New Kinds of Mathematical Models

Speaker: Edward Fredkin, Carnegie Mellon

When: October 1, 2009 (Thu), 03:30PM to 04:30PM (add to my calendar)

This event is part of the HEE Seminar Series.

Abstract:
Eugene Wigner wrote an essay: “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences.” There are new clues towards understanding Wigner’s puzzle. Interesting relationships have been discovered between theoretical physics and certain new kinds of mathematical models: discrete dynamical systems that are extraordinarily simple, always exactly reversible yet based on Gaussian integer arithmetic (computed with round-off or truncation errors). The focus of this talk will be on various illustrative physical systems where the models themselves surprise us by their simplicity and amazing stability. Examples will include the use of Gaussian Integers representing the dynamic state of Newtonian models and the amplitudes of quantum processes.