Colossal structures larger than the visible universe – forged during the period of cosmic inflation nearly 14B years ago – may be responsible for a strange pattern seen in the big bang’s afterglow
Tag: cosmology
Undetectability Conjecture
In the recent article `Conflict between anthropic reasoning and observation’ Ken D. Olum, using some inflation-based ideas and the anthropic premise that we should be typical among all intelligent observers in the Universe, arrives at the puzzling conclusion that `we should find ourselves in a large civilization (of galactic size) where most observers should be, while in fact we do not’. In this note we discuss the intriguing possibility whether we could be in fact immersed in a large civilization without being aware of it. Our conclusion is that this possibility cannot be ruled out provided 2 conditions are met, that we call the Subanthropic Principle and the Undetectability Conjecture.
this is one of the more interesting papers on the fermi paradox: we are basically too dumb to be of interest to older civilizations.
CMB Cold Spot
Aastronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly 1b light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies and gas, as well as the mysterious, unseen “dark matter.”
21th century Particle physics
One physicist’s schematic view
Superstrings
A graphical representation of multi-dimensional spacetime
Future of Intelligence
the fraction of planets that evolve intelligent life, the fraction that communicate, and the fraction of the galaxy lifetime over which they communicate, are not well known. It is these last 3 terms in the Drake Equation that are the focus of the workshop
Dark Matter Map
map of the dark matter. fascinating. we do indeed live in a bubble 🙂
Computational Complexity and the Anthropic Principle
a fun talk loosely based on the paper “NP-completeness and physical reality”, which i thoroughly enjoyed.
Scott Aaronson
I have therefore reached a decision. From this day forward, my allegiances in the String Wars will be open for sale to the highest bidder. Like a cynical arms merchant, I will offer my computational-complexity and humor services to both sides, and publicly espouse the views of whichever side seems more interested in buying them at the moment. Fly me to an exotic enough location, put me up in a swank enough hotel, and the number of spacetime dimensions can be anything you want it to be: 4, 10, 11, or even 172.9+3πi.
i too, am a scott aaronson fan. his NP-completeness and physical reality is the snarkiest physics paper i have ever read. every now and then scott writes a paper that is a bit more widely accessible, like NP-complete Problems and Physical Reality. And now this one…
https://arxiv.org/abs/1108.1791
all i ever wanted to know about the intersection of quantum computing, cosmology, complexity theory etc
Top Quark
Physicists have detected for the first time a subatomic particle, the top quark, produced without the simultaneous production of its antimatter partner – an extremely rare event. The discovery of the single top quark could help scientists better explain how the universe works and how objects acquire their mass, thereby assisting human understanding of the fundamental nature of the universe.
now about that higgs boson.
Gregor J. Rothfuss 