AUGUST 26 - Beyond space and time: Fractals, hyperspace and more

Dear Friends,

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http://www.newscientist.com/special/beyond-space-and-time

Love and Light.

David


Beyond space and time: Fractals, hyperspace and more

TO THE NTH DIMENSION

We don't have any trouble coping with three dimensions – or four at a pinch. The 3D world of solid objects and limitless space is something we accept with scarcely a second thought. Time, the fourth dimension, gets a little trickier. But it's when we start to explore worlds that embody more – or indeed fewer – dimensions that things get really tough.

These exotic worlds might be daunting, but they matter. String theory, our best guess yet at a theory of everything, doesn't seem to work with fewer than 10 dimensions. Some strange and useful properties of solids, such as superconductivity, are best explained using theories in two, one or even no dimensions at all.

Prepare your mind for boggling as we explore the how, why and where of dimensions.

0D

On the dot

Surely, with no dimensions there's no room for anything, so a 0D space must amount to nothing at all – mustn't it?

1D

Walk the line

Add one dimension, and physics starts to look a little familiar

1½D

Fractal landscapes

Welcome to the irregular landscapes between the familiar worlds of one, two and three dimensions

2D

Vistas of flatland

Physics in one dimension is too simple to be satisfying, and three dimensions are complicated and messy. Two-dimensional "flatland" is just right

3D

We're here because we're here?

Flatland and multi-dimensional hyperspace make fine playgrounds for the mind, but our bodies seem stuck in a space of three dimensions

4D

Time, the great deceiver

Space consists of three dimensions. Time, we are told, is also a dimension. So how come it is so different to the others?

5D

Into the unseen

By adding a fifth dimension to space-time, it is possible to show that gravity and electromagnetism are two aspects of one and the same force

6D

Two-timing

Whenever physicists invoke extra dimensions, they always seem to mean the space kind. Why can't we have more time?

8D

Surfer's paradise

Eight dimensions is a rarefied space that is home to the octonions - "the crazy old uncle nobody lets out of the attic"

10D

String country

Ten dimensions, and we finally reach the fabled land of string theory