The present has a special status for us humans our past seems to no longer exists, and our future is yet to come into existence. But according to how physicists and philosophers interpret Einsteins Theory of Relativity, the present isnt at all special. The past and the future are just as real as the present - they all coexist and you could, theoretically, travel to them. But, argues Dean Buonomano, this interpretation of Einsteins theory might have more to do with the way our brains evolved to think of time in a similar way to space, than with the nature of time.

The human brain is an astonishingly powerful information processing device. It transforms the blooming buzzing confusion of raw data that impinges on our sensory organs into a compelling model of the external world. It endows us with language, rationality, and symbolic reasoning, and most mysteriously, it bestows us with consciousness (more precisely it bestows itself with consciousness). But, on the other hand, the brain is also a rather feeble and buggy information processing device. When it comes to mental numerical calculations the most complex device in the known universe is embarrassingly inept. The brain has a hodge-podge of cognitive biases that often lead to irrational decisions. And when it comes to understanding the nature of the universe, we should remember that the human brain was optimized to survive and reproduce in an environment we outgrew long ago, not decipher the laws of nature.

Is Einstein still right?Read moreTo date, the most powerful tool we have devised to overcome the brains limitations is called mathematics. Once in a while an outlier such as Einstein or Schrdinger conjures up equations that allow us to describe and predict the external world, independently of whether the human mind is capable of intuitively understanding those equations. We can plug those equations into a computer, which can then pump out predictions about what will occur when, whether or not we (or the computer) understand those equations.

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Much as chess is beyond the grasp of Schrdingers cat, an intuitive understanding of quantum mechanics is probably beyond the grasp of the human brain.

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Mathematics, however, is mostly agnostic to the interpretation of the equations of modern physics. This is particularly clear in the case of Schrdingers equation, which helped master the quantum world of particles that underlies much of our digital technology. No one can really claim to intuitively understand what a wavefunction actually is, or what it means for two photons two be entangled. Much as chess is beyond the grasp of Schrdingers cat, an intuitive understanding of quantum mechanics is probably beyond the grasp of the human brain.

The equations that comprise the laws of modern physics have proven accurate beyond any reasonable expectation, but when we interpret the equations of relativity and quantum mechanics, we often forget to take into account the inherent limitations, constraints, and biases, of the organ doing the interpreting. This point is particularly relevant in the context of what the laws of physics tell us in regard to the nature of time.

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Under eternalism time-travel is a theoretical possibility, as my past and future selves are in some sense physically real. In contrast, under presentism the notion of time travel is impossible by definition.

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While there is no universally accepted view as to the nature of time, the two main views are referred to as eternalism and presentism. In its simplest form eternalism maintains that the past, present, and future all stand on equal footing in an objective physical sense. The past, present, and future all coexist within what is called the block universe. Under presentism, my local present moment is fundamentally and objectively different from the past and future, because the past no longer exists and the future is yet to exist. Importantly presentism is local, and distinct from the empirically disproven Newtonian notion of absolute time, in which clocks moving at different speeds will remain synchronized. While some have argued that the distinction between eternalism and presentism is a false dichotomy, the fundamental difference between them can be easily captured in the context of time travel. Under eternalism time-travel is a theoretical possibility, as my past and future selves are in some sense physically real. In contrast, under presentism the notion of time travel is impossible by definition, one cannot travel to moments that dont exist.

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It is important to note that relativity does not predict that we live in an eternalist universe, rather it allows for an eternalist universe.

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One of the strongest arguments for eternalism was planted in 1908 by Herman Minkowskis geometric interpretation of Einsteins special theory of relativity. In it, time is represented as one axis in four-dimensional space, and movement of a clock along any of the three spatial dimensions will slow the rate at which it ticksMinkowski bound space and time into spacetime. But any geometric representation of time inevitably corrals the brain to think about time much like spacethinking of past and future moments in relation to now, as being as real as positions to the left and right of here. Indeed geometry, as formalized by Euclid over two thousand years ago was the study of static spatial relationships, and it was likely the first field of modern science because it had the luxury of ignoring time. Einsteins theory of general relativity further cemented the concept of spacetime into physics. But it is important to note that relativity does not predict that we live in an eternalist universe, rather it allows for an eternalist universe. Relativity makes no explicit testable predictions regarding eternalism versus presentism. Indeed, it is far from clear that there are any testable predictions that could prove or disprove eternalism or presentism (other than the emergence of a confirmed time traveler). And if advanced aliens ever came to Earth and assured us that we live in a presentist universe, I dont think anybody would claim that proves relativity is wrong (although presentism does set boundaries on the solutions to the equations of general relativity).

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Contrary to our everyday experiences, when interpreting the laws of physics, perhaps the architecture of the human brain imposes a bias towards eternalism.

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While the laws of physics do not assign any special significance to the present, they are ultimately agnostic as to whether the present may be fundamentally different from the past and future. Why then, despite our clear subjective experience that the present is special, is eternalism the favored view of time in physics and philosophy? Contrary to our everyday experiences, when interpreting the laws of physics, perhaps the architecture of the human brain imposes a bias towards eternalism. Thinking about time as a dimension in which all moments are equally real, better resonates with the brains architecture which readily accepts that all points in space are equally real.

The human brain is unique in its ability to conceptualize time along a mental timeline and engage in mental time travel. We can think about the past and simulate potential futures to degrees that evade the cognitive ability of other animals. It is mental time travel that allows us to engage in species-defining future-oriented activities, such as agriculture, science, and technology development. But how did humans come to acquire this ability? Evidence from linguistics, brain imaging, psychophysics, and brain lesion studies, suggest that the human brain may have come to grasp the concept of time by co-opting older evolutionary circuits already in place to represent and conceptualize space. A common example in the context of linguistics is that we use spatial metaphors for time (it was a long day; I look forward to seeing you). Imaging studies show a large overlap in brain areas associated with spatial and temporal cognition, and people with brain lesions that result in spatial hemineglect (generally characterized by an unawareness of left visual space), often exhibit deficits in mental time travel.

Our brains certainly did not evolve to understand the nature of time or the laws of the physics, but our brains did evolve to survive in a world governed by the laws of physics. Survival, of course, was not dependent on an intuitive grasp of physical laws on the quantum and cosmological scaleswhich is presumably why our intuitions epically fail on these scales. But questions pertaining to the reality of the past and future, fall squarely within the mesoscale relevant to survival. Thus, if one accepts that our subjective experiences evolved to enhance our chances of survival, our subjective experience about the passage of time and the fundamental differences between the present, past, and future, should be correlated to reality. A common counterexample to this point is our incorrect intuitions about the movement of the Earth. However, our incorrect perception that the Earth is static while the sun moves around us, pertains to the cosmological scale and is largely irrelevant to survival.

Empirical evidence from physics should always override our intuitions about the world. Yet in the case of the presentism versus eternalism debate there is actually no empirical evidence for eternalism. But there is some empirical evidence for presentism. Our brains are information processing devices designed to take measurements and make inferences about the physical world. Indeed, on the mesoscopic scale the brain does an impressive job at creating a representation of reality by measuring the physical properties of the world. It measures light, weight, temperature, movement, and time, in order to simulate the world well enough to survive in it. Our subjective experience of color or temperature, help us survive because they are correlated with reality.

I suspect that our subjective experiences regarding the nature of time also evolved because they capture some truth about the nature of the universe.

Perhaps one day objective evidence will emerge that we live in an eternalist universe, and we will understand why our subjective experiences are misleading. But until that day, we should accept our experience that the present is objectively different from the past and future as empirical evidence in favor of presentism.

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Einstein and why the block universe is a mistake - IAI

(Left image) Microwave photons that create an interaction between pairs of qubits (black dots on the edge) in a hyperbolic space are most likely to travel along the shortest path (dotted line). In both images, the darker colors show where photons are more likely to be found. (Right image) A quantum state formed by a qubit (grey dot containing parallel black lines) and an attached microwave photon that can be found at one of the intersections of the grid representing a curved space. Credit: Przemyslaw Bienias/JQI

One of the mind-bending ideas that physicists and mathematicians have come up with is that space itselfnot just objects in spacecan be curved. When space curves (as happens dramatically near a black hole), sizes and directions defy normal intuition. Something as straightforward as defining a straight line requires careful consideration.

Understanding curved spaces is important to expanding our knowledge of the universe, but it is fiendishly difficult to study curved spaces in a lab setting (even using simulations). A previous collaboration between researchers at JQI explored using labyrinthine circuits made of superconducting resonators to simulate the physics of certain curved spaces (see the previous story for additional background information and motivation of this line of research). In particular, the team looked at hyperbolic lattices that represent spacescalled negatively curved spacesthat have more space than can fit in our everyday flat space. Our three-dimensional world doesnt even have enough space for a two-dimensional negatively curved space.

Now, in a paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters on January 3, 2022, the same collaboration between the groups of JQI Fellows Alicia Kollr and Alexey Gorshkov, who is also Fellow of the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, expands the potential applications of the technique to include simulating more intricate physics. Theyve laid a theoretical framework for adding qubitsthe basic building blocks of quantum computersto serve as matter in a curved space made of a circuit full of flowing microwaves. Specifically, they considered the addition of qubits that change between two quantum states when they absorb or release a microwave photonan individual quantum particle of the microwaves that course through the circuit.

This is a new frontier in tabletop experiments studying effects of curvature on physical phenomena, says first author Przemyslaw Bienias, a former JQI assistant research scientist who is now working for Amazon Web Services as a Quantum Research Scientist. Here we have a system where this curvature is huge and its very exciting to see how it influences the physics.

For researchers to use these simulations they need a detailed understanding of how the simulations represent a curved space and even more importantly under what situations the simulation fails. In particular, the edges that must exist on the physical circuits used in the simulations must be carefully considered since scientists are often interested in an edgeless, infinite curved space. This is especially important for hyperbolic lattices because they have nearly the same number of sites on the edge of the lattice as inside. So the team identified situations where the circuits should reflect the reality of an infinite curved space despite the circuits edge and situations where future researchers will have to interpret results carefully.

The team found that certain properties, like how likely a qubit is to release a photon, shouldnt be dramatically impacted by the circuits edge. But other aspects of the physics, like the proportion of states that photons occupy at a given shared total energy, will be strongly influenced by the edge.

With proper care, this type of simulation will provide a peek into how negatively curved spaces are a foundation for an entirely new world of physics.

In this paper, we asked the question, What happens when you add qubits to the photons living on those hyperbolic lattices? Bienias says. We are asking, What type of physics emerges there and what type of interactions are possible?

The researchers first looked at how the microwaves and a single qubit in the circuit can combine. The team predicts that the size of special quantum states in which a photon is attached to a particular qubita bound statewill be limited by the curved space in a way that doesnt happen in flat space. The right-side image above shows such a state with the darker coloring showing where the photon is most likely to be found around the qubit represented by the grey dot.

They then investigated what happens when there are multiple qubits added to a circuit full of microwaves. The photons traveling between qubits serve as intermediaries and allow the qubits to interact. The teams analysis suggests that the photons that are causing qubits to interact tend to travel along the shortest path between the two points in the circuitcorresponding to the shortest distance in the simulated curved space. One of these paths through the curved space is shown in the left-side image above. This result matches physicists current expectations of such a space and is a promising sign that the simulations will reveal useful results in more complex situations.

Additionally, the researchers predict that the curvature will limit the range of the interactions between qubits similar to the way it limits the size of the individual bound states. Simulations using this setup could allow scientists to explore the behaviors of many particles interacting in a curved space, which is impractical to study using brute numerical calculation.

These results build upon the previous research and provide additional tools for exploring new physics using superconducting circuits to simulate curved space. The inclusion of interactions explored in this paper could aid in using the simulations to investigate the topic called AdS/CFT correspondence that combines theories of quantum gravity and quantum field theories.

Hyperbolic connectivity is immensely useful in classical computation, underlying, for example, some of the most efficient classical error correcting codes in use today, Kollr says. We now know that adding qubits to a hyperbolic resonator lattice will endow the qubits interactions with hyperbolic structure, rather than the native flat curvature of the lab. This opens the door to allow us to carry out direct experiments to examine the effect of hyperbolic connectivity on quantum bits and quantum information.

Reference: Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics in Hyperbolic Space: From Photon Bound States to Frustrated Spin Models by Przemyslaw Bienias, Igor Boettcher, Ron Belyansky, Alicia J. Kollr and Alexey V. Gorshkov, 3 January 2022, Physical Review Letters.DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.013601

In addition to Kollr, Gorshkov and Bienias, other co-authors of the paper were Ron Belyansky, a JQI physics graduate student, and Igor Boettcher, a former JQI postdoctoral researcher and current assistant professor at the University of Alberta.

Read more here:

Enhancing Mind-Bending Simulations of Curved Space With Qubits - SciTechDaily

More recently in 2007, one scientist claims to have discovered a theory within quantum physics that provides and explanation for death and afterlife. Dr. Robert Lanza, developed the theory of biocentrism which states that the existence of life and biology are central to being, reality and the cosmosour consciousness. In essence, it is that life creates the universe, rather than the other way around. Dr. Lanza uses the famous "double-slit test" to illustrate his point: the double slit test is an experiment of light and matter which found that it can display characteristics of both waves and particlesits behavior changes depending on the observers perception and consciousnessquite an unexplained phenomenon of quantum physics! Dr. Lanza asks "Why does our observation change what happens? Answer: Because reality is a process that requires our consciousness." He claims that this experiment would explain the quantum effects of the afterlife and supports the many reports of afterlife experiences by people who have died, visited another realm and lived to tell about it. One such supporter of this theory is Dr. Eben Alexander, whom cannot scientifically explain his experience visiting heaven when he was clinically brain dead from meningitis, thus making it scientifically impossible to generate any neurologic activity and brain function. Yet, he had such a powerful afterlife experience that he has lived to tell. He said, 'My journey deep into coma, outside this lowly physical realm and into the loftiest dwelling place of the almighty Creator, revealed the indescribably immense chasm between our human knowledge and the awe-inspiring realm of God." He goes on to state, "The brain itself does not produce consciousness. That it is, instead, a kind of reducing valve or filter, shifting the larger, nonphysical consciousness that we possess in the nonphysical worlds down into a more limited capacity for the duration of our mortal lives."(Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey Into the Afterlife, 2012)While Dr. Lanzas theory is not widely embraced by fellow scientists, his discovery in conjunction with quantum physics certainly could shed light on Gods promise of eternal life to those who believe (John 3:16). As the Bible so beautifully explains in 2 Corinthians 4:18 "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

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How Quantum Physics Proves Gods Existence l Proof of God l ...

Quantum mechanics the behavior of the Universe at the smallest of scales continues to surprise us, with scientists now having been able to successfully create a quantum object called a domain wall in laboratory settings.

For the first time, these walls can now be generated in the lab on demand, occurring when atoms stored at very cold temperatures a scenario known as a Bose-Einstein condensate group together in domains under certain conditions. The walls are the junctions between these domains.

The researchers creating these domain walls say they could end up shedding new light on many different areas of quantum mechanics, including quantum electronics, quantum memory, and the behavior of exotic quantum particles.

"It's kind of like a sand dune in the desert it's made up of sand, but the dune acts like an object that behaves differently from individual grains of sand," says physicist Kai-Xuan Yaofrom the University of Chicago.

There has been previous research into domain walls, but they've never been able to be created at will in the laboratory until now, giving scientists the ability to analyze them in new ways. It turns out they act as independent quantum objects, but not necessarily in the way that scientists would expect them to.

That unexpected behavior means domain walls join a class of objects called emergent phenomena, where particles that join together seem to follow a different set of physics laws than particles that are operating on their own.

One of the unusual observations made by the team is the way that domain walls react to electric fields, something which will need further study to untangle. For now, just being able to produce and manipulate these walls is an important step forward.

"We have a lot of experience in controlling atoms," says physicist Cheng Chinfrom the University of Chicago. "We know if you push atoms to the right, they will move right. But here, if you push the domain wall to the right, it moves left."

Part of the reason why the discovery is so important is that it could teach us more about how atoms behaved at the very beginning of the Universe's existence: Particles that were once clumped together eventually expanded to form stars and planets, and scientists would like to know exactly how that happened.

This domain wall discovery falls under the umbrella of what's known as dynamical gauge theory a way to test and compute the dynamics of quantum phenomena in the lab. These discoveries could explain how emergent phenomena operate in everything from materials to the early Universe.

As well as looking backwards though, the researchers are also looking forwards. Once more is understood about how domain walls can be controlled, it could open up opportunities for new quantum technologies.

"There may be applications for this phenomenon in terms of making programmable quantum material or quantum information processors," says Chin.

"It can be used to create a more robust way to store quantum information or enable new functions in materials. But before we can find that out, the first step is to understand how to control them."

The research has been published in Nature.

See the article here:

Strange Quantum Object Successfully Created in The Lab For The First Time - ScienceAlert