Lifeboat Foundation

In this thought-provoking exploration, we delve into the profound reflections of Edward Witten, a leading figure in theoretical physics. Join us as we navigate the complexities of dualities, the enigmatic nature of M-theory, and the intriguing concept of emergent space-time. Witten, the only physicist to win the prestigious Fields Medal, offers deep insights into the mathematical and physical mysteries that shape our understanding of reality. From the holographic principle to the elusive (2,0) theory, we uncover how these advanced theories interconnect and challenge our conventional perceptions. This journey is not just a deep dive into high-level physics but a philosophical quest to grasp the nature of existence itself. Read the full interview here: https://www.quantamagazine.org/edward…

#EdwardWitten #TheoreticalPhysics #StringTheory #QuantumFieldTheory #MTheory.

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The internet is going through a shift. There used to be a thing called a “follower.” It allowed publishers, creators, and anyone online to build a community around their work. But this piece of foundational architecture for human creativity and communication – the “follow” – has been threatened. In this talk, I put this internet-wide shift in historical context from the perspective of a creator, outline where the web will go in the future, and offer thoughts on what to do about it all as a modern creator on the internet.

Starting with the direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, scientists have relied on a bit of a kludge: they can only detect those waves that match theoretical predictions, which is rather the opposite way that science is usually done.

In October 2022, astronomers were stunned by what was quickly dubbed the BOAT—the brightest-of-all-time gamma-ray burst (GRB). Now an international science team reports that data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals a feature never seen before.

A research team from Skoltech and Bergische Universität Wuppertal in Germany has created a universal NOR logical element (from NOT—a negation operator and OR—a disjunction operator).

Researchers at QuTech developed somersaulting spin qubits for universal quantum logic. This achievement may enable efficient control of large semiconductor qubit arrays. The research group published their demonstration of hopping spins in Nature Communications and their work on somersaulting spins in Science.

In 2021, the same collaborators developed the technology that acts as an active spin filter made of two successive layers of material, called chiral hybrid organic-inorganic halide perovskites. Chirality describes a molecule’s symmetry, where its mirror image cannot be superimposed on itself. Human hands are the classic example; hold yours out, palms facing away. The right and left hands are arranged as mirrors of one another—you can flip your right hand 180° to match the silhouette, but now the right palm is facing you while the left palm faces away. They’re not the same.

Some molecules, such as DNA, sugar and layers of chiral hybrid organic-halide perovskites, have their atoms arranged in chiral symmetry. The filter works by using a “left-handed” oriented chiral layer to allow electrons with “up” spins to pass, but block electrons with “down” spins, and vice versa. At the time, the scientists claimed the discovery could be used to transform conventional optoelectronics into spintronic devices simply by incorporating the chiral spin filter. The new study did just that.

“We took an LED from the shelf. We removed one electrode and put the spin filter material and another regular electrode. And voila! The light was highly circularly polarized,” said Vardeny.

Over the past decades, computer scientists have developed various computing tools that could help to solve challenges in quantum physics. These include large-scale deep neural networks that can be trained to predict the ground states of quantum systems. This method is now referred to as neural quantum states (NQSs).

During the hot summer of 2020, confined to his Pasadena home during the COVID-19 pandemic, National Medal of Science-winning applied physicist Amnon Yariv took frequent and long showers to cool off. A surprising result, to go with his record-breaking water bill, was a proposal and theoretical model for a new class of vibrations that can convert a constant force, such as wind or water, to a mechanical oscillation.