You may remember the hubbub that a Fermilab physicist caused last year when he started to investigate some strange results coming from the GEO600 gravitational wave experiment.
In a nutshell, GEO600 -- a mindbogglingly sensitive piece of kit -- started to detect what particle physicist Craig Hogan interpreted as quantum "fuzziness." This fuzziness, or blurriness on the smallest possible scales, could be interpreted as evidence for the "holographic universe" hypothesis.
ANALYSIS: Are We Living in a Hologram?
This hypothesis describes the 3-dimensional universe we live in as a projection from a 2-dimensional "shell" at the very edge of the universe. As with any projection, the projected "pixels" will become fuzzy the closer you zoom in on them. The quantum fuzziness GEO600 seemed to detect could be evidence for this projection effect. The Universe is therefore a hologram, so the idea goes.
Spurred on by the GEO600 results, Hogan is currently working on a project to build a "Holometer" at Fermilab to probe these quantum scales, hopefully shedding some light on what this fuzziness could be.
However, as announced this week, a space-borne European satellite that should be able to measure these small scales too, doesn't appear to be registering any quantum fuzziness. In fact, it has yet to detectanything quantum, indicating that spacetime's "graininess" is composed of quanta that a lot smaller than predicted -- and in my view, puts a question mark over the interpretation of the GEO600 results.
Read More: http://news.discovery.com/space/we-might-not-live-in-a-hologram-after-all-110701.html
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