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In 2015, the LIGO/Virgo experiment, a large-scale research effort based at two observatories in the United States, led to the first direct observation of gravitational waves. This important milestone has since prompted physicists worldwide to devise new theoretical descriptions for the dynamics of blackholes, building on the data collected by the LIGO/Virgo collaboration.

Researchers at Uppsala University, University of Oxford, and Université de Mons recently set out to explain the dynamics of Kerr black holes, theoretically predicted black holes that rotate at a constant rate, using theory of massive high-spin particles. Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, specifically proposes that the dynamics of these rotating black holes is constrained by the principle of gauge symmetry, which suggests that some changes of parameters of a physical system would have no measurable effect.

“We pursued a connection between rotating Kerr black holes and massive higher-spin particles,” Henrik Johansson, co-author of the paper, told Phys.org. “In other words, we modeled the black hole as a spinning fundamental particle, similar to how the electron is treated in .”

An international team of astronomers has employed a set of space telescopes to observe a peculiar nuclear transient known as AT 2019avd. Results of the observational campaign, presented in a paper published December 21 on the pre-print server arXiv, deliver important insights into the properties and behavior of this transient.

Nuclear astrophysics is key to understanding supernova explosions, and in particular the synthesis of the chemical elements that evolved after the Big Bang. Therefore, detecting and investigating nuclear transient events could be essential in order to advance our knowledge in this field.

At a redshift of 0.028, AT 2019avd is a peculiar nuclear transient discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) in 2009. The transient has been detected in various wavelengths, from radio to soft X-rays, and has recently exhibited two continuous flaring episodes with different profiles, spanning over two years.

Did you know that Einstein’s most important equation isn’t E=mc^2? Find out all about his equation that expresses how spacetime curves, with Sean Carroll.

Buy Sean’s book here: https://geni.us/AIAOUHn.
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This lecture was recorded at the Ri on Monday 14 August 2023.

00:00 Einstein’s most important equation.
3:37 Why Newton’s equations are so important.
9:30 The two kinds of relativity.
12:53 Why is it the geometry of spacetime that matters?
16:37 The principle of equivalence.
18:39 Types of non-Euclidean geometry.
26:26 The Metric Tensor and equations.
32:22 Interstellar and time and space twisting.
33:32 The Riemann tensor.
37:45 A physical theory of gravity.
43:28 How to solve Einstein’s equation.
47:50 Using the equation to make predictions.
51:05 How its been used to find black holes.

The real Einstein’s Equation is part of general relativity, which relates the curvature of spacetime to the mass and energy distributed within it.

When the theoretical physicist Leonard Susskind encountered a head-scratching paradox about black holes, he turned to an unexpected place: computer science. In nature, most self-contained systems eventually reach thermodynamic equilibrium… but not black holes. The interior volume of a black hole appears to forever expand without limit. But why? Susskind had a suspicion that a concept called computational complexity, which underpins everything from cryptography to quantum computing to the blockchain and AI, might provide an explanation.

He and his colleagues believe that the complexity of quantum entanglement continues to evolve inside a black hole long past the point of what’s called “heat death.” Now Susskind and his collaborator, Adam Brown, have used this insight to propose a new law of physics: the second law of quantum complexity, a quantum analogue of the second law of thermodynamics.

Also appearing in the video: Xie Chen of CalTech, Adam Bouland of Stanford and Umesh Vazirani of UC Berkeley.

00:00 Intro to a second law of quantum complexity.
01:16 Entropy drives most closed systems to thermal equilibrium. Why are black holes different?
03:34 History of the concept of “entropy” and “heat death“
05:01 Quantum complexity and entanglement might explain black holes.
07:32 A turn to computational circuit complexity to describe black holes.
08:47 Using a block cipher and cryptography to test the theory.
10:16 A new law of physics is proposed.
11:23 Embracing a quantum universe leads to new insights.
12:20 When quantum complexity reaches an end…the universe begins again.

Thumbnail / title card image designed by Olena Shmahalo.

- VISIT our Website: https://www.quantamagazine.org.

Claim your SPECIAL OFFER for MagellanTV here: https://try.magellantv.com/historyoftheuniverse. Start your free trial TODAY so you can watch Other Earths: The Search For Habitable Planets, and the rest of MagellanTV’s science collection: https://www.magellantv.com/video/other-earths-the-search-for-habitable-planets.

If you like this video, check out Geraint Lewis´ excellent book, co-written with Chris Ferrie:
Where Did the Universe Come From? And Other Cosmic Questions: Our Universe, from the Quantum to the Cosmos.

AND check out his Youtube channel:

Incredible thumbnail art by Ettore Mazza, the GOAT: https://www.instagram.com/ettore.mazza/?hl=en.

And a huge thanks to the Illustris Collaboration for allowing the use of video footage of their excellent project:

Recent Gaia satellite findings suggest that dwarf galaxies are transient and less influenced by dark matter than previously believed, challenging long-held assumptions about their nature and composition.

Commonly thought to be long-lived satellites of our galaxy, a new study now finds indications that most dwarf galaxies might in fact be destroyed soon after their entry into the Galactic halo. Thanks to the latest catalog from ESA’s Gaia satellite, an international team has now demonstrated that dwarf galaxies might be out of equilibrium. The study opens important questions on the standard cosmological model, particularly on the prevalence of dark matter in our nearest environment.

It has long been assumed that the dwarf galaxies around the Milky Way are ancient satellites orbiting our Galaxy for nearly 10 billion years. This required them to contain huge amounts of dark matter to protect them from the enormous tidal effects due to the gravitational pull of our galaxy. It was assumed that dark matter caused the large differences observed in the velocities of the stars within these dwarf galaxies.

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If we ever want to simulate a universe, we should probably learn to simulate even a single atomic nucleus. But it’s taken some of the most incredible ingenuity of the past half-century to figure out how that out. All so that today I can teach you how to simulate a very very small universe.

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