Gràcies al New Scientist he vist que es parla de la Teoria de Cordes i de visualitzar en una espècie de Taula Periòdica les diferents formes que pot agafar la matèria a nivell subatòmic, que arriba a tenir 10 dimensions. Com que el meu coneixement parteix de l’àtom d’hidrogen, la veritat és que la teoria de cordes m’agafa una mica lluny.
Però m’agrada recollir tot allò que es caracteritza com a taula periòdica (en aquest cas, de les formes), i més si es tracta de formes tan visualment impactacts com les que es mostren a l’entrada esmentada, en forma de video.
Segons el New Scientist,
Now Coates and his colleagues have built a computer program that can identify atoms in four and five dimensions as well as in three, and provide new insights into the properties of these atoms, such as the number of holes in each shape, or the extent to which they twist around themselves.
He now plans to use this to generate lists of shapes in higher dimensions, and then to group the shapes in each list according to their properties, much as atoms are grouped in the periodic table of elements.
Key to creating the program was string theory, according to which the universe has 10 dimensions – the familiar three of space and one of time, plus another six that are hidden. The hidden dimensions may be tightly curled up in a flowing shape called the Calabi-Yau manifold. And string theorists had already devised methods for turning some flowing, higher dimensional shapes into differential equations, which allow a shape’s properties to be explored.
I hi veig que d’àtoms n’hi ha molts…
Coates’s software uses the same mathematics to turn any smooth shape into differential equations. It then examine the shape’s flow, looking for the unique patterns that signify an atom. There are hundreds of millions of potential shapes to sort through, but Coates expects a few thousand atoms.
Hauré de mirar més això dels àtoms en quatre o cinc dimensions. Deu haver-hi química més enllà de la tercera dimensió?