The Darth Vader & Emperor Palpatine theory of quantum physics

Started by Seze Mune, April 03, 2012, 04:59:47 PM

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Seze Mune

OK, you all know that I am an admitted lightweight in the physics department.  So anything I say about these theories isn't going to be a high-level theoretical discussion for you guys.  Then again, as Albert Einstein said, "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself."

A few days ago there was a high power (pun!) conference at CalTech.  They were celebrating a theory called the N=4 Yang-Mills supersymmetric (SYM) theory. 

Supersymmetry, in a reductionistic nutshell, means that we are conceptualizing force and matter as the same thing, viewed from different angles.  To do that, we rotate our subject matter (sorry, another pun) from an ordinary physical dimension to a quantum dimension.  You can do that by using a new class of numbers which can be characterized as the square roots of zero.  This means little to me because personally, I like my square roots with pork chops. I digress.

Supersymmetry is constructed along a continuum.  At the Large Hadron Collider they are dealing with the very basics: one class of force particle to one class of matter particle. That is considered the N=1 level.  The Darth Vader theory at N=4 deals with ALL classes of force particles and ALL classes of matter particles....well, except for those dealing with gravity.  For that you'd have to go to N=8.

Anyway, certain scientists have been trying to reformulate the N=4 SYM theory so that it makes no reference to space-time, in the expectation that it will lead to a deeper field of exploration from which both space and time emerge.

NOW, we move to the Emperor theory, also known as (2,0) theory.  It's never been written down, but physicists are sure it exists.  It's sort of a 'feeling' they have which, like M-theory, they cannot articulate coherently.  We do know it exists in five dimensions rather than three.  It involves quantum fields where magnetism and electricity are unified beyond the definitions of classical physics.  Magnetism and electricity appear to be separate only when they intersect with the three dimensions within which our physical equipment (including our somatic sensory equipment) was developed.  It makes me wonder what WE are at the five-dimensional level, because surely we exist there too.

The Emperor theory, (2,0), is the ONLY known instance of a purely quantum-mechanical theory. Those who claim some understanding of it say it reveals a surprising connection between the structure of spacetime and the quantum nature of matter.  Apparently within this theory, one implies the other - conflicting with the heretofore accepted 'knowledge' that these two are contradictory.

Well...........all I can say is I agree with Feynman: "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics."  And please pass the pork chops.

`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

That is interesting, ma Seze. And I will admit I will have to learn some more about this idea before I can claim I understand it even conceptually. All that said, I don't think this is a new idea. A physicist way back in the 1930's came up with a very elegant theory that unified the classical and quantum worlds, and as I recall, it involved five dimensions.

There is a new thread here that talks about a new dark matter theory that involves some interesting new bosons. There may be a connextion between the idea presented in this thread, and this new idea. In any case, it sounds like they plan to build a machine to test their theory.

Meanwhile, it looks like we may have stable beams in the LHC for the first time this year, sometime in the next 24 hours. It has taken the folks at CERN a long time this year to get the machine ready. But they are already testing at an energy level it took them a month to get to last year. It als appears thet they have increased the energy from 3500 GEV to 4000 GEV, a sign that the scientists and engineers have substantial confidence in the current state of the machine.

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Seze Mune

I think you're right, ma 'Eylan.  These theories aren't brand-spanking new, but they seem to have resurfaced because of some other work that's happening right now.  I read Tsyal's dark matter post which sent me chasing bosons down rabbit holes; but hey, I like that kind of adventure.  :D

Glad to hear they're revving up at the LHC.  They must've done a thorough check of the connectors after that last dust up with the neutrinos.

I found this little piece which might interest you:


CERN is ramping up the LHC's power levels to 0.5 trillion electron volts (TeV), an energy increase of 14 per cent.

In doing so, the LHC will break a power record set by itself last year and collide atoms at a force of eight million TeV.

"By the time the LHC goes into its first long stop at the end of this year, we will either know that a Higgs particle exists or have ruled out the existence of a Standard Model Higgs," CERN's Research Director Sergio Bertolucci, said.

Mr Bertolucci is hoping the increase in power will produce three times as many particles than in the 2011 experiments.



Seze Mune

Found something else I should probably cross post in the Higgs-Boson thread.  Here it is for now:

Higgs-Boson for Dummies (or why the Large Hadron Collider exists)