Physicists have long grappled with the mystery of space-time. What is it and where did it come from? How did its geometric structure, as described by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, emerge?
Physicists have long grappled with the mystery of space-time. What is it and where did it come from? How did its geometric structure, as described by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, emerge?
According to Einstein, gravity is the warping of space-time at macroscopic scales like those of galaxies, planets and everyday objects. But what are gravity and the geometry of space-time at the smallest scales?
Many physicists suspect a deep connection between space-time geometry and quantum entanglement. They are using mathematical “tensor networks” to think geometrically about quantum information.
According to this idea, space-time arises out of a series of interlinked nodes in a complex network. Entangled particles form the nodes at the deepest level of the network, and the nodes combine to form new nodes at higher levels.
If two quantum particles are entangled, measuring the state of one particle instantly reveals the state of the other. It is this entanglement, some physicists say, that binds the network together and gives rise to the structure of space-time.
