Quantum Test Found For Mathematical Undecidability

KentuckyFC writes "Philosophers have long wondered at the profound link between mathematics and physics, but how deep does this connection go? Pretty deep according to the results of a quantum experiment exploring the nature of mathematical undecidability. Here's how: any logical system must be based on axioms, which are propositions that are defined to be true. A proposition is logically independent from these axioms if it can neither be proved nor disproved from them; mathematicians say it is undecidable. In the experiment, researchers encoded a set of axioms as quantum states. A particular measurement on this system can then be thought of as a proposition which, if undecidable, yields a random result — which is what they found. 'This sheds new light on the (mathematical) origin of quantum randomness in these measurements,' say the researchers (abstract)."

Comments

Re:Sheesh

[gstoddart]

We use mathematics to quantify physics, but there is no "connection" between the two, except in the sense that we can count *anything* and say there's a connection.

No, really, they're serious.

The rules of math (which weren't so much invented as identified) seem oddly linked to the underlying physics. TFA mentions the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics -- it's not so much that we can count the physics with the math, it's that the math predicts things which should be true, and are subsequently proven to be. The existence of things like a negative square root in an equation have predicted the existence of things like anti-particles, and those particles have been found experimentally.

It's precisely the fact that the math isn't independent of the physics that is at issue here That's a very startling proposition because it goes well beyond simply counting what is, it means the same rules which define the math in the first place underly the physical mechanisms.

Cheers