A Scientist Says the Universe May Have a Memory of Its Own
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story:
A new hypothesis known as the Quantum Memory Matrix (QMM) could help explain some of the biggest mysteries of the universe, including the Black Hole Information Paradox.
The idea is that space-time itself holds a history of quantum information in 'memory cells.'
This is just one of many hypotheses that aim to explain the paradoxes that form when general relativity and quantum field theory collide.
Paradoxes can be scary things in science, as they almost always represent some fundamental misunderstanding of reality and the universe. However, paradoxes can also present opportunities—chances to re-examine what we know and forge previously unimaginable paths toward new understanding.
For example, the Fermi Paradox—which questions why there are so many extraterrestrial worlds, yet absolutely no signs of intelligent life—has pushed scientists to explore various reasons why the universe is so silent. Various temporal paradoxes, such as the Grandfather paradox, have allowed us to probe mind-bending concepts like the multiverse theory. And the same can be said for the Black Hole Information Paradox.
First formulated in the 1970s by physicist Stephen Hawking, the paradox boils down to the idea that black holes appear to destroy information (via Hawking radiation) over incredibly long timescales. However, quantum field theory suggests that quantum information cannot be destroyed, and instead must be conserved. This has led to several theories, including that information is somehow encoded onto the event horizon of the black hole itself and released within the Hawking radiation in a way we simply can't detect, or that it even travels to a completely different universe.
But for years, Florian Neukart—an assistant professor at Leiden University and the chief product officer at the quantum computing outfit Terra Quantum—has promoted another fascinating idea known as 'Quantum Memory Matrix,' or QMM. In a new article published in New Scientist, Neukart details how space-time itself could retain a 'memory' that recorded the history of the universe. In a sense, according to Neukart, space-time is a blanket of 'memory cells' that could not only solve the Black Hole Information Paradox, but could clarify other major space-time conundrums like dark matter.
'How can empty space hold information when there is nothing 'inside it' to change? The key is to realize that modern physics describes all particles and forces as excitations in quantum fields—mathematical structures that span space and time,' Neukart wrote in New Scientist. 'Space-time itself is, in principle, no different, and each of my cells of space-time would have a quantum state that can change. Imagine it as like a tiny dial or switch. There is also a more emergent kind of quantum information at play that describes the relationship of each cell to the others—this isn't held in any one cell, but in the sprawling network of relationships between them.'
In the Black Hole Information Paradox, for example, as an object moves through space, it interacts with these 'dials' of space-time that imprint information. When a black hole evaporates—a process that takes around 1068 to 10103 years—the surrounding space-time will remain.
'Information doesn't vanish after all,' Neukart said. 'It has been written somewhere we hadn't thought to look.'
Working with quantum computers to test this idea, Neukart said that they've extended the framework beyond gravity, insisting that QMM extends to all four fundamental forces of nature. Additionally, Neukart posited that the 'weight of information woven into space-time' could be an alternative explanation for dark matter—a weakly interacting form of matter that is one of the big missing puzzle pieces of the Standard Model.
For now, QMM is just another radical-yet-fascinating potential solution to a long-standing paradox. It could be be far from the truth, or closer to reality than we might expect, but it undoubtedly stands as evidence of paradoxes being roiling cauldrons of scientific creativity.
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