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This article introduces a geometric structure known as an "amplituhedron" as a way to understand reality. "Some researchers are attempting to wean physics off

This article introduces a geometric structure known as an "amplituhedron" as a way to understand reality. "Some researchers are attempting to wean physics off of space-time in order to pave the way toward this deeper theory. Currently, to predict how particles morph and scatter when they collide in space-time, physicists use a complicated diagrammatic scheme invented by Richard Feynman. The so-called Feynman diagrams indicate the probabilities, or “scattering amplitudes,” of different particle-collision outcomes. In 2013, Nima Arkani-Hamed and Jaroslav Trnka discovered a reformulation of scattering amplitudes that makes reference to neither space nor time. They found that the amplitudes of certain particle collisions are encoded in the volume of a jewel-like geometric object, which they dubbed the amplituhedron. Ever since, they and dozens of other researchers have been exploring this new geometric formulation of particle-scattering amplitudes, hoping that it will lead away from our everyday, space-time-bound conception to some grander explanatory structure." The wikipedia page for amplituhedron provides some kind of simulated visualization but doesn't clarify in layman's terms how reality fits into this particular structure. It seems like an interesting concept, I wish I understood it better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplituhedron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplituhedron

phkahler 8y ago
I am not a physicist, but when I first read about the amplituhedron whatever article it was seemed to indicate it was an interesting way to do computation. It was also simpler and quicker than the usual way. They never indicated any reason for it, or model of reality, just that computing volumes produced the same results as some other method used by physicists. I don't even recall if they proved it to be equivalent or just showed that in every case they tried it produced the correct result. I suspect the folks reformulating QM in Clifford Algebras may have (or find) a way to explain why a geometric interpretation works the way it does.

phkahler 8y ago

I am not a physicist, but when I first read about the amplituhedron whatever article it was seemed to indicate it was an interesting way to do computation. It was also simpler and quicker than the usual way. They never indicated any reason for it, or model of reality, just that computing volumes produced the same results as some other method used by physicists. I don't even recall if they proved it to be equivalent or just showed that in every case they tried it produced the correct result. I suspect the folks reformulating QM in Clifford Algebras may have (or find) a way to explain why a geometric interpretation works the way it does.