A Brazilian Wunderkind Who Calms Chaos
simonsfoundation.org
simonsfoundation.org
Statistical Mechanics and thermodynamics are the basis for a huge amount of technology and scientific models of the world, yet they rely on a fundamental assumption which is in some sense unjustified, known as the 'Ergodic hypothesis': Even though (classically) we know that the current position of gas particles in a box can be determined from their positions in the past, in thermodynamics we make the (unjustified) assumption that their positions are actually random and independent of their previous positions. In other words, these models for the world are probabilistic, which contradicts our more fundamental models of the world which say it is deterministic (and even QM is deterministic, with the single exception of the born rule). What he's doing here helps justify the probabilistic treatment, and understand when it does or does not apply.
I have always though this to be one of the great 'foundations' questions in physics (The others being QM foundations/origin of the born rule, and foundations of Field Theory). These are 'hard' and borderline philosophical questions, which most scientists (with good reason) simply assume to be true, to the point they often find them uninteresting. Lately though there seems to be renewed interest in them.
[1] The Born rule in QM is the rule that allows us to calculate the probabilities that a particular experiment would have a given outcome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_Rule
The classic intro text is Griffiths', Introduction to Quantum Mechanics. But it's a mathematical treatment -- as it has to be -- although it might be readable by accepting the key equations as axioms and reading the text. A smart, determined person would get something out of that, but I don't know how much. After all, QM is notoriously difficult to understand even by the super-smart, mathematically adept folk.
I'm not sure that a pop-sci book could convey sufficient detail to allow someone to follow many QM debates, even the philosophical debates; there is just too much background required -- which I am not claiming I possess; still learning.
Personally, I think QM is in the process of building an ever increasing body of information. The distillation of knowledge is yet to come. It's a hell of a trip, though.
[0] Bloch, Physics Today, December 1976
Since I've got your attention here, I might as well ask if you know any good resources for learning about this "negative" probabilities business w. quantum? Something to do with 2D probability? Was reading some lecture notes [0] that mentioned something about using matrix transformations to describe state transitions (reminded me of Markov chains), maybe you'd know where I could learn about that.
Born rule on the other hand, I can't wrap my mind around. Absent wave function collapse (for which there is zero evidence), what exactly are Borne probabilities probability off :(
Do you have a moment to speak about accepting Many Worlds Theory as your savior?
You would be right for any other world class brazilian scientist. BUt IMPA is one institution that can support a world class scientist here in Brazil.
Sure, he probably couldn't get where he got without moving abroad, but then most of the Brazilian top football players play for foreign clubs, and yet nobody will claim that we don't encourage kids to play football. You have to take into account the sheer economic disparity between Brazil and the developed West.
> Through the math competitions, Avila discovered IMPA, where Brazil held its Olympiad award ceremonies each year. There, he met prominent mathematicians like Carlos Gustavo Moreira and Nicolau Corção Saldanha, and while still technically in high school, he began studying graduate-level mathematics.
>In Brazil, Avila could relish mathematics without the career pressures he might have faced in the United States. “It was better for me to study at IMPA than if I were at Princeton or Harvard,” he said. “Growing up and being educated in Brazil was very positive for me."
http://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20140812-a-brazilian-...
About the Military service, you make it sound like it's Israel mandatory... It's more like you only have to show up there and sign a paper.
Today almost only the ones that really want get to do the military service.
I come from India which is fanatic about Cricket. You would think media will understand the need to give India's chess grandmasters the same exposure as cricketers, but in reality it is mostly run as a business :(
But sure, now with the sad news about Eduardo Campos he will be nowhere to be seen. I hope in the next months and years he is remembered and popularized (is that a word?).
yes
http://g1.globo.com/educacao/noticia/2014/08/pesquisador-bra...
That's as prime time as you can get on brazilian TV.
He'll get a lot of calls from every channel, newspaper and magazines.
From the video interview, I understand he has been living in Paris for a while but his English accent is surprisingly non-Brazilian (sounds Russian with his Rs and closed vowels).