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theoretical physics

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number theory

Behold Modular Forms, the ‘Fifth Fundamental Operation’ of Math

By Jordana Cepelewicz
September 21, 2023
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Modular forms are one of the most beautiful and mysterious objects in mathematics. What are they?

Illustration of an astronaut opening a black hole to see another astronaut inside.
theoretical physics

New Calculations Show How to Escape Hawking’s Black Hole Paradox

By Charlie Wood
August 2, 2023
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Inside of a black hole, the two theoretical pillars of 20th-century physics appear to clash. Now a group of young physicists think they have resolved the conflict by appealing to the central pillar of the new century — the physics of quantum information.

An illustration of a black hole made out of computer circuits.
quantum information theory

In New Paradox, Black Holes Appear to Evade Heat Death

By George Musser
June 6, 2023
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The puzzling behavior of black hole interiors has led researchers to propose a new physical law: the second law of quantum complexity.

The Joy of Why

Are There Reasons to Believe in a Multiverse?

By Steven Strogatz
May 17, 2023
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Several areas of physics suggest reasons to think that unobservable universes with different natural laws could lie beyond ours. The theoretical physicist David Kaplan talks with Steven Strogatz about the mysteries that a multiverse would solve.

The Joy of Why

Is Perpetual Motion Possible at the Quantum Level?

By Steven Strogatz
May 3, 2023
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A new phase of matter called a “time crystal” plays with our expectations of thermodynamics. The physicist Vedika Khemani talks with Steven Strogatz about its surprising quantum behavior.

quantum gravity

Wormhole Experiment Called Into Question

By Charlie Wood
March 23, 2023
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Last fall, a team of physicists announced that they had teleported a qubit through a holographic wormhole in a quantum computer. Now another group suggests that’s not quite what happened.

A modular form is shown as a distorted, rainbow-hued dome atop concentric circles.
number theory

New Proof Distinguishes Mysterious and Powerful ‘Modular Forms’

By Jordana Cepelewicz
March 9, 2023
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Using “refreshingly old” tools, mathematicians resolved a 50-year-old conjecture about how to categorize important functions called modular forms, with consequences for number theory and theoretical physics.

An illustration representing an eye at the center of a black hole, observing a quantum particle outside the black hole.
quantum gravity

Black Holes Will Eventually Destroy All Quantum States, Researchers Argue

By Thomas Lewton
March 7, 2023
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New calculations suggest that the event horizons around black holes will ‘decohere’ quantum possibilities — even those that are far away.

Illustration in which a bright red line results from many wavelike ripples overlapping.
explainers

How Our Reality May Be a Sum of All Possible Realities

By Charlie Wood
February 6, 2023
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Richard Feynman’s path integral is both a powerful prediction machine and a philosophy about how the world is. But physicists are still struggling to figure out how to use it, and what it means.


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