Have a good trip, Bee. If you want something to puzzle over (and cf my last comment re E&H): regarding the previous problem with a possible way to violate Δp Δx > ℏ/2, it seems to me that existing, demonstrated "interaction-free measurements" would already do this! Prepare the object in defined momentum, then "find it" with IFMs, have no affect ... Well?
PS: Interesting to have a SW (Mathematica) as topic there. I have ver. 5.2, a bit out of date.
Nature-News had an interesting report from the AAS meeting in Texas, commenting on the second finding that gamma-rays appear to arrive at about the same time from distant GRB events.
Bottom line from this new research is that any "foaminess" to space-time has to be at a scale of 1/500 times the conventional Planck length, which would be ~ 10^-36 cm.
Bee is quoted on the statistical significance of the original finding and the second analysis.
Here is my comment, reproduced with kind permission of the powers that be.
"For decades particle physicists and quantum gravity researchers have warned us that space-time gets weird at the putative Planck scale, supposedly becoming "foamy" or "discontinuous".
Nature begs to differ; and empirical results trump pipe-dreaming.
As with the initial results from the LHC, where no "sparticles", no "WIMPs", no "extra-dimensions", no "strings", no "mini-black holes", no Randall-Sundrum 5-D phenomenology or "gravitons", etc., have been found, we again have a failed expectation.
Is it not abundantly clear that something is seriously wrong with the assumptions underlying the particle physics paradigm? Not to mention the vacuum energy density crisis, or the unnatural Planck mass.
I'll be in Stockholm during the next days for the Nordita Winterschool 2012. I have some issues with the Internet connection in the Stockholm apartment because the provider cuts me off if it hasn't been used for a while. So chances are I'll be offline. In other words, don't worry if you don't hear from me for a while. Back next week.
posted by Sabine Hossenfelder at 3:22 AM on Jan 12, 2012
"Away Note"
5 Comments -
Hi Bee,
I won't be hitting the like on this one and yet I wish that your trip and the subsequent experiences to be great ones.
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
Best,
Phil
6:54 AM, January 12, 2012
Have a good trip, Bee. If you want something to puzzle over (and cf my last comment re E&H): regarding the previous problem with a possible way to violate Δp Δx > ℏ/2, it seems to me that existing, demonstrated "interaction-free measurements" would already do this! Prepare the object in defined momentum, then "find it" with IFMs, have no affect ... Well?
PS: Interesting to have a SW (Mathematica) as topic there. I have ver. 5.2, a bit out of date.
8:55 AM, January 12, 2012
Something to ponder in the meantime.
Nature-News had an interesting report from the AAS meeting in Texas, commenting on the second finding that gamma-rays appear to arrive at about the same time from distant GRB events.
Bottom line from this new research is that any "foaminess" to space-time has to be at a scale of 1/500 times the conventional Planck length, which would be ~ 10^-36 cm.
Bee is quoted on the statistical significance of the original finding and the second analysis.
Here is my comment, reproduced with kind permission of the powers that be.
"For decades particle physicists and quantum gravity researchers have warned us that space-time gets weird at the putative Planck scale, supposedly becoming "foamy" or "discontinuous".
Nature begs to differ; and empirical results trump pipe-dreaming.
As with the initial results from the LHC, where no "sparticles", no "WIMPs", no "extra-dimensions", no "strings", no "mini-black holes", no Randall-Sundrum 5-D phenomenology or "gravitons", etc., have been found, we again have a failed expectation.
Is it not abundantly clear that something is seriously wrong with the assumptions underlying the particle physics paradigm? Not to mention the vacuum energy density crisis, or the unnatural Planck mass.
Robert L. Oldershaw
Discrete Fractal Cosmology"
10:38 AM, January 12, 2012
An active sunspot group will be rotating over the sun's eastern limb during the next few days. Happy northern lights to you!
11:29 AM, January 12, 2012
Bee left Fundamental Limit on ``Interaction Free'' Measurements from arXiv, in E&H thread, quite to the point of my question. Thoughts?
12:07 PM, January 12, 2012