Just got my PhD in physics yesterday. Also have undergrad degrees in physics+mathematics...

Just got my PhD in physics yesterday. Also have undergrad degrees in physics+mathematics. I specialize in quantum gravity. Ask me anything about the multiverse, math, or whatever.

How much student loan debt do you have? How do you plan on paying it as a slav- I mean adjunct?

Has your experience in physics and math given you any profound thoughts on philosophy and people and life and how it should be lived?

I have 60k from college and 0 from grad school (I was given a full tuition package for grad which is standard for good PhD programs).

I plan to gradually pay it down with my steadily growing income. It's not that hard to manage as long as you're responsible about it.

Summarize the quantum realm in a nutshell. What is dark energy too?

Prove there is a multiverse.

I don't think that physics or math has given me any sort of profound insights in my everyday life. Despite what you may hear in cool science documentaries, being a physicist doesn't dramatically change my worldview.

Being heavily exposed to so much academia has given me a distaste for bullshit and a greater willingness to believe people around me can be intelligent even if they have extremely different beliefs than I do (political, religious, etc).

Every now and then though, it is cool to think about how we are probably just a vector in a big ole Hilbert space describing our multiverse. Or how the world around us has an arrow of time somehow...

I'm currently studying for my biology 2 exam and I'm stressing to bits. Best advice?

How easy is it to make a sub-atomic quantum tunnel through a particle of ruthorfordium

Would you do a simple summary of your PhD thesis? Aspiring physicist about to attend university this fall here.

It's also in am hour and I don't want to repeat the semester

Those two questions are just too distinct.

The "quantum realm":

Everything in the universe is described by quantum mechanics. This means that everything is a vector in a Hilbert space. Vectors in the Hilbert space move evolve in a way described by Schrodinger's equation.


Dark energy: energy that cannot dilute. It's the energy of the vacuum. If you double the size of space, there will be twice as much dark energy. Our universe has a lot of it.

How much is nine plus ten?

Suppose A is an n x n matrix with real entires such that the diagonal entries are all positive, off diagonal entries are all negative, and the row sums are all positive. Prove that det(A) =/= 0

Pics or it didn't happen

What do you believe you'd see if you could fall into a black hole, like in the movie Interstellar?

What is the universe expanding in?

21

Time.

Remember that you are probably a lot smarter than you think you are. Also this exam is unlikely to ruin your life.

does the singularity at the bottom of a black hole cause a big bang and ultimately another universe when it reaches critical mass?

Qcd is a real bitch...

Not OP but I like how cursive your handwriting is m8

Also advice: if u dont know anything, go for what has most poitns. if you have studied prior, go over whatever you don't understand, has the most points and highest probability of being on the paper. best of luck

When did you know you were gay?

Why does anything exist faggot? Is consciousness an intrinsic part of the universe?

Of course it is you faggot.

whats ur fav concept/idea in physics?

Also i've heard many people claim quantum physics disproves free will. Is this true?

Can you please draw me a picture showing the difference between 3d and 4d. I can't seem to wrap my head around another dimension of space.

Will you still have an afterlife even if you die as a virgin?

I don't want to give away my identity so I can't be too specific. I'll tell you some related things.

Despite what everyone seems to think, we actually are doing a good job of learning more about quantum gravity. One theory where we are really good at quantum gravity is the AdS/CFT correspondence. String theory in a certain kind of spacetime (AdS) is apparently the same thing as a certain kind of quantum system (CFT) that we are very knowledgeable about. The interesting thing is that the CFT lives in one less dimension than the string theory does. Also, string theory has gravity and the CFT doesn't.

This is called holography. We are pretty sure that quantum gravity is holographic in general. The universe we live in probably has a redundant dimension. I study this kind of holography.

Not a trained physicist here.
One time while traveling through the country I had an idea about quantum time.

What if time is a force carried by a carrier particle (let's call it chronon boson) which every elementary particle emits. Said force carrier travels at the speed of light, so if another particle would travel at the speed of light it wouldn't be able be able to interact with the chronon bosons, since they'd be running parallel. If a particle were traveling faster than light, it would "collide" with chronon bosons that were each time older, thus experiencing a motion through time backwards. and obviously the faster a particle traveled at less than the speed of light it would "collide" with less chronon bosons thus experiencing less time.

Is this a worthy idea or postulate or just random bullshit?

Not OP, but also a PhD candidate in computational astrophysics,
No
No, any amount of philosophy applied to physics is foul smelling bull

Do you believe that the multiverse is real?
Can you give it a brief definition?

Could we predict every possible outcome of any given event and furthermore the future itself with some type of computer using Schrodinger's wave equation on every particle in the universe simultaneously?

Not OP, but I have an IQ above 25.
>Why does anything exist faggot?
No reason.
>Is consciousness an intrinsic part of the universe?
No.

Google tesserect, hypercube, and hypersphere, generally the best for visualizing 4d. Also look into hyperbolic trig and the geometry of space time

There are many ways to answer this question (but time is definitely not right ).

A cosmologist would say that it's an ill-defined question. The universe is infinitely big, and infinity*2 = infinity so why must we be expanding into something?

However, a more fun answer (which is actually consistent with the one above) is that we are a universe inside of a bubble that is expanding at the speed of light in a soup of vacuum energy (aka dark energy). There are many such bubbles, but they rarely hit each other because the stuff they are expanding in causes the bubbles to fly away from each other at an accelerating rate. This idea is called the eternally inflating multiverse.

How many pages was your thesis? How many references did you have?

Then why does nearly everything that exists fulfill specific purposes so that it can all happen in the first place?

So all this talk about quantum mechanics affecting free will is bullshit?

How do you feel about free will personally?

Then why does nearly everything that exists fulfill specific purposes so that it can all happen in the first place?
It doesn't.
Google the anthropic principle.
And also confirmation bias.

Who is right on quantum entanglement, Einstein or Bohr?

Plato

Free will is a philosophical construct made by man. Maths and physics are consequences of the universe discovered by man, and I trust the universe more than I trust man.

Quantum mechanics has nothing to do with this. In general, if you choose to take physics seriously (as I do), you pretty much conclude that your brain is just another physical system evolving under the usual laws (a pretty cool one though). In this sense, all of physics "opposes" free will. But it doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned and doesn't keep me up or anything.

Describe the pole-barn paradox, but replacing with dicks and your butt.

Bohr is closer than Einstein.

Cheers lads

OP here. Sure thing!

Your dick is a spacelike 1 dimensional object. Because you are such a fag, I decide to help you by planning to open my butt hole for your dick and then clench it right when your dick is fully inserted. You, being such a fag, decide to slam your dick into my asshole at almost the speed of light, so I note that your tiny penis is a lorentz contracted chode . Ironically, from your point of view, my ass is approaching you at enormous speed and your dick is slightly less short. It now appears that my rectum lacks the room for your less short penis because it is now contracted.

is there a multiverse where you aren't a faggot?

120 page and 85 references.

By the way, my main accomplishment is the papers I published, not a thesis which is essentially a formality in this age

Ok this is actually a mistake a lot of people make very often. There is a universe in *the* multiverse where I am not a faggot. Don't say "is there a multiverse where..."

Is there a multiverse in the universe where there aren't any multiverses in that universe?

What is your magnum opus?

My second most recent paper.

Time travel? Is that shit happening or what?

What's it about?

It already did like a year ago, you should go back and check it out

How many aneurysms did you have whilst obtaining this degree?

Only to the future. Never to the past.

I don't want to say because I want to stay user here.

I time traveled from 1994 to say this:
you're a huge bundle of sticks.

The anthropic principle does not say what you think it says.

>have an IQ...

Stephen Hawking says anyone who talks about their IQ is a loser. I trust him more than some user.

Stephen Hawking said some bullshit about black holes dumping matter into universes without black holes. I trust my dog more than that faggot.

Psychologist here.

Don't know why on earth youd take that question to a physicist.

Free will is very grey. Mostly you operate on autopilot according to your personality. If free will was as powerful as everyone claims it is and acts like it is, no one would have distinct persistent personality traits and thinking strategies.

Most of what you do is an automatic reaction to external or internal stimuli based on your personality, which is influenced a lot by genetics, and environment. The amount of which has more pull isn't known. But they both play huge roles. (Genetics are huge. Laymen do not like this concept much..)

"Free will" is part of the executive functions located in the pre frontal cortex. It's responsible for all kinds of nifty higher thinking being tricks.

Think of any time you really didnt want to do something and did it anyway, you developed a brand new habit (like regularly doing dishes right away or going to the gym) or consciously, deliberately tried to act outside of your personality.

That's your free will. You should know from experience, it's a very hard system to maintain for prolonged periods of time before you default back into your regular habits with (hopefully) newer better ones.

This is also why it's very unfair to tell people "you should just.... or "you should have done this.." When they complain about something that's clearly their fault. They were just on autopilot doing what they do, the same way you do.

TL;Dr. Free will is real. It's nothing at all what you think it is. Biblical concept of free will is not real at all.

OP here.

Stephen Hawking laid the ground for most of my work, But the truth is that he is finally starting to fall off his game. His latest papers have not been groundbreaking (despite media attention). Although it is admirable that he continues to propose original ideas at his age and in his condition.

Even after having all those horses in there, I can understand your rectum appearing contracted from my view. But being in the same reference frame as my dick, shouldn't that appear normal to me?

As much as I'm not educated in your field, I feel like Stephen Hawking is mostly full of shit.

Especially when he talks about AI and Aliens. Like he talks absolute about subjective things like he has the answers because he's the smartest person in the world and we should just believe him. Thoughts?

OP here

He likes to speculate and have fun with regard to aliens, etc. I don't think he's full of shit, just speculating which is fine.

Also, please remember that Hawking is not famous for fantasizing about AI. He is famous for showing that black holes emit radiation, which is not bullshit at all.

Care to illuminate me?

see Doesn't change the fact that IQ is still a biased unreliable predictor of only a single type of intelligence. Mine was 135 as a kid and I know how worthless that is.

OP here. Y'all need to chill out. For what it's worth, physics can't say much about consciousness. The anthropic principle does offer some insight into how our universe happens to contain such "perfect" objects as brains.

Q

If you would have noticed that I said that I have an IQ higher than 25, I repeat, two-five, I repeat, a quarter of the average population, you might have realized that it was a joke.

My bad, I read 125

Nevermind. I just realized you were describing from your frame for that particular sentence.

Carry on.

Haha. Sup Forums.

Philosophy aside, how sure is modern science about a multiverse?

Has it been observed somehow?

Or is it like the higher spatial dimensions where the math and framework of the universe just doesn't seem to work unless they're there as far as we know?

Also what was your thesis. Sorry if you posted already.

Explain "quantum gravity" to us interested readers. My father worked in the energy department and studied physics himself.

No problem. I don't actually know what my IQ is, nor I care to find out because I agree with you that it's not an accurate measurement of anything important.

iq isn't worth it's weight tbh

Different guy altogether here:

My iq was measured. It's high. There is the odd time I totally understand a concept clear as day that, frustratingly, noones else seems to get. It's never really that important.

Other than that odd time, I'm mostly a complete idiot.

>odd time

Actually come to think of it I'm pretty sure everyone has these moments.

The multiverse is very theoretical and definitely not observed. However, like you say, things don't seem to work without it. There's a lot of really really nice things in our universe. Atomic and nuclear forces are ideal for having a big periodic table. The dark energy is 120 orders of magnitude smaller than what one might expect, which allowed galaxies to form. Everything is just so ideal that it's been easier to explain in the context of theories that predict a multiverse than anything else. Fortunately, the top candidate for a "complete theory" in physics, string theory, appears to predict a multiverse.

But no, we haven't directly observed it. Nor is there any observational evidence against it yet.

What would happen if a black hole collided with a neutron star, provided that they have equal mass?

The only reason I know mine is because my mom told me recently about how she got me tested in grade school. Otherwise I'd have no idea and honestly wouldn't care.

Figure within the next sixty years (my lifetime) we're going to find a way to increase the human mental capacity artificially, so it wont matter anyway.

space sex

OP what do you think about the 10-11 dimensions theory?

How much does IQ weigh?
Since it's just a number, an abstract concept, does it have weigh? Does information have weigh?

how much of the math you do is transforms and linear algebra? also what is that n-dimension shit and why are manifolds even a thing

A lot of gravitational waves would come out and a new black hole would form from the merger.

It's probably right or close to being right.

Really we are pretty good at figuring things out I think.

a thought experiment OP. Pretend there's a straight hwy from my house to my job and there's no traffic lights.

>my job is 10 miles away from my house.
>at miles an hour, it would take me 1 hour to get there.
>at 20 miles an hour, it would take me half an hour.
>and so on, and so on...
>could speed up and get there so fast that at some point I would have arrived before I even left?
>also, is this what physicists mean by particles existing in many places at once?
>the spaces are so tiny and the speeds so fast that they essentially occupy all the same space at the same time?

a hot grill for your troubles OP.

>new black hole would form from the merger.
Is there some kind of intergalactic government that would try to split it apart to prevent monopolies?

Meditation is already one way. I know it's cringey if youre a critical thinker and anti woo, but despite all the yoga fags and hippies taking it on, there is something to it.

Mindfulness meditation is like weightlifting for a specific part of your brain. It hones a specific set of skills, which if then applied appropriately increase IQ.

OP here.

I think about n dimensional transformations roughly every other day. I think about manifolds literally every day. Our universe is a 4 dimensional manifold. It has to be a manifold because it isn't shaped as nicely as a flat surface. The curvature of our manifold is what causes gravity. Technically these kinds of curved manifolds are called pseudo-Riemannian manifolds.

david, is that you?

Why does math exist and how does something we created work so well for determining so many things

No, this is Patrick.

OP here.

As you approach the speed of light, you would get there instantaneously. If you could exceed the speed of light (you can't), maybe you could get there before you even left.

No this is not what physicists mean by that, but good question.

Any more hot grills are appreciated.

I've read that the topmost dimension filters back down into the first, is this accurate from as far as you understand?

It's no more cringey then the idea that everything in reality can be given a mathematical equivalent to an artistic thinker. There's just a number of ways of looking at things. Even the most rational person has to understand their own human limits. Which is why I, personally, bank on machines.