Scientists Succeed In Mapping 248-Dimensional Object

A total of 18 mathematicians and computer scientists from several countries worked for four years to successfully map the inner working of E8—one of the most complicated structures in math, a 248-dimensional object.

"This groundbreaking achievement is significant both as an advance in basic knowledge, as well as a major advance in the use of large-scale computing to solve complicated mathematical problems." said project leader Jeffrey Adams, a mathematician at the University of Maryland.

The mapping of E8, according to researchers, may very well have unforeseen implications in mathematics and physics which won’t be evident for years to come.

The result of E8 and all its representations is 60 gigabytes in size, enough to store 45 continuous days of music in MP3 format.
In comparison, the Human Genome Project holding the entire genetic code of a cell is less than a gigabyte in size.


SOURCE:
LiveScience.com

Being that I'm not a mathematician, I really have no idea how difficult
this really must have been, but none-the-less it's impressive.

I am curious how this will be useful in the future.
I do wonder if perhaps security systems might in thefuture use multi-
dimensional computational locks as a security measure.


Comments, Opinions?

Indeed something like this is very complicated. I wonder how long it will be before they can make some proper use out of it for science.

Hey iori, I tried the link but it didn't work for me. I did however find this on the net:

Later mathematicians found five exceptions to the four classes of Lie groups that Lie knew about. The most complicated of the “exceptional simple Lie groups” is E8. It describes the symmetries of a 57-dimensional object that can in essence be rotated in 248 ways without changing its appearance.

From The NY Times

While I would be more willing to believe an article from a scientific source over the NY Times, I just couldn't the link you supplied to work

well i personally did some looking into 4 dimensional objects a while back and after about a page i just zoned out.
but a 248 dimensional object is crazy! 60gigs for it all :O

i cant even begin to wonder how this thing must look, if that is at all possible.

great find =P

can anyone explain why 248 dimensions, or is this just an arbitrary number that they set out to solve.

Originally posted by Distortion
can anyone explain why 248 dimensions, or is this just an arbitrary number that they set out to solve.

well, if you want to get really complicated this link will explain the lie group (and other dimensions). at least it has nice drawings even if you don't understand the maths. reminds me of spirograph drawings from my youth

for a simpler explanation, theres the wikipedia on e8

This is an image of the E8 Structure.



This is made up of nodes that look like this..



What is startling about this mathematical breakthrough is it holds true a founding concept of Loop Quantum Gravity (the Spin Foam Network) a unifying theory physics.

Unified theory
Adams and 17 other researchers solved the problem in a four-year project using a supercomputer at the University of Washington in Seattle. Their resulting map of E8 contains 60 gigabytes of information (see more on their website).

Mathematicians Map E8

“This is an impressive achievement,” said Nicolai. He adds that the unique structure of E8 might help in the quest for a unified theory of gravity and the other forces in nature. This is because the underlying symmetries of the unified theory, if it really exists, will have to be complicated and unique.

“It will require an extremely special structure, mathematically speaking,” says Nicolai, “and E8 is an example of a symmetry that might fit the bill.”

Source: New Scientist

All the best,

NeoN HaZe.


[edit on 20-3-2007 by Neon Haze]

Wow...
yep, there's one complexity in math no one person is intended to fully understand... unless of course you can out do 18 researchers, a supercomputer, and 4 years worth of work.

Even the highest of intellects can know what it's like to be outsmarted looking at things like this.

Anyhow, I'm not going to pretend I know what this will lead to for future research... so I'll leave the thread for anyone else who wants to look at this and say "wah".

Originally posted by johnsky
Even the highest of intellects can know what it's like to be outsmarted looking at things like this.

hehe lol no matter how smart you may be... There is always someone or something smarter

Anyhow, I'm not going to pretend I know what this will lead to for future research... so I'll leave the thread for anyone else who wants to look at this and say "wah".

There are many applications; the first I would say will be the construction of ultra complex computer algorithms. Something that may be very useful when applied to quantum computing.

But personally speaking the most exciting aspect of this for me is that it may describe accurately a level of knotting complexity within loop quantum gravity.

In other words this maybe a form of braid that accounts for previously undetected forms of matter....for example...

All the best,

NeoN HaZe.

[edit on 20-3-2007 by Neon Haze]

i thought we had 11 dimensions in our universe, how can this object exist on 248?

[edit on 20-3-2007 by IntergalacticHippy]

en.wikipedia.org...

Here is a good article.

sorry, but this sounds like a total waste of time.........wow, they mapped a 248 dimensional object, woop-dee-doo..

how about doing something more useful with math?

[edit on 053131p://454520 by porky1981]

You could not be more wrong. According to superstring theory, superstrings interact by the exchange of 248 massless gauge bosons - the gauge fields of the symmetry group E8. The universe is held together by and owes it properties to these 248 particles.

Here is the Tree of Life counterpart of the 248-dimensional E8 (largest of the exceptional groups). Consider a set of overlapping Trees of Life - the representation of 'Heavenly Man' that is at the heart of the Jewish mystical tradition called 'Kabbalah.' As a 3-dimensional object, the lowest of these Trees of Life consists of 19 triangles with 25 edges and 11 vertices. Imagine each triangle divided into three sectors and then each sector turned into the famous Pythagorean tetractys, the triangular array of 10 dots. Below the top of this tree are 248 dots other than the 11 vertices of the original triangles, which are called 'SLs' in the picture for reasons that don't need to be explained here. They comprise 240 dots belonging to the tree itself and eight dots below the top but belonging to the next higher tree (circles in the diagram denote dots behind other dots). The former correspond to the 240 roots of E8 and the latter correspond to its eight simple roots. In other words, the very symmetry group E8 describing superstring interactions is encoded in the geometry of the cosmic blueprint called the 'Tree of Life' in biblical Genesis.



E8 is the group symmetry chosen by nature/God to determine the physics of the universe. It is embodied in the Tree of Life, each of the 248 dots denoting a gauge boson whose virtual exchange between particles generates all the possible forces existing in nature - both past and present. This is one of the meeting points of physics and religion - proof that mathematics, physics and religion have a common ground in TRUTH. Many other examples can be found at my website at smphillips.8m.com...