Physicists Discover Geometry Underlying Particle Physics

New submitter Lee_Dailey sends this news from Quanta Magazine: "Physicists have discovered a jewel-like geometric object that dramatically simplifies calculations of particle interactions and challenges the notion that space and time are fundamental components of reality. 'This is completely new and very much simpler than anything that has been done before,' said Andrew Hodges, a mathematical physicist at Oxford University who has been following the work. The revelation that particle interactions, the most basic events in nature, may be consequences of geometry significantly advances a decades-long effort to reformulate quantum field theory, the body of laws describing elementary particles and their interactions. Interactions that were previously calculated with mathematical formulas thousands of terms long can now be described by computing the volume of the corresponding jewel-like "amplituhedron," which yields an equivalent one-term expression."

42

[syntheticmemory]

Almost there....

Bejeweled...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is secretly a complex distributed particle physics computation!

d20?

[space_jake]

Roll for initiative...

so...

[BenSchuarmer]

God is playing dice with the universe

the wall of fundamental laws

[Max_W]

I have an impressions that the wall of fundamental laws is reached and further research of particles is useless. This is it. No way further. The impasse.

Re:Bejeweled...

[Teresita]

...formulas thousands of terms long can now be described by computing the volume of the corresponding jewel-like "amplituhedron"...

LaForge: "Captain, the amplituhedron flux is below seventy percent, we risk a core breach!"

Picard: "Initiate technobabbatron purge! Engage!"

Re:the wall of fundamental laws

[gstoddart]

Well, if this concept pans out, we'd be able to calculate all kinds of particle interactions we'd never be able to observe otherwise because those interaction would just be different facets of The One True Gem

Crap, so the "Time Cube" guy was right all along? ;-)

Re:Hold up.

[GodfatherofSoul]

Wait a second...yeah me to

Re:Hold up.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not sure how we'd do any direct observations in any other dimensions. (Honestly, not a flame, I'm genuinely puzzled by how we could see anything else and every now and then something like this hurts my head)

First, we assume a spherical cow, now that we have a more efficient source of steak and cheese, we get to the real work. The real work involves creating an infinitely large perfectly flat mirror. Since we don't know of any way to push or pull something into dimensions that we cannot directly observe, we anchor the infinite mirror to the earth (or a designated extraplanetary observatory) and wait. The odds that a 14-dimensional object/creature/other would not accidentally bump into an infinite functionally 2 dimensional surface approach zero as your timescale expands. Therefore, we just wait until the mirror rotates in a way we cannot intuitively describe and effectively ceases to exist in our 3 dimensional space (or drags the earth with it into some other 3 dimensional subset of realities).

Unless some of the dimensions are curved, then you need a hypercubic pig.

Re:the wall of fundamental laws

[meta-monkey]

Given how many insane conspiracy theories are lately turning out to be not completely insane, I'm just waiting for Congress to rip off their masks and reveal their true identities: Lizard Men from the Hollow Earth.

Re:Bejeweled...

[gstoddart]

Troi: Captain, I can 'feel' the amplituhedron.

Data: It's become sentient

Q: Foolish humans ... you could never hope to understand this.

Wesley: Oh sure, I made one in science class last week.

ALL: Wesley, STFU.

Re:Hold up.

[fahrbot-bot]

I remember reading one bio-mathematics person determining that bees do their little waggle dances in nine dimensions projected onto two, and I thought she was insane.

Not insane, just high.

Re:Hold up.

[Sponge Bath]

All direct observations to date point to a 3D universe.

Ignignokt: You and your third dimension.
Frylock: What about it?
Ignignokt: Oh, nothing, it's cute. We have five.
[pause]
Err: Thousand.
Ignignokt: Yes, five thousand.
Err: Don't question it.
Frylock: Oh, yeah? Well, I only see two.
Ignignokt: Well, that sounds like a personal problem.

Sheldon Weeps

[IgnacioB]

Sheldon Cooper is going to cry over this..a bright young mind has been wasting his career on string theory with all those superfluous dimensions. And Penny will get the Nobel prize because she's been wearing homemade amplituhedron earrings she created one night over too much Jägermeister with Raj. He'll get "honorable mention" at the ceremony in Norway and start talking to girls as a by product. Howard will be tremendously proud of his girlfriend and screw up the relationship again......and Howard will still not be a Doctor. The big question is whether Amy Farrah Fowler will ditch her now disgraced boy toy and fully come out to Penny or make a play for Raj.

Re:hmmm....

[ColdWetDog]

"mere amplituhedron"?

Are you allowed to say that?

TL;DR

[CanHasDIY]

My question is - does this get humanity any closer to the point at which I can build my own interstellar spacecraft? If not... why I should care?

topples pictures of Martina Sirtus

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you serious!? I' m still spending a few hours a week trying to uudecode a gif from abpe! My mom stepped on the phone cord when I was getting one of the parts.

Re:Bejeweled...

[Alsee]

Kirk: My god Spock, it's an ampi
.
tu
.
hedon

Take your TNG and get off my lawn, ya damn kids!

-

Re:d20?

[Alsee]

You are entangled with the Schrodragon.
You both win and lose initiative.

-

Re:42

[Russ1642]

Any cost savings from flapping wings would be negated by having to handle and store massive quantities of vomit.