Zenith Grant Awardee
Joanna Karczmarek
University of British Columbia
Co-Investigators
Project Title
The nature of time, emergent spacetimes and nonabelian physics
Project Summary
Recent advances in theoretical physics contain many hints that space is not fundamental. When viewed from up close, space might be built up from objects which are more fundamental than the three spacial dimensions we observe in our every day experience. The behavior of these building blocks must be consistent with quantum mechanics and with Einstein's theory of gravity. I am exploring the possibility that the way in which these building blocks behave influences the very nature of time. Their dynamics might endow time with a directionality – the so-called arrow of time – which causes time to only flow forward and never backward. Or perhaps the building blocks of space could behave in a way that would cause time to end suddenly. Finally, if space is not fundamental, then perhaps neither is time; learning more about the building blocks of space might lead us to discover the building blocks of time itself, changing our perception of what time actually is.
Technical Abstract
I propose an exploration of connections between macroscopic properties of time and the emergence of spacetime from a unitary theory of some microscopic degrees of freedom. In particular, I would like to study the way in which the arrow of time and the topology of time might arise from (or be affected by) dynamics of the underlying components of a noncommutative space. Specifically, I propose two projects: one to study compatibility of the entropic arrow of time with emergent space at finite temperature, and another to seek descriptions of time-dependent noncommutative geometries using time parameters living in potentially different topologies. In addition, I discuss improving our understanding of time as an emergent quantity in a unitary microscopic theory. While this line of inquiry is informed by certain results in string theory, the research proposed here would be more broadly applicable.
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.