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A quantum property dubbed “magic” could be the key to explaining how space and time emerged, a new mathematical analysis by three RIKEN physicists suggests. The research is published in the journal Physical Review D.

It’s hard to conceive of anything more basic than the fabric of spacetime that underpins the universe, but theoretical physicists have been questioning this assumption. “Physicists have long been fascinated about the possibility that space and time are not fundamental, but rather are derived from something deeper,” says Kanato Goto of the RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS).

This notion received a boost in the 1990s, when theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena related the gravitational theory that governs spacetime to a theory involving quantum particles. In particular, he imagined a hypothetical space—which can be pictured as being enclosed in something like an infinite soup can, or “bulk”—holding objects like black holes that are acted on by gravity. Maldacena also imagined particles moving on the surface of the can, controlled by quantum mechanics. He realized that mathematically a quantum theory used to describe the particles on the boundary is equivalent to a gravitational theory describing the black holes and spacetime inside the bulk.

A RIKEN physicist and two colleagues have found that a wormhole—a bridge connecting distant regions of the Universe—helps to shed light on the mystery of what happens to information about matter consumed by black holes.

Einstein’s theory of general relativity predicts that nothing that falls into a black hole can escape its clutches. But in the 1970s, Stephen Hawking calculated that black holes should emit radiation when quantum mechanics, the theory governing the microscopic realm, is considered. “This is called black hole evaporation because the black hole shrinks, just like an evaporating water droplet,” explains Kanato Goto of the RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences.

This, however, led to a paradox. Eventually, the black hole will evaporate entirely—and so too will any information about its swallowed contents. But this contradicts a fundamental dictum of quantum physics: that information cannot vanish from the Universe. “This suggests that general relativity and quantum mechanics as they currently stand are inconsistent with each other,” says Goto. “We have to find a unified framework for quantum gravity.”

With a processor that has fewer qubits, IBM has improved error correction, paving the way for the use of these processors in real life.

IBM has unveiled its much-awaited 1,000+ qubit quantum processor Condor, alongside a utility-scale processor dubbed IBM Quantum Heron at its Quantum Summit in New York. The latter is the first in the series of utility-scale quantum processors that IBM took four years to build, the company said in a press release.

Continue reading “IBM finally unveils quantum powerhouse, a 1,000+ qubit processor” »

The ‘resonant’ planets could provide insight about how such systems form and evolve—and why our own solar system is not synced up.

Order vs Disorder, Jordan Peterson’s Yin Yang analogy, & Stephen Wolfram’s 4 classes of cellular automata are explored. The edge of chaos is the phase transition zone between order and disorder which is found across a broad range of complex systems. We discuss Norman Packard, Christopher Langton, John Beggs, Stuart Kauffman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and M. Mitchell Waldrop. Wolfram’s Rule 110 and John Conway’s Game of Life, both Turing complete, make appearances.

0:00 Intro.
0:59 Lambda & Wolfram’s 4 Classes.
3:32 Criticality, Avalanches, & John Beggs.
4:44 Homework? More like FUNwork!
5:08 Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
5:35 Jordan Peterson (Yin-Yang)
9:39 M. Mitchell Waldrop’s Complexity.

Continue reading “Edge of Chaos Theory | Cellular Automata, Wolfram, & Psychology” »

What can a quantum information theorist say about the certainty of arithmetic and the universality of mathematical truth?

Has OpenAI invented an AI technology with the potential to “threaten humanity”? From some of the recent headlines, you might be inclined to think so.

Reuters and The Information first reported last week that several OpenAI staff members had, in a letter to the AI startup’s board of directors, flagged the “prowess” and “potential danger” of an internal research project known as “Q*.” This AI project, according to the reporting, could solve certain math problems — albeit only at grade-school level — but had in the researchers’ opinion a chance of building toward an elusive technical breakthrough.

Continue reading “Contrary to reports, OpenAI probably isn’t building humanity-threatening AI” »

If OpenAI’s new model can solve grade-school math, it could pave the way for more powerful systems.

Ever since last week’s dramatic events at OpenAI, the rumor mill has been in overdrive about why the company’s chief scientific officer, Ilya Sutskever, and its board decided to oust CEO Sam Altman.

Carlos Bravo-Prieto^1,2,3, Ryan LaRose⁴, M. Cerezo^1,5, Yigit Subasi⁶, Lukasz Cincio¹, and Patrick J. Coles¹

¹Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87,545, USA. ² Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain. ³ Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. ⁴ Department of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering & Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48,823, USA. ⁵ Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA ⁶ Computer, Computational and Statistical Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87,545, USA

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