{"id":14001,"date":"2024-06-19T12:01:43","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T16:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/?p=14001"},"modified":"2024-06-20T22:04:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T02:04:42","slug":"latest-breakthrough-from-string-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/?p=14001","title":{"rendered":"Latest Breakthrough From String Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PRL has just published <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.aps.org\/prl\/abstract\/10.1103\/PhysRevLett.132.221601\">this paper<\/a> (preprint <a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2401.05733\">here<\/a>), with associated press release <a href=\"https:\/\/iisc.ac.in\/events\/iisc-physicists-find-a-new-way-to-represent-pi\/\">here<\/a>.  The press release explains that the authors have discovered how to use string theory to provide &#8220;an easier way to extract pi from calculations involved in deciphering processes like the quantum scattering of high-energy particles.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The press release has led to stories <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/home\/science\/discovery-iisc-physicists-stumble-upon-new-way-to-represent-pi\/articleshow\/111079808.cms\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newindianexpress.com\/states\/karnataka\/2024\/Jun\/19\/iisc-researchers-studying-string-theory-find-new-formula-for-pi\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/science\/iisc-physicists-find-a-new-way-to-represent-pi\/articleshow\/111082189.cms\">here<\/a>, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/skdh\/status\/1803288161000305079\">commentary from Sabine Hossenfelder<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As for applications of this, the press release refers to Positron Emission Tomography, while one of the stories linked above gives the more modest explanation of what this is good for:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The series found by IISc researchers combines specific parameters in such a way that scientists can rapidly arrive at the value of pi, which can then be incorporated in calculations, like those involved in deciphering scattering of high-energy particles, the release said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Update<\/strong>: This just gets more and more idiotic as the press stories multiply.  India Today now has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/science\/story\/indian-iisc-physicists-untangle-new-pi-series-that-could-change-maths-forever-2555611-2024-06-20\">Indian physicists untangle new pi series that could change maths forever<\/a>. It would be helpful if the people who issued this press release had some sense of shame and had it withdrawn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PRL has just published this paper (preprint here), with associated press release here. The press release explains that the authors have discovered how to use string theory to provide &#8220;an easier way to extract pi from calculations involved in deciphering &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/?p=14001\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-weeks-hype"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14001"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14011,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14001\/revisions\/14011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.math.columbia.edu\/~woit\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}