A Theory of Everything That Explains Away The Paradoxes of Quantum Mechanics - Discover Magazine

2/18/22, 11:03 PM A Theory of Everything That Explains Away The Paradoxes of Quantum Mechanics | Discover Magazine
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A Theory of Everything That Explains Away The Paradoxes of Quantum

Mechanics
Quantum mechanics is full of strange, paradoxical behavior. Now a small group of physicists think a more
fundamental theory can make these paradoxes vanish.
The Physics arXiv Blog | By The Physics arXiv Blog | Feb 15, 2022 3:05 PM
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One of the great triumphs of modern science is the theory of quantum mechanics, one of the
most successful ideas in history. Every experiment ever done is compatible with its predictions
and despite numerous attempts, physicists have never been able to create conditions in which it
doesn’t work.
But quantum theory’s success forces physicists to accept a number of uncomfortable truths. For
example, it allows “spooky action at a distance” between entangled particles. This occurs when
two particles become so deeply linked that a measurement on one instantly determines the state
of the other, regardless of the distance between them.
Since then, physicists have studied spooky-action-at-a-distance in detail; it is straightforward to

observe in a quantum optics laboratory. It is now even exploited in technologies such as quantum
cryptography.
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Another uncomfortable conclusion is that the quantum universe is governed by probabilistic

behavior. At any instant, lots of different things could happen but the thing that actually happens
is determined by probability, essentially on the roll of a dice.
This thinking forces physicists to the conclusion that our deterministic experience of the universe
is an illusion. Indeed, there is little debate among physicists that the foundation of reality is X
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fundamentally and weirdly probabilistic.
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Except among a small group of theoretical physicists led by the Nobel Prize winner, Gerard ‘t
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Hooft. For them, the idea of determinism – that one thing leads to another – is sacrosanct. They
say the probabilistic properties of quantum mechanics can all be explained by a set of hidden
laws that sit beneath the surface of quantum mechanics.
Nobody has observed these laws at work but that hasn’t stopped ‘t Hooft from trying to
formulate what they must look like. And the stakes are high. He says that accessing these laws
should lead to a theory of everything that solves many of the shortcomings that quantum physics
currently cannot explain. Now, he outlines this approach, called superdeterminism, in a paper
dedicated to Chen Ning Yang, another Nobel Prize winner, for his 100th birthday later this year.
Standard Model
First some background. The current theory of quantum mechanics that attempts to explain the
nature of the universe is called the Standard Model of particle physics. And it has been hugely
successful.
It describes the universe in terms of four fundamental forces and shows that three of these forces
are different manifestations of the same thing. It has predicted the existence of numerous
particles – seventeen in total – that experimentalists have gone on to discover using giant
particle accelerators built for this specific purpose. This has been science at its most spectacular,
resulting in numerous Nobel Prizes, not least for ‘t Hooft and Yang.
But in all this success, physicists have conveniently overlooked some of the Standard Model’s
shortcomings. For example, the model predicts seventeen particles and depends on at least
twenty different parameters, seemingly arbitrary numbers. “Any attempt to clean up this theory,
in general results in producing more such parameters rather than less,” laments ‘t Hooft.
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Neither is there any way to predict the strengths of various interactions between particles.
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by careful, detailed measurement. That seems Subscribe
unsatisfactory to theorists.
At the heart of the problem, says ‘t Hooft, is the nature of quantum mechanics, that it dispenses
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with determinism to allow particles to become entangled, to exist in more than one place, to
behave like waves and particles at the same time and so on.
By contrast, the theory of relativity is fundamentally deterministic. This is the other pillar of
modern physics and its deterministic character appears to be fundamentally at odds with
quantum theory. Nevertheless, any theory of everything must embrace them both.
Enter ‘t Hooft. His solution is to propose that beneath the surface, nature is fundamentally
deterministic. This “superdeterminism” has profound implications. “Assuming an underlying
model to be completely deterministic removes most of the ‘quantum paradoxes’ that were
thought to be special to quantum mechanics alone,” he says.
For example, the ability of one entangled particle to influence another instantly must be an
illusion. Superdeterminism suggests that the outcome is predetermined by another, deeper set of
laws that are deterministic. But because we aren’t aware of these laws, the influence appears
instantaneous.
Of course, this is a controversial idea. Physicists have long considered the possibility that
quantum mechanics is incomplete, that it is missing a set of hidden variables that determine the
outcome in experiments like this.
In the late 20th century, the physicist John Bell described a thought experiment to demonstrate
this problem. He imagined a Professor Bertlsman who always wears socks of two different
colors, say red and blue. Bertlsman always puts the socks on at random. So on any given day,
there is no way to know whether he wears the blue sock on his left foot and the red sock on his
other foot or vice versa.
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Bertlsman's Socks
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However, his students have worked out a clever way to predict the color of one sock without ever
seeing it. As Bertlsman walks into the lecture theatre, they watch the foot that appears first to
see what color sock it has.

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Now imagine that moment. Before they see the sock there is no way to say which color each sock
is. But as soon as the students see that the first sock is, say, blue, they instantly know that the
other sock must be red. It’s almost as if the observation of one sock has determined the color of
the other sock by spooky action at a distance.
Indeed, that’s how a naive observer might interpret the student’s uncanny ability to determine
the color of the second sock. That is, until the naive observer discovers the hidden law of
Bertlsman’s socks – that he always wears two different colors. Then it becomes clear there is no
magic at work but instead, a hidden variable that makes this experiment entirely deterministic.
Bell went on to show that if quantum mechanics were governed in this way by hidden variables,
there would be measurable consequences. Since then, physicists have hunted high and low for
these consequences but their experiments have shown no evidence of hidden variables.
Most physicists interpret these experiments as proof that quantum mechanics cannot be
governed by hidden variables and at first glance, this spells disaster for ‘t Hooft’s approach.
But he says there is a way through this quagmire. By his thinking, superdeterminism is so
fundamental that it influences not just the particles that are being measured but the entire
experimental set up, including the observers themselves.
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That’s because all the particles and forces involved share the same history of the universe. This
shared history essentially forces these experiments to appear paradoxical, as if there was spooky
action at a distance, when they are actually deterministic. In other words, there is a loophole in
Bell’s tests that allows the universe to trick us into thinking quantum mechanics is probabilistic.
‘t Hooft’s ideas are controversial but they promise much that the Standard Model cannot deliver –
among them a theory of everything that reconciles relativity and quantum mechanics. He
believes this can come about much in the same way as his colleague Yang laid the foundations
for the Standard Model – through the study of symmetries, leading to the famous Yang-Mills field
theory.
‘t Hooft’s ideas operate on an even smaller scale – the Planck length. This is so small that no
current experiments can access it, which is why evidence is hard to get. But he believes that it is
still possible to formulate a successful theory using a similar approach.
Basic Computing
By his own admission, ‘t Hooft is far from this point but he has begun to map out some of the
features that his new theory must have. He says the universe on this level must work like a
cellular automaton – a kind of computer that works out the value of all variables in the universe
at a specific instant in time based on their values at the previous instant.
He says it is possible to derive models of this kind that behave probabilistically, like quantum
mechanics, but are actually entirely deterministic beneath the surface. These models are not yet
sophisticated enough to be thought of as theories of everything but they are proof of the
principle ‘t Hooft relies on.
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If any of this seems familiar, it is because ‘t Hooft is not the first to suggest that a cellular
automaton can explain all the phenomenon in the universe. The physicist Stephen SUBSCRIBE
Wolfram has
long championed this approach to physics, working independently of mainstream science.
Among Wolfram’s successes is to show how simple deterministic cellular automaton can
produce huge complexity. Recently, this blog covered the latest incarnation of Wolfram’s
theory of everything based on this kind of approach. It is a beautiful idea.
Wolfram’s independent approach to science and other scientists has left him ploughing a lonely
furrow in physics. ‘t Hooft’s position is not quite the same but his ideas are also controversial.
So here’s an idea that might be more inflammatory still--perhaps it’s time for ‘t Hooft and
Wolfram to collaborate. They have been pursuing similar ideas for some time and may find some
useful synergy. And with a theory of everything at stake, what is there to lose?

R
ef: Projecting local and global symmetries to the Planck scale: arxiv.org/abs/2202.05367
physics
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2/18/22, 11:03 PM A Theory of Everything That Explains Away The Paradoxes of Quantum Mechanics | Discover Magazine

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A Theory of Everything That Explains Away The Paradoxes of Quantum

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Since then, physicists have studied spooky-action-at-a-distance in detail; it is straightforward to

Another uncomfortable conclusion is that the quantum universe is governed by probabilistic

see what color sock it has.

MORE FROM DISCOVER

Average Body Temperature Takes A

Is Psychopathy a Male Problem?

How Galaxies Go Quiet

5 American Anthropologists You

Why Employee of the Month

Why Do We Give Red Roses On

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MY SCIENCE SHOP MY SCIENCE SHOP MY SCIENCE SHOP MY SCIENCE SHOP

Discover STEM Discover 2022 Strange Science Elements

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

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View our privacy policy

COPYRIGHT © 2022 KALMBACH MEDIA CO.

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