[“What’s changed in the last ~50 years” series] Fundamental particles have properties; but not due to any constituents (cf. Feynman’s dilemma for an electron’s charge [1]). So, mathematical patterns of … localized “knots” (tangles or twists as in Möbius strips) – particular symmetries – of space-time energy? A landscape of colliding (interacting) ripples … How… Continue reading A particle by any other name?
Frank Wilczek referenced this topic – time crystals – in his latest book (Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality). Time crystals are physical systems that spontaneously settle into stable loops of behavior. I proposed this concept in 2012, and many interesting examples have been discovered since then, both theoretically and experimentally. A recent example is close to… Continue reading Time crystals? – crystal patterns in space and time
An article from Quanta Magazine (below) recaps the history of space-time symmetries in physics and how those symmetries have, in a sense, been simplified: Galilean (Newtonian) static, separate space and time. Relativistic “flat” space-time – Minkowski / Poincaré / Einstein. de Sitter spherical space-time: “… in the same way that the finite speed of light… Continue reading Universal symmetries – what really is broken?
In previous posts, I’ve discussed how important nature’s symmetries are to modern physics. So critical, in fact, that Nobel laureate PW Anderson wrote in his widely read 1972 article More is Different that “it is only slightly overstating the case to say that physics is the study of symmetry.” “It is increasingly clear that the… Continue reading Symmetry → conservation laws
Over the weekend, I started reading Sean Carroll’s The Particle at the End of the Universe. Well written [1]. At times his colloquial description of a concept prompted me to: (1) wonder if he was referring to a particular technical phenomenon; and (2) explore the specialized, technical background of that concept. In either case, quite… Continue reading Vocabulary at the end of the verse
