Tuesday, 29 March 2022

Scientists Create Synthetic Dimensions To Better Understand the Fundamental Laws of the Universe

 

Astrophysics Wormhole Universe Concept

Humans experience the world in three dimensions, but a collaboration in Japan has developed a way to create synthetic dimensions to better understand the fundamental laws of the Universe and possibly apply them to advanced technologies.

They published their results today (January 28, 2022) in Science Advances.

“The concept of dimensionality has become a central fixture in diverse fields of contemporary physics and technology in past years,” said paper author Toshihiko Baba, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Yokohama National University. “While inquiries into lower-dimensional materials and structures have been fruitful, rapid advances in topology have uncovered a further abundance of potentially useful phenomena depending on the dimensionality of the system, even going beyond the three spatial dimensions available in the world around us.”

Topology refers to an extension of geometry that mathematically describes spaces with properties preserved in continuous distortion, such as the twist of a mobius strip. When combined with light, according to Baba, these physical spaces can be directed in a way that allows researchers to induce highly complicated phenomena.

In the real world, from a line to a square to a cube, each dimension provides more information, as well requires more knowledge to accurately describe it. In topological photonics, researchers can create additional dimensions of a system, allowing for more degrees of freedom and multifaceted manipulation of properties previously inaccessible.

“Synthetic dimensions have made it possible to exploit higher-dimensional concepts in lower-dimensional devices with reduced complexity, as well as driving critical device functionalities such as on-chip optical isolation,” Baba said.

Schematic and Operation of Silicon Photonics Synthetic Dimension Device

Ring resonator fabricated using silicon photonics and modulated internally generates a frequency ladder. Credit: Yokohama National University

The researchers fabricated a synthetic dimension on a silicon ring resonator, using the same approach used to build complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS), a computer chip that can store some memory. A ring resonator applies guides to control and split light waves according to specific parameters, such as particular bandwidths.

According to Baba, the silicon ring resonator photonic device acquired a “comb-like” optical spectra, resulting in coupled modes corresponding to a one-dimensional model. In other words, the device produced a measurable property — a synthetic dimension — that allowed the researchers to infer information about the rest of the system.

While the developed device comprises one ring, more could be stacked to cascade effects and quickly characterize optical frequency signals. 

Critically, Baba said, their platform, even with stacked rings, is much smaller and compact than previous approaches, which employed optical fibers connected to various components.  

“A more scalable silicon photonic chip platform provides a considerable advancement, as it allows photonics with synthetic dimensions to benefit from the mature and sophisticated CMOS commercial fabrication toolbox, while also creating the means for multi-dimensional topological phenomena to be introduced into novel device applications,” Baba said.  

The flexibility of the system, including the ability to reconfigure it as necessary, complements equivalent static spaces in real space, which could help researchers bypass the dimensional constraints of real space to understand phenomena even beyond three dimensions, according to Baba.

“This work shows the possibility that topological and synthetic dimension photonics can be used practically with a silicon photonics integration platform,” Baba said. “Next, we plan to collect all topological and synthetic dimension photonic elements to build up a topological integrated circuit.”

Reference: “Synthetic dimension band structures on a Si CMOS photonic platform” by Armandas Balcytis, Tomoki Ozawa, Yasutomo Ota, Satoshi Iwamoto, Jun Maeda and Toshihiko Baba, 28 January 2022, Science Advances.
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abk0468

Other contributors include Armandas Balčytis and Jun Maeda, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Yokohama National University; Tomoki Ozawa, Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University; and Yasutomo Ota and Satoshi Iwamoto, Institute for Nano Quantum Information Electronics, The University of Tokyo. Ota is also affiliated with the Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics, Keio University. Iwamoto is also affiliated with the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology and the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo.

The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JPMJCR19T1, JPMJPR19L2), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JP20H01845) and RIKEN supported this research.

Neurophenomenology

 


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Neurophenomenology refers to a scientific research program aimed to address the hard problem of consciousness in a pragmatic way.[1] It combines neuroscience with phenomenology in order to study experiencemind, and consciousness with an emphasis on the embodied condition of the human mind.[2] The field is very much linked to fields such as neuropsychologyneuroanthropology and behavioral neuroscience (also known as biopsychology) and the study of phenomenology in psychology.

Overview[edit]

The label was coined by C. Laughlin, J. McManus and E. d'Aquili in 1990.[3] However, the term was appropriated and given a distinctive understanding by the cognitive neuroscientist Francisco Varela in the mid-1990s,[4] whose work has inspired many philosophers and neuroscientists to continue with this new direction of research.

Phenomenology is a philosophical method of inquiry of everyday experience. The focus in phenomenology is on the examination of different phenomena (from Greek, phainomenon, "that which shows itself") as they appear to consciousness, i.e. in a first-person perspective. Thus, phenomenology is a discipline particularly useful to understand how is it that appearances present themselves to us, and how is it that we attribute meaning to them.[5][6]

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the brain, and deals with the third-person aspects of consciousness.[7] Some scientists studying consciousness believe that the exclusive utilization of either first- or third-person methods will not provide answers to the difficult questions of consciousness.[8]

Historically, Edmund Husserl is regarded as the philosopher whose work made phenomenology a coherent philosophical discipline with a concrete methodology in the study of consciousness, namely the epoche. Husserl, who was a former student of Franz Brentano, thought that in the study of mind it was extremely important to acknowledge that consciousness is characterized by intentionality, a concept often explained as "aboutness"; consciousness is always consciousness of something. A particular emphasis on the phenomenology of embodiment was developed by philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty in the mid-20th century.

Naturally, phenomenology and neuroscience find a convergence of common interests. However, primarily because of ontological disagreements between phenomenology and philosophy of mind, the dialogue between these two disciplines is still a very controversial subject.[9] Husserl himself was very critical towards any attempt to "naturalizing" philosophy, and his phenomenology was founded upon a criticism of empiricism, "psychologism", and "anthropologism" as contradictory standpoints in philosophy and logic.[10][11] The influential critique of the ontological assumptions of computationalist and representationalist cognitive science, as well as artificial intelligence, made by philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has marked new directions for integration of neurosciences with an embodied ontology. The work of Dreyfus has influenced cognitive scientists and neuroscientists to study phenomenology and embodied cognitive science and/or enactivism. One such case is neuroscientist Walter Freeman, whose neurodynamical analysis has a marked Merleau-Pontyian approach.[12]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Rudrauf, David; Lutz, Antoine; Cosmelli, Diego; Lachaux, Jean-Philippe; Le Van Quyen, Michel (2003). "From autopoiesis to neurophenomenology: Francisco Varela's exploration of the biophysics of being"Biological Research36 (1): 27–65. doi:10.4067/s0716-97602003000100005PMID 12795206.
  2. ^ Gallagher, Shaun (2009). "Neurophenomenology". In Bayne, T.; Cleeremans, A.; Wilken, P. (eds.). The Oxford Companion to Consciousness. pp. 470–472. ISBN 978-0-19-856951-0.
  3. ^ Laughlin, Charles (1990). Brain, symbol & experience : toward a neurophenomenology of human consciousness. Boston, Mass: New Science Library. ISBN 978-0-87773-522-9OCLC 20759009.
  4. ^ Varela, F.J. (1 April 1996). "Neurophenomenology: a methodological remedy for the hard problem"Journal of Consciousness Studies3 (4): 330–349.
  5. ^ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Phenomenology
  6. ^ Gallagher, S. and Zahavi, D. 2008. The Phenomenological Mind. London: Routledge, Chapter 2.
  7. ^ "Neuroscience"c.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 21 July2021.
  8. ^ Engel, Andreas K.; Friston, Karl J.; Kragic, Danica, eds. (2016). The Pragmatic Turn: Toward Action-Oriented Views in Cognitive Science. MIT Press.
  9. ^ Debate Between D. Chalmers and D. Dennett: The Fantasy of First-Person Science
  10. ^ Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Edmund Husserl
  11. ^ Carel, Havi; Meachem, Darian, eds. (2013). Phenomenology and Naturalism: Examining the Relationship between Human Experience and Nature. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107699052.
  12. ^ "Hubert Dreyfus 'Intelligence Without Representation: Merleau-Ponty's Critique of Mental Representation'". Archived from the original on 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2008-11-06.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Physicalism Is Dead Alternative views on the mind-body problem are becoming increasingly popular. Updated November 25, 2024 |

 Ref Psychology Today Blog  Key points The reductionist physicalist position entails that phenomenal consciousness does not exist. Scientist...