Physicists create world’s first multiverse

[One-23 Profile]

-of universes in the lab



Researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park and Towson University are reporting that they have created multiple universes inside a laboratory-created multiverse — a world first.

To be exact, the researchers created a metamaterial — like those used to fashion invisibility cloaks — that, when light passes through it, multiple universes are formed within it. These universes, called Minkowski spacetimes, are similar to our own, except they more neatly tie up Einstein’s theory of special relativity by including time as a fourth dimension.

While this is rather extraordinary, the experimental setup is actually quite simple — though definitely rather unconventional. The multiverse is created inside a solution of cobalt in kerosene. This fluid isn’t usually considered a metamaterial, but lead researcher Igor Smolyaninov and co found that by applying a magnetic field, the ferromagnetic nanoparticles of cobalt line up in neat columns. When light passes through these columns, it behaves as if it’s in a Minkowski universe.

Read more http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/1471 ... in-the-lab

[Phoenix rising Profile]

That's interesting, and all the while we are still riding around in combustion engines

[Poooooot Profile]

This is really cool and super interesting, but I'm not smart enough to quite understand what it all means.

[Cosmine Profile]

This is really cool and super interesting, but I'm not smart enough to quite understand what it all means.

Means...misleading title...

Sould be "Research on invisibility sugest that we live in a multiverse."




A pair of entangled particles are created at the origin of the above space-time diagram. We have two observers in the red and the blue inertial frames moving at relativistic velocities with respect to each other. A measurement is performed on one particle in the red frame at event A at time t''A finding it in an "UP" state, which then "causes" the other particle to snap instantly into the "DOWN" state. Then, a short instant later a measurement is performed on the other particle, also in the red frame, at event B at time t"B, where this particle is found to be in the "DOWN" state.

But, in the blue frame we have the event B occuring before event A. Thus, in the blue frame the wave function is collapsed at t'B before the collapse of the wave function at event A. This is a problem for LET and all interpretations of special relativity except block universe. This result dosesn't so much "give us" block universe, so much as the entangled particles experimental results are seen to be consistent with block universe, whereas (as illustrated above) none of the other interpretations are consistent with these results.

http://www.rationalskepticism.org/physi ... 7-340.html

[Webcat Profile]

The basis of this discovery are 'metamaterials' and understanding them will help understand what is being advocated here, and a little knowledge of 'Minowski' Space. I would agree with the above poster that the title should incorporate a suggestion to the 'possibilitiy of multiverses'.

Firstly from:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/01/new-metamaterial-camera/

A small, microwave-detecting camera that can see through solid materials in real time has been developed. Soon, the device could be adapted and used in law enforcement and security where, among other uses, its inventors envision airport scanners that screen passengers for weapons or explosives as they walk by.

The camera features a one-dimensional aperture made from a copper-based metamaterial. Fashioned from plastics or metals, metamaterials behave in ways that ordinary materials naturally do not. Some can cloak objects. Others can reveal them. Here, scientists used the copper-based metamaterial as an aperture for microwaves, the telecommunications workhorses that populate the longer end of the electromagnetic spectrum. By connecting the aperture to an image-reconstructing computer, the researchers can capture information from a scene in real time, with no moving parts.

"Close-up of the one-dimensional metamaterial aperture. John Hunt/Duke ECE."

Lining the front of a police officer’s vest could help the officer detect concealed weapons — guns and knives — and distinguish them from cellphones.

“It will be exceptionally cheap,” Padilla said. “You can indeed simply adhere it to a wall and it can perform imaging.”

This would allow for flexible camera' applications producing two dimensional images, then of course, their application within the world of computers could see a vast reduction in PC parts and the need to recycle.

Taking the science behind the Pentagon's cloaking device, they came up with a technology that replaces the solder, pins and wiring of the conventional computer with Lego-like blocks of silicon stuck to a Velcro-like metamaterial board that can wirelessly transmit or conduct both data and power. Science fiction turns into reality, with wallpaper that links up the components of your entertainment system and computers disguised as wristbands.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/19/electronics-eating-planet

The Minkowski Diagram.

The Minkowski diagram, also known as a spacetime diagram, was developed in 1908 by Hermann Minkowski and provides an illustration of the properties of space and time in the special theory of relativity. It allows a quantitative understanding of the corresponding phenomena like time dilation and length contraction without mathematical equations.

The term Minkowski diagram is used in both a generic and particular sense. In general, a Minkowski diagram is a graphic depiction of a portion of Minkowski space, often where space has been curtailed to a single dimension. These two-dimensional diagrams portray worldlines as curves in a plane that correspond to motion along the spatial axis. The vertical axis is usually temporal, and the units of measurement are taken such that the light cone at an event consists of the lines of slope plus or minus one through that event.

"In the theory of relativity each observer assigns the event at A to a different time and location."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minkowski_diagram

Minkowski Space.

In mathematical physics, Minkowski space or Minkowski spacetime (named after the mathematician Hermann Minkowski) is the mathematical setting in which Einstein's theory of special relativity is most conveniently formulated. In this setting the three ordinary dimensions of space are combined with a single dimension of time to form a four-dimensional manifold for representing a spacetime.

In theoretical physics, Minkowski space is often contrasted with Euclidean space. While a Euclidean space has only spacelike dimensions, a Minkowski space also has one timelike dimension. Therefore the symmetry group of a Euclidean space is the Euclidean group and for a Minkowski space it is the Poincaré group.

The spacetime interval between two events in Minkowski space is either:
1.space-like,
2.light-like ('null') or
3.time-like.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minkowski_space

These universes, called Minkowski spacetimes, are similar to our own, except they more neatly tie up Einstein’s theory of special relativity by including time as a fourth dimension.

The final quote from the OP's linked page:

but Smolyaninov suggests that they could be used to study how particles behave in universes with different properties than our own. Our universe has fairly firm rules on how particles behave, but it might be interesting to create a pet universe where, say, photons have mass and light travels really slowly.

Its a start!

[tony young Profile]

Why are we not hearing more about the discovery of Claude Shannons equations from the 1940,s which are now turning up in theoritical string theory.it seems to have all gone ominousley quiet.

[Webcat Profile]

Since it has been re-posted on another thread, I decided to quantum bump it.





tony young!