Zenith Grant Awardee
Xiao-Gang Wen
MIT
Project Title
Microscopic Origin of Gravity & Light
Project Summary
Light and gravity are first two natural phenomena appreciated by human even before human civilization. In modern science, we find light and gravity to have rich and mysterious internal structures. It is a dream for physicists to have a unified understanding of light and gravity. We like to understand the origin of their wonderful internal structures. Recently, it was shown that if particles organize into network of strings and the strings, in turn, form a quantum liquid (called string-net condensed state), then light can emerge naturally as collective motions of such organized particles. In this proposal, we plan to find a new organization of particles, such that collective motions of newly organized particles correspond to gravitational waves. If successful, the particle system that we find will correspond to a quantum theory of gravity. It will solve the long-standing problem of putting gravity and quantum mechanics together. The particle system, in principle, can be realized in magnetic materials and/or ultra-cold atomic systems. Thus the effects of quantum gravity as represented by the organized particles can be explored in those condensed matter systems.
The newly organized particles represent new states of matter. The defects (the excitations) in those states may correspond to black holes and charges of the emergent gravity and the emergent electricity.
Technical Abstract
Einstein's general relativity reveals a deep connection between gravity and electromagnetism (both are gauge theories) and shows that, just like light, gravity can also be a wave. However, both Maxwell theory of light and Einstein theory of gravity fail to answer the following fundamental question: If light and gravity are waves, then what is waving? The vibrations of what media give rise to light wave and gravitational wave? This proposal is an attempt to address the above fundamental question for gravity and light. We would like to find a unified microscopic origin of light and gravity. We hope the microscopic origin will allow us to gain a deeper and a unified understanding of gravity and light. Our approach is motivated by a recent discovery that if bosons form network of strings and the strings, in turn, form a quantum liquid (called string-net condensed state), then the collective motions of such organized bosons will naturally give rise to gauge bosons and fermions. In this proposal we will try to find an organization of bosons whose collective modes give rise to gravitons. This will solve the long standing problem of putting gravity and quantum mechanics together.
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.