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This past winter, FQXi announced it's fifth Large Grant program, on the topic of The Physics of What Happens – a call for proposals for research and outreach projects on "Events". I am happy to announce that from an initial group of almost 250 proposals, we now have the list of 20 grantees. You may
view the list here. These grants will give the research teams funding for the next two years, starting September 2015.
The total amount given out comes to $1.85M. This is a relatively tiny amount in the world of physics, especially considering that this is an international grant program. This fact means that, while our review panel ultimately preferred these 20, many of the other proposals were excellent, worthy projects, which we would gladly support if we had the funds.
For the sake of discussion, I’d like to mention a few research themes that showed up in multiple applications, possibly suggesting the directions that many researchers are looking these days. These hot topics include:
1. Nonlocality (i.e. Is an event defined by what happens in multiple locations?).
2. The Nature of Causality in a quatum world.
3. Noncontextuality, possibly as the prime indicator of quantum-ness (above the previous favorite, entanglement).
We again congratulate our new grantees. We also thank everyone who applied, especially those who were invited to submit full proposals, which took a great deal of time and resources to prepare. We wish to offer another round of grants in the near future, and we wish everyone will take a chance to apply.
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Congratulations to the grant awardees. I hope something substantial and rewarding to the physics community comes out of these huge sums. I do not have a grant but will continue my own research independently. I will however want some of the awardees to consider spending some time and money on this my postulate:
the non-zero dimensional point does not have an eternal existence, but can...
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Congratulations to the grant awardees. I hope something substantial and rewarding to the physics community comes out of these huge sums. I do not have a grant but will continue my own research independently. I will however want some of the awardees to consider spending some time and money on this my postulate:
the non-zero dimensional point does not have an eternal existence, but can appear and disappear spontaneously, or when induced to do so by physical law.A point is not a fictional object. It is real. I suspect that the appearance and disappearance of points IS the fundamental event. It can explain the emergence from nothing and collapse of a universe into nothing. It can explain motion, if the number of points between you and your destination can reduce while simultaneously the number between you and your origin can increase by annihilation and emergence. It can show that 'action-AT-a-distance' is actually a result of action taking place IN the distance, if the number of points reduce between two objects, attraction is described, and if the number of points increase, repulsion is observed. A Space whose parts can appear and disappear thus is essentially a substance in a foundational interpretation, since this implies that its parts can 'move'. That being so, it means space can vibrate and if it can vibrate it can propagate transverse waves which we call 'light'. Such a Space will be powerful in physics. It will bestride both the classical and quantum worlds. It will have a rigidity greater than steel, as its parts cannot be divided, yet have an elasticity far above the rarest gas, as its parts can disappear - shrink to zero volume (or appear - inflate from zero volume).
Newton and Descartes have earlier envisaged such a space,(ref. De Gravitatione):
"…it is clear that they (philosophers) would cheerfully allow extension (space) to be substance, just as body is, if only extension could move and act as body can", and
"…So space is capable of having some substantial reality. Indeed, if its parts could move (Descartes’s story about them!), and this mobility was an ingredient in the idea of vacuum, then there would be no question about it - parts of space would be corporeal substance"More to be posted on the subject later on this website and hopefully published also in a book...
Regards,
Akinbo
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