Posted on 06/19/2015 7:37:01 AM PDT by Red Badger
Einstein's theory of time and space will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year. Even today it captures the imagination of scientists. In an international collaboration, researchers from the universities of Vienna, Harvard and Queensland have now discovered that this world-famous theory can explain yet another puzzling phenomenon: the transition from quantum behavior to our classical, everyday world. Their results are published in the journal Nature Physics.
In 1915 Albert Einstein formulated the theory of general relativity which fundamentally changed our understanding of gravity. He explained gravity as the manifestation of the curvature of space and time. Einstein's theory predicts that the flow of time is altered by mass. This effect, known as "gravitational time dilation", causes time to be slowed down near a massive object. It affects everything and everybody; in fact, people working on the ground floor will age slower than their colleagues a floor above, by about 10 nanoseconds in one year. This tiny effect has actually been confirmed in many experiments with very precise clocks. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Vienna, Harvard University and the University of Queensland have discovered that the slowing down of time can explain another perplexing phenomenon: the transition from quantum behavior to our classical, everyday world.
How gravity suppresses quantum behavior
Quantum theory, the other major discovery in physics in the early 20th century, predicts that the fundamental building blocks of nature show fascinating and mind-boggling behavior. Extrapolated to the scales of our everyday life quantum theory leads to situations such as the famous example of Schroedinger's cat: the cat is neither dead nor alive, but in a so-called quantum superposition of both. Yet such a behavior has only been confirmed experimentally with small particles and has never been observed with real-world cats. Therefore, scientists conclude that something must cause the suppression of quantum phenomena on larger, everyday scales. Typically this happens because of interaction with other surrounding particles.
The research team, headed by ?aslav Brukner from the University of Vienna and the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, found that time dilation also plays a major role in the demise of quantum effects. They calculated that once the small building blocks form larger, composite objects - such as molecules and eventually larger structures like microbes or dust particles -, the time dilation on Earth can cause a suppression of their quantum behavior. The tiny building blocks jitter ever so slightly, even as they form larger objects. And this jitter is affected by time dilation: it is slowed down on the ground and speeds up at higher altitudes. The researchers have shown that this effect destroys the quantum superposition and, thus, forces larger objects to behave as we expect in everyday life.
Paving the way for the next generation of quantum experiments
"It is quite surprising that gravity can play any role in quantum mechanics", says Igor Pikovski, who is the lead author of the publication and is now working at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: "Gravity is usually studied on astronomical scales, but it seems that it also alters the quantum nature of the smallest particles on Earth". "It remains to be seen what the results imply on cosmological scales, where gravity can be much stronger", adds ?aslav Brukner. The results of Pikovski and his co-workers reveal how larger particles lose their quantum behavior due to their own composition, if one takes time dilation into account. This prediction should be observable in experiments in the near future, which could shed some light on the fascinating interplay between the two great theories of the 20th century, quantum theory and general relativity.
More information: Universal decoherence due to gravitational time dilation, Nature Physics (2015) DOI: 10.1038/nphys3366
Illustration of a molecule in the presence of gravitational time dilation. The molecule is in a quantum superposition of being in several places at the same time, but time dilation destroys this quantum phenomenon. Credit: Igor Pikovski, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
While we are on this subject I have a question for some of you smart guys out there.
With reference to the Einstein Field Equations:
1. Do solutions of these equations exist that predict Gravity Waves?
2. Are approximations required to achieve these solutions?
3. Are the solutions rock solid or could they be challenged?
The reason for questions:
We’ve never seen a gravity wave. Not one. So I’m interested in how accurately we believe we can predict the magnitude of the disturbance required to create a gravity wave detectable on earth.
Some scientists believe gravity is really a bend in space time, similar to a mass on a rubber mat attracting smaller masses that circle it.
I am not a Theoretical Physicist, but I play one on FR.
Here is how you observe a Gravity Wave:
Choose a star of sufficient magnitude and distance that you can get a continuous observation of its light spectrum 24 hours a day. Obviously this must be done via satellite like the Hubble Telescope.
Monitor and constantly record the magnitude of the red shift of the dark line of a common element in the star’s spectrum.
The magnitude of the red shift should remain constant.
If it changes during the monitoring and recording process, a gravity wave must have passed thru between the star and your observation point.
That’s weird, so a cat can be both dead and alive if gravity is sufficiently weak.
What about a human in intergalactic space?
We won’t have to worry about humans in intergalactic space for a loooooong time.............................
While I don’t doubt the above research, it is generally agreed that the effect of Large Numbers(TM) of weakly interacting systems and the resulting decoherance is the dominant mechanism by which quantum mechanical behavior transitions into macroscopic classical behavior.
IOW, where mass meets reality..................
And Schroedinger’s dog sat in the corner and laughed.
I used to think that time was altered by ass (as in my ex).
Really?
It seems to me that, once you’re off the planet, you are I intergalactic space.
“similar to a mass on a rubber mat attracting smaller masses that circle it”
The thing is, a depression on a rubber mat only causes that attraction because gravity already exists and is pulling the masses down. We can’t even imagine an example of how gravity works that doesn’t depend on a pre-existing notion of gravity!
First comes interplanetary space, then interstellar space, then intergalactic space..............
Or, interstellar space for that matter.
But there will be some great science fiction written about it, that's for sure.
The problem I see with the “rubber mat” theory of gravity is that it is always demonstrated along a flat plane, i.e., the gravitational pull affects along the plane of gravity. Except gravity is not on a plane but a 360x360 area.
What relationship does this have, for instance, on the Space Station, where the people onboard are weightless; NO gravity? Why don’t we see some of this weird phenomina out there?
Inquiring minds want to know.....where to acquire some of the stuff these guys are smoking, maybe?
Even though the people on the Space Station are in ‘space’, they are not outside of a gravitational filed. They are still in the gravity well of Earth and the Sun with the Moon causing periodic perturbations.
They do age slower, though, since they are in a ‘micro-gravity’ situation...............
One can witness the slowing down of time by watching the extremely obese on My 600lb life. Imagine how long their days are laying around because they can’t get out of bed...
Just saying...
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