无忧视频

It鈥檚 all Relative. Or is it?

Recent developments in physics seem to point to a foundational rethinking of our understanding of physics principles and the notion of space-time. 无忧视频 physics professor Vatche Sahakian has begun research aimed at the ultimate resolution of these puzzles with 鈥淩UI:聽Emergent Spacetime in Matrix Theory,鈥� a project recently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

鈥淚n physics there鈥檚 an open question which is a tension between quantum mechanics and general relativity,鈥� Sahakian says. 鈥淨uantum mechanics typically describes physics at very small distances and is extremely successful at doing so. General relativity is typically applied in astrophysical scenarios where it describes the effect of gravity as curvature of space and time. The tension arises when one asks what happens to gravity in a realm where quantum mechanics is also important and distances are very small, much smaller than have been probed experimentally so far.鈥�

Because quantum mechanics allows for many realities to exist at once, a project like this requires a significant amount of objectivity. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a theoretical exercise in projecting to the smallest possible distances you can imagine and asking what does gravity look like,鈥� Sahakian says. 鈥淭his leads to tension, and you鈥檙e driven to think that general relativity is not a complete description of gravity. Our understanding of space itself is suspect at small distances.鈥�

Sahakian approaches this work without the premise of general relativity as a foundation, beginning from a quantum mechanics premise and asking how space emerges with matrix theory. 鈥淭here is no general relativity at all in the premise,鈥� he explains, 鈥渂ut there is general relativity in the computations we use to check that the answers we鈥檙e getting would work with general relativity. Whatever you have at small distances should match general relativity at longer distances.鈥�

Perhaps the most exciting thing about the research for Sahakian is that it鈥檚 at the junction of many different branches of physics, which means he and his students will have to learn new things as well as imagine things that aren鈥檛 yet known. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a big idea out there that isn鈥檛 clear yet,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here are some missing key ingredients, and one is waiting for a leap of imagination.鈥�

The NSF granted $120,000 to fund the project through August 2020. NSF grants are the largest share of external support for faculty research at HMC.