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Lawrence,

You know that I read and rated your paper (highest) over a month ago. Having just gotten around to Phil Gibbs's excellent essay, though, and knowing that our results in general almost converge (albeit by different methods), I felt compelled to leave a comment.

It occured to me, in the context of quantum error connection coupled to quantum least action, that any measurement by any observer at any instant of "the present" (which is the only kind of instant that quantum mechanics accommodates, since all quantum action is instantaneous)is the lowest energy state possible. That makes the estimated 10^500 vacuua of string theory seem pretty small. I had made the same conclusion, without rigorous mathematical support, in my ICCS 2007 paper

Best,

Tom

in my

    The 10^{500} vacua are an estimate from the number of Dp-brane wrapping conditions and T-duality. The question of course we might ask is whether most of these are "real," where by real I mean they define a spacetime cosmology that has some classical content. I suspect most of these are really quantum amplitudes which are small corrections to the grand path integral of the universe.

    The one point of my essay is that with an equivalency between the horizon of a black hole in an AdS spacetime and the field theoretic information on the boundary there is a 3-cycle which is associated with the compactification of fields in the Calabi-Yau manifolds. I have been doing more calculations and work on this and it is getting into some very deep territory. In particular the coset construction leads to Eisenstein series which give an integer counting of quantum bits. This turns out to have strong relationships with the integer partition recently proven by Ono and his group Brunier, Folsom, and Kent. This then accounts for the number of qubits on the horizon of a black hole and the boundary of an AdS spacetime.

    This of course touches on the whole multi-verse construction. This is an interesting thing to play with. It also suggests something is funny with our scientific paradigm. We normally have in science the idea that we can prepare experiments with various initial or boundary conditions. The theory then predicts some constant process which is transformed by those initial or boundary conditions, but not removed by them. With the universe we have in effect one grand scattering experiment. We also did not set it up. As such we have no ability to "prepare" systems to test theories, and further we have an ambiguity over what represents initial or boundary conditions and what represents fundamental principles. The current issue over why the universe started out with such low entropy is potentially of this nature.

    The number of branchings which occur with measurements or state reductions involves the many world interpretation (MWI), which may be related to the multi-verse concept. With eigenbranching of the universe the numbers do become absolutely bewildering. Tegmark has written considerably on this, and in the context of a sort of platonia concept of universes or cosmologies which obey all possible mathematical structures. I don't know exactly what to think about that idea. In general my approach to things is a bit more conservative.

    Cheers LC

    The Taylor expansion of the exponential function is not directly related to the Riemann zeta function. The Riemann zeta function function determines a prime distribution on the complex plane C. If you map C to the Riemann sphere, say by stereographic projection, then you can talk about spheres.

    Chhers LC

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    Lawrence,

    the new developments of your ideas sound like great news!

    Good luck with them,

    Cristi

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    Cristi,

    The general trend here is not looking too good. I seem to be sinking. At this rate I will be below the 35 by end of the day tomorrow. I am not sure what you think, but there are about 5 essays ahead of mine which are pure bilge water, and about 5 that are highly questionable. There are a number below mine which are better than some above. So I am somewhat unhappy at the turn of events lately. My essay in the last month has been up as high as 16 and last week as low as 33, then back up to 20 by midweek. I can only hope this current downward trend is arrested.

    I scored yours a while back, where I gave it an 8. The two points off are due to what I see as some incomplete concepts with respect to the "warping." Ch. Corda has some interesting ideas about intrinsic curvature, where I have worked some plausible argument that this is due to the Heisenberg uncertainly principle. It sounds as if buried beneath what you are doing is something of that nature.

    The sort of moduli space constructions of SLOCC state constructions Gibbs writes about, where our papers in some way complement each other, can be extended to E_{7(7}}/SO(8) type of moduli space. The E_8 decomposes into E_7 to E_6 and then E_6. The F_4 group has G_2 as its centralizer. The Calabi Yau construction which can exist is one then based on the invariance of F_4 with an h_{1,1} Hodge diamond with respect to the 3-form of G_2. The G_2 is then a dual of the Calabi-Yau 3-form. My essay touches on this with the G_2 - -> SU(3)xS^6, which gives a triality.

    Cheers LC

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      Dear Lawrence,

      Hope my rating of your essay helps a lot.

      Constantinos

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      Thanks dear Lawrence,Hi Christi,

      It's fascinating these distributions of numbers.

      Laurent and Taylor shall agree.....the series of exp......2pi i....and the sphere still and always.....the series are rational in logic of proportionalities......now if we take the theory of rests.....and the singularities....see the main central sphere and its fractal and finite serie......the function is purelly analytic....if the serie is finite...if the serie is infinite(correlation with increases of mass and thus entropy with a number universal )....now the sense of rotations .....and a little of Smirnov ....-3/16 i.......3/8 pi.....2pi i(-3/16 i)......the real axis are relevant with a finite number of spheres .......

      Best Regards

      Steve

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      Me I have given 8 to you 3 , Christi,Constantin,Lawrence,...Ray also.

      Dear all , have you already thought about the finite serie of primes.....

      Regards

      Steve

      Dear Crowell,

      very interesting essay. I see some analogy with my idea [link:www.fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/901]link[\link]", originated on the attempt to interpret the fact that, using Witten's word, in AdS/CFT "quantum phenomena are encoded in classical geometry". I find that the kinematic and the quantum behaviour of a field is encoded in a four dimensional boundary, in agreement with the Holographic principle.

      Good luck,

      Donatello

        Donatello,

        I have read the first two section of your paper and the ending, though rather hurriedly I must confess. This does look rather interesting. My only pause with the gravitational part is how degrees of freedom are counted, but this seems to be a comparatively minor issue at this time.

        Cheers LC

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        Congratulations Lawrence! I am happy that you placed comfortably well in the final group. And good luck going forward.

        I know this is not the time to be asking, but I am very anxious to have your reflections on the two very short posts I linked in my Mar. 12 post to you. One especially seems to suggest that the CSL hypothesis contradicts the Photon Hypothesis.

        Constantinos

        Constantinos,

        The analysis you do involves once again the use of a scale factor as a dynamical variable. In particular this occurs with the Δt, which is a spread in a Euclidean time you related to temperature. The partition function Z has the β = kT in the generator, but the calculation of temperature only happens with the appropriate calculation 1/T = k∂Z/∂E. I can guarantee that this will be a sticking point with reviewers.

        Cheers LC

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          Hi Lawrence,

          Anxious to get back to science after all the hoo-hah of late.

          Max Tegmark has a following, although my philosophy will never completely converge with his, as long as I am convinced that finite language is inadequate to contain infinite meaning.

          Against that meaning, 10^500 vacua is small. When we start asking which solutions are "real" we trap ourselves in the measurement problem. We assume that the nonlocal wave function is a calculational artifact. My view, however, is similar to Ken Wharton's -- taking the universe as a quantum system. The conclusion in my time barrier preprint, that the 4 dimension horizon is identical to the 10 dimension limit, identifies by precise numerical calculation a boundary condition that preserves the Euclidean R^4 of reversible time trajectory, while showing Jacobson-Verlinde type gravitic entropy over n-dimension Euclidean manifolds. I give time a specifically physical definition independent of spacetime geometry, allowing analytic continuation.

          If there is a formal finite derivation of string theory vaccum solutions, 10^n, then no matter the value, my theory accommodates any finite range in the domain of 10 dimension physics.

          All best,

          Tom

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          The existence of four dimensions is becoming clearer. The gravitational constant is G = 6.67x10^{-11}m^3/(kg-s^2). In naturalized units where mass has a unit of reciprocal length this is an area. In holography the quantum field information content in spacetime is defined by fields on a boundary or horizon. In spacetime the reduction is on space which reduces the horizon area to two dimensions. The black hole horizon is then a boundary in space which contains all the field theoretic information in that space, but all on a region of one dimension less. As such the horizon turns out to be partitioned into units of area A = Għ/c^3 (ħ and c are "one" in naturalized units) which hold some integer number of microstates, and the total number of states is given by an integer partition of microstates. Dimension for space is then 3 by necessity, and as this is embedded in a Lorentz manifold the dimension of spacetime is 4.

          The Anti de Sitter Spacetime (AdS) AdS_4 reduces to AdS_2xS^2 near a black hole contained in the AdS_4. This is a BTZ type of black hole, and the AdS_2xS^2 has a correspondence with the condition for an extremal black hole. So the quantum states on the AdS_4, or AdS_2 in this reduction, are in entanglements which reflect the BPS type of the black hole, 1/2 or 1/4 supersymmetric etc. In 11 dimensions there are two dual AdS/CFT correspondences AdS_4xS^7 and AdS_7xS^4. On the AdS^7 there is a hyperbolic form of the G_2 holonomy which is matched by the elliptical G_2 holonomy on the S^7. The G_2 group, the smallest exceptional group, has 7 roots and defines the solution of a cubic form.

          With the S^7 this can be reduced to S^6 with the infinite momentum or lightcone frame, so the gauge fixes field in 10-dimensions. The G_2 holonomy becomes SU(3)xS^6 (which I have in my essay) and for a general six dimension, eg S^6 replaced by K_3xK_3 etc, the quantization condition on the AdS_2 is given by the dual description of the Calabi-Yau (CY) manifold in 6 dimensions.

          At this stage things become rather mathematical, and in the last couple of months there have been some papers posted which are alarmingly close to what I am working on. The CY form is a cubic form given by the G_2 action. This then leads to some Eisenstein series calculations for the modular system that computes the partition of those integer areas on the horizon. The 3-fold action of the CY form then gives an Eisenstein series which gives a modular definition of these integers of quantum states on horizons that should be identical to the integer partition theorem proof, recently found by Ono et al.

          The 10^{500} vacuum states comes about from estimates on the number of possible CY manifolds and orbifold configurations for strings and Dp-branes. The modes of a string, such as its vibration state etc, are T-dual to the winding number of that string on a compactified region. This is what lead Polchinski back in 2000 to say there were about 10^{100} such configurations, and the estimate is up to about 10^{1000} these days.

          The relationship between this "multiverse" and the many worlds aspect of measurement is something which Tegmark has suggested. He suggests that ultimately the splitting of the universe into these multiverses or an ensemble of spacetime cosmologies is a matter of state reduction. There is potentially some merit to the idea, for the observable universe has this classical aspect to it, which indicates some sort of cosmic state reduction. Tegmark of course takes this far further to argue there is something like a platonia of all possible structures that exist. I am not sure about these speculations to be honest.

          Cheers LC

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          Lawrence,

          You write,

          "The analysis you do involves once again the use of a scale factor as a dynamical variable. ... I can guarantee that this will be a sticking point with reviewers."

          Are you referring to my use of time as a continuous variable? I am not doing statistical thermodynamics. No use for partition functions or discrete lumps of time or energy in any of the results.

          I view time as a human concept. It is what we wish it to be, as long as we have no contradictions in our reasoning. We can have our theories with discrete time, and we can have our theories with continuous time. I prefer the simplicity of my results using continuous time.

          But I also have serious philosophical dilemmas with 'discrete physical time'. What is between discrete moments of time? Do we pass from one discrete moment to the next instantly? Is there then 'no time' between discrete moments of time? And if there is 'no time' between 'moments of time', wont that then be 'continuous time'?

          Best,

          Constantinos

          Dear Lawrence,

          Congratulations on your dedication to the competition and your much deserved top 35 placing. I have a bugging question for you, which I've also posed to all the potential prize winners btw:

          Q: Coulomb's Law of electrostatics was modelled by Maxwell by mechanical means after his mathematical deductions as an added verification (thanks for that bit of info Edwin), which I highly admire. To me, this gives his equation some substance. I have a problem with the laws of gravity though, especially the mathematical representation that "every object attracts every other object equally in all directions." The 'fabric' of spacetime model of gravity doesn't lend itself to explain the law of electrostatics. Coulomb's law denotes two types of matter, one 'charged' positive and the opposite type 'charged' negative. An Archimedes screw model for the graviton can explain -both- the gravity law and the electrostatic law, whilst the 'fabric' of spacetime can't. Doesn't this by definition make the helical screw model better than than anything else that has been suggested for the mechanism of the gravity force?? Otherwise the unification of all the forces is an impossiblity imo. Do you have an opinion on my analysis at all?

          Best wishes,

          Alan

            The closest thing I can think of with respect to the Archimedes screw is the fibration on a manifold. A spacetime manifold has at each point an internal space of N dimensions. In the case of electromagnetism N = 1, for weak force N = 2, and for the strong nuclear force N = 3. This can be thought of as a line or fiber above every point on the manifold or space. Then a closed orbit on the space results in a phase which when lifted onto the fibration results in a sort of spiral.

            In the case of gravity things are a bit strange, for the fibration is given by the symmetries of the space itself, and further the algebraic structure is not compact. So things become a little thornier. This is one reason why gravitation is tough to quantize.

            Cheers LC

            The fact that you equate a spread in time Δt with a temperature by Δt ~ ħ/kT has by implications an association of the time spread with a statistical quantity. This is what might prove to be a difficulty with reviewers of your papers.

            Cheers LC

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            Lawrence,

            Thanks for your post. I think we are close to resolving this issue.

            You write, "The fact that you equate a spread in time Δt with a temperature by Δt ~ ħ/kT "

            If I were to blot out any reference to Δt ~ ħ/kT in all of my papers, would that satisfy your objection? The truth of the matter is that non of my results depends on this association. I could have never ever made any mention of this. I only did because I found it to be an interesting curiosity that comes out of my derivations as a consequence.

            Constantinos