The Holographic Universe & Quantum Wormholes
HOW THINGS WORK - BOOK III THE ENIGMATIC MYSTERY – CONSIDERATION #170
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TUESDAY JANUARY 7, 2025
“Researchers announced on Wednesday that they forged two miniscule simulated black holes - those extraordinarily dense celestial objects with gravity so powerful that not even light can escape - in a quantum computer and transmitted a message between them through what amounted to a tunnel in space-time…”
– Will Dunham, Reuters (November 30, 2022)
PREFACE
Happy New Year Everybody!
Relativity theory shattered our traditional understanding of the universe and how things worked, particularly in terms of the Cartesian model of time and space. (Books I, II) String theory complicated our empirical consideration of the universe even further with the postulation of multiple dimensions of reality manifested through abstract vibrations of pure energy producing all waves, particles, and subatomic particles constituting the empirical reality we call the universe. (Book IV) However, the quantum theory (Book V) regarding the possibility of a Holographic Universe may be the most extraordinary consideration of reality so far. This can get a little weird at times, so buckle up and hold on!
“…quantum information is the main constituent of the universe, or reality.”
The foundation of this new quantum consideration of reality is based on the recognition that the universe is not manifested through atoms, particles, waves, or any other kind of “empirical” object or entity; quantum information is the main constituent of the universe, or reality. Most importantly, this principle presupposes a 2-dimensional reality as opposed to the traditional 3-dimensional reality we have essentially accepted as “true.” Because this quantum information resides in, or is reflected through, the “outer layer” of space it gives us the perception, or “illusion,” that space is 3-dimensional.
“Another key insight into string theory comes from the holographic principle, which relates a theory in space to a theory defined only on the boundary of that space… In other words, the holographic principle says that everything that happens in a space can be explained in terms of information that’s somehow stored on the surface of that space. For example, picture a 3-dimensional space that resides inside the 2-dimensional curled surface of a cylinder… You reside inside this space, but perhaps some sort of shadow or reflection resides on the surface…”
– Andrew Zimmerman Jones & Daniel Robbins, String Theory: Insight from the Holographic Principle
This concept of reality is reminiscent of Plato’s Realm of Forms. The true “form,” or “idea,” or “essential information” of something is “reflected” into physical, or empirical reality, from another source. We perceive this reflection, but the actual “information itself” resides in another dimension. In this sense we are perceiving empirical information generated from a non-empirical dimension or source: ideas, thoughts, and information all being rational abstractions as opposed to empirical entities. Once again, our current “rational” sciences are reflecting ancient metaphysical considerations.
“There are two worlds, Plato says: the world of physical objects and the world of Forms. The world of physical objects is the world we see around us, while the world of Forms is the world of abstract concepts and ideas. The Forms are perfect, unchanging, and eternal, while the physical objects we see around us are imperfect, changing, and temporary.
– Andreas Matthias, Plato’s Theory of Forms
The information we call “the universe” is encoded into a two-dimensional space which is “projected” in a way we perceive as 3-dimensional.
(Podcast excerpt with Brandeis University associate professor of physics Matthew Headrick)
“HEADRICK: Well, as you said, the holographic principle is the idea that the universe around us, which we are used to thinking of as being three dimensional — we have three dimensions of space — is actually at a more fundamental level two dimensional and that everything we see that's going on around us in three dimensions is actually happening in a two-dimensional space…
So similarly to the bits and bytes that live on a compact disc, which encode, for example, a piece of music — on this plane, that's where the bits that fundamentally make up our universe live. That's where they're encoded and what they're encoding is what we see going on around us in three dimensions…
HOST: And so you're saying that this information on a two-dimensional plane encodes for our three-dimensional universe?
HEADRICK: Exactly. Like in the compact disc example, it encodes some piece of music. In this case, it encodes what's going on in our universe.”– BrandeisNow, The theory that the universe is a hologram explained in under 5 minutes
This consideration of the universe becomes critical when considering quantum abstractions such as quantum vortexes or “wormholes.” In January of 2022 physicists used Google’s Sycamore quantum computer to successfully simulate a quantum vortex, or wormhole, resulting in a theoretical pathway to another dimension of space-time. In addition, they successfully sent quantum information through that vortex into that other space-time dimension. This is how Google AI describes the experiment:
“The physicists mixed a unit of quantum information into a cloud of particles, and watched it emerge from a linked cloud. The event resembled a spacecraft entering one black hole and emerging from another. The experiment produced a holographic wormhole, which is a quantum system that behaves like a wormhole.”
– Google AI (1-1-2025)
The question for us is: “What does this really mean and why is it important?”
CONSIDERATION #170 – The Holographic Universe & Quantum Wormholes
NOTE: Although multiple articles and papers were utilized in this consideration, the article Physicists Create a Holographic Wormhole Using a Quantum Computer by Natalie Wolchover was exceptional, particularly in explaining extremely complex concepts related to the abstract nature of the quantum mechanics involved in this experiment; which is why I have referenced her article several times in this week’s consideration.
The essence of the experiment has to do with concepts related to quantum gravity and quantum information. The leader of the experiment, Maria Spiropulu, called it a “quantum gravity experiment on a chip.”
The importance of this experiment is that it supports the Holographic Theory of the universe which may solve the incongruencies between relativity theory and quantum mechanics.
“The experiment can be seen as evidence for the holographic principle, a sweeping hypothesis about how the two pillars of fundamental physics, quantum mechanics and general relativity, fit together... The holographic principle, ascendant since the 1990s, posits a mathematical equivalence or ‘duality’ between the two frameworks. It says the bendy space-time continuum described by general relativity is really a quantum system of particles in disguise. Space-time and gravity emerge from quantum effects much as a 3D hologram projects out of a 2D pattern.”
– Natalie Wolchover, Physicists Create a Holographic Wormhole Using a Quantum Computer
It could be argued that this experiment really begins in 1935 with the publication of two papers co-authored by Albert Einstein; the Einstein and Rosen paper commonly referred to as the ER paper and a second paper with Boris Podolsky commonly referred to as the EPR paper. Both considered marginal works at the time.
These papers were an attempt to solve the issues related to general relativity published by Karl Schwarzchild regarding “singularities,” or what we now call “black holes.” Singularities are essentially “points” that can be neither accurately described nor visibly seen, or perceived. This is where the problem of unifying relativity and quantum mechanics really begins.
“…an extra-dimensional ‘tunnel’ connecting one part of ‘space-time’ with ‘another’ part of space-time…”
The ER paper attempts to explain Schwarzchild’s mathematics as being related to “elementary particles” in relativity theory; interchanging the singularity with an extra-dimensional “tunnel” connecting one part of “space-time” with “another” part of space-time; now commonly known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge, or what we often refer to as a “wormhole.” However, problems related to the Einstein-Rosen bridge were directly connected to something discussed in the EPR paper called “quantum entanglement.”
“Once this happens the two particles are interconnected forever.”
The EPR paper is a consideration of quantum entanglement. Quantum Entanglement occurs when two particles interact with each other and form a quantum bond, or quantum entanglement. Once this happens the two particles are interconnected forever. What happens to one particle directly affects the other particle, no matter where it is in the universe. Einstein was not keen on this idea, calling it “spooky action at a distance,” and causing him to be suspect regarding quantum mechanics.
“The shocking consequence, which caused the EPR authors to doubt quantum theory, is ‘spooky action at a distance,’ as Einstein put it: Measuring particle A (which picks out one reality from among its possibilities) instantly decides the corresponding state of B, no matter how far away B is.”
– Natalie Wolchover, Physicists Create a Holographic Wormhole Using a Quantum Computer
The idea of quantum entanglement becomes a crucial aspect of quantum computation in the 1990’s when physicists realized the potential of utilizing “qubits” in quantum computing. Unlike traditional logic-gate computers allowing for simple binary operations based on 0 and I, quantum computers offered four possible states of potentiality: 0 and 0, 0 and 1, 1 and 0, and 1 and 1. In addition, this “power” increases exponentially.
“Three qubits make eight simultaneous possibilities, and so on; the power of a ‘quantum computer’ grows exponentially with each additional entangled qubit. Cleverly orchestrate the entanglement, and you can cancel out all combinations of 0s and 1s except the sequence that gives the answer to a calculation. Prototype quantum computers made of a few dozen qubits have materialized in the last couple of years, led by Google’s 54-qubit Sycamore machine.”
– Natalie Wolchover, Physicists Create a Holographic Wormhole Using a Quantum Computer
In addition to quantum computing applications, quantum gravity researchers began focusing on quantum entanglement as the mechanism providing the possible “source code” for a space-time hologram, giving birth to the Holographic Universe Principle. Was it possible that what we consider to be the 3-dimensional universe was really just a projection of a 2-dimensional reality? Was John Wheeler right when he suggested in the 1980’s that space-time and everything in it was a result of quantum information?
“Juan Maldacena discovered a new kind of space called ‘anti-de Sitter,’ or AdS space.”
In 1994 Leonard Susskind published his paper, “The World as a Hologram,” suggesting that the space-time of relativity theory was one of two space-time dimensions: the second consisting of quantum particles residing on a region’s lower-dimensional boundary. Three years later Juan Maldacena discovered a new kind of space called “anti-de Sitter,” or AdS space. This led Maldacena to propose that not only distant points in space were connected by an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, but that all entangled particles were connected by this quantum bridge.
“Maybe a wormhole links every entangled pair of particles in the universe, forging a spatial connection that records their shared histories. Maybe Einstein’s hunch that wormholes have to do with particles was right.”
– Natalie Wolchover, Physicists Create a Holographic Wormhole Using a Quantum Computer
The importance related to the results of the Google Sycamore experiment are not dependent on whether or not a “real” or “empirical” wormhole was created, which is not what happened. However, this “quantum simulation” represents a paradigm shift in quantum theory in three ways. First, it is a completely “quantum” experiment designed to “test” an abstract quantum theory; a purely quantum process from beginning to end. Second, it produced the results predicted by that quantum theory (Holographic Universe). Third, it may be the key to unifying relativity theory and quantum mechanics.
“…many physicists believe that there is a supermassive black hole at the center of every galaxy.”
Prior to Einstein, the idea of a “singularity” or “black hole” would have been “empirically” inconceivable, Einstein himself did not actually believe they were possible in the “empirical” universe. Then, scientists found “evidence” of black holes in the universe. Currently, many physicists believe that there is a supermassive black hole at the center of every galaxy. The Google Sycamore experiment now suggests that there may be singularities connecting all entangled particles throughout the entire universe.
The Google Sycamore experiment opens up a lot of quantum doors.
POSTSCRIPT
Another key aspect of the Google Sycamore experiment is that it involved “teleportation.” Quantum information was sent through the quantum vortex created in the experiment, which was, in fact, the main hypothesis attempting to be proven by the experiment.
“The wormhole emerged like a hologram out of quantum bits of information, or ‘qubits,’ stored in tiny superconducting circuits. By manipulating the qubits, the physicists then sent information through the wormhole… When Spiropulu saw the key signature indicating that qubits were passing through the wormhole, she said, ‘I was shaken.’”
– Natalie Wolchover, Physicists Create a Holographic Wormhole Using a Quantum Computer
If everything in the universe is essentially “quantum information,” and “quantum information” can be “teleported” through quantum vortexes, then, theoretically, anything (quantum information) can be sent through such a vortex, including human beings. This opens up the possibility of “Star Trek” type teleportation as well as time travel applications. However, the immediate quantum possibilities resulting from the Sycamore experiment specifically pertain to quantum computing applications.
One of the key issues holding back Quantum Computers has been the quantum error rate that they encounter. However, Google’s new “Willow” chip may be the first step in reducing this critical limiting factor.
“Through a newly unveiled quantum chip called Willow, Google engineers have passed a significant milestone in error handling. Specifically, they've been able to keep a single logical qubit stable enough so errors occur maybe once every hour, which is a vast improvement on previous setups that failed every few seconds.”
– David Nield, Google's New Chip Could Crack One of Quantum Computing's Biggest Problems
The one thing we do know for sure is that the power of both quantum and traditional logic-gate computers will increase to levels previously never considered possible. We are only at the beginning of this new digital paradigm shift in our reality.
Next week we begin our consideration of Book III, The Enigmatic Mystery…
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