Is the universe a hologram?

[Ognir]

Describing the universe requires fewer dimensions than we might think. New calculations show that this may not just be a mathematical trick, but a fundamental feature of space itself.

At first glance, there is not the slightest doubt: to us, the universe looks three dimensional. But one of the most fruitful theories of theoretical physics in the last two decades is challenging this assumption. The "holographic principle" asserts that a mathematical description of the universe actually requires one fewer dimension than it seems. What we perceive as three dimensional may just be the image of two dimensional processes on a huge cosmic horizon.

Up until now, this principle has only been studied in exotic spaces with negative curvature. This is interesting from a theoretical point of view, but such spaces are quite different from the space in our own universe. Results obtained by scientists at TU Wien (Vienna) now suggest that the holographic principle even holds in a flat spacetime.

The Holographic Principle

Everybody knows holograms from credit cards or banknotes. They are two dimensional, but to us they appear three dimensional. Our universe could behave quite similarly: "In 1997, the physicist Juan Maldacena proposed the idea that there is a correspondence between gravitational theories in curved anti-de-sitter spaces on the one hand and quantum field theories in spaces with one fewer dimension on the other", says Daniel Grumiller (TU Wien).

Gravitational phenomena are described in a theory with three spatial dimensions, the behaviour of quantum particles is calculated in a theory with just two spatial dimensions - and the results of both calculations can be mapped onto each other. Such a correspondence is quite surprising. It is like finding out that equations from an astronomy textbook can also be used to repair a CD-player. But this method has proven to be very successful. More than ten thousand scientific papers about Maldacena's "AdS-CFT-correspondence" have been published to date.

Correspondence Even in Flat Spaces

For theoretical physics, this is extremely important, but it does not seem to have much to do with our own universe. Apparently, we do not live in such an anti-de-sitter-space. These spaces have quite peculiar properties. They are negatively curved, any object thrown away on a straight line will eventually return. "Our universe, in contrast, is quite flat - and on astronomic distances, it has positive curvature", says Daniel Grumiller

However, Grumiller has suspected for quite some time that a correspondence principle could also hold true for our real universe. To test this hypothesis, gravitational theories have to be constructed, which do not require exotic anti-de-sitter spaces, but live in a flat space. For three years, he and his team at TU Wien (Vienna) have been working on that, in cooperation with the University of Edinburgh, Harvard, IISER Pune, the MIT and the University of Kyoto. Now Grumiller and colleagues from India and Japan have published an article in the journal Physical Review Letters, confirming the validity of the correspondence principle in a flat universe.

Calculated Twice, Same Result

"If quantum gravity in a flat space allows for a holographic description by a standard quantum theory, then there must by physical quantities, which can be calculated in both theories - and the results must agree", says Grumiller. Especially one key feature of quantum mechanics -quantum entanglement - has to appear in the gravitational theory.

When quantum particles are entangled, they cannot be described individually. They form a single quantum object, even if they are located far apart. There is a measure for the amount of entanglement in a quantum system, called "entropy of entanglement". Together with Arjun Bagchi, Rudranil Basu and Max Riegler, Daniel Grumiller managed to show that this entropy of entanglement takes the same value in flat quantum gravity and in a low dimension quantum field theory.

"This calculation affirms our assumption that the holographic principle can also be realized in flat spaces. It is evidence for the validity of this correspondence in our universe", says Max Riegler (TU Wien). "The fact that we can even talk about quantum information and entropy of entanglement in a theory of gravity is astounding in itself, and would hardly have been imaginable only a few years back. That we are now able to use this as a tool to test the validity of the holographic principle, and that this test works out, is quite remarkable", says Daniel Grumiller.

This however, does not yet prove that we are indeed living in a hologram - but apparently there is growing evidence for the validity of the correspondence principle in our own universe.

Explore further: Copying behavior in social groups may be governed by optimal control theory


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-04-universe-hologram.html#jCp

[Michael K.]

The question arises, in reference to the bigger picture we have been discussing here, of how advances in quantum computing contribute to the development of Artificial Intelligence.

One interesting area to look at might be how quantum AI is being applied to gaming today.  That is because wargaming is a way that militaries have always used to approach strategy problems.  Today advances in technology are making military tactics incorporate computer game simulations.  Take drone operations as an example.

http://www.nas.nasa.gov/quantum/

WHAT IS QUANTUM COMPUTING?

Quantum computing is based on quantum bits or qubits. Unlike traditional computers, in which bits must have a value of either zero or one, a qubit can represent a zero, a one, or both values simultaneously. Representing information in qubits allows the information to be processed in ways that have no equivalent in classical computing, taking advantage of phenomena such as quantum tunneling and quantum entanglement. As such, quantum computers may theoretically be able to solve certain problems in a few days that would take millions of years on a classical computer.


http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167642307000548

Knowledge acquisition for adaptive game AI

Marc PonsenPieter SpronckHéctor Muñoz-AvilaDavid W. Aha

Abstract


Game artificial intelligence (AI) controls the decision-making process of computer-controlled opponents in computer games. Adaptive game AI (i.e., game AI that can automatically adapt the behaviour of the computer players to changes in the environment) can increase the entertainment value of computer games. Successful adaptive game AI is invariably based on the game's domain knowledge. We show that an offline evolutionary algorithm can learn important domain knowledge in the form of game tactics (i.e., a sequence of game actions) for dynamic scripting, an offline algorithm inspired by reinforcement learning approaches that we use to create adaptive game AI. We compare the performance of dynamic scripting under three conditions for defeating non-adaptive opponents in a real-time strategy game. In the first condition, we manually encode its tactics. In the second condition, we manually translate the tactics learned by the evolutionary algorithm, and use them for dynamic scripting. In the third condition, this translation is automated. We found that dynamic scripting performs best under the third condition, and both of the latter conditions outperform manual tactic encoding. We discuss the implications of these results, and the performance of dynamic scripting for adaptive game AI from the perspective of machine learning research and commercial game development.

[apollonian]

Describing the universe requires fewer dimensions than we might think. New calculations show that this may not just be a mathematical trick, but a fundamental feature of space itself.
....

Ognir: I presume u're talking about that philosophic question brought up, most notably, by the Greeks, and discussed definitively by the master of those who know, "the philosopher," Aristotle.

So remember: basic nature of reality is EITHER-OR, matter of ASSUMPTION, a first principle/premise, which cannot be PROVEN in logic.

So by means of process of elimination, we arrive at the final alternatives: Platonic "transcendence" (subjectivism), and Aristotelian "immanence" (objectivity)--remember these are necessary assumptions which cannot be proven.

Thus note subjectivism reduces to the absurd, for in subjectivism ANYTHING GOES, and one makes oneself God--satanism.  Thus the Jews, for example, say Torah means what they say it means ("midrash") which was condemned by Christ in New Test.  See Talmudical.blogspot.com, RevisionistReview.blogspot.com, and Come-and-hear.com for best Talmudic expo.

Thus by elimination we accept Aristotelian objectivity, the assumption of a reality that's outside our mentality, to be perceived by our senses.

I find most people, if not all of them, don't have the foggiest idea what they're talking about when they pretend to discussing "quantum physics," etc.  For note if u begin w. assumption of objectivity, it's impossible to conclude to subjectivism--which is what the morons attempt when they mention "quantum physics" as premise to their contention of subjectivism.