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quantum physics
Abstractions blog
Graced With Knowledge, Mathematicians Seek to Understand
A landmark proof in computer science has also solved an important problem called the Connes embedding conjecture. Mathematicians are working to understand it.
theoretical physics
Does Time Really Flow? New Clues Come From a Century-Old Approach to Math.
The laws of physics imply that the passage of time is an illusion. To avoid this conclusion, we might have to rethink the reality of infinitely precise numbers.
Abstractions blog
Why Do Matter Particles Come in Threes? A Physics Titan Weighs In.
Three progressively heavier copies of each type of matter particle exist, and no one knows why. A new paper by Steven Weinberg takes a stab at explaining the pattern.
quantum information theory
Wormholes Reveal a Way to Manipulate Black Hole Information in the Lab
A proposal for building wormhole-connected black holes offers a way to probe the paradoxes of quantum information.
Abstractions blog
Why the Laws of Physics Are Inevitable
By considering simple symmetries, physicists working on the “bootstrap” can rediscover the basic form of the known forces that shape the universe.
Insights puzzle
Solution: ‘Randomness From Determinism’
Readers’ modifications of a bean machine showed how deterministic laws are capable of producing random-seeming behavior.
Insights puzzle
How Randomness Can Arise From Determinism
Playing with a simple bean machine illustrates how deterministic laws can produce probabilistic, random-seeming behavior.
Quantized Columns
Where Quantum Probability Comes From
There are many different ways to think about probability. Quantum mechanics embodies them all.
universality
The Universal Law That Aims Time’s Arrow
A new look at a ubiquitous phenomenon has uncovered unexpected fractal behavior that could give us clues about the early universe and the arrow of time.