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Was Einstein wrong? Why some astrophysicists are questioning the theory of space-time
livescience.com ^ | Colin Stuart

Posted on 05/26/2021 8:19:24 AM PDT by BenLurkin

The quantum world is notoriously weird. Single particles can be in two places at once, for example. Only by making an observation do we force it to 'choose'. Before an observation we can only assign probabilities to the likely outcomes.

Such a picture cannot be reconciled with a smooth, continuous fabric of space-time. According to Einstein, space-time is warped by matter and energy, but quantum physics says matter and energy exist in multiple states simultaneously — they can be both here and over there.

According to Einstein, space-time is like a stage that remains in place whether actors are treading its boards or not —even if there were no stars or planets dancing around, space-time would still be there. However, physicists Laurent Freidel, Robert Leigh, and Djordje Minic think...space-time doesn't exist independently of the objects in it. Space-time is defined by the way objects interact. That would make space-time an artifact of the quantum world itself, not something to be combined with it.

The attraction of this theory — called modular space-time — is that it might help solve another long-standing problem in theoretical physics regarding something called locality, and a notorious phenomenon in quantum physics called entanglement. Physicists can set up a situation whereby they bring two particles together and link their quantum properties. They then separate them by a large distance and find they are still linked. Change the properties of one and the other will change instantly, as if information has traveled from one to the other faster than the speed of light in direct violation of relativity.

Modular space-time theory can accommodate such behavior by redefining what it means to be separated. If space-time emerges from the quantum world, then being closer in a quantum sense is more fundamental than being close in a physical sense.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; einstein; ftl; modularspacetime; physics; science; spacetime; stringtheory
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To: enumerated

I was in the forest and heard a tree fall like no one was there..................


41 posted on 05/26/2021 9:44:01 AM PDT by Red Badger (Jesus said there is no marriage in Heaven. That's why they call it Heaven.....................)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

I thought aether was something you huffed in a rag to get really messed up?


42 posted on 05/26/2021 9:46:45 AM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans (I mostly come out at night... mostly.)
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To: Petrosius

I stand corrected. Also, there is a saying going around that has been attributed to a number of people, one being the ever popular Odon Von Horvath, that although genius has its limits stupidity is infinite. Congress being one example.


43 posted on 05/26/2021 9:47:28 AM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (This is not a tagline.)
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To: RedStateRocker

Listen to the talk—brilliant and amazing guy.


44 posted on 05/26/2021 9:47:48 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

The difficulty in reconciling Einstein’s General Relativity with quantum mechanics is because GR is a classical, background dependent theory, and QM is not.

In classical theories there is an assumed background, i.e. spacetime, that is independent of the experiment being done. This is eliminated with QM that defines all phenomena in terms of statistical fluctuations that are modelled mathematically in the Schrodinger wave equation.

At small enough lengths (quantum scale) the gravitational force interacts with the other forces in a unified way and the classical problems like singularities are resolved. That’s what the math from string theory suggests at this point but we don’t have the tools to verify this prediction at this time.


45 posted on 05/26/2021 9:49:44 AM PDT by Dave Wright
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To: BenLurkin
How can you know if something doesn't exist when you don't look at it?
Sounds like a rather untestable hypothesis to me.

46 posted on 05/26/2021 9:50:22 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Did you pay the Einstein family for the copyright license for that pic? I hear they’re rather nasty about unauthorized uses of Uncle Albert’s likeness.


47 posted on 05/26/2021 9:50:32 AM PDT by Tallguy
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To: BenLurkin

I’m leading toward a vibrational model of the universe.

Matter is an extremely fast vibration with a very small wavelength.

Energy is the same vibration but spaced out more on wavelength.

I think it allows for God in that he’s the overarching embodiment of the universe and explains how he can be everywhere and omniscient. Heaven is just a different chord if you will.


48 posted on 05/26/2021 10:05:39 AM PDT by reed13k (For evil to triumph it is only necessary that good men do nothing)
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To: plain talk

“I actually don’t think it is possible for humans to really understand how the universe works.”

I agree. Some scientist/philosophers have concluded that further exploration reveals only increasing complexity - far more new questions than answers to the old ones.

Better microscopes will reveal finer elements, etc..


49 posted on 05/26/2021 10:06:13 AM PDT by enumerated
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To: rightwingcrazy

Precisely. It’s why the laws of physics—no matter what they are—apply to everything that exists. Period. Full stop.

Our models of the laws of physics can be wrong. But finding something that apparently “breaks” them is just the way we discover that fact.


50 posted on 05/26/2021 10:08:52 AM PDT by sourcery (#MakeThouhtFreeAgain)
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

Interaction defines existence.

I’m not sure what the old philosophy is, other than to say, if something exists only for you, then you’re just crazy or foolish. If it exists for everyone, but for no thing, it’s mass hysteria. But if things in the world that we interact with react to it, then we call it real.

But maybe we’re just imagining that, too.


51 posted on 05/26/2021 10:09:34 AM PDT by rightwingcrazy (;-,)
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To: BenLurkin

This is all really simple. We live in a massive computer simulation. The pixel size is the Plank length. The speed of light is a reflection of the maximum processing power. God is the programmer. This doesn’t make any of us less real.

No, not kidding - can explain more if anyone is interested


52 posted on 05/26/2021 10:13:46 AM PDT by piytar (Do NOT forget Ashli Babbit!)
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To: RedStateRocker

Read up on Eddington’s analysis of the results of the eclipse in 1919 used to verify Einstein’s theory of general relativity.


53 posted on 05/26/2021 10:21:33 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Diana Moon Glampers for Secretary of Education! )
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

Read about that 40 years ago. Quite interesting.


54 posted on 05/26/2021 10:24:46 AM PDT by RedStateRocker ("Never miss a good chance to Shut Up" - Will Rogers)
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To: rightwingcrazy

“Religion”: a belief system shared by a lot of people
“Cult”: a belief system shared by only a few people
“Insanity”: a belief system unique to one individual.

“A lot” and “A Few” of course being a matter of politics and armed might as much as reason or logic.


55 posted on 05/26/2021 10:27:44 AM PDT by RedStateRocker ("Never miss a good chance to Shut Up" - Will Rogers)
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To: dsrtsage
"Why are we allowed to question einstein but not global warming?"

Because Einstein is science, and Global Warming is religion.

56 posted on 05/26/2021 10:29:35 AM PDT by norwaypinesavage (The stone age didn't end because we ran out of stones.)
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To: dsrtsage

Because they embrace all things anti-Semite


57 posted on 05/26/2021 10:44:39 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: norwaypinesavage

Bingo!


58 posted on 05/26/2021 10:44:53 AM PDT by piytar (Do NOT forget Ashli Babbit!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Same old... Same old...
Grant funds running low? Question Albert to gain notoriety...


59 posted on 05/26/2021 10:46:50 AM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is another Sam Adams now that we desperately need him?)
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To: DannyTN

LOL!


60 posted on 05/26/2021 10:48:51 AM PDT by proud American in Canada (Fear is a reaction; courage is a decision. Winston Churchill )
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