See other Science/Tech Articles
Title: Is This the Fabric of the Universe? [can anyone explain this?]
Source:
The Telegraph
URL Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connecte ... ted/2007/03/19/ecpattern19.xml
Published: Mar 20, 2007
Author: Is This the Fabric of the Universe?
Post Date: 2007-03-20 09:04:48 by a vast rightwing conspirator
Keywords: None
Views: 184
Comments: 9
Roger Highfield describes a heroic mathematical enterprise that could lay bare the fundamentals of the cosmos Mathematicians have successfully scaled their equivalent of Mount Everest. Today they unveil the answer to a problem that, if written out in tiny print, would cover an area the size of Manhattan. At the most basic level, the calculation is an arcane investigation of symmetry – in this case of an object that is 57 dimensional, rather than the usual three dimensional ones that we are familiar with. Although this object was first discovered in the 19th century. there is evidence that it could contain the structure of the cosmos. Mathematicians are known for their solitary style of working, but the combined assault on what is described as "one of the largest and most complicated structures in mathematics" required the effort of 18 mathematicians from America and Europe for an intensive four-year collaboration. The feat may baffle most people but could have unforeseen implications in mathematics and physics, which won’t be evident for years to come, said the American Institute of Mathematics. "The group of symmetries of this strange geometry called E8 is one of the most intriguing structures that Nature has left for the mathematician to play with," commened Prof Marcus du Sautoy of Oxford University, currently in Auckland. "Most of the time mathematical objects fit into nice patterns that we can order and classify. But this one just sits there like a huge Everest." What makes this group of symmetries so exciting is that Nature also seems to have embedded it at the heart of many bits of physics. One interpretation of why we have such a quirky list of fundamental particles is because they all result from different facets of the strange symmetries of E8. I find it rather extraordinary that of all the symmetries that mathematician’s have discovered, it is this exotic exceptional object that Nature has used to build the fabric of the universe. The symmetries are so intricate and complex that today’s announcement of the complete mapping of E8 is a significant moment in our exploration of symmetry." For the feat, the team used a mix of theoretical mathematics and intricate computer programming to successfully map E8, (pronounced "E eight") which is an example of a Lie (pronounced "Lee") group. Lie groups were invented by the 19th century Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie to study symmetry. Underlying any symmetrical object, such as a sphere, is a Lie group. Balls, cylinders or cones are familiar examples of symmetric three-dimensional objects. Today’s feat rests on the drive by mathematicians to study symmetries in higher dimensions. E8 is the symmetries of a geometric object that is 57-dimensional. E8 itself is 248-dimensional. "E8 was discovered over a century ago, in 1887, and until now, no one thought the structure could ever be understood," said Prof Jeffrey Adams, Project Leader, at the University of Maryland. "This groundbreaking achievement is significant both as an advance in basic knowledge, as well as a major advance in the use of large scale computing to solve complicated mathematical problems." "This is an exciting breakthrough," said Prof Peter Sarnak at Princeton University. "Understanding and classifying the representations of E8 and Lie groups has been critical to understanding phenomena in many different areas of mathematics and science including algebra, geometry, number theory, physics and chemistry. This project will be invaluable for future mathematicians and scientists." The ways that E8 manifests itself as a symmetry group are called representations. The goal is to describe all the possible representations of E8. These representations are extremely complicated, but mathematicians describe them in terms of basic building blocks. The new result is a complete list of these building blocks for the representations of E8, and a precise description of the relations between them, all encoded in a matrix, or grid, with 453,060 rows and columns. There are 205,263,363,600 entries in all, each a mathematical expression called a polynomial. If each entry was written in a one inch square, then the entire matrix would measure more than seven miles on each side. The result of the E8 calculation, which contains all the information about E8 and its representations, is 60 gigabytes in size. This is enough to store 45 days of continuous music in MP3-format. If written out on paper, the answer would cover an area the size of Manhattan. The computation required sophisticated new mathematical techniques and computing power not available even a few years ago. "This is an impressive achievement," said Hermann Nicolai, Director of the Albert Einstein Institute in Potsdam, Germany. "While mathematicians have known for a long time about the beauty and the uniqueness of E8, we physicists have come to appreciate its exceptional role only more recently - yet, in our attempts to unify gravity with the other fundamental forces into a consistent theory of quantum gravity, we now encounter it at almost every corner," he said, referring to efforts to combine the theory of the very big (general relativity) with the very small (quantum mechanics). "Thus, understanding the inner workings of E8 is not only a great advance for pure mathematics, but may also help physicists in their quest for a unified theory." 
Is this the fabric of the universe?
(3 images)
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: All (#0)
'Nature?' I wish I could understand this. The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy revealed that mice were extremely powerful and super-intelligent multidimensional creatures.
Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'
bump that
Me, too. Whooooosh. That was the sound of it going right over my head.
It is not a Justice System. It is just a system.
Mathematicians are known for their solitary style of working, but the combined assault on what is described as "one of the largest and most complicated structures in mathematics" required the effort of 18 mathematicians from America and Europe for an intensive four-year collaboration. That must have been a real experiment in itself.
"The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes nor between parties either — but right through the human heart." — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Nothing is really hidden from us, I guess. It's only that we are way to dumb to begin to understand reality.
Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'
It's a mandala! Either that, or a Jungian flying saucer.
"We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." -- Marshall McLuhan, after Alexander Pope and William Blake.
Look who's asking.
Zis is Valter Frumkeit bringing you ze noose -- I mean news -- wit Villie Chumrot reporting on location.
There is no answer in this framework. There will never be a "final answer" in any framework, but the above is far afield. Quantum Mechanics works, in a manner. If you do a calculation and toss out those parts of the calculation that give infinities and replace them (called renormalization), then you might get the answer that you seek. However, some things can't be determined, such as the rest mass of an electron; it has only been determined by experimentation. But, let that pass. There is an assumption that there was a "Big Bang." From this follows "dark matter" and "dark energy" and "wimps" and "weaps," and now the hope that this E8 mathematical object, through it's symmetry, can provide "The Answer" to the Unification of the Four Elementary Forces. I posit that the assumption is false; thus the path is false. The assumption of a Big Bang gave us all this crap, and had to do so. "Elementary particles" are now around 130. Does that make any sort of sense? That is, do these particles currently exist? If not, then they are not "elementary" nor "fundamental." The Higgs Boson was the Holy Grail that was to "explain" why there is mass. It was predicted to be found at a particular energy level but it wasn't there. Some may find these interesting: Dirac's Equation and the Sea of Negative Energy (Part 1) Dirac's Equation and the Sea of Negative Energy (Part 2) In the end, what these people are trying to do is to say that there is a mathematical system that will enable them to "unify" all the crap theories that they have been postulating.
Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.
Just wondering why this doesn't show in "Latest Comments."
Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.
"The group of symmetries of this strange geometry called E8 is one of the most intriguing structures that Nature has left for the mathematician to play with,"
#2. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#1)
I wish I could understand this.
#3. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#1)
wish I could understand this.
#4. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#0)
57 dimensional, rather than the usual three dimensional ones that we are familiar with.
#5. To: bluedogtxn (#3)
#6. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#0)
#7. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#0)
#8. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#0)
#9. To: All (#8)
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest