaplan).

Binah reveals some of the information of Chochmah through the system of thinking. The quantity and quality of information disclosed depends on the level of our intellect.

However, even with the most brilliant development of the intellect, all of the information of Chochmah cannot be revealed.

The Torah is given by the Almighty from the highest Chochmah. Consequently, in the Torah, as in the sefirah of Chochmah, there is information that cannot be disclosed at the level of Binah.

This incomprehensible information contains the logic of the impossible, the logic of the highest Chochmah.

This is the logic that lies forever beyond our comprehension, which can be brought to action by faith, trust in the Almighty and a desire for knowledge of the Almighty.

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The logic of the impossible: Moses our rabbi - The Jerusalem Post

This computer-generated visualization shows the wavelike pattern of a quantum handshake between a hydrogen atom emitting energy and another atom receiving the energy. (J. Cramer and C. Mead via arXiv)

The University of Washington physicist whoonce ran a crowdfunded experiment on backward causationis now weighing in with a potential solution to one of the longest-running puzzles in quantum mechanics.

John Cramer, a UW physics professor emeritus, teamed up with Caltech electrical engineer and physicist Carver Mead to put forward an explanation for how the indefinite one-and-zero, alive-and-dead state of a quantum system gets translated into a definite observation a phenomenon known as wave function collapse.

Up to now, the mechanism behind wave function collapse has been considered a mystery that is disconnected from established wave mechanics. The result has been that a large number of attempts to explain it have looked elsewhere, Cramer told GeekWire in an email.

In our work, we have discovered that wave function collapse, at least in a simple case, is implicit in the existing formalism, he said, as long as one allows the use of advanced as well as retarded electromagnetic potentials.

In other words, the explanation requires accepting the possibility that time can flow backward as well as forward. And for some physicists, that might be too big of a quantum leap.

Most people just dont like the idea of having the kind of time symmetry that sort of implies that time isnt strictly speaking a one-way street, Cramer acknowledged during a phone interview.

Nevertheless, the idea is getting traction. A math-heavy research paper laying out the concept has been submitted to the open-access journal Symmetry, and Cramer said theres a good chance itll be accepted for publication now that he and Mead have addressed questions raised in peer review.

Were about to send a revised version of the paper back to the journal, he said.

The concept includes elements from what Cramer calls the Transactional Interpretation of quantum mechanics, which he laid out in a 2016 book called The Quantum Handshake. That interpretation, which Mead fleshed out in subsequent work, puts a new spin on the interaction between quantum systems.

Most physicists visualize the emission of electromagnetic energy from an atom in the form of particles namely, photons. But in Cramers interpretation, the energy transfer between atoms is a two-way transaction involving waves rather than particles. One set of waves spreads out from the source to interact with another set of time-reversed confirmation waves from the destination. Interactions between the forward-time waves and the backward-time waves quickly determine where the energy ends up, Cramer said.

The idea in the Transactional Interpretation is that youre using it as a sort of time-symmetric situation, in which its OK to have things going backward in time as well as forward in time, in the limited case where youre doing this handshake, he said.

If time reversal actually exists, would that open the door to the kind of time travel seen in movies such as Back to the Future? Unfortunately for Doc Brown, Mother Nature is very clever about not letting you in on the action, Cramer said. The time symmetry effect makes the equations work, but it wont show up in observations of the energy transfer.

That was also the case five years ago for Cramers retrocausality experiments. The interference patterns that he was hoping would provide the crucial evidence for backward causation ended up canceling each other out.

Nature is sending messages faster than light and backwards in time, but shes not letting you in on the action, Cramer said. Its blocked by this process.

In their research paper, the two physicists consider only the case of energy transfer between two hydrogen atoms, but Cramer said the concept could be extended to multiple atoms in a system.

Is there any way to prove or disprove the seemingly way-out interpretation put forward by Cramer and Mead? Thats tricky:By definition, an interpretation for quantum mechanics is judged by how well it matches up with the mathematics that underlie well-known quantum phenomena.

What you should do is see whether your interpretation can explain as many experiments as possible, Cramer said. My Transactional Interpretation explains more than 26 different quantum optics experiments in great detail how the handshakes work in order to make whats observed in the experiments come out.

He hasnt yet found an experiment that rules out the interpretation, but acknowledges that there are probably a lot more experiments left to check.

Cramer is particularly interested inan experiment known as TEQ, which stands for TEsting the large-scale limit of Quantum mechanics. The experiment has won a 4.4 million ($5 million) grant from the European Commission, and wasfeatured last week in The New York Times Magazine.

TEQs researchers aim to determine the value of a term that they think should be added to the Schrdinger Equation, which describes the wave function of a quantum system. The extra term would describe objectively how the wave function collapses, independently of any observers.

Cramer said TEQ may not turn out the way itsbackers expect.

What we demonstrated here is the mechanism by which the wave function does collapse, he said. And that means, in fact, that those experimenters will be wasting their time and their euros doing that measurement, because theyre almost certain to find that theres no such term.

To see how the quantum handshake works for two hydrogen atoms, check out the three animations in this OneDrive folder.

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Professor tackles one more mystery about quantum mechanics and times flow - GeekWire