Signs of a Stranger, Deeper Side to Nature’s Building Blocks

Simon Foundation ^ | July 1, 2013 | Natalie Wolchover

[SunkenCiv]

If each energy field pervading space is thought of as the surface of a pond, and waves and particles are the turbulence on that surface, then the new evidence strengthens the argument that a vibrant, hidden world lies beneath.

For decades, the surface-level description of the subatomic world has been sufficient to make accurate calculations about most physical phenomena. But recently, a strange class of matter that defies description by known quantum mechanical methods has drawn physicists into the depths below...

Of all the strange forms of matter, cuprates -- copper-containing metals that exhibit a property called high-temperature superconductivity -- may be the strangest. In new research published online June 24 in the Journal of High Energy Physics, physicists at the University of California-Santa Barbara have explored the deeper phenomena that they claim are connected to the perplexing "surface-level" behavior of cuprates. By focusing their calculations on that underlying environment, the researchers derived a formula for the conductivity of cuprates that was previously known only from experiments...

The results bolster the evidence that this new way of looking at nature’s building blocks is real and that it is “strikingly literal,” said Jan Zaanen, a theoretical physicist at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

What’s more, the results could be seen as an unusual, indirect kind of evidence for string theory -- a 40-year-old framework that weaves together quantum mechanics and gravity and is as mathematically elegant and profoundly explanatory as it is unproven.

[Kevmo]

Thanks for the ping. Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (CMNS) is going to put current physics into upheaval. http://www.mail-archive.com/vortex-l@eskimo.com/msg81615.html [Vo]:More delusional scientists, and over 60,000 publications! Mark Iverson Tue, 28 May 2013 17:48:20 -0700 "There have been more than 60,000 papers published on high-temperature superconductive material since its discovery in 1986," said Jak Chakhalian, professor of physics at the University of Arkansas. "Unfortunately, as of today we have *zero theoretical understanding* of the mechanism behind this enigmatic phenomenon. In my mind, the high-temperature superconductivity is the most important unsolved mystery of condensed matter physics." After over 60000 published papers, way more than LENR, and as the expert himself says, "we have zero theoretical understanding of the mechanism." Obviously they don't know how to make simple measurements, and must be engaged in a massive instance of self-delusion/group-think, or the grandest conspiracy to maintain their funding. Makes LENR look like small potatoes. -Mark Iverson