Lifeboat Foundation

The physics of the microrealm involves two famous and bizarre concepts: The first is that prior to observation, it is impossible to know with certainty the outcome of a measurement on a particle; rather the particle exists in a “superposition” encompassing multiple mutually exclusive states. So a particle can be in two or more places at the same time, and you can only calculate the probability of finding it in a certain location when you look. The second involves “entanglement,” the spooky link that can unite two objects, no matter how far they are separated. Both superposition and entanglement are described mathematically by quantum theory. But many physicists believe that the ultimate theory of reality may lie beyond quantum theory. Now, a team of physicists and mathematicians has discovered a new connection between these two weird properties that does not assume that quantum theory is correct. Their study appears in Physical Review Letters.

“We were really excited to find this new connection that goes beyond quantum theory because the connection will be valid even for more exotic theories that are yet to be discovered,” says Ludovico Lami, a member of the physics think-tank, the Foundational Questions Institute, FQXi, and a physicist at the University of Ulm, in Germany. “This is also important because it is independent of the mathematical formalism of quantum theory and uses only notions with an immediate operational interpretation,” he adds. Lami co-authored the study with Guillaume Aubrun of Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, in France, Carlos Palazuelos, of the Complutense University of Madrid, in Spain, and Martin Plávala, of Siegen University, in Germany.

While quantum theory has proven to be supremely successful since its development a century ago, physicists have struggled to unify it with gravity to create one overarching “theory of everything.” This suggests that quantum theory may not be the final word on describing reality, inspiring physicists to hunt for a more fundamental framework. But any such ultimate theory must still incorporate superposition, entanglement, and the probabilistic nature of reality, since these features have been confirmed time and again in lab tests. The interpretation of these experiments does not depend on quantum theory being correct, notes Lami.

David Mayman, CEO of JetPack Aviation, sells his new flying motorcycle to global militaries and billionaires. He’s also terrified of heights.

We consider dark matter production during the inflaton oscillation epoch. It is conceivable that renormalizable interactions between dark matter and inflaton may be negligible. In this case, the leading role is played by higher dimensional operators generated by gravity and thus suppressed by the Planck scale. We focus on dim-6 operators and study the corresponding particle production in perturbative and non-perturbative regimes. We find that the dark matter production rate is dominated by non-derivative operators involving higher powers of the inflaton field. Even if they appear with small Wilson coefficients, such operators can readily account for the correct dark matter abundance.

University of Sydney scientists have achieved a technology breakthrough with potentially life-saving applications—all using an improved version of radar.

Traditionally, radar is associated with airport control towers or military fighter jets, but a new, highly sensitive radar developed at the University of Sydney takes this technology into the human range.

Called advanced photonic radar, the ultra-high-resolution device is so sensitive it can detect an object’s location, speed, and/or angle in millimeters as opposed to meters. This could enable usage in hospitals to monitor people’s vital signs such as breathing and heart rate.

Abstract: Spin-two particles appear in the spectra of both open and closed string theories. We studied a graviton and massive symmetric rank-two tensor in string theory, both of which carry spin two. A graviton is a massless spin-two particle in closed string theory while a symmetric rank-two tensor is a massive particle with spin two in open string theory. Using Polyakov’s string path integral formulation of string scattering amplitudes, we calculated cubic interactions of both spin-two particles explicitly, including $\ap$-corrections (string corrections). We observed that the cubic interactions of the massive spin-two particle differed from those of the graviton. The massive symmetric rank-two tensor in open string theory becomes massless in the high energy limit where $\ap \rightarrow \infty$ and $\ap$-correction terms, containing higher derivatives, dominate: In this limit the local cubic action of the symmetric rank-two tensor of open string theory coincides with that of the graviton in closed string theory.

From: Taejin Lee [view email].

Is this what a future Canadian Starport Network will look like when rockets deliver people and cargo almost anywhere in from 10 minutes to no more than one hour?

A space gold rush is underway as the technology to get to space goes commercial with plans to introduce global rocket travel.

CAPTCHA is broken by machine learning (ML)— does it mean machines are winning over humans due to digital transformation? This article explores whether humans can surrender to machines in the future.

Elon Musk cast Twitter’s future into uncertainty when he made a successful $44 billion bid to acquire the company last month. He will take over as temporary CEO once the deal is complete, CNBC reported Thursday morning.

While countless Musk fans, and a slight majority of Americans—59%—approve of the takeover according to recent data from The Harris Poll, some current Twitter staff worry that it will dramatically change the company’s culture, and overall direction.

It’s still unclear how a Musk-run Twitter might impact the company’s ability to retain current staff and recruit new employees. The company presented the takeover as a potential threat to its staffing abilities in an SEC filing Monday.

Continue reading “Job interest in Twitter skyrocketed more than 250% since Elon Musk moved to take over. But current employees are nervous” »

NASA’s Swift Observatory Tracks Potential Magnetic Flip of Monster Black Hole A rare and enigmatic outburst from an active galaxy 236 million light-years away may have been sparked by a magnetic reversal, a spontaneous flip of the magnetic field surrounding its central black hole. In a comprehen.

A device, created at Stevens Institute of Technology, uses millimeter-wave imaging — the same technology used in airport security scanners — to scan a patient’s skin to detect if they have skin cancer. Millimeter-wave rays harmlessly penetrate about 2mm into human skin, so the team’s imaging technology provides a clear 3D map of scanned skin lesions.

Continue reading “Spontaneous Magnetic Reversal of Monster Black Hole Sparks Enigmatic Outburst” »