Zenith Grant Awardee
Anthony Short
University of Bristol
Project Title
Emergent Relativity
Project Summary
Most people consider that only the state of the universe at the present moment is real, and that it changes with time. However, it is difficult to reconcile this view with Einstein\'s relativity, which says that different observers disagree about what constitutes the present. This has led many theoretical physicists to think of reality as a static \'box\' containing all of space and time, so that all the events in the entire history and future of the universe (and the ‘present moments’ of all observers) co-exist. This project will highlight and explore some issues raised by this space-time box approach – in particular concerning the complexity of reality in this model, and its explanation of causality (why the future can be predicted from the present). In light of these issues, and inspired by recent results showing that relativity emerges naturally for quantum particles in discrete space and time (as if on a chessboard with a digital clock), we will investigate whether the original time-evolving view could be the most natural after all.
Technical Abstract
Special relativity lies at the heart of modern physics, and has inspired a fundamental shift in our picture of reality, from a spatial state evolving in time to a static block universe. This conceptual shift raises some profound issues, particularly concerning causality and complexity, which this proposal seeks to highlight and address. In light of these issues, we will consider whether relativity could emerge naturally without requiring such a large conceptual shift. If reality consists of a state evolving via physical laws, causality follows naturally. However, in the block universe picture, causality appears to be a surprising property in need of further explanation. The block universe also seems a very complex object to exist without some mechanism for its construction, whereas in the evolving state picture both the initial state and physical laws could be simple, and complexity only generated dynamically (indeed, this could also explain the thermodynamic arrow of time). Recent work on quantum particles in discrete space and time has shown that relativistic symmetries can emerge naturally even given a preferred reference frame. We will investigate whether these results can be generalised to provide an alternative argument for relativity which does not require abandoning the evolving state picture.
QSpace Latest
PressRelease: Shining a light on the roots of plant “intelligence”
All living organisms emit a low level of light radiation, but the origin and function of these ‘biophotons’ are not yet fully understood. An international team of physicists, funded by the Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI, has proposed a new approach for investigating this phenomenon based on statistical analyses of this emission. Their aim is to test whether biophotons can play a role in the transport of information within and between living organisms, and whether monitoring biophotons could contribute to the development of medical techniques for the early diagnosis of various diseases. Their analyses of the measurements of the faint glow emitted by lentil seeds support models for the emergence of a kind of plant ‘intelligence,’ in which the biophotonic emission carries information and may thus be used by plants as a means to communicate. The team reported this and reviewed the history of biophotons in an article in the journal Applied Sciences in June 2024.