Lifeboat Foundation

Close friend and coworker Thomas Hertog explores the groundbreaking physicist’s theories regarding the Big Bang’s beginnings on this, the sixth anniversary of Stephen Hawking’s passing.

I was appointed as Stephen Hawking’s PhD student in 1998 “to work on a quantum theory of the Big Bang.” Over the course of about 20 years, what began as a doctoral project evolved into a close collaboration that came to an end only six years ago, on March 14, 2018, when he passed away.

The mystery that drove our investigation during this time was how the Big Bang could have produced conditions that were so ideal for life. How should we interpret this enigmatic display of intent?

Engineers at Stanford University have successfully combined AI and holographic imagery to develop the augmented reality headset of the future.

A man who married a hologram of his favourite fictional character has found himself no longer able to communicate with his virtual wife.

Holograms preserve all of an object’s 3D information, but on a 2D surface. Could the holographic Universe idea lead us to higher dimensions?

Professor Junsuk Rho from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering, Hyunjung Kang and Nara Jeon, PhD candidates, from Department of Mechanical Engineering and Dongkyo Oh, a PhD student, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) successfully conducted a thorough quantitative analysis. Their aim is to determine the ideal printing material for crafting ultraviolet metasurfaces.

Their findings featured in the journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering (“Tailoring high-refractive-index nanocomposites for manufacturing of ultraviolet metasurfaces”).

Diagram illustrating the composition of nanocomposites for ultraviolet metasurface fabrication. (Top) Diagram illustrating the ZrO 2 nanocomposite’s role in achieving high transfer fidelity ultraviolet metaholograms. (Bottom) Comparison of UV holograms under various solvent conditions. (Image: POSTECH)

An Ongoing Meta-analysis of Gravitational Wave Signals may soon Prove that Space Remembers: permanent memory imprints in spacetime may soon be detected, which will be a validation of Nassim Haramein and our research team’s prediction that space has the property of memory, in which we described how the informational imprint of memory in space is what holographically generates time—that is to say that 4D spacetime is a hologram of a 3D voxel information network—as well as ordering properties underlying dynamics of organized matter. The gravitational wave memory effect is a prediction of general relativity, and physicists have devised a test of this interesting spacememory effect via a meta-analysis of gravitational wave detector data. The presence of memory effects in gravitational wave signals not only provides the chance to test an important aspect of general relativity, but also represents a potentially non-negligible contribution to the waveform for certain gravitational wave events. As well, memory properties of space will have far-reaching implications, from probing theories of quantum gravity and unified physics to potential applications in telecommunications technologies.

In science fiction, holograms are used for anything from basic communications to advanced military weaponry. In the real world, 3D holographic displays have yet to break through to everyday products and devices. That’s because creating holograms that look real and have significant fidelity requires laser emitters or other advanced pieces of optical equipment. This situation has stymied commercial development, as these components are complex and expensive.

More recently, research scientists were able to create realistic 3D holographic images without lasers by using a white chip-on-board light-emitting diode. Unfortunately, that method required two spatial light modulators to control the wave fronts of the emitted light, adding a prohibitive amount of complexity and cost.

Now, those same scientists say they have created a simpler, more cost-effective way to create realistic-looking 3D holographic displays using only one spatial light modulator and new software algorithms. The result is a simpler and cheaper method for creating holograms that an everyday technology like a smartphone screen can emit.

It might sound like something from science fiction, but the holographic principle might help us answer the biggest problem in modern physics.

In an experiment reported in the journal Nature, physicists have achieved a remarkable feat by creating the world’s first quantum holographic wormhole. The experiment delves into the profound connection between quantum information and space-time, challenging traditional theories and shedding light on the complex relationship between quantum mechanics and general relativity.

The team, led by Maria Spiropulu from the California Institute of Technology, utilized Google’s quantum computer, Sycamore, to implement the groundbreaking “wormhole teleportation protocol.” This quantum gravity experiment on a chip surpassed competitors using IBM and Quantinuum’s quantum computers, marking a significant leap in the exploration of quantum phenomena.

The holographic wormhole emerged as a hologram from manipulated quantum bits, or “qubits,” stored in minute superconducting circuits. This achievement brings us closer to realizing a tunnel, theorized by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen in 1935, that traverses an extra dimension of space. The team successfully transmitted information through this quantum tunnel, further validating the experiment’s success.