Evidence that Maldacena’s hologram conjecture is true

[Greg Bernhardt]

Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram
http://www.nature.com/news/simulations-back-up-theory-that-universe-is-a-hologram-1.14328

In one paper2, Hyakutake computes the internal energy of a black hole, the position of its event horizon (the boundary between the black hole and the rest of the Universe), its entropy and other properties based on the predictions of string theory as well as the effects of so-called virtual particles that continuously pop into and out of existence. In the other3, he and his collaborators calculate the internal energy of the corresponding lower-dimensional cosmos with no gravity. The two computer calculations match.

“It seems to be a correct computation,” says Maldacena, who is now at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and who did not contribute to the team's work.

 

[K^2]

What's with the sensationalist title? All they've done, if all of this is correct, is demonstrate that duality works. That's not really new.

 

[ShayanJ]

Well,we shouldn't be very excited I guess.You can derive Maxwell's equations and Einstein field equations from Kaluza–Klein theory.Thermodynamics+Equivalence principle(which becomes entropic gravity)can give you Einstein field equations.String theory is able to give you the standard model.And many other examples...
People may tell such things can't be coincidences,but we know that our universe is strange enough for such coincidences to be possible!

 

[robertjford80]

How big is Hyakutake's paper? I get the feeling after reading the Nature article that this is the biggest thing since Einstein published his theory of General Relativity? It seems that they have been trying to unify gravity with the strong, weak and EM force since about 1970 and now they have consistent calculations. I'm kind of shocked that PF is not talking about this more. I thought everyone would be really excited about this but that doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[atyy]

How big is Hyakutake's paper? I get the feeling after reading the Nature article that this is the biggest thing since Einstein published his theory of General Relativity? It seems that they have been trying to unify gravity with the strong, weak and EM force since about 1970 and now they have consistent calculations. I'm kind of shocked that PF is not talking about this more. I thought everyone would be really excited about this but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Maldacena's 1998 AdS/CFT or gauge/gravity conjecture is indeed a big deal. It is a non-perturbative proposal for quantum gravity and unification for some universe - probably not ours. It is hoped that studying it will help us generalize appropriately. There are thousands of papers on the conjecture. Many calculations have shown that it is likely correct, although not proven. Hyakutake's paper is another calculation that supports the conjecture.

 

[audioloop]

a more plausible title, of the nature title
“Important idea of string theory shown not to be mathematically inconsistent in one particular way"
Ethan Siegel.