Laws of Logic

Physicists are translating commonsense principles into strict mathematical constraints on how our universe must have behaved at the beginning of time.  Patterns in the ever-expanding arrangement of galaxies might reveal secrets of the universe’s first moments.

M.C. Escher’s Circle Limit III (1959). M.C. Escher

For over 20 years, physicists have had reason to feel envious of certain fictional fish: specifically, the fish inhabiting the fantastic space of M.C. Escher’s Circle Limit III woodcut, which shrink to points as they approach the circular boundary of their ocean world. If only our universe had the same warped shape, theorists lament, they might have a much easier time understanding it.

Escher’s fish lucked out because their world comes with a cheat sheet — its edge. On the boundary of an Escher-esque ocean, anything complicated happening inside the sea casts a kind of shadow, which can be described in relatively simple terms. In particular, theories addressing the quantum nature of gravity can be reformulated on the edge in well-understood ways. The technique gives researchers a back door for studying otherwise impossibly complicated questions. Physicists have spent decades exploring this tantalizing link.

Inconveniently, the real universe looks more like the Escher world turned inside out. This “de Sitter” space has a positive curvature; it expands continuously everywhere. With no obvious boundary on which to study the straightforward shadow theories, theoretical physicists have been unable to transfer their breakthroughs from the Escher world. orld, the fewer tools we have and the less we understand the rules of the game,” said Daniel Baumann, a cosmologist at the University of Amsterdam.  READ MORE...

Comic Strip

 

Quantum Physics and Interacting Particles

One of the primary objectives of quantum physics studies is to measure the quantum states of large systems composed of many interacting particles. This could be particularly useful for the development of quantum computers and other quantum information processing devices.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory have recently introduced a new approach for measuring the spin states of a nuclear ensemble, a system comprised of many interacting particles with long-lived quantum properties. This method, presented in a paper published in Nature Physics, works by exploiting the response of this system to collective spin excitations.

"For a dense ensemble of quantum objects, such as spins, it isn't possible to measure each individually, to learn how they interacted with each other," Claire Le Gall and Mete Atatüre, two of the researchers who carried out the study, told Phys.org. "Instead, one can look for tell-tale signals in the collective response of the ensemble; a bit like the behavior of a flock of birds might say something about how the birds engage with each other. Our system of interest is a large flock, or ensemble, of nuclear spins in a semiconductor quantum dot."

In 2002, three Harvard University physicists figured out that large ensembles of nuclear spins in a semiconductor quantum dot could be potential hosts for solid-state quantum memories, then published their work a year later. 19 years later, Le Gall, Atatüre, and their colleagues probed this type of nuclear ensemble using a 'proxy' quantum bit, an electron spin that simultaneously couples to all nuclear spins, as reported in their latest paper.  READ MORE...

Little Bird

 

Americans Quit Jobs

New York (CNN Business)A record 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September as the sheer volume of available jobs is empowering workers to have their pick.

Workers are quitting in search for better pay or better jobs, representing a fundamental shift in America's labor market.

"Labor now has the initiative, and the era of paying individuals less than a livable wage has ended," said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US.

"This strongly suggests that rising wages are going to be part and parcel of the economic landscape going forward."

The nation had 10.4 million open jobs that month as the worker shortage crisis continues, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Friday. It was a modest decrease from the 10.6 million open jobs in August.

Jobs particularly increased in the health care and sector and in state and local government. "The Delta variant is still visible in the September JOLTS report," said Nick Bunker, director of economic research at the Indeed Hiring Lab, in emailed comments.

But he noted "we do know from the October jobs report that the labor market did get on more stable ground."The slowing demand for workers in the leisure and hospitality industry was the cause of the modest decline in available jobs in September. READ MORE...

Unlacing

Cat in Box

Cryptocurrency's Computing Problem

Cryptocurrencies hold the potential to change finance, eliminating middlemen and bringing accounts to millions of unbanked people around the world. Quantum computers could upend the way pharmaceuticals and materials are designed by bringing their extraordinary power to the process.

Here's the problem: The blockchain accounting technology that powers cryptocurrencies could be vulnerable to sophisticated attacks and forged transactions if quantum computing matures faster than efforts to future-proof digital money.

Cryptocurrencies are secured by a technology called public key cryptography. The system is ubiquitous, protecting your online purchases and scrambling your communications for anyone other than the intended recipient. The technology works by combining a public key, one that anyone can see, with a private key that's for your eyes only.

If current progress continues, quantum computers will be able to crack public key cryptography, potentially creating a serious threat to the crypto world, where some currencies are valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. If encryption is broken, attackers can impersonate the legitimate owners of cryptocurrency, NFTs or other such digital assets.

"Once quantum computing becomes powerful enough, then essentially all the security guarantees will go out of the window," Dawn Song, a computer security entrepreneur and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Collective[i] Forecast forum in October. "When public key cryptography is broken, users could be losing their funds and the whole system will break."

Quantum computers get their power by manipulating data stored on qubits, elements like charged atoms that are subject to the peculiar physics governing the ultrasmall. To crack encryption, quantum computers will need to harness thousands of qubits, vastly more than the dozens corralled by today's machines. The machines will also need persistent qubits that can perform calculations much longer than the fleeting moments possible right now.

But makers of quantum computers are working hard to address those shortcomings. They're stuffing ever more qubits into machines and working on quantum error correction methods to help qubits perform more-sophisticated and longer calculations.

"We expect that within a few years, sufficiently powerful computers will be available" for cracking blockchains open, said Nir Minerbi, CEO of quantum software maker Classiq Technologies.  READ MORE...

Classic Sunday Morning Newspaper Cartoons

 

Rolls Royce and the Nuclear Reactor Business

First, let’s clear up the car thing: Rolls-Royce the car company is now owned by BMW, which acquired the name and licensing rights from Rolls Royce Holdings in the late 1990s. In other words, the company making an all-electric Spectre that will retail for around $400,000 isn’t dabbling in baby nukes. 

But given that Rolls-Royce Holdings makes stuff like engines for airplanes, and has worked on nuclear reactors aboard British submarines since the early 1950s, producing nuclear reactors isn’t too much of a step outside the mega company’s wheelhouse. It is, though, a well-financed leap into a new area of energy for the company. For its part, Rolls-Royce said international interest in small modular reactors was “unprecedented.”

Some of the money for this new nuclear venture comes from a big U.S. company: Exelon, the largest electric utility in the U.S. and a major producer of nuclear power, which will be partnering with French company BNF Resources to give $260 million to fund the venture over the next three years. 

Much of the rest of the cash will come from the UK government, which is giving $280 million as part of its plan to jumpstart green investment. Rolls-Royce itself will kick in the remaining $70 million or so. The company also said that it will keep looking for investment in the venture.

According to a press release issued by Rolls-Royce, one of the 16 reactors it’s planning to build will take up the space of two football fields—about a tenth of the size of a conventional reactor—while providing enough power for 1 million homes. 

Per the press release, the business will now move on to the preliminary stages of starting production, including identifying factories where it could possibly produce modules for the on-site assembly of the reactors.  READ MORE...

Hotdog

 

Dark Matter Creates Dark Matter From Regular Matter

An international team of physicists is proposing an addition to dark matter theory. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the group is suggesting that dark matter came from regular matter and that dark matter is able to create more dark matter from regular matter.

The existence of a material described as dark matter has been proposed by physicists to explain certain behaviors observed by researchers—the way light bends as it makes its way from far away places to telescopes here on Earth, is just one example. 

But some parts of the theory have yet to be worked out, such as how did the amount of dark matter believed to exist today come into being? The team on this new effort has come up with a theory to answer that question.

The theorists begin by citing prior research which suggests that some amount of dark matter was created as part of the 'thermal bath'—where primordial plasma made of regular matter begat dark matter particles—but not the amount that is believed to exist today. 

They suggest that at some point dark matter particles began making more dark matter particles out of regular particles. And the new dark matter particles were also able to create new dark matter particles out of regular particles.  READ MORE...

Charlie Brown

 

Beans...  beans...

the magical fruit

the more you eat

the more you fart

the more you fart

the better you feel

so eat beans...

at every meal.

Artist unknown

Today, we are driving over to the Bush Beans Restaurant in Dandridge, TN as it has finally re-opened after being shut down due to COVID...  

I am not sure what the others in our party are going to order for lunch but I know that as far as I am concerned, I will be ordering beans and cornbread...

It may seem strange to you that I am no longer interested in eating red meat that I now prefer white meat, fish, and beans...  Of course, those of you who are interested in their health understand as well as those who have had a heart attack...  and, as far as the rest of you are concerned, you will just have to find out for yourself.

I have no desire to see the family homestead, their dog DUKE, or buy anything from the General Store as a momento...   I just want to eat a bowl of beans...

Turtle

 

Lakes in Tennessee

Tennessee is a four-season vacation destination whose name came from the Yuchi Indian word “Tana-see”, meaning ‘meeting place’. Living to its name, this state has plenty of attractions to visit and it’s packed with history, nature, and culture. Previously, native Americans tribe inhabited the area, hence some of its places are still named after them. Tennessee also has both iconic natural and man-made attractions that make it a known state and a popular destination. It is the home of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Mountain Dew drink. It is also where Oak Ridge, the energy capital of the world, is located. Moreover, Tennessee has plenty of lakes with green spaces, offering you outdoor and water activities. Here’s a list of the 10 beautiful lakes in Tennessee, USA.

1. Norris Lake

Source: Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Brian Stansberry used under CC BY 3.0

Norris Lake is quietly nested at the foothills of Cumberland Mountains. It is known as one of the cleanest lakes with deep waters. It serves as a sanctuary to approximately 56 species of fish. Wildlife that can be spotted here includes deer, cows, horses, eagles, turkey, and blue heron. You can indulge in a plethora of recreational activities here, including boating, fishing, hiking, biking, horseback riding, rock climbing, and more. For stay, there are plenty of options near the lake - you can pitch a tent, stay on a houseboat or book a floating cottage. For a complete experience, dine at one of the many restaurants overlooking the lake.

Norris Lake
Address: Ext. 122, Norris, TN 37828
Website: Norris Lake




2. Cherokee Lake

Source: Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Portraitlady4306 used under PUBLIC DOMAIN

Situated in the foothills of the Clinch Mountains, Cherokee Lake was named after the Native American tribe who previously lived in the area. A dam built in the 1940s can also be seen in this lake. Along its shoreline are campgrounds, boat docks, resorts, parks, picnic areas, playground, and paved trails. There is also a swimming beach, should you want to take a dip. Other popular activities here include lake fishing and birdwatching.

Cherokee Lake
Address: Cherokee Lake, Knoxville, TN 37849
Website: Cherokee Lake




3. Boone Lake

Source: Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Jakec used under CC BY-SA 3.0

Boone Lake is one of the small lakes in Tennessee. It has a shoreline of 139 miles. It features a swimming area and a boat ramp. Activities popular here are fishing, waterskiing, and other water-based recreation. Through the summer season, the lake has a stable water level. The lake serves as an aquatic ecology to fishes like crappie, bass, and bluegill.

Boone Lake
Address: Sullivan / Washington counties, Tennessee, United States

TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE OTHER SEVEN, CLICK HERE...

Upstate

 

Falsifying Navy Steel Results

A metallurgist in Washington state pleaded guilty to fraud Monday after she spent decades faking the results of strength tests on steel that was being used to make U.S. Navy submarines.

Elaine Marie Thomas, 67, of Auburn, Washington, was the director of metallurgy at a foundry in Tacoma that supplied steel castings used by Navy contractors Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding to make submarine hulls.

From 1985 through 2017, Thomas falsified the results of strength and toughness tests for at least 240 productions of steel — about half the steel the foundry produced for the Navy, according to her plea agreement, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. The tests were intended to show that the steel would not fail in a collision or in certain "wartime scenarios," the Justice Department said.


The United States Navy's nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Vermont is christenedat Electric Boat in Groton, Conn. in October 2018. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day via AP, File)


There was no allegation that any submarine hulls failed, but authorities said the Navy had incurred increased costs and maintenance to ensure they remain seaworthy. The government did not disclose which subs were affected.

Thomas faces up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine when she is sentenced in February. However, the Justice Department said it would recommend a prison term at the low end of whatever the court determines is the standard sentencing range in her case.

In a statement filed in U.S. District Court on her behalf Monday, her attorney, John Carpenter, said Thomas "took shortcuts."

"Ms. Thomas never intended to compromise the integrity of any material and is gratified that the government’s testing does not suggest that the structural integrity of any submarine was in fact compromised," Carpenter wrote. "This offense is unique in that it was neither motivated by greed nor any desire for personal enrichment. She regrets that she failed to follow her moral compass – admitting to false statements is hardly how she envisioned living out her retirement years."

Thomas' conduct came to light in 2017, when a metallurgist being groomed to replace her noticed suspicious test results and alerted their company, Kansas City-based Bradken Inc., which acquired the foundry in 2008.

Bradken fired Thomas and initially disclosed its findings to the Navy, but then wrongfully suggested that the discrepancies were not the result of fraud. That hindered the Navy’s investigation into the scope of the problem as well as its efforts to remediate the risks to its sailors, prosecutors said.  READ MORE...

Ladder

 

We Need Mythologies

In 1872, at the age of 28, Friedrich Nietzsche announced himself to the world with The Birth of Tragedy, an elegiac account of the alienation of Western culture from its spiritual foundations. According to Nietzsche, the ancient Greeks had once mastered a healthy cultural balance between the ‘Apollonian’ impulse toward rational control and the ‘Dionysian’ desire for ecstatic surrender. From the 5th century BCE onward, however, Western intellectual culture has consistently skewed in favour of Apollonian rationalism to the neglect of the Dionysian – an imbalance from which it has never recovered.

The primary villain of this story was Plato, whom Nietzsche accused of setting philosophy on its rationalist track. Plato’s immortalisation of his teacher, Socrates, amounted to nothing less than a morbid obsession with intellectual martyrdom. His Theory of the Forms taught generations of philosophers to seek truth in metaphysical abstractions, while devaluing lived experiences in the physical world. Plato’s intellectual revolution, in particular, was born out of the destruction of myth. In his wake, philosophy had been left ‘stripped of myth’ and starved of cultural roots. Modern culture, for Nietzsche, continued to languish in the shadow of Plato’s legacy, still grappling with its ‘loss of myth, the loss of a mythical home, a mythical, maternal womb’.

Seven decades later, at the end of the Second World War, Karl Popper mounted what would become, after Nietzsche, the second-most famous attack on Plato in modern philosophy. In The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945), Popper suggested that Plato had provided Western thought with its first blueprint of the ‘closed society’. In the Republic, Plato envisioned an ideal city that prioritises the harmony of the collective over the freedom of individuals, the preservation of the status quo over innovation, and the authority of intellectual gatekeepers over democracy and truth. The toxic influence of Plato’s political vision, Popper argued, could be traced through the history of philosophy, all the way to Nazi Germany and other forms of contemporary totalitarianism.

Like Nietzsche, Popper blamed Plato for setting Western philosophy on the wrong course. He did so, however, for precisely the opposite reason. Popper’s Plato was no rationalist. Rather, Popper boiled down the difference between open and closed societies to the difference between a culture of criticism and a culture of myth. Plato, as the first and the greatest of the enemies of the open society, had advocated the suppression of free criticism in order to establish an ‘arrested state’, sustained by myths and deception. Pointing to the Republic’s controversial foundation narrative, the Myth of Metals, Popper credited Plato with writing an ‘exact counterpart’ to ‘the modern myth of Blood and Soil’.

Who was right? Was Plato a short-sighted rationalist, who led philosophy astray by unmooring it from a more authentic, mythic past? Or was he a devious mythmaker, who introduced an uneasy current of irrationalism into the citadel of reason? How could he be both? Put differently: was Plato to blame for steering philosophy away from myth, or for bringing it closer to myth?

Neither The Birth of Tragedy nor The Open Society is celebrated today for its author’s fidelity to historical accuracy. Nonetheless, both remain iconic because Nietzsche and Popper were each on to something resonant about the relationship between myth and philosophy, and the curious symbolic role of Plato in our inherited understandings of that relationship.  READ MORE...