Twitter: @_PhysicsFM_ • @PhysicsMystic
Site: frontiers.physicsfm.com
74 episodes
2016 to present
Average episode: 44 minutes
Open in Apple Podcasts • RSS
Categories: Physics • Two Hosts
Podcaster's summary: Jim Rantschler and Randy Morrison discuss physics from elementary particles to cosmological effects at the limits of our theoretical knowledge or have recently emerged.
| Episodes |
| 2023-Aug-20 • 67 minutes Episode 75: Categorical Probability and the Measurement Problem Jim talks with Nick Ormrod and V. Vilasini about their use of categorical probability theory to a... |
| 2023-Jul-09 • 50 minutes Episode 74: Stochastic Thermodynamics with David Wolpert Jim talks with David Wolpert about the non-equilibrium behavior of computation, what it means for entropy, and how it relates to traditional thermodynamics.Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/74 |
| 2023-Jun-18 • 61 minutes Episode 73: Quantum Money with Jiahui Liu Jim discusses quantum money with Jiahui Liu. Quantum money is a linchpin of quantum cryptog... |
| 2023-Apr-23 • 74 minutes Episode 72: Born Rule and Gravity with Antony Valentini Jim talks with Antony Valentini about the difficulties of interpretation of quantum mechanics in ... |
| 2023-Feb-19 • 46 minutes Episode 71: Primordial Graviton Background Jim talks with Sunny Vagnozzi about using the Primoridial Graviton Background to rule out all inf... |
| 2022-Dec-18 • 47 minutes Episode 70: Path Integrals and Entanglement with Ken Wharton Jim talks with Ken Wharton about how to describe entangled states as sums over histories of parti... |
| 2022-Nov-20 • 43 minutes Episode 69: The Flavor Puzzle with Joe Davighi Jim talks with Joe Davighi of the University of Zurich about the flavor unification at high energ... |
| 2022-Sep-26 • 51 minutes Episode 68: Quantum Resource Theories with Gilad Gour Jim talks with Gilad Gour of the University of Toronto about quantum resource theories. The... |
| 2022-Aug-14 • 35 minutes Episode 67: Optical Gravity with Matthew R. Edwards Jim talks with Matthew R. Edwards about his theory of Optical Gravity. This is a Le Sage mo... |
| 2022-Jun-26 • 30 minutes Episode 66: The Limit of General Relativity with James Owen Weatherall Jim talks with James Owen Weatherall about his work on viewing general relativity as an effective... |
| 2022-May-22 • 65 minutes Episode 65: Causality, Time and the Experiment Paradox with Michal Eckstein Jim talks with Michal Eckstein of the Copernicus Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies about ho... |
| 2022-Apr-24 • 29 minutes Episode 64: Born's Rule with Blake Stacey Jim talks with Blake Stacey about recent attempts to replace Born's rule. Born's rule is th... |
| 2022-Mar-20 • 44 minutes Episode 63: Gleason's Theorem with Blake Stacey Jim talks with Blake Stacey about Gleason's Theorem, a foundational topic in the foundations of q... |
| 2022-Feb-13 • 39 minutes Episode 62: Deformed Special Relativity Jim and Randy talk about how special relativity might be amended to incorporate a minimum length ... |
| 2021-Oct-31 • 43 minutes Episode 61: Dark Stars Jim and Randy talk about alternatives to black holes without event horizons or singularities.Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/61 |
| 2021-Sep-12 • 43 minutes Episode 60: Warp Bubbles Randy tells Jim about developments of metrics describing isolated spacetime bubbles that could, possibly, move faster than light.Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/60 |
| 2021-Jul-05 • 49 minutes Episode 59: The Hubble Crisis Randy and Jim discuss the current tension between measurements of the Hubble constant by different methods, and some attempts to resolve the issue.Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/59 |
| 2021-Jun-06 • 38 minutes Episode 58: Phantom Matter Jim and Randy talk about the Higgs portal to dark matter and the nightmare scenario for particle physicists: what if the LHC never saw any traces of supersymmetric particles? Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/58 |
| 2021-May-02 • 26 minutes Episode 57: Quantum Effects in Gravitational Waves Randy and Jim talk about two proposals to use gravitational wave interferometry to show that gravitons exist through noise measurements. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/57 |
| 2021-Apr-01 • 45 minutes Episode 56: Anomalous Magnetic Moment of the Muon Jim and Randy discuss the measurements of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon and some of the ways in which the discrepancy between theory and experiment could manifest themselves in new physics. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/56 |
| 2020-Dec-07 • 38 minutes Episode 55: Multiversality Jim and Randy discuss the rationales for multiverses based on quantum mechanics, string theory, and the anthropic principle. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/55 |
| 2020-Oct-18 • 45 minutes Episode 54: The ANITA Experiment Randy and Jim talk about the strange results of the ANITA experiment: tau neutrinos that seem to come up out of the Earth. Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/54 |
| 2020-Aug-17 • 41 minutes Electromagnetic Gravitational Repulsion Randy tells Jim about ways in which electromagnetism reduces the gravitational attraction caused by a body. |
| 2020-Jul-08 • 38 minutes Sterile Neutrinos Jim and Randy discuss the hypothesis of sterile neutrinos, neutrinos that are even more ghostly than neutrinos that are dark matter candidates. |
| 2020-Jun-10 • 38 minutes Gravitational Wave Astronomy Jim and Randy talk about gravitational waves. |
| 2020-May-03 • 38 minutes X17 Jim and Randy discuss a possible "fifth force," the hypothetical X17 particle that has been seen in several experiments. Erratum: The g-2 of the muon was shown to be off by 1 part in 500,000 in 2001 at Brookhaven. It may not be in there, I'm not sure how much of that I cut out. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/50 |
| 2020-Apr-04 • 40 minutes The Unruh Effect Jim and Randy discuss the apparent creation of quanta seen by comparing the viewpoints of relatively accelerating observers -- the Unruh Effect. (There is a little noise that shows up on Randy's track half way through - I did my best) Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/49 (links to papers, podcasts, and more!) |
| 2020-Jan-19 • 40 minutes The Gertsenshtein Effect Randy introduces Jim to the Gertsenshtein effect, the conversion of gravitational waves to electromagnetic waves through resonances. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/48 |
| 2019-Nov-24 • 47 minutes Bimetric Gravity Randy introduces Jim to Sabine Hossenfelder's bimetric theory of gravity. In this gravitational theory, there are two types of matter whose only interaction is through gravitation. However, each one reacts to space-time differently, resulting in different metric tensors for each. In low-curvature situations, this creates a kind of anti-gravitation. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/47 |
| 2019-Sep-22 • 45 minutes Wigner's Friend Randy and Jim discuss experiments that purport to show that there is no such thing as objective reality. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/46 |
| 2019-Aug-16 • 44 minutes Loop Quantum Gravity Jim and Randy discuss loop quantum gravity, and integration of quantum mechanics and gravity that quantizes space-time itself through the use of uncertain quanta of volumes and the random connections between them. |
| 2019-Jul-16 • 48 minutes Spooky Action at a Distance Jim and Randy discuss experiments that put a minimum superluminal speed of communication between parts of a wavefunction. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/44 |
| 2019-Jun-06 • 34 minutes The Positive Energy Theorem Randy introduces Jim to a refutation of the positive energy theorem in a universe with a cosmological constant. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/43 |
| 2019-May-04 • 36 minutes Entropic Gravity Jim and Randy discuss Eric Verlinde's theory thermodynamic theory of gravity. This theory purports to explain gravitational attraction and inertia through statistical mechanics. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/42 |
| 2019-Feb-24 • 33 minutes The Chameleon Field Randy and Jim discuss the chameleon field -- a way to model dark energy with a scalar boson of varying strength. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/41 |
| 2018-Dec-23 • 53 minutes The Octonions Randy tells Jim about a way to use an extension of an extension of the complex numbers to reveal the nature of elementary particles. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/40 |
| 2018-Dec-09 • 36 minutes Negative Effective Mass Randy tells Jim about experiments with Neutrons and Photons in materials that exhibit negative effective mass. Not only do these effects show that the inertial mass of quasiparticles in a material can become negative, they show that these negative mass quasiparticles act like they have negative gravitational mass, as well. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/39 |
| 2018-Nov-25 • 44 minutes The Dimensionality of Space-Time Jim discusses why the world we observe is 4-dimensional with Randy. We discuss anthropic and fundamental reasons why we need 3 dimensions and no more than one time dimension for reasons of complexity, predictability and stability. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/38 |
| 2018-Oct-30 • 35 minutes The Einstein-Cartan Torsion Field Theory Randy explains to Jim theories on how to incorporate a native angular momentum into general relativity. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/37 |
| 2018-Oct-15 • 42 minutes The Metamaterial Stress Tensor Randy tells Jim about recent results in the description of the electromagnetic stress tensor in metamaterials. In particular, we discuss the efforts to computationally model the stress tensor in amorphous metamaterials. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/36 |
| 2018-Sep-22 • 42 minutes The String Theory Landscape Jim and Randy explore the landscape of string theory in the anthropic manner put forward by Leonard Susskind. Show Notes: http:frontiers.physicsfm.com/35 |
| 2018-Aug-10 • 32 minutes CPT Symmetry and Gravitation CPT Symmetry is a fundamental symmetry in the standard model. Jim and Randy discuss what happens when it is applied to general relativity. Show Notes: frontiers.physicsfm.com/34 [Really sorry for the muted tracks on the first upload. The problem has been fixed. - J] |
| 2018-Jul-25 • 35 minutes Retrocausality Jim and Randy look at how quantum mechanics is affected by time. Most importantly, what happens when temporal boundary conditions are used to create standing waves in the wave function of a particle? Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/33 |
| 2018-Jul-07 • 47 minutes Tunneling Time Jim talks to Randy about the amount of time it takes for an electron to tunnel through a forbidden region of space. Astoundingly, how quickly this happens has been a subject of debate for eighty years and is still unresolved. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/32 |
| 2018-Jun-08 • 42 minutes Post-Newtonian Gravitation Jim discusses the Parameterized Post-Newtonian formalism with Randy. The PPN framework is a general, linearized metric theory of gravity that can simulate all metric theories of gravity and compare them to solar system sized experiments. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/31 |
| 2018-May-24 • 46 minutes The Consistent Histories Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Jim and Randy discuss the consistent histories interpretation of quantum mechanics. The brainchild of Robert Griffiths and with a surprisingly strong set of supporters, Consistent Histories seems to be a strong, logical description of what happens in the quantum world. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/30 |
| 2018-May-16 • 47 minutes Gravitational Alternatives to Dark Energy Jim and Randy discuss how modifications to general relativity can be used to mimic the effects of dark energy. They discuss various forms of gravitational theory that can do the job, as well as the field particles that mediate their "fifth force." Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/29 |
| 2018-Apr-25 • 41 minutes The Quantum Vacuum and the Casimir Effect Jim and Randy review two very convincing papers that make the claim that the Casimir effect is due to materials fluctuations and not the zero point energy. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/28 |
| 2018-Apr-15 • 46 minutes The Gravitational Equivalence Principles Jim talks to Randy about the different ways in which the equivalence principle of general relativity can be formulated. More than just the equivalence of accelerations, the different possible meanings of the equivalence principle mean different things about how gravity works. From weak to strong, from Einstein's equivalence principle to Schiff's conjecture, the implications of these theories are explored. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/27 |
| 2018-Mar-25 • 40 minutes Antimatter Production at a Potential Boundary Randy shows Jim an idea for generating antimatter using the Casimir effect that doesn't require a collider. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/26 |
| 2018-Mar-16 • 58 minutes Gravitational Field Propulsion Randy introduces Jim to several ways in which people have theorized that gravity can be used to propel an object through space. The slingshot effect is the only proven method here, but people have found many ways that theoretically could induce propulsion taking advantage of non-commutative motions in space-time, negative inertia, artificially-induced gravitational dipoles, and creating bubbles in space-time. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/25 |
| 2018-Feb-24 • 25 minutes The Island of Stability Randy tells Jim about the island of stability: a theoretically predicted oasis of stable nuclear isotopes that researchers keep getting nearer and nearer to discovering. Randy and Jim talk about what they are, how researchers are trying to produce the isotopes, and the theoretical methods that predict their existence. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/24 |
| 2018-Feb-09 • 73 minutes Dark Energy Randy helps Jim get a handle on Dark Energy. Why do we need it? What could it be? What does it have to do with you? How close are we to knowing anything about it? Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/23 |
| 2018-Jan-22 • 37 minutes Weyl and Quasiparticles Jim and Randy discuss quasiparticles recently found in condensed matter systems that mirror particles theorized nearly a hundred years ago, but never found in the vacuum. Weyl particles are massless fermions, and once it was hoped that neutrinos would turn out to be this kind of particle, and Majorana fermions have real-valued wave functions and therefore many strange and possibly useful properties. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/22 |
| 2018-Jan-11 • 39 minutes The Origin of Inertia Randy tells Jim about a scheme that uses Mach's Principle - the idea that there is a preferred background frame with respect to the fixed stars - to explain the origin of inertia. Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/21 |
| 2017-Dec-22 • 62 minutes Time Crystals Jim talks to Randy about structures that are periodic in time like crystals are periodic in space. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/20 |
| 2017-Dec-06 • 45 minutes The 2T Physics of Itzhak Bars Randy tells Jim about a theory that complements other theories of fundamental physics based upon a phase space symmetry between the 4-position and the 4-momentum of a particle. The upshot of the theory is that there should be a second time dimension and a fourth space dimension, both macroscopic in extent, and the physics we see are 4D projections from the larger 6D space-time. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/18 |
| 2017-Nov-24 • 44 minutes The Physics of Time Travel Randy and Jim talk about traveling through through time, discussing relativity and, in particular, Kurt Goedel's solution for closed timelike curves in General Relativity. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/17 |
| 2017-Nov-06 • 38 minutes Stochastic Resonance Energy Harvesting Randy tells Jim about ways in which external vibrations can be used to do useful work in large-scale devices. These processes look at have happens when bistable systems (e.g., a bent cantilever) are subjected to random forcing from the environment. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/16 |
| 2017-Oct-21 • 47 minutes Five Proven Methods of Levitation Randy shows Jim five different ways in which a body can be levitated: by magnetism, by superconductors, by Lenz' Law, by acoustics, and most recently by thermophoresis. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/15 |
| 2017-Oct-04 • 50 minutes Stochastic Electrodynamics Randy explains Stochastic Electrodynamics to Jim, the theory that vacuum fluctuations are the cause of quantum mechanical behavior. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/14 |
| 2017-Sep-14 • 26 minutes Exotic Photon Trajectories in Quantum Mechanics Jim and Randy discuss strange trajectories observed in triple slit experiments with metallic plates. Photons seem to pass through one slit, come back through the middle slit, and out the third due to their interactions with surface plasmons. There are implications in this experiment about the way in which wavefunctions need to be interpreted in non-relativistic quantum mechanics. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/13 |
| 2017-Aug-20 • 41 minutes A Gravitational Arrow of Time Jim and Randy discuss a cosmological theory that purports to find an explanation for the arrow of time in gravitational theory based on the shape and distribution of matter and how it evolves. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/12 |
| 2017-Jul-16 • 37 minutes Photonic Molecules and Optical Circuits Randy tells Jim about photonic molecules, pairs of photons that create bound states like molecules do through a force mediated through an ultracold gas and similar ideas in optical circuits. They also discuss application of the same for quantum computing. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/11 |
| 2017-Jul-01 • 48 minutes Requirements for Alternative Gravity Theories In this episode Jim and Randy talk about how to evaluate alternative gravity theories. What sort of things do we want them to explain, what experiments do they have to predict, and what theoretical requirements do they have to meet. This is in some ways a continuation of Episode 9 - f(R) Theories of Gravity, but the discussion is relevant to all attempts to amend gravitational theory. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/10 In the program, Randy talks about the outline I sent him. I put that up ... |
| 2017-Jun-02 • 37 minutes f(R) Theories of Gravity Jim and Randy discuss gravitational theories that modify general relativity by changing the action using a polynomial dependence on the Ricci scalar. Although not physically motivated, some of these theories produce effects similar to those of dark matter, dark energy, and cosmological constants. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/9 |
| 2017-Apr-27 • 48 minutes Vacuum Fluctuations and the Casimir Effect Jim and Randy discuss how vacuum fluctuations produce the van der Waals forces and the Casimir effect. Van der Waals forces are factors in atomic bonds and the Casimir effect produces an attractive force between nanoscale objects. The claim is that vacuum fluctuations -- the production and annihilation of particle-antiparticle pairs -- are the underlying reason for both effects. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/8 |
| 2017-Mar-14 • 51 minutes Virtual Gravitational Dipoles Randy discusses what the Cosmological implications of a negative gravitational mass would be with Jim. If there were a negative gravitational mass (as opposed to inertial mass), then every time that an electron-positron pair was created in the vacuum, that would create a gravitational dipole. This in turn would create effects similar to dark matter, dark energy, and a cosmological constant -- and this in turn would have an effect on the origin of the universe. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/... |
| 2017-Feb-14 • 50 minutes General Relativity for the Experimentalist Randy shares some of his favorite papers with Jim: papers on general relativity by engineer and science fiction author Robert L. Forward on how general relativity could be used in a terrestrial environment, including proposals for devices and materials. These papers are "General Relativity for the Experimentalist" and "Guidelines to Antigravity." Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/6 |
| 2017-Jan-20 • 58 minutes Pilot Wave Hydrodynamics Randy and Jim discuss a physical analogy to quantum mechanics consisting of a droplet of fluid bouncing off of the waves in a similarly composed fluid that were generated by the droplet's own bounces. The analogy is very close to the de Broglie-Bohm interpretation of quantum mechanics. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/5 |
| 2017-Jan-05 • 48 minutes Phononics Randy tells Jim about the emerging field of Phononics: using quantum particles of heat in materials for information processing in advanced materials. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/4 |
| 2016-Dec-06 • 41 minutes Gravitoelectromagnetism Randy talks to Jim about gravitoelectromagnetism. Based on the similarity between Newtonian gravity and electrostatics, there should be a second gravitational field,the gravitomagnetic field. What are the implications of the existence of such a field, and how large are those effects? Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/3 |
| 2016-Nov-15 • 31 minutes The de Broglie-Bohm Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Jim talks to Randy about the pilot wave interpretation of quantum mechanics, which separates the particle and wave behavior of a non-relativistic quantum particle into that of a particle moving in and exciting a quantum mechanical medium. Show notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/2 |
| 2016-Oct-31 • 44 minutes G4V: Four Vector Potential Gravitation Randy talks to Jim about Carver Mead's G4V, a formulation of gravitation combining the equivalenc... |