The universe works like a huge human brain, discover scientists
A new study found similarities between the human brain and the cosmic network of galaxies.
19 November, 2020
Credit: natara / Adobe Stock
- A new study finds similarities between the structures and processes of the human brain and the cosmic web.
- The research was carried out by an astrophysicist and a neurosurgeon.
- The two systems are vastly different in size but resemble each other in several key areas.
<p>Scientists found similarities in the workings of two systems completely different in scale – the network of neuronal cells in the human brain and the cosmic web of galaxies. </p><p>Researchers studied the two systems from a variety of angles, looking at structure, morphology, memory capacity, and other properties. Their quantitative analysis revealed that very dissimilar physical processes can create structures sharing levels of complexity and organization, even if they are varied in size by 27 orders of magnitude.</p>
<p>The unusual study was itself carried out by Italian specialists in two very different fields – astrophysicist Franco Vazza from the University of Bologna and neurosurgeon <span style="background-color: initial;">Alberto Feletti from the University of Verona.</span></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"The tantalizing degree of similarity that our analysis exposes seems to suggest that the self-organization of both complex systems is likely being shaped by similar principles of network dynamics, despite the radically different scales and processes at play," wrote the scientists in their new <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2020.525731/full" target="_blank">paper</a>.</p><p>One of the most compelling insights of the study involved looking at the brain's neuronal network as a universe in itself. This network contains about <strong>69 billion neurons</strong>. If you're keeping score, the observable universe has a web of at least <strong>100 billion galaxies.</strong></p><p>Another similarity is the defined nature of their networks–neurons and galaxies–that have <strong>nodes</strong> connected by filaments. By studying the average number of connections in each node and the clustering of connections in nodes, the researchers concluded that there were definite "agreement levels" in connectivity, suggesting the two networks grew as a result of similar physical principles, <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/udb-dth111620.php" target="_blank">according</a> to Feletti. </p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDc5NDA1Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzOTg3NjA0M30.GNhwvDg4jOmFe55xp4SWHTdTnh5N1Ne4DpURaACKTcw/img.jpg?width=980" id="73cdf" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fad37fef04921c0073204ff34890c6f7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1024" data-height="682" />
Section of the human brain (left) and a simulated section of the cosmos (right).
Credit: University of Bologna
<p>There are also interesting comparisons when it comes to the composition of each structure. About <strong>77 percent </strong>of the brain is water, while about <strong>70 percent</strong> of the Universe is filled with dark energy. These are both passive materials that have indirect roles in their respective structures.</p><p>On the flip side of that, about 30 percent of the masses of each system is comprised of galaxies or neurons.</p>
<p>The scientists also found an uncanny similarity between matter density fluctuations in brains and the cosmic web. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"We calculated the spectral density of both systems. This is a technique often employed in cosmology for studying the spatial distribution of galaxies," <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/udb-dth111620.php" target="_blank">Vazza said</a> in a press release. "Our analysis showed that the distribution of the fluctuation within the cerebellum neuronal network on a scale from 1 micrometer to 0.1 millimeters follows the same progression of the distribution of matter in the cosmic web but, of course, on a larger scale that goes from 5 million to 500 million light-years."</p><p>Check out the new study "The Quantitative Comparison Between the Neuronal Network and the Cosmic Web", published in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2020.525731/full" target="_blank">Frontiers in Physics.</a></p>
Michio Kaku: Consciousness Can be Quantified | Big Think
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cffa17161bfc4dd6dbee720749452fdc"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0GS2rxROcPo?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p><em>"Believe it or not, sitting on our shoulders is the most complex object that Mother Nature has created in the known universe. </em><em>You have to go at least 24 trillion miles to the nearest star to find a planet that may have life and may have intelligence. And yet our brain only consumes about 20-30 watts of power and yet it performs calculations better than any large supercomputer." </em>- Michio Kaku</p>
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Astrophysicists reconstruct the Milky Way's family tree
A team of astrophysicists used AI to figure out which clusters of stars merged to become our galaxy.
15 November, 2020
Credit: D. Kruijssen / Heidelberg University
- Scientists use artificial intelligence to reconstruct the globular clusters that merged to form our Milky Way galaxy.
- The researchers ran simulations on a neural network to discover the history and details about our galactic ancestors.
- They found that a collision with a previous galaxy called "Kraken" was so powerful it transformed the Milky Way.
<p>The Milky Way, the galaxy that contains our Solar System, is estimated to be about 13.6 billion years old. But what was there before? A loaded question that scientists are getting closer to answering. A team of astrophysicists reconstructed the cosmic ancestry of our galaxy. They figured out its family tree by using artificial intelligence to analyze <em>globular clusters</em> that orbit the Milky Way. </p><p>Globular clusters are collections of up to a million stars, almost as old as the Universe itself. Over 150 clusters of this kind are present in the Milky Way. Scientists believe that many of them were created in smaller galaxies that merged to form our galaxy. Astronomers treat them as "fossils" for reverse engineering the history of our home in space. The latest study allowed the research team to do exactly that.</p>
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">The group led by </span><span style="background-color: initial;">Dr. Diederik Kruijssen from the University of Heidelberg (ZAH) and Dr. Joel Pfeffer from Liverpool John Moores University</span> modeled the merger story of the Milky Way. They designed sophisticated computer simulations called E-MOSAICS to represent a complete model of the creation, evolution and demise of globular clusters. The researchers linked ages, the chemistry, and orbital motions of these clusters to the composition of the preceding galaxies that formed them, over 10 billion years ago. The analysis allowed the scientists to pinpoint how many stars the progenitor galaxies had as well as when their merger forming the Milky Way took place.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"The main challenge of connecting the properties of globular clusters to the merger history of their host galaxy has always been that galaxy assembly is an extremely messy process, during which the orbits of the globular clusters are completely reshuffled," Kruijssen <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-11-family-tree-milky-deciphered.html" target="_blank">pointed out.</a></p>
Check out how E-MOSAICS simulations shows the formation of a galaxy like the Milky Way:
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9501816f4e3f2dea501e300adccb7ab3"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v-v5bSnDZs8?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p><span style="background-color: initial;">Once they trained their artificial neural network to investigate the galactic merger history, the researchers "</span><span style="background-color: initial;">tested the algorithm tens of thousands of times on the simulations and were amazed at how accurately it was able to reconstruct the merger histories of the simulated galaxies, using only their globular cluster populations," <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-11-family-tree-milky-deciphered.html" target="_blank">according</a> to Kruijssen.</span></p><p>To dive deep into the prehistory of our galaxy, the researchers directed their AI to study global clusters that they suspected were formed in the progenitor galaxies. The orbital motion of the clusters informed their predictions. The AI was able to pinpoint the masses of the stars and the details of the mergers with great precision. It also discovered a collision 11 billion years ago between the Milky Way and a mysterious galaxy the scientists evocatively dubbed "<em>Kraken.</em>"</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDc4MDAwOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODQ4MTk3Mn0.FT32NngsOtr0qZww3kR-NesQwjQZEFpxuRSEPvxKo8A/img.jpg?width=980" id="ee3fc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6515b4d607d841a4339961f6a804906f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2880" data-height="2160" />
Credit: D. Kruijssen / Heidelberg University
<p><em>Galaxy merger tree of the Milky Way. The main progenitor of the Milky Way is shown by the trunk of the tree, with color representing its stellar mass. Black lines show the five identified satellites. Grey dotted lines demonstrate other mergers that the Milky Way likely underwent, but could not be connected to a particular progenitor. From left to right, the six images at the top list the identified progenitor galaxies: Sagittarius, Sequoia, Kraken, the Milky Way's Main progenitor, the progenitor of the Helmi streams, and Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage.</em></p><p>Kruijssen called this collision with Kraken "the most significant merger the Milky Way ever experienced." This event would have superseded the collision with the Gaia-Enceladus-Sausage galaxy of 9 billion years ago and was likely much more transformative, since our galaxy at that time was four times less massive.</p><p>Overall, the researchers think the Milky Way consumed about five galaxies of over 100 million stars, as well as 15 galaxies with 10 million stars or more. The scientists hope their findings will be used to locate debris from all of our galactic ancestors.</p><p>Check out their study "Kraken reveals itself – the merger history of the Milky Way reconstructed with the E-MOSAICS simulations" <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/498/2/2472/5893320?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank">published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.</a></p>
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Gamma-ray space telescope study may have spotted dark matter
New study of gamma rays and gravitational lensing points to the possible presence of dark matter.
28 March, 2020
NASA
- Analyzing data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, researchers find hints of dark matter.
- The scientists looked to spot a correlation between gravitational lensing and gamma rays.
- Future release of data can pinpoint whether the dark matter is really responsible for observed effects.
<p>By comparing data derived from gravitational lensing and gamma ray observations by the <strong>Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope</strong>, a study showed that certain regions of the sky emit more gamma rays. While the main cause of this phenomenon may be supermassive black holes, the researchers think that some of the emissions may be because of <em>dark matter</em>. It's a so-far-undetected substance that supposedly takes up as much as <strong>27% </strong>of all matter in the Universe, with <em>dark energy</em> taking up another <strong>68%</strong> (<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy" target="_blank">as per NASA</a>).</p><p>The study builds on nine years of gamma-ray data from the <strong>Large Area Telescope (LAT)</strong> that's part of the <a href="https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">Fermi space observatory,</a> and was carried out by <a href="https://rubrica.unito.it/rubricaRisultati.php?tipoRic=cog&lang=ita&txtNome=Simone&txtCognome=AMMAZZALORSO" target="_blank">Simone Ammazzalorso</a> at the University of Turin in Italy, <span style="background-color: initial;"><strong>Daniel Gruen</strong> at Stanford University in California, </span><span style="background-color: initial;">and colleagues.</span></p>
<p>The data from the telescope previously pinpointed many individual gamma-ray sources, like the remains of supernova explosions or jets of ionized matter called <a href="https://astronomy.com/news/2018/07/what-is-a-blazar" target="_blank"><em>blazars</em></a> created from accretion of material by supermassive black holes.</p><p>While many sources were located, some of the radiation that was detected by the LAT could not be traced. To investigate this, Ammazzalorso and the team of researchers compared gamma-ray background data with the first-year data from the <a href="https://www.darkenergysurvey.org/" target="_blank">Dark Energy Survey</a>, carried out by the Dark Energy Camera on the <a href="http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/node/9" target="_blank">Victor Blanco 4-m Telescope</a> in Chile, which took optical snapshots of 40 million galaxies.</p><p>The research team was trying to figure out if there's a correlation between the location of gravitational lenses and gamma ray photons. <strong>Gravitational lensing</strong> measures the distribution of the Universe's matter by utilizing an effect predicted by Einstein. The effect takes place when light traveling to Earth from a distant object is distorted by the gravitational pull of the matter on the way. </p>
The Difference Between Quasars, Blazars, Pulsars and Radio Galaxies
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8c4a44762134cae06132534b51a15a65"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kc_d_sNBuN8?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Comparing two sets of data, the scientists realized that regions of the sky with more matter were also responsible for emitting more gamma rays. On the flip side, the regions that were less dense produced fewer gamma rays. </p><p>Specifically, the researchers observed this relationship holding at at high energies and <em>small angular scales, </em><a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/gamma-rays-and-gravitational-lensing-provide-hints-of-dark-matter/" target="_blank">as reports Physics World.</a> Blazars were likely the cause of these kinds of gamma ray emissions, according to the physicists. </p><p>The scientists spotted a weaker version of this kind of emission at larger <a href="http://physicsformom.blogspot.com/2010/09/angular-scales-from-cmb.html" target="_blank">angular scales.</a> This other source of the gamma rays was likely dark matter, thinks <a href="http://lapth.cnrs.fr/pg-nomin/calore/" target="_blank">Francesca Calore</a>, an astroparticle physicist at Annecy-le-Vieux Theoretical Physics Lab in France, who wrote a commentary for the new paper.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"This result is exciting as it marks one of the few hints at the existence of dark matter via indirect detection methods, and it opens up new possibilities for probing dark matter particle models," <a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/gamma-rays-and-gravitational-lensing-provide-hints-of-dark-matter/" target="_blank">said Calore. </a></p><p>She warned that there is still a chance the noticed correlation could be due to blazars, which are still not completely understood.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjkwMjYxMy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDk1MjUzMH0.4l7r3soB7U1nm8dud29JfO5ckmJZ5S4SCSlZxow0ymg/img.png?width=980" id="f0114" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="71f15dfd638997d57a99cc249cf86e29" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="800" data-height="502" />
An overlap of gravitational lenses and gamma-ray signals could indicate the presence of dark matter.
Credit: D. Gruen/SLAC/Stanford; C. Chang/University of Chicago; A. Drlica-Wagner/Fermilab
<p>New data that will be released from the Dark Energy Survey, including 100 million galaxies, as well as other upcoming sky research like the <a href="https://www.lsst.org/" target="_blank">Legacy Survey of Space and Time</a> at the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile should shed more light on the matter.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"With deeper redshift coverage and a better angular resolution, future instruments will enable scientists to better understand the sources behind the universe's gamma-ray glow and, potentially, uncover the nature of dark matter," Calore stated.</p><p>Check out the new study in <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.101102" target="_blank">Physical Review Letters.</a></p>
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There is no dark matter. Instead, information has mass, physicist says
Is information the fifth form of matter?
21 January, 2020
Photo: Shutterstock
- Researchers have been trying for over 60 years to detect dark matter.
- There are many theories about it, but none are supported by evidence.
- The mass-energy-information equivalence principle combines several theories to offer an alternative to dark matter.
<p><br></p>
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The “discovery” of dark matter
<p>We can tell how much matter is in the universe by the <a href="https://www.space.com/20930-dark-matter.html" target="_blank">motions of the stars</a>. In the1920s, physicists attempting to do so discovered a discrepancy and concluded that there must be more matter in the universe than is detectable. How can this be? </p><p>In 1933, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky, while observing the motion of galaxies in the <a href="https://www.space.com/vera-rubin.html" target="_blank">Coma Cluster</a>, began wondering what kept them together. There wasn't enough mass to keep the galaxies from flying apart. Zwicky proposed that some kind of dark matter provided cohesion. But since he had no evidence, his theory was quickly dismissed. </p><p>Then, in 1968, astronomer Vera Rubin made a similar discovery. She was studying the Andromeda Galaxy at Kitt Peak Observatory in the mountains of southern Arizona when she came across something that puzzled her. Rubin was examining Andromeda's rotation curve, or the speed at which the stars around the center rotate, and realized that the stars on the outer edges moved at the exact same rate as those at the interior, violating <a href="http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/10/vera-rubin" target="_blank">Newton's laws of motion</a>. This meant there was more matter in the galaxy than was detectable. Her punch card readouts are today considered the first evidence of the existence of dark matter. </p><p>Many other galaxies were studied throughout the '70s. In each case, the same phenomenon was observed. Today, dark matter is thought to comprise up to 27% of the universe. "Normal" or baryonic matter makes up just 5%. That's the stuff we can detect. Dark energy, which we can't detect either, makes up 68%. </p><p>Dark energy is what accounts for the Hubble Constant, or the rate at which the universe is expanding. Dark matter on the other hand, affects how "normal" matter clumps together. It stabilizes galaxy clusters. It also affects the shape of galaxies, their rotation curves, and how stars move within them. Dark matter even affects how galaxies influence one another.</p>Leading theories on dark matter
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjU5ODExNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzOTY4MzM0Nn0.3AXqxP2fpr37ZFWTbMp1lYrLt2VYVAbT7BngypUYfoc/img.jpg?width=980" id="ccb58" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="984bda92c8dfd2a770d107e403c3b66c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />NASA writes: 'This graphic represents a slice of the spider-web-like structure of the universe, called the "cosmic web." These great filaments are made largely of dark matter located in the space between galaxies.'
Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Hallman (University of Colorado, Boulder)
<p>Since the '70s, astronomers and physicists have been unable to identify any evidence of dark matter. One theory is it's all tied up in space-bound objects called <a href="https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/educators/galaxies/imagine/dark_matter.html" target="_blank">MACHOs</a> (Massive Compact Halo Objects). These include black holes, supermassive black holes, <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy" target="_blank">brown dwarfs</a>, and neutron stars.</p><p>Another theory is that dark matter is made up of a type of non-baryonic matter, called WIMPS (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). Baryonic matter is the kind made up of baryons, such as protons and neutrons and everything composed of them, which is anything with an <a href="http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/B/Baryonic+Matter" target="_blank">atomic nucleus</a>. Electrons, neutrinos, muons, and tau particles aren't baryons, however, but a class of particles called <a href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Particles/lepton.html" target="_blank">leptons</a>. Even though the (hypothetical) WIMPS would have ten to a hundred times the mass of a proton, their interactions with normal matter would be weak, making them hard to detect. </p><p>Then there are those aforementioned neutrinos. Did you know that giant streams of them pass from the Sun through the Earth each day, without us ever noticing? They're the focus of another theory that says that neutral neutrinos, that only interact with normal matter through gravity, are what dark matter is comprised of. Other candidates include two theoretical particles, the neutral axion and the uncharged photino.</p><p>Now, one theoretical physicist posits an even more radical notion. What if dark matter didn't exist at all? Dr. Melvin Vopson of the University of Portsmouth, in the UK, has a hypothesis he calls the mass-energy-information equivalence. It states that information is the fundamental building block of the universe, and it has mass. This accounts for the missing mass within galaxies, thus eliminating the hypothesis of dark matter entirely.</p>Information theory
<p>To be clear, the idea that information is an <a href="https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/the-basis-of-the-universe-may-not-be-energy-or-matter-but-information" target="_self">essential building block</a> of the universe isn't new. Classical Information Theory was first posited by Claude Elwood Shannon, the <a href="https://www.bell-labs.com/claude-shannon/" target="_blank">"father of the digital age"</a> in the mid-20th century. The mathematician and engineer, well-known in scientific circles—but not so much outside of them, had a stroke of genius back in 1940. He realized that Boolean algebra coincided perfectly with telephone switching circuits. Soon, he proved that mathematics could be employed to design electrical systems. </p><p>Shannon was hired at Bell Labs to figure out how to transfer information over a system of wires. He wrote the bible on using mathematics to set up communication systems, thereby laying the foundation for the digital age. Shannon was also the first to define one unit of information as a bit. </p><p>There was perhaps no greater proponent of information theory than another unsung paragon of science, <a href="https://futurism.com/john-wheelers-participatory-universe" target="_blank">John Archibald Wheeler</a>. Wheeler was part of the Manhattan Project, worked out the "S-Matrix" with Niels Bohr and helped Einstein develop a unified theory of physics. In his later years, he proclaimed, "Everything is information." Then he went about exploring connections between quantum mechanics and information theory. </p><p>He also coined the phrase "it from bit" or that every particle in the universe emanates from the information locked inside it. At the Santa Fe Institute in 1989, Wheeler announced that everything, from particles to forces to the fabric of spacetime itself "… derives its function, its meaning, its very existence entirely … from the apparatus-elicited answers to yes-or-no questions, binary choices, <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/why-information-cant-be-the-basis-of-reality/" target="_blank">bits</a>."</p>Part Einstein, part Landauer
<p>Vopson takes this notion one step further. He says that not only is information the essential unit of the universe but also that it is energy and has mass. To support this claim, he unifies and coordinates special relativity with the <a href="https://physics.aps.org/articles/v11/49" target="_blank">Landauer Principle</a>. The latter is named after Rolf Landauer. In 1961, he predicted that erasing even one bit of information would release a tiny amount of heat, a figure which he calculated. Landauer said this proves information is more than just a mathematical quantity. This connects information to energy. Through experimental testing over the years, the Landauer Principle has held up.</p><p>Vopson says, "He [Landauer] first identified the link between thermodynamics and information by postulating that logical irreversibility of a computational process implies physical irreversibility." This indicates that <a href="https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5123794" target="_blank">information is physical</a>, Vopson says, and demonstrates the link between information theory and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10872" target="_blank">thermodynamics</a>. </p><p>In Vopson's theory, information, once created has "finite and quantifiable mass." It so far applies only to digital systems, but could very well apply to analogue and biological ones too, and even quantum or relativistic-moving systems. "Relativity and quantum mechanics are possible future directions of the mass-energy-information equivalence principle," he says. </p><p>In the paper published in the journal <a href="https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5123794" target="_blank"><em>AIP Advances</em>,</a> Vopson outlines the mathematical basis for his hypothesis. "I am the first to propose the mechanism and the physics by which information acquires mass," he said, "as well as to formulate this powerful principle and to propose a possible experiment to test it."</p>The fifth state of matter
<p>To measure the mass of digital information, you start with an empty data storage device. Next, you measure its total mass with a highly sensitive measuring apparatus. Then, you fill it and determine its mass. Next, you erase one file and evaluate it again. The trouble is, the "ultra-accurate mass measurement" device the paper describes doesn't exist yet. This would be an <a href="https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5126530" target="_blank">interferometer</a>, something similar to <a href="https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-is-ligo" target="_blank">LIGO</a>. Or perhaps an ultrasensitive weighing machine akin to a <a href="https://www.nist.gov/si-redefinition/kilogram/kilogram-kibble-balance" target="_blank">Kibble balance</a>.</p><p>"Currently, I am in the process of applying for a small grant, with the main objective of designing such an experiment, followed by calculations to check if detection of these small mass changes is even possible," Vopson says. "Assuming the grant is successful and the estimates are positive, then a larger international consortium could be formed to undertake the construction of the instrument." He added, "This is not a workbench laboratory experiment, and it would most likely be a large and costly facility." If eventually proved correct, Vopson will have discovered the fifth form of matter. </p><p>So, what's the connection to dark matter? Vopson says, "M.P. Gough published an article in <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/10/3/150" target="_blank">2008</a> in which he worked out … the number of bits of information that the visible universe would contain to make up all the missing dark matter. It appears that my estimates of information bit content of the universe are very close to his estimates." </p>
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Mystery effect speeds up the universe – not dark energy, says study
Russian astrophysicists propose the Casimir Effect causes the universe's expansion to accelerate.
29 December, 2019
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman
- Astrophysicists from Russia propose a theory that says dark energy doesn't exist.
- Instead, the scientists think the Casimir Effect creates repulsion.
- This effect causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate.
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<p>Dark energy, one of the most controversial physics ideas, is getting another challenge. After all, if this force is supposed to <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy" target="_blank">make up about </a><strong><a href="https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy">68%</a> </strong>of the mass-energy of the universe, where exactly is it? A new paper by a pair of Russian astrophysicists says dark energy simply doesn't exist. Instead, they point to the mysterious<strong> Casimir effect</strong> as the explanation for the accelerating expansion of the universe.</p><p>The study, from Professor <strong>Artyom Astashenok</strong> and undergraduate student <strong>Alexander Teplyakov</strong> of the <em>Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University</em>, takes issue with the fact that as far as dark energy's suggested role, "no one knows what is it and how it works," as remarks Astashenok in a <a href="http://eng.kantiana.ru/news/261163/" target="_blank">press release.</a></p>
<p>The astrophysicists say the discovery that the universe is not only expanding, but accelerating in that process, can be explained by an effect named after the Dutch physicist <a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/the-casimir-effect-a-force-from-nothing/" target="_blank">Hendrik Casimir</a>. Back in 1948, he proposed that if you'd put two metal plates in a vacuum, you could still observe attraction between them. Logic would dictate that there'd be nothing in the vacuum to cause such a force, but as Astashenok <a href="http://eng.kantiana.ru/news/261163/" target="_blank">explained</a>, "according to quantum theory, particles constantly appear and disappear there, and as a result of their interaction with plates, which indicate certain boundaries of space (which is extremely important), a very small attraction occurs." </p><p>This phenomenon, now dubbed the <strong>Casimir effect,</strong> has been extrapolated by the Russian scientists to space. They believe there is no enigmatic "Dark Energy" but a "manifestation of the boundaries of the universe" that is responsible for an additional repulsion that causes the universe to speed up its expansion.</p>
Gravity Should Slow the Expanding Universe, but Dark Energy Is Speeding It ...
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="TXFqpm0M" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="e242a06f4b4464e0cffae45d5142d2ea"> <div id="botr_TXFqpm0M_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/TXFqpm0M-FvQKszTI.js"> <img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/TXFqpm0M-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview" /> </div> <script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/TXFqpm0M-FvQKszTI.js"></script> </div><p>Ashashenok further expounds that their idea doesn't claim that the universe has an end. Rather a "complex topology" occurs. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"You can draw an analogy with the Earth. After all, it also has no boundaries, but it is finite,"<a href="http://eng.kantiana.ru/news/261163/" target="_blank"> says Astashenok.</a> "The difference between the earth and the universe is that in the first case we are dealing with two-dimensional space, and in the second - with three-dimensional".</p><p>Check out the new study in the <a href="http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S0218271819501761" target="_blank">International Journal of Modern Physics</a>.</p>
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