14 DAY TRIAL // Fractals, rough and irregular geometric shapes whose components have approximately the same form as the whole, may be the key to understanding the quantum world, physicists say. Endowed with the property of self-similarity, fractals can hardly be described by Euclidean geometry, in that they are rarely a common shape, such as a square, a circle, or a triangle. Physicist Tim Palmer believes that the fields of science dealing with these objects can be used to explain at least some areas of quantum physics and to reconcile Einstein's view with the modern one.
Quantum physics holds that particles are in constant interaction even when they are light-years apart and also that they do not exist until they are measured. In addition, some of these particles actually have the ability to exist in more places at once, violating several principles in regular physics. “His approach is very interesting and refreshingly different. He's not just trying to reinterpret the usual quantum formalism, but actually to derive it from something deeper,” Canadian physicist Robert Spekkens, from the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, says.
“It has taken 20 years of thinking, but I do think that most of the paradoxes of quantum theory may well have a simple and comprehensible resolution,” Palmer adds. Although he has been a leading mathematical climatologist for the last two decades, the scientist has originally studied general relativity at the University of Oxford, where he had the same PhD adviser as prominent expert Stephen Hawking.
“My hypothesis is motivated by two concepts that wouldn't have been known to the founding fathers of quantum theory,” he continues, talking about black holes and fractals. Palmer is referring to the arguments between Einstein and Niels Bohr, who had different views on physics, but who were actually looking at the same problem from two different points of view, the expert believes.
The physicist argues now that each system around us has an invariant set, a state in which it is unable to lose information. Take, for example, a star, which holds numerous data in the atoms making it up. When it collapses on itself, some of the information is lost. When it falls into a black hole, even more is lost. Eventually, the theory goes that the formation becomes something that cannot lose any more data, a state that is called an invariant set. Another example is that of a pendulum that swings until air friction eventually slows it down, and then halts it completely. It cannot leave that state by itself, and remains still until another force moves it.
According to Palmer, the same holds true for the Universe, admittedly a bit more complex than in the case of the pendulum. Mathematicians and physicists believe that the invariant set of the Universe is in fact a fractal, which means that understanding the latter could yield a lot more knowledge of space than we have now. Because these structures are similar to each other regardless of the level of magnification (zoom), mathematicians believe that they hold the key to understanding the complexity of the quantum Universe, which appears to be very different from the noticeable one.
“What makes this really interesting is that it gets away from the usual debates over multiple universes and hidden variables and so on. It suggests there might be an underlying physical geometry that physics has just missed, which is radical and very positive,” University of Oxford physicist Bob Coecke concludes.