New Discovery Simplifies Quantum Physics

[pgp_protector]

From Quarks to Quasars » New Discovery Simplifies Quantum Physics

To reiterate the awesomeness of this achievement, the diagram pictured here is a sketch of an amplituhedron depicting an 8-gluon particle interaction. If you were to attempt to use Feynman diagrams to represent this, you’d be dealing with about 500 pages of algebra.

 

[AV1611VET]

Looks like one of those Cootie Catchers to me.

 

[Michael]

Looks like one of those Cootie Catchers to me.

It's a string theory cootie catcher to be exact.

The amplituhedron is a very menacing, beautiful, complicated, multifaceted object that exists in higher dimensions.

Apparently however, it supposedly 'simplifies' the math. It definitely shortens it.

Traditionally, these interactions have been very difficult or even impossible to calculate. Scientists required the use of the world’s most powerful computers to calculate even the simplest interactions. This new geometric structure, called the amplituhedron, is so simple that a particle physicist could calculate these interactions, by hand, on a single sheet of paper.

That, in case you were wondering, is insanely impressive. Harvard University theoretical physicist, Jacob Boujaily, and founder of this idea, said, “The degree of efficiency is mind-boggling. You can easily do, on paper, computations that were unfeasible even with a computer before.”

 

[selfinflikted]

I'm glad this simplifies quantum physics for some people. It's still way over my head!

 

[Strathos]

If they keep finding simple ways to do advanced math, then maybe Fermat actually did have a proof of his theorem...

 

[Michael]

If they keep finding simple ways to do advanced math, then maybe Fermat actually did have a proof of his theorem...

I think they'd have to first demonstrate that their math produces the *exact same* results for the whole range of interactions, and they must also demonstrate that they are *accurate* maths with respect to laboratory experiments. I suspect they've done some of the former (I haven't read the paper yet), but little or none of the latter (yet).