Posted on Jul 26, 2022 in Astrobiology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Consciousness, Cosmology, Cosmos, Extraterrestrial Life, James Webb Space Telescope, NASA, quantum physics, Science News, Space News, Universe

Todays stories from our amazing Universe range from Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy to How did Earth avoid a Mars-like fate? to We are Not the First Technological Civilization, and much more.

Could we use quantum communication to talk to aliens? asks Big Think. Quantum communication offers a surer path to sending an interstellar message, as well as receiving one. But can we do it? We have yet to hear from any civilization outside planet Earth. Maybe theres nothing out there. But maybe we are not listening in the right way. Quantum communication uses the quantum nature of light to send a message. Whether we can use such a communication method remains to be seen.

Schrdinger and the conscious universe. The total number of minds in the universe is one, reports iAi. Most assume that matter is fundamental, and that consciousness arises out of the complexity of matter. But Nobel Prize winning quantum physicist Erwin Schrdinger does not share that assumption. For him, the universe contains a single mind, writes Robert Prentner and Donald D. Hoffman.

Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy In the days after the mega-telescope started delivering data, astronomers reported exciting new discoveries about galaxies, stars, exoplanets and even Jupiter, reports Quanta.

The Extraterrestrials Before Us We are Not the First Technological Civilization (Or, are We?) reports The Daily Galaxy. Are we an aberration, an evolutionary accident, or are we one of millions of evolving beings scattered throughout the distant reaches of the cosmos?

James Webb telescope finds oldest galaxy in the universe -The James Webb Telescope has hit upon another marvel in the universe the oldest galaxy that ever existed, reports India Today. The light from GLASS-z13 took 13.4 billion years to hit the mirrors of James Webb Telescope.

Could Ultra-Massive Black Holes Threaten Their Host Galaxies? asks The Daily Galaxy. We do know that black holes are extraordinary phenomena, said Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo, professor in the Department of Physics at Universit de Montral about the ultra-massive behemoths lurking at most galaxy centers. So its no surprise that the most extreme specimens defy the rules that we have established up until now.

JWST finds galaxies may adopt Milky Way-like shape faster than thought Astronomers thought that galaxies in the early universe would mostly be shapeless blobs, but an analysis of data from the James Webb Space Telescope suggests around half are disc-shaped like the Milky Way, reports New Scientist.

Alien hunters should look for city lights from urbanized planets, study suggests, reports Leonard David for Space.com. Lights from alien cities are an intriguing potential technosignature. For example, sharp-eyed aliens scrutinizing Earths nightside might be able to deduce our presence via the emissions from city lights here, even though such emissions are relatively concentrated. And advanced civilizations on exoplanets may have built cities over significantly more of their planets surfaces.

Earths black hole police discover gravitational singularity near Milky Way The team behind the discovery describe finding the aftermath of a star that vanished without any sign of a powerful explosion as like finding a needle in a haystack, reports Sky News.

Will the James Webb Space Telescope Reveal Unknown, Hidden Objects at the Milky Ways Center? asks The Daily Galaxy. NASAs recently launched James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), designed to view the universe in infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, but is very important for looking at astronomical objects hidden from our view, obscured by vast swaths of interstellar dust at the galactic center in unprecedented detail.

Astronomers have found an especially sneaky black hole The discovery of VFTS 243, a binary system, sheds light on star death, black hole formation and gravitational waves, reports Idan Ginsburg for The Conversation.

TRAPPIST-1 Star System is the Ultimate James Webb Space Telescope Target, reports The Daily Galaxy. How frequently is life found elsewhere? asked the research teams at the University of Cambridge and the University of Lige in Belgium. This simple change of words means that we should also be investigating planetary systems unlike the solar system. It would be disappointing and surprising if Earth were the only template for habitability in the Universe.

How did Earth avoid a Mars-like fate? Ancient rocks hold clues, reports The University of Rochester. New paleomagnetic research suggests Earths solid inner core formed 550 million years ago and restored our planets magnetic field.

Uranus: 15 amazing facts about the bulls eye planetThink you know about the planet Uranus? Think again, reports Interesting Engineering. The seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus is one of the strangest and least understood planets in the Solar System. Four times bigger than Earth, this planet has both short days and incredibly long years.

Disco-ball satellite will put Einsteins theory to strictest test yet A newly launched satellite aims to measure how Earths rotation drags the fabric of space-time around itself an effect of Einsteins general theory of relativity ten times more accurately than ever before. The Laser Relativity Satellite 2 (LARES-2) launched from the European Space Agencys (ESA) spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 13 July, reports Davide Castelvecchi for Nature.

Mars rocks photographed today give a glimpse into a fascinating world. The red planet is finally coming into clear view, reports Interesting Engineering. Thanks to instruments aboard NASAs Perseverance rover, we finally have images of the Martian landscape to see how an intrepid hiker might see it. And its beautiful.

Russia Says It Will Quit the International Space Station After 2024. The announcement could lead to the end of two decades of post-Cold War cooperation in space between the United States and Russia, which built the station together and operate it jointly, reports The New York Times.

50,000-year-old meteorite could revolutionize electronics and fast-charging The Diablo Canyon meteorite is a gift from the past, reports Interesting Engineering.

New Phase of Matter Opens Portal to Extra Time DimensionPhysicists have devised a mind-bending error-correction technique that could dramatically boost the performance of quantum computers, reports Scientific American.

How Earths 23.4 tilt makes life beautiful -Many of humanitys cultural traditions are based upon the movement of our planet around the Sun. The summer and winter solstices and the spring and autumn equinoxes take on special significance, reports this Big Think audio.

Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

The Galaxy Report newsletter brings you twice-weekly news of space and science that has the capacity to provide clues to the mystery of our existence and add a much needed cosmic perspective in our current Anthropocene Epoch.

Yes, sign me up for my free subscription.

Recent Galaxy Reports:

More here:

The Universe Contains a Single Mind to Could We Use Quantum Communication to Talk to Aliens? (The Galaxy Report) - The Daily Galaxy --Great...

July 22, 2022• Physics 15, 111

When physicists and poets work together, they can challenge existing paradigms. But these collaborations need larger platforms to realize their full artistic, scientific, and societal potential.

The root of the English noun poetry is the Ancient Greek word poi, which means to make, a verb that led to poiesis, the activity of bringing something into being. As a poet, I know that poetry is both a noun and the verb at its root. The word root comes from the Latin radicalis, which led to radical, the condition of fundamental change and reform. Poets, like scientists, radically challenge paradigms toward change and reform. When physicists construct the conditions for discoveries, such as the Higgs boson at CERN in Switzerland, and when poets construct interventions into culture and consciousness, both are practicing poiesis, the artistic activity of making.

I experiment with poiesis by visiting scientific research centers, such as CERN, where I work alongside scientists. The scientists talk to me about their research and often give me behind-the-scenes access to their experiments. I talk to them about the poetry-science connection and sometimes give poetry readings and lectures. During my most recent CERN visit, I saw the Large Hadron Collider, where the Higgs boson was discovered, and CERN particle physicist James Beacham and I brainstormed an idea for a physics-poetry experiment. Working toward a book about the experiments physics and poetics, we wrote poems and are drafting a cowritten scientific paper. Ive also recently visited Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, where I met astrophysicist Satya Gontcho A Gontcho, who researches dark energy at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Shes also a practitioner of Odissi, a classical Indian dance. We collaborated on a danced-poem, which involved me reciting a poem Id written about dark energy while she performed a dance that she choreographed to the words.

Physics-poetry collaborations like these ones help break down disciplinary silos that have existed for over a century, diversifying thinking and methodologies. But for such connections to reach their full potential, scientists need to be trained in the literary arts and poets in the sciences. For example, a physicist might receive lessons in reading and writing poetryone vessel through which we use language to reason and imaginein order to gain insights into literary theory and poetic craft. Similarly, a poet might take classes in quantum physics in order to learn about the imaginative questions that scientists explore. While this training occasionally happens, larger platforms for it are needed.

Todays physics-poetry collaborations draw from a long tradition of poets and artists responding to science. They also draw from scientific history where many early scientists were philosophers, artists, or poets. In the service of these traditions, I have helped establish a global network of science-engaged poets and arts-engaged scientists, organizing and participating in conferences, discussion projects, and class visits at universities, bookstores, and scientific research centers. These poetry-science connections represent a trailblazing, literary extension of the established art-science nexus where science interacts with the arts through education, outreach, and funding proposals. The art-science connection is part of an increasing number of collaborations across fields of knowledge and artistic practice.

Courtesy of A. Catanzano/Wake Forest University

Courtesy of A. Catanzano/Wake Forest University

Bringing science and the arts together also has the benefit of helping to combat ignorance, manipulation, bigotry, and violence. In addition to expanding knowledge and experience, which helps prevent and solve sociopolitical problems, the art-science connection helps protect science from destructive commercial and military aims through social critiques that are common in the arts. It also advances the influence of the arts, leading to more creativity and critical thinking.

When I use poetry and poetics to explore open questions in cutting-edge physics, questions mediated by translations between mathematics and language, I focus on quantum physics. I do so because quantum physics is central to the most pressing concerns in physics today, such as how to reconcile quantum physics with relativity, how to create a quantum computer, and the role of dark energy in cosmic acceleration. There is, however, another reason for my quantum-physics focus (see Arts & Culture: Poetry Takes on Quantum Physics). The quantum world is often described as strange when viewed through classical logic. But when I view the quantum world through poetic logic, I find it familiar and poetically sound.

Quantum physics, in my view, uses unacknowledged poetic principles to describe the properties of quantum phenomena such as uncertainty, observation, superposition, and entanglement. In the principle of indeterminacy or the uncertainty principle, a subatomic particles future position and momentum cannot be known with certainty, since its present state is measured in probabilities; in poetry, ambiguities that arise from uncertainty can be a form of artistic depth. In quantum physics, the observer affects the observed; in poetry, a reader can affect a poems meaning through interpretation. In quantum superposition, a subatomic particle can simultaneously exist in multiple states of spacetime; in poetry, alternative experiences with spacetime, such as simultaneity, can be evoked. In quantum entanglement, distanced quantum states of particles that were once near each other can instantaneously communicate; in poetry, which can exhibit quantum behavior, classical paradoxes need not be resolved. Poetry is an advanced technology like a particle collider or a telescope, extending the senses, intellect, and imagination. In poetry and quantum physics, the impossible is often probable and even inevitable.

Neither physics nor poetry are totalizing efforts leading to absolute truth. When theorized and conducted in union, both fields become far more wondrous: they carry new forms of information and experience, produce new ideas and technologies, and challenge dominant belief systems about the universe. It is the evolution of our questions, and not just our provisional answers, that advances scientific, artistic, and societal progress.

Amy Catanzano is a professor and the poet-in-residence at Wake Forest University, North Carolina. Author of three books and multimodal poetry projects involving physics, she is the recipient of the PEN USA Literary Award in Poetry and other honors. She recently wrote a poem for Physics Magazine on the Higgs boson (see Higgs Boson: The Cosmic Glyph).

See the rest here:

Physics and Poetry in Radical Collaboration - Physics

A new technique to measure vibrating atoms could improve the precision of atomic clocks and of quantum sensors for detecting dark matter or gravitational waves.

A tiny universe of information is contained in the quantum vibrations in atoms. Scientists can hone the precision of atomic clocks as well as quantum sensors if they can accurately measure these atomic oscillations, and how they evolve over time. Quantum sensors, which are systems of atoms whose fluctuations can be used as a detector, can indicate the presence of dark matter, a passing gravitational wave, or even new, unexpected phenomena.

Noise from the classical world, which can quickly overpower small atomic vibrations and make any changes to those oscillations devilishly hard to detect, is a significant barrier in the way of improved quantum measurements.

However, MIT physicists have recently demonstrated that they can significantly amplify quantum changes in atomic vibrations, by subjecting the particles to two key processes: quantum entanglement and time reversal.

Before you go out and buy a DeLorean, let me assure you that they havent discovered a means to reverse time itself. Instead, the scientists forced atoms that were quantumly entangled to act as if they were evolving backward in time. Any alterations to the atomic oscillations were magnified and made easy to monitor as the researchers essentially rewound the tape of atomic oscillations.

In research published on July 14, 2022, in the journal Nature Physics, the team of scientists demonstrates that the technique, which they named SATIN (for signal amplification through time reversal), is the most sensitive method ever developed for measuring quantum fluctuations.

MIT physicists have shown they can significantly amplify quantum changes in atomic vibrations, by putting the particles through two key processes: quantum entanglement and time reversal. Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT, with figures from iStockphoto

The technique could improve the accuracy of todays most advanced atomic clocks by a factor of 15, making their timing so exact that the clocks would be less than 20 milliseconds off over the entire age of the universe. The technique could also be used to further sharpen quantum sensors that are designed to detect gravitational waves, dark matter, and other physical phenomena.

We think this is the paradigm of the future, says lead author Vladan Vuletic, the Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics at MIT. Any quantum interference that works with many atoms can profit from this technique.

The studys MIT co-authors include first author Simone Colombo, Edwin Pedrozo-Peafiel, Albert Adiyatullin, Zeyang Li, Enrique Mendez, and Chi Shu.

A given type of atom vibrates at a particular and constant frequency that, if properly measured, can serve as a very precise pendulum, keeping time in much shorter intervals than a kitchen clocks second. But at the scale of a single atom, the laws of quantum mechanics take over, and the atoms oscillation changes like the face of a coin each time it is flipped. Only by taking many measurements of an atom can scientists get an estimate of its actual oscillation a limitation known as the Standard Quantum Limit.

In state-of-the-art atomic clocks, physicists measure the oscillation of thousands of ultracold atoms, many times over, to increase their chance of getting an accurate measurement. Still, these systems have some uncertainty, and their time-keeping could be more precise.

MIT researchers used a system of lasers to first entangle, then reverse the evolution of a cloud of ultracold atoms. Credit: Simone Colombo

In 2020, Vuletics group showed that the precision of current atomic clocks could be improved by entangling the atoms a quantum phenomenon by which particles are coerced to behave in a collective, highly correlated state. In this entangled state, the oscillations of individual atoms should shift toward a common frequency that would take far fewer attempts to accurately measure.

At the time, we were still limited by how well we could read out the clock phase, Vuletic says.

That is, the tools used to measure atomic oscillations were not sensitive enough to read out, or measure any subtle change in the atoms collective oscillations.

In their new study, instead of attempting to improve the resolution of existing readout tools, the team looked to boost the signal from any change in oscillations, such that they could be read by current tools. They did so by harnessing another curious phenomenon in quantum mechanics: time reversal.

Its thought that a purely quantum system, such as a group of atoms that is completely isolated from everyday classical noise, should evolve forward in time in a predictable manner, and the atoms interactions (such as their oscillations) should be described precisely by the systems Hamiltonian essentially, a mathematical description of the systems total energy.

In the 1980s, theorists predicted that if a systems Hamiltonian were reversed, and the same quantum system was made to de-evolve, it would be as if the system was going back in time.

In quantum mechanics, if you know the Hamiltonian, then you can track what the system is doing through time, like a quantum trajectory, Pedrozo-Peafiel explains. If this evolution is completely quantum, quantum mechanics tells you that you can de-evolve, or go back and go to the initial state.

And the idea is, if you could reverse the sign of the Hamiltonian, every small perturbation that occurred after the system evolved forward would get amplified if you go back in time, Colombo adds.

Shown here is the chamber in which researchers trapped and entangled a cloud of 400 ultracold ytterbium atoms. Credit: Simone Colombo

For their new study, the team studied 400 ultracold atoms of ytterbium, one of two atom types used in todays atomic clocks. They cooled the atoms to just a hair above absolute zero, at temperatures where most classical effects such as heat fade away and the atoms behavior are governed purely by quantum effects.

The team used a system of lasers to trap the atoms, then sent in a blue-tinged entangling light, which coerced the atoms to oscillate in a correlated state. They let the entangled atoms evolve forward in time, then exposed them to a small magnetic field, which introduced a tiny quantum change, slightly shifting the atoms collective oscillations.

Such a shift would be impossible to detect with existing measurement tools. Instead, the team applied time reversal to boost this quantum signal. To do this, they sent in another, red-tinged laser that stimulated the atoms to disentangle, as if they were evolving backward in time.

They then measured the particles oscillations as they settled back into their unentangled states, and found that their final phase was markedly different from their initial phase clear evidence that a quantum change had occurred somewhere in their forward evolution.

The team repeated this experiment thousands of times, with clouds ranging from 50 to 400 atoms, each time observing the expected amplification of the quantum signal. They found their entangled system was up to 15 times more sensitive than similar unentangled atomic systems. If their system is applied to current state-of-the-art atomic clocks, it would reduce the number of measurements these clocks require, by a factor of 15.

Going forward, the researchers hope to test their method on atomic clocks, as well as in quantum sensors, for instance for dark matter.

A cloud of dark matter floating by Earth could change time locally, and what some people do is compare clocks, say, in Australia with others in Europe and the U.S. to see if they can spot sudden changes in how time passes, Vuletic says. Our technique is exactly suited to that, because you have to measure quickly changing time variations as the cloud flies by.

Reference: Time-reversal-based quantum metrology with many-body entangled states by Simone Colombo, Edwin Pedrozo-Peafiel, Albert F. Adiyatullin, Zeyang Li, Enrique Mendez, Chi Shu and Vladan Vuleti, 14 July 2022, Nature Physics.DOI: 10.1038/s41567-022-01653-5

This research was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.

Here is the original post:

MIT Physicists Harness Quantum Time Reversal for Detecting Gravitational Waves and Dark Matter - SciTechDaily

Everything has to end eventually but does that include the universe itself? And if so, how? And when? It might be hard to imagine a catastrophe big enough to affect the entirety of existence, but physicists do expect it all to end at some point and it may come sooner than we think. Here are some of the leading hypotheses about how the universe could end, and when.

To figure out how the cosmos could come to a close, physicists look back to the beginning. About 13.8 billion years ago, space and time burst forth from an incredibly dense singularity, an event thats come to be known as the Big Bang. The universe rapidly expanded from that point, with matter cooling and condensing into galaxies and all the stars and planets they contain.

But the universe is still expanding, and doing so at an accelerating pace, thanks to a mysterious force that scientists call dark energy. As that name suggests, we know very little about how this force works or why its pushing everything away from everything else, but it has some pretty major implications for the ultimate fate of the universe. How it plays out depends on how you tweak the numbers in the models.The Big Freeze

According to our best models of the evolution of the universe, the most likely scenario is whats called the Big Freeze. If dark energy keeps accelerating the expansion of the universe forever and calculations suggest that it will then the cosmos is in for a slow death thats drawn out for a googol years. That unfathomable number is a one followed by 100 zeroes.

If you could watch a patch of sky in fast-forward over billions of years, the stars would start to turn red, then fade out completely. Thats because the expanding universe would stretch the wavelength of their light farther and farther towards the red end of the spectrum, before rendering them completely invisible to the eye.

Of course, even if you couldnt see them, the distant stars and galaxies would still exist at least for a few trillion years. But after a while, the expansion would dilute the dust and gas floating around in space, until there isnt enough concentrated in any one region to fuel the birth of new stars. With no more being born, stars eventually become an endangered and then extinct species, as the last of them die off.

So begins the universes Degenerate Era, about 100 trillion years from now. By this point, only white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes exist, but these too will fade white dwarfs and some neutron stars will slowly cool into invisible, inert black dwarfs, while other neutron stars will collapse into black holes.

By the year 10 tredecillion (a one followed by 43 zeroes), there wont be anything but black holes left. And even these arent eternal as Stephen Hawking predicted, black holes slowly give off radiation until they eventually evaporate.

After about 1 googol years, once all the black holes are gone too, the universe settles into its final age the Dark Era. Light and matter are distant memories, and the remaining loose particles will live the loneliest possible existence, rarely having the chance to whizz within a light-year of each other, let alone interact. And nothing else will ever happen, for eternity.The Big Rip

A similar scenario leads to a far more dramatic death, much sooner. In this model, dark energy doesnt just accelerate the expansion of the universe at a steady pace, it accelerates exponentially, eventually tearing the very fabric of reality apart an ending called the Big Rip.

Theres a physical limit to the distance into space that we could ever see, even if you had the most powerful telescope possible. That limit is dictated by the speed of light at a certain point, objects are too far away for their light to have had enough time to reach Earth. This region is called the observable universe.

In the Big Rip model, the exponentially accelerating expansion pushes more and more objects beyond that boundary, meaning that the observable universe is constantly shrinking. Any two objects that are farther apart than this boundary allows can no longer influence each other through the fundamental forces, like gravity or electromagnetism.

As that distance shrinks, large scale structures of the universe will begin to crumble as gravitys influence shrinks, it wont be able to hold galaxy clusters together, and theyll start dissolving. Eventually the same will happen to the galaxies themselves, sending stars drifting off on their own. Later, the cosmic event horizon will shrink beyond the scale of an individual star system, meaning planets will no longer be bound to their orbits around stars.

In the final few minutes of existence, that event horizon would shrink smaller than the scale of molecules, disrupting the forces that hold matter together, shredding stars, planets and everything on them. And finally, those loose atoms themselves would be ripped apart particle by particle. The last victim is the fabric of spacetime itself.

The scientists who propose this model predict that, if it were to happen, the universe has about 22 billion years left to live. Thankfully though, other scientists believe that this scenario involves parameters that arent realistic, so is less likely to occur than some of the other ideas on this list.The Big Crunch

Perhaps the universe will end in the exact opposite way instead of expanding forever into nothingness, it changes course and collapses in on itself in a so-called Big Crunch.

In the cosmic tug of war between gravity trying to pull everything together and dark energy trying to push it apart, scientists usually stack their chips in favor of dark energy, which would ultimately lead to a Big Freeze or Big Rip ending. But we cant completely count gravity out of the running.

If the density of matter in the universe is high enough, its gravity could overcome the expansion and trigger a contraction phase instead. Everything will begin to move towards everything else as the universe shrinks once again. Much like our current expansion phase, anyone alive at the time wouldnt be directly affected at least until near the end.

Galaxy clusters would start to merge, then galaxies themselves, and eventually individual stars would collide more regularly. But the real trouble begins with the cosmic microwave background the background radiation of the universe left over from the Big Bang. As its photons are shifted towards the blue end of the spectrum, this radiation heats up, until eventually it becomes hotter than stars. That means the stars can no longer radiate their heat outwards, and will continue to get hotter and hotter until they evaporate.

In the last few minutes, the temperature of the universe would be so extremely hot that atoms themselves fall apart. Not that theyll have long to worry about that, since theyll be sucked into the black holes that are taking up an increasing percentage of the shrinking universe.

Eventually, the entire contents of the universe will be crushed together into an impossibly tiny space a singularity, like a reverse Big Bang.

Different scientists give different estimates of when this contraction phase might begin. It could be billions of years away yet. Or, according to a recent study, it could be quite soon, cosmically speaking, as the universe reverses course about 100 million years from now. In that model, the contraction phase would take about a billion years before we return to that singularity.The Big Bounce

But that might not be the end. A variation on the above hypothesis suggests that moments before the universe collapses into an infinitely dense singularity, its saved by quantum processes and reverses course once again, beginning a new period of expansion thats effectively another Big Bang for a brand new universe. This model is known as the Big Bounce.

While it might sound a little too convenient, proponents of the idea say that there is some precedent in the world of quantum physics after all, as the universe shrinks towards a singularity, it becomes so small that quantum rules take over from the large-scale classical physics were familiar with.

At that point, quantum tunneling can occur, where particles can overcome barriers that by all accounts they shouldnt have enough energy to pass through. This drives processes like radioactive decay and, according to a recent study, could also allow a contracting universe to escape the fate of total collapse and begin expanding again.

Intriguingly, support for the Big Bounce arises out of another theory called loop quantum gravity, which was created as a way to explain gravity in terms of quantum mechanics.

The fun implication of the Big Bounce hypothesis is that we might be in the middle of a never-ending chain of universes being created and destroyed.The Big Slurp

The final doomsday scenario on this list is perhaps the most unsettling, because it could already be barreling down on us and we wouldnt know until it hit. Its called a false vacuum decay, or more colloquially the Big Slurp.

Its a law of physics that a system will naturally try to become stable. To do so it moves from a state of high energy to one with lower energy, until it stabilizes into its lowest possible energy state. For quantum fields, this is known as its vacuum state.

Its thought that all known quantum fields are in their stable vacuum states except for one: the Higgs field. It seems to be in a false vacuum state, which means that it currently appears stable but is predicted to not be in its lowest energy state.

But that could change without warning. Literally any second, the Higgs field could suddenly slip into a lower energy state, taking out a huge chunk (if not all) of the universe in the process.

All it would take is for one tiny point in space to collapse into this lower energy state, which would send a bubble of vacuum decay expanding outwards at the speed of light. Moving that fast, we couldnt even see it coming until the wall of that bubble slammed into Earth.

What happens once were inside this bubble? No ones really sure, but it will probably rewrite the laws of nature. Theres a chance that life might be possible under these new physics but the universe could be so completely different that we cant even imagine it. Worst case scenario, all matter is destroyed.

If theres good news to be found, its that theres a lot of uncertainty to the idea. Some models predict that false vacuum decay isnt likely to occur for many billions of years yet, or that its impossible altogether. Others suggest that it should have happened by now, indicating our current universe might actually be the strange new physics inside the bubble.

The Higgs field could also be more stable than we give it credit for. It was, after all, only confirmed relatively recently with the discovery of the Higgs boson, so theres still plenty left to learn through further study.

Or maybe the false vacuum bubble has just swallowed the Sun and will be here in eight minutes.

Read more from the original source:

The end of everything: 5 ways the universe could be destroyed - New Atlas

Vadim Mashurovs Take on Quantum Computing: How Far has Technology in Computers Come?

The dynamic industry continues to explore newer solutions that are effective and more advanced. Such solutions include quantum computers, machines that apply quantum physics to execute computations and store data.

In theory, quantum computers are expected to have more computational power than todays devices. So what does the future hold for quantum computers? Vadim Mashurov, a prominent entrepreneur in the tech industry, shares his input on the latest trend in computers below;

Quantum computers use different computational approaches from traditional machines. The methods are based on various scientific applications, including quantum entanglement and matters superposition.

Traditional computers implement bits as a means of processing data. Quantum computers, on the other hand, use qubits to execute several functions.

As such, qubits allow machines to store large chunks of data and consume less energy when performing strenuous tasks. Generally, the whole idea behind quantum computing is to develop processors that operate faster than traditional machines.

Quantum computers represent advanced machines that offer a progressive approach to curb their predecessors sluggish and limited options. However, quantum computers are not meant to succeed classical computers. They intend to give an alternative solution that can figure out any complex task that is challenging to other regular computers.

Governments and global companies are actively researching the potential benefits of quantum computing. Among the industries that could leverage this solution include:

Financial processes such as derivative pricing and optimal arbitrage usually apply numerous mathematical calculations. In most cases, these procedures may become more complicated to solve. It makes the current technology less effective as complexities become larger.

Quantum computing addresses this issue with an optimal solution that can solve complex problems in a reasonable amount of time. The technology can also help in forecasting the future prices of various commodities.

An accurate picture of the future market gives analysts a better chance to assess several risks and uncertainties. Carrying out the prediction procedures using quantum computers will also successfully implement algorithms and machine learning solutions.

Healthcare is the second industry that could leverage quantum computing technology. Today, most clinical trials are done manually without any computational solution. Only a handful of companies use technological advancements to conduct clinical trials.

Quantum computing can be helpful in the healthcare system since it could improve the drug discovery process. Drug makers can quickly go through data from previous trials through quantum-enabled algorithms.

Consider cannabis medical trials, which began just a few years ago. For instance, S-pharmaceuticals, a joint-stock company, has completed an investment round as they are on a mission to explore Cannabis medicinal usage. They have greenhouses about 6700 m2 large and other rooms about 500 m2 large. S-pharmaceuticals installed a round-the-clock supply of components focused on video surveillance of Cannabis production.

Video surveillance can help monitor the production and processing of Cannabis for medical use. Leveraging quantum computers, S-pharmaceuticals can enjoy easy problem detection, reduced energy consumption, and imagery analysis.

The logistics industry can use quantum computers to address any optimization problem. Precision is an accurate factor in logistics since it helps provide quality delivery services. Classical computers often provide transportation companies with limited solutions concerning their schedule. Hence, it forces companies to follow one solution without evaluating its downsides.

Quantum computers may break this barrier by giving logistic companies several results. The technology allows truckers to analyze every scenario and select the most suitable routes. That way, transportation industries can use minimal time and resources to plan their freight schedules.

Quantum computing could assist businesses in managing their marketing activities. The technology gives companies insightful data that can aid in spotting new market trends. Furthermore, it allows firms to foresee the future behaviors of their clients.

In most cases, companies choose to work with a marketing strategy that doesnt deliver visible results. Businesses can select the most effective marketing campaign through quantum optimization to attract a bigger audience. In the end, companies will spend less time focusing on a strategy that may not work in their favor.

The technological space is an expansive ecosystem with numerous upcoming solutions. Vadim Mashurov believes that quantum computers are next-gen solutions meant to improve the current computing system. Companies, for one, will be able to make the right business decisions through data optimization.

Moreover, it could positively impact the invention world since quantum computers can perform complex tasks. Despite the low application rate, technology-based startups should take it upon themselves to investigate the potential merits of quantum computing.

See the original post here:

The future of quantum computing - The London Economic