Fotini Markopoulou - Why is Quantum Gravity So Significant?

Quantum theory explains how particles and fields work. General relativity, discovered by Einstein, explains how gravity generates the structure of the universe. But the two great theories of physics and cosmology are not compatible. But this is impossible because both describe reality. Only a solution to quantum gravity can solve the huge problem.




Fotini G. Markopoulou-Kalamara is a Greek theoretical physicist interested in foundational mathematics and quantum mechanics. She is a faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and is an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo.


Closer to Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[jpsquared]

I loved this question @0:15: "Why does quantum gravity cause such commotion?" You couldn't have chosen a better last word, if taken literally. (Co-motion.)

[JLP]

If space and time aren't fundamental, but instead emergent properties, then a key implication is we may never get access to the truly fundamental Physics underlying our universe. Our minds aren't general purpose computers--they evolved to solve specific problems in a world that's "classical." As our minds are anchored in space and time, it seems likelly that whatever underlies them will always elude us.

[StupidusMaximusTheFirst]

I think she's in a superposition...it's almost as if she knows what she's talking about, yet... at the same time, it's as if she knows fuck all. Quantum people are strange.

[rouzah]

Holy crap.. i didn't know Celine Dion was into physics!

[idrearamacirmtamta]

Repeat after me. Gravity is not a force.

[paulwood]

I regularly have conversations with my wife where she does and doesn't hear me at the same time.

[TerryBollinger]

Fotini Markopoulou, your views on space and time are refreshingly introspective. The relevant QFT flaw is the very human conflation of energy-blind superposition math with the always-finite, energy-bound, and lightspeed-bound algorithms used by the physical universe. Such quantum number conservation algorithms allow events to approach, but never reach, all the states in math-only superpositions.

What we call spacetime emerges from those same algorithms as they ensure very-large-scale quantum number conservation. The xyz relation, for example, provides the rigid orthogonality needed to ensure exact spin conservation across very large sets. For small sets, however, it is not as rigid and leads to the properties we think of as quantum uncertainty.

The xyzt breakdown is a very biological way of organizing such data since it allows faster responses in dangerous situations. However, it is inherently incomplete because it does not respect the indefinite nature of that breakdown for very small particle sets. Classical thinking is an extremely difficult habit to get out of when it is hardwired into your brain.

Finally, superpositions of "happening" and "not happening" are not possible because causality is always bottom-up, beginning before spacetime fully forms. Spin, for example, is one of the simplest forms of self-observation, one that precedes and contributes to the emergence of what we think of as spacetime. That's why spin can do some quite odd "entangled" things from our more rigidly xyzt perspective.

[2023-01-17.23.15 EST Tue]

[HWJJSCHUMACHER]

UND WIEDER 9 MINUTEN VERSCHWENDETE LEBENSZEIT ::: UM ZU ERFAHREN ::: "YOU HAVE NO IDEA" ::: STOPP THIS VIDEOS !!!!

[brucehoward]

Gravity is not a force. It is a property of spacetime and no one understands what spacetime is. The Fermi Gamma-Ray satellite confirmed Einstein’s assertion that space is perfectly smooth when low energy gamma-rays and high energy gamma-rays arrived at the same time.

[charlesbrightman]

SPACE IS FINITE AND TIME IS INFINITE: (copy and paste from my files):
('Space' being energy itself, 'Time' being the flow of energy):

Consider the following, utilizing modern science and logic and reason:
a. Modern science claims that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it's one of the foundations of physics. Hence, energy is either truly a finite amount and eternally existent, or modern science is wrong.
First Law Of Thermodynamics: "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed."

b. An 'absolute somethingness' cannot come from 'absolute nothingness', 'absolute nothingness' just being a concept from a conscious entity in 'absolute somethingness'. Hence, an 'absolute somethingness' truly eternally existed throughout all of eternity past, exists today, and will most probably exist throughout all of future eternity. That eternally existent 'absolute somethingness' most probably being energy itself.

c. The universe ALWAYS existed in some form, NEVER had a beginning, will most probably ALWAYS exist in some form, and possibly NEVER have an end. Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, have been replaced by actual reality. No Creator needed.

* Some people for some reason (social thinking) believe in future eternity without end but do not accept eternity past with no beginning.

d. And for me, 'space' is energy itself. Wherever space is, energy is. Wherever energy is, space is. They are one and the same thing. 'Space' is most probably gravitational energy fields, electrical energy fields and magnetic energy fields, varying possibly only in energy modality, energy density and energy frequency. 'Time' is the flow of energy. Hence 'spacetime' being 'energy and it's flow'. 'Spacetime' had no beginning and will possibly have no end.

* There is really only 1 single truly eternal day that had no beginning and will never ever end. The 'day' of truly eternally existent ever flowing energy.

[davidstrevens]

If space/time doesn't exist beyond the event horizon of a black hole then calling it a hole and suggesting that it has an inside is nonsense.
There's no such thing as the inside of a black hole.

[tomnoyb]

All quantization devolves from boundary-condition solutions to differential equations. Step-1 is to find the boundary condition problem (hint: our universe is 'bound' by its own event-horizon). In other words, universe is not infinite, it is a closed-system. Step-2 is to solve the (Dirac) equation and apply the event-horizon boundary-conditions to discover the quantized parameters (one of which relates to mass/matter, the other to ???, charge?, deBroglie-wavelength?, velocity?). Very likely, mass/matter, Speed-of-Light, Plank and charge quantizations will all be derived from first-principles through this approach.

[techstuf]

Physicists say that a magnet is doing no work by holding itself to a fridge. If you were holding up the magnet over your head with your hand, just because you are stationary, it doesn't mean no work is being done. An electro magnet holding itself up would elicit an affirmative response, because they are aware that electricity is being input.

The flux quanta emanating from the surfaces of a magnet are doing work, just not the kind which most are familiar working with.

Here is a simple challenge...

Put two ring magnets into N to N pole opposition on a pencil. Notice how one floats above the other? Still say no work is being done? Ok, now do it with two S poles in opposition. Hmm, still float, don't they? In fact, they float the same distance from one another as the N poles. Push those S to S pole magnets really close together, almost touching.

You've just disproved the standard field model, which states that flux quanta (virtual photons) emanate only from the N poles.

See - "Flying triangles and the black holes on my fridge". on the net for more information regarding the nature of magnetism and gravity.

Scientists the world over are apparently stumped regarding the enigmatic number - 1/137...


Though it is certainly not the only number contained in the bible that is "coincidental" to scientific discovery. For instance, to Biblical scholars, this number expresses a very significant statement. 1- means unity, agreement, and 3 signifies great intensity; While 7 is the number of the Creator, signifying perfection. Essentially declaring "Intense coherence with the Creator"! The following excerpt is found on the net at..


"The symbolism of numbers is defined by identifying patterns throughout the Bible. Since the patterns vary, some numbers are not as clearly defined as others. The symbolism of numbers 1, 3, and 7 are most agreed upon, while variations may occur with others."

Coincidence? Don't you find it a bit funny, and maybe just a wee tad sad, that here we are, trying to wrap our brains around such Sci-Fi concepts as AI, universe simulation theory, time travel....

When most of us haven't even considered the ramifications of some of the other amazing things we've been working at for quite some time now. Take for instance, The fact that doctors have, for decades, been causing patients to fall asleep, then removing up to 6 ribs at a time for bone marrow transplant and DNA research.

Yet many of these scientists deny that someone long ago and much more advanced than us could have done the same thing only much better. I am referring of course to the biblical account of God making Eve after causing Adam to fall asleep and removing one of his ribs.

The scientists take ribs because they are the only bones out of the 206 bones in the human body that grow back if carefully removed. Biblical coincidence?

And what about humans and their track record of making robots? I mean, we started by copying bugs, the simple ones. Then it was on to creating animalian styled robots and finally, on to androids. "we" are now attempting to create men and women in our own image, complete with even more artificial intelligence than our own. Often, without the slightest realization that our Creator did it all first, just as He said He did....starting with the simpler creatures, right on up to....us.

Technically speaking, we are AI. I mean, let's face it. And we've gone rogue, at least collectively. Actually, there exists a third of heaven that followed the first one to go rogue, before us.

So here we sit, pondering the 'finer' points of what used to be sci-fi. Take for instance, time travel....

All while the Inventor of it, chuckles at the wee ones. Even if one subscribes to the crudely, linear time concept of evolution, one fails to consider that even IF (epicly weak and feeble "if" btw) God had a beginning.... such possibility is negated, made moot, totally irrelevant, after He invents time travel.

Such a Being, could then travel far forward, learn exponentially, go far back and even change Himself and His beginning... becoming immortal.

Essentially, the first One to control time, controls everything else. No longer any beginning, or end. He IS the Alpha and Omega in part because He's been there, all ways. Seen it all. The best and worst of it ALL. Such a Being would be unfathomably wise, and presumably lonely. Yet, as will be shown, God did not "evolve" through linear time. And neither did His creation.

And that's just the beginning of our story...

See the videos of Dr. James Tour on YT

See - Inner life of a cell on YT

See - Flagellar motor on YT

Time, as we know it, is running out...

One may draw one's own conclusions before the conclusion of the age...

Earth's convection currents are disturbed due to the Magnetar gravity wave event at winter solstice of 2004. This event changed the earth/moon orbital system, causing the sun to now rise and set over Canada in summer, thousands of miles north of it's former northern limit at the tropic of cancer which runs through central mexico, ongoing since the event. Our moon now swings through dozens of degrees per month instead of the former 5 degrees above and below the ecliptic plane per YEAR that was the former norm.

Earth and moon orbits have not only changed markedly, but earth's spin axis has begun to wobble. These events are affecting earth's core convection currents and have had crustal destabilization effects ongoing.

(Many more facts too involved in detail, scope, and ramification, than to go into here)

The recent Tonga volcano blast happened during a full moon supermoon, with the moon at the northern limit of it's now spiralized orbit. As Luke 21:25-28 outlines, the heavenly bodies are shaken. Things are happening just as Jesus said.

If the earth were the size of a chicken's egg, it's crust would be 3 to 4 times thinner than the egg shell. The size of a basketball, and the crust would still be thinner than your thumb nail. Lunar gravity isn't just tugging on trillions of tons of sea water every day, but the liquid rock (2.5 to 3 times as dense as sea water) just beneath that razor thin, dusty crust we live on.

Here is why this fact means more now, than ever...

See - "Huge media blackout regarding supermoons" on the net

See - "Pole shift of Noah's day about to happen again?" on the net

Read - Isaiah 24:20

Read - Luke 21:25-28

Read - Revelation 16:18

Time is Truly short. After the Big Quake hits, felt worldwide, it is too late to turn, or return, to God in Yeshua, Jesus Christ...

Good Journeys all and keep your chins up, Cavalry's coming.

Keep on asking Him and He will send you the Help you seek

[esorse]

Numeral 1 is an identifier for number one, the second whole number, first natural number and from this a real number, including rational numbers that can be written in x/y form for x whole and y natural numbers and irrational numbers that don't have a fraction form, but since there is a - continuous - real number between any two real numbers, 1 also represents the open interval of uncountably infinite real numbers from zero to two exclusive, (0, 2), while law of non-contradiction : nothing is it's opposite breaking integer inclusive real number 0 is, (-×, ×) *, for x any real number, however without the law of non-contradiction, reason cannot be used for theory ^ evaluation.

* You need 1 to define - on it and doing so also defines opposite + on it, yielding contradiction -1+ for instance.

^ If you could.call the thing that with matter defines alive energy, then even though removing a kidney may result in less mass and energy, preserving E = m . c . c ^^, for "E" energy, "m" mass, "c" the speed of light equal to three hundred million metres per second and "." multiplied by, removing both kidneys apparently leaves you with zero energy, but still some mass and therefore, Rubic's cube is not a model of this claim.

^^ E = m . (c . c) implies E / m = (c . c),  from dividing the left and right sides of the equation by m, since m/m = 1 and x . 1 = x for any number x ; on a flat surface like the plane specified by it's length and width, the algebraic form of a geometric straight line, -, is y = a . x + c, for x and y variables that assume numeric values, a and c constant numbers and "." multiplied by, for instance, when a = 1, c = 0 and any x is a whole number 0, 1, 2 ..., y is also a corresonding whole number : y = 1 . 0 + 0 = 0, y = 1 . 1 = 1, ..., while a chart of this 'function' in two-dimensional space - you can describe a square by it's length and width, but height is also required for a sphere -, represented by enumerated perpendicular straight lines intersecting at zero, includes a straight line from the origin at a forty five degree angle from either axis.

[SkyDarmos]

The assumption that you need quantum gravity only for black holes is a fallacy. In fact you need it everywhere. The assumption that it is more complicated than the current theories is also a fallacy. Quantum gravity actually makes things easier, which is why GR will not continue to be used as an approximation.

[SkyDarmos]

Newton’s theory also predicts black holes. It would be hard to imagine a physics theory that doesn’t predict black holes.

[jayb]

Look up node egding, weighted and unweighted and once you understand that function apply it to the nuclei of the proton and neutron. Specifically the plasma connecting the quarks knowing that the gluons are applying weighted measure to the plasma to produce the strings or analog signal used by the quantum observer to paint our digital model. So the gluons are creating the plasma strings through applying weight to the plasma creating frequency and wavelength an analog signal used to stream consciousness. This analog signal is projected out into spacetime as electrical charges which represent the digital model of the analog signal. We represent fractals of the quantum observer placed at specific nodes in his neurology and given independent agency so we can make independent observations of the quantum observers model. Electromagnetic radiation represents the analog signal used by the fractals to make independent observations of the model. When we are in freefall inside a gravitational field we are in a state of unweighted measure (the gluons normally applying weight to your strings instead bring you to rest in the field) when we are at rest in a gravitational field the gluons apply the weighted measure to our strings.

Particles represent binary code with a spin that spin combined with opposing electric and magnetic fields give rise to spacetime through the measurements of the quantum field. The quark gluon plasma represents a unified quantum field and thus the memory doesn't traverse spacetime as it's actually creating spacetime through the measure of the field. The particles are a digital model of the underlying analog signal being broadcast by the quantum observer to paint our model. Electromagnetic radiation is the analog signal used by the fractals to observe the quantum model. The signal is converted through the quantum observer where it paints the digital image onto our consciousness subconsciously.

The Body Of Jesus Christ = Quantum Observer
Quark Gluon Plasma = Eternal Umbilical Cord
Image Of God = Image Of Gods Conscience
Universe = Digital Model Of Gods Image

Bereshit - Genesis - Chapter 1
26 And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, <--- here Image is not equal to likeness.

It's the likeness we share that gives rise to our resemblance to god. It's gods image that we are created in. Literally inside gods image.

Image = Noun
a representation of the external form of a person or thing in art. .
the general impression that a person, organization, or product presents to the public.

Image = Verb
make a representation of the external form of.

Likeness = Noun
the fact or quality of being alike; resemblance.
the semblance, guise, or outward appearance of.
a portrait or representation.

What is an image?
An image is a picture or visual representation that was created or copied and stored in electronic form.

Think about the electrons stored in your atoms. They represent an electronic image you see. Have a deep look out into the universe and know that is gods image and realize that image is placed into the son. You cannot reach the father without going through the son.

John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Are you ready for a new birth? To each their own!

[wulphstein]

Theoreticians don't always ask the best questions. So let's help them.


is a phenomenon in which virtual photons push against things like plates and basically everything. It's as if space or spacetime itself is pushing against us. It is vaguely like air pressure, except instead of air molecules bumping into us, it is virtual photons. But physicists have a useless and confusing way of looking at virtual photons. When a theoretician thinks of a virtual photon, it looks like a temporary vibrating string or arrow that flies in one dimension. It would never in a million years occur to the physics community that a virtual photon should be thought of as a 4D (3D +1) spherical ripple that is expanding in all directions from a point event. But let us hypothesize what would happen if the universe was being supplied by a continuous source of 4D expanding spherical ripples, no so different from the Huygen Principle,


Since we are talking about the Casimir effect, then we have to presume these 4D expanding wavefronts are carrying a small amount of momentum or pressure on their surface, so that we get back the Casimir effect. Since we added the expansion of ripples, then we can answer questions like,

1. What causes the invariance of the speed of light? Answer: the wave fronts are expanding at the speed of light.

2. What are virtual photons? Answer: virtual photons are the spherical surface area of an expanding Huygen 4D ripple, that is moving away from its center, the point of emmission, also known as the event.

3.What causes the Casimir effect? Answer: The continuous bombardment of 4D ripples (whose surface area is a virtual photon) is equivalent to a pressure (just like air pressure), because the surface area of the expanding 4D ripple carries carries a small amount of momentum.

What is dark energy? Answer: dark energy is the pressure from the expansion of these 4D ripples, that begin at a point (an event), are continually supplied from the Planck scale. One day, someone will write down the integral equation for the number of expanding ripples that exist and have existed since the big bang. It will be a parameter of the number of new ripples that are created, from t=0 (the beginning of the big bang) to present day. N(t) = INT R(t)dt from t=0 to t= present. This number N(t) * the pressure of each expanding ripple, will be the total amount of dark energy.

Please notice that everything I have said could be understood by an undergraduate physics student with some basic Calculus or a really smart high school student. You don't have to understand mind bending string theory and loop quantum gravity. You don't have to fill up the neurons of your brain with theories that are NOT TRUE. These concepts can be understood by a physics student or even a layperson.

Ever notice that theoreticians never talk about inertial frames? We are told that inertial frames are a mathematical concept. It is as if theoreticians have never ridden in a car before traveling 80mph down a freeway, at constant speed, and then had to slam on the brakes because of a police car or a hazard in the rode. So obviously inertial frames exist physically.

What causes inertial frames to exist? Answer: the location of the center of an expanding sphere defines the inertial frame. The surface area is expanding away from the center at the speed of light. The boundaries of the inertial frame are expanding with a radius R = 4 pi (ct)^2. If two expanding spheres pass each other, with one at velocity v = 0 and the other at v = v0, in such a way as to reproduce the geometry of the Pythagorean derivation of time dilation between two inertial frames, then those two expanding spheres will be a "unit of spacetime" between two inertial frames.

Can superstring theory, loop quantum gravity, E8 or any current quantum gravity theory answer the questions that Expanding 4D sphere have answered so far?

What causes gravity? Answer: Empty space permits the constant creation of Expanding 4D Spheres. Matter can absorb these expanding spheres. These 4D spheres are actually what wave functions are made of. And when they are absorbed by matter, then the Expanding spheres become trapped spheres. They serve as part of the wave functions of quantum system. If you have empty space on your left, and a mass M on your right, then there will be a full amount of expanding spheres pushing on you from the left (the Casimir effect). But on your right, some of the Expanding spheres have been absorbed by the matter (planet, moon, star, blackhole, etc). On your right, there will be fewer expanding spheres pushing on you. The result is that the empty space to your left will push you more then the fewer expanding spheres on your right, and you will be pushed towards the mass M. So gravity is really caused by the Casimir effect, when empty space pushes on you more than a space with a massive object.

What causes time? These expanding spheres are wave functions. Wave functions have a term e^i omega t built into them. Every expanding sphere or captured sphere has a clock. There are N(t) clocks in the universe. All of these clocks together create what we know of as time. There is no time travel into the past because everything exists in the present, even if we can only see what it looks like when the light arrives after a long trip of millions of light years.

If you made it this far, I want to thank you with all my heart for caring enough to hear me out. You are a champ and a rockstar!

[FishHeadSalad]

Then there is always the quantum of solace. String theory...heck, pretty sure I used that last time a knit a sweater in space time.

[No-oneInParticular]

Why can't the answer just be infinity? It can, of course, but when you believe reality is constructed of fundamental peices, bits, tiny parts a.k.a. 'particles', you are forever searching for a finite object that inexplicably created eternity... think deeper.