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Like many mathematically inclined teenagers, I was charmed when I first read the book Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott.* It’s a story about a Sphere who visits a two-dimensional world and tries to awaken its inhabitants to the existence of a third dimension. As perceived by Flatlanders, the Sphere is a circle which appears as [...]
A match made in heaven. If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? The answer was obvious to my 12-year-old self — of course it made a sound. More specifically, something ranging from a thud to a thump. There [...]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2DXrs0OpHU?vq=hd720&rel=0&showinfo=0] by Jorge Cham You might think the title is a little exaggerated, but if there's one thing I've learned from Theoretical Physicists so far, it's to be bold with my conjectures about reality. Welcome to the second installment of our series of animations about Quantum Information! After an auspicious start describing doing the impossible, this [...]
Faculty, Quantum Information
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKFecm9NKbM?vq=hd720&rel=0&showinfo=0] by Jorge Cham. Ok, this is where things get weird. If quantum computers, femtometer motions or laser alligators weren't enough, let's throw in fractionalized electrons, topological surfaces and strings that go to the end of time. To be honest, the idea that an electron can't be split hadn't even occurred to me before my conversation with Gil [...]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zD1U1sIPQ4?wmode=transparent&autohide=1&egm=0&hd=1&iv_load_policy=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&showsearch=0] by Jorge Cham How do you make something that has never existed before? I often get suggestions for comics I should draw, which I welcome because A) I like to think of PHD Comics as a global collaborative effort and B) after 17 years, I'm almost out of ideas. This particular suggestion came from Chen-Lung [...]
The benefits of Caltech's proximity to Hollywood don't usually trickle down to measly grad students like myself, except in the rare occasions when we befriend the industry's technical contingent. One of my friends is a computer animator for Disney, which means that she designs algorithms enabling luxuriously flowing hair or trees with realistic lighting or [...]
Last Friday the 13th was a lucky day for those who love physics --- The online html version of Volume 1 of the Feynman Lectures on Physics (FLP) was released! Now anyone with Internet access and a web browser can enjoy these unique lectures for free. They look beautiful. Mike Gottlieb at Caltech on [...]
Most readers of this blog already know that when it comes to physics, I am faking it. I am a mathematician, after all, and even that is a bit of a stretch. So, what force of nature could convince me to take graduate level Quantum Mechanics during my years of pursuing a doctorate in Applied [...]
This blog has made the terrible decision to ask me to do more regular posts. Well, before trial and error catches up with me, let’s have some fun together… As young single Caltech graduate students, we have become accustomed to making hearts race with our science. We turn measurements and derivations into heart palpitations. While this [...]