Quantum Physics 123: Monday 10 October

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[The Doctor doesn't look rumpled today, nor unprofessional, but if you look at his face long enough, you can see every single year of his life in his eyes.]

Right, I trust you had a pleasant Homecoming weekend. But it's time to get back to work. We had another great discussion last Wednesday, other than the descent into toasters. I'll hope for something half as good today, when you're exhausted.

[He passes back homework. Everyone got at least a C.]

Let's talk about divergence today, and the concept of alternate universes. Many people believe that at certain points in history--focal points--the timeline splits, diverges, and continues in two places where there are different outcomes to the focal event.
Of course, this concept is dependent on time existing in a line, when, at least in my experience, time travellers make it into a tangled, vaguely knot-like mass. But alternate lines do seem to exist, despite how much sense it seems to make.

Have you heard about or experienced alternate timelines? What do you think about the way timespace is set up? Let's discuss this in class. Then I want you to write a short synopsis of your personal ideas as compared to others in the room, for Wednesday.

Comments

[the4thsister.livejournal.com]

"Doctor I wondering if I might speak to you when you're next free. Geoff's started me thinking about time travel and I figure I should talk to you about it? Would that be ok?"

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[He looks at her...very, very tired.] Email me, Ms Matthews.

[the4thsister.livejournal.com]

Paige nods, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to bother you."

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

So, we shouldn't talk about toasters, but discussing how heavy drinking helps understand time travel mechanics is perfectly okay? ::snicker::

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[a weak smile] If it's about time travel, I'm willing to hear it in my class.

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

::smile::

Just teasing, sir. But, can you please clarify this whole "Alternate Universe" thing?

I mean, cause are they really "Alternate", or are they just "different"? Cause I think with the varied backgrounds of all the students here, we know that different universes exist, right?

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

[He nods.] Yes. But sometimes there are different universes, and sometimes they're alternate, when things are very, very similar up to a certain point, and then radically diverge.

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

::scratches her forehead::

So, like... maybe there's a universe out there exactly like this one, only we're all puppies?

Oooh, or maybe somewhere there's a set of Colonies where the Cylons look like us? ::laugh:: That'd be weird.

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

[OOC: *wishes not_an_ex_demon was in this class and could bring up a universe without shrimp.]

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

((loves you all over the place))

[cyloninmyhead.livejournal.com]

*looks sharply at Cally*
*quickly looks away*

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

"I haven't experienced alternate dimensions but, with this wormhole thing I'm working on, I'm theorizing that that little blue highway might have the ability to open up doorways to alternate realities where things are the same but different. My biggest concern is, always, if I end up in some alternate reality and there's another John there, can we both exist?"

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

::laugh::

I'm sure you'd get a long fine with yourself. Unless you're talking about some weird physics-go-boom thing happening.

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

"Well, I might get along with myself but I'm more thinking of an interruption of an alternate universe by displacing some sort of thread by showing up. Say, if this universe is meant for only one John Crichton, and not Cam even though he looks like me, what would happen if another Crichton showed up and tipped that scale, interrupted that thread?"

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

So, you're saying a universe couldn't handle two of you?

I could handle two of you. Not that I've thought about that. In that way.

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John grins cockily. "Maybe. But, what I'm really saying is would a balance of some sort be interrupted if two John Crichton's were in one universe, one from an alternate reality, when the balance of said universe only provided for one John Crichton?"

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

Actually, yes, Mr Crichton...

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John nods.

"That's what I thought. The balance would be off therefore causing some kind of disruption in the universe and that universe's timeline."

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Basic e=mc2, right? Matter cannot be created or destroyed. So if a you from this universe met a you from this universe, then the universe is suddenly... heavier than before. But if a you from an alt met you, then the alt-you was created in another universe, so the balance is okay.

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

Well, I guess if the universe was specifically meant for only one, yeah. The balance would be disrupted, and... well... what exactly does a universal balance do, anyways? Cause I think I need to know that before I speculate on what happens when it breaks.

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

It doesn't DO much of anything on its own, Ms Cally. It merely maintains the status quo of not too much weird. When something goes wrong, that's when you know about it.

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

So, we should just be really careful where we travel, then? Cause otherwise we might end up meeting ourselves and the whole world crumbles to dust?

...that'd suck.

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

Well, a you from an alternate universe wouldn't necessarily cause problems. A you from the same universe, but older or younger, would.

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

Well, you're the one who's actually done this sort of thing, right?

So... has it ever happened to you?

[bluemanoncampus.livejournal.com]

As I said in an earlier class period, I am not personally aware of time travel in my reality. However, there was a reasonably popular movie that came out in the 1980s called Back to the Future that explored the concept of a self-correcting timeline that tried to "erase" a time traveler who accidentally disrupted the courtship of his parents before they were married and had him.

Now, according to the reading I've done, I believe that the "space" that contains realities could be best described by analogy. If we theoretically collapse the three spatial dimensions into a single point and represent the mono-flow of time as a straight line, branching timelines could be easily accomodated in a larger 3-dimensional timevolume. Mathematically speaking, a 3 dimensional fractal created with a 1-dimensional object could fit inside such a timevolume without any of the branches intersecting each other. An infinite number of rays can extend from a single point, after all.

This only works with regards to universes that share a common history and physics set, of course. Universes where the laws of physics are radically different or void with regards to each other cannot, obviously, be branched alternates.

[sparkplugfelix.livejournal.com]

::attempts to look studious::

[littleluck.livejournal.com]

*Domino wanders in, takes one look at the chairs in the room, and decides she'll spend the entire class standing. She sets her notebook on the desk next to Cally's and eyes the clock impatiently*

[lady-jessica-bg.livejournal.com]

(ooc: mun is not alert enough to know what's going on.)

Jessica pretends to pay attention, although her mind is elsewhere.

[soniabelmont.livejournal.com]

(OOC: Mun has had less than three hours of sleep in as many days, and as such cannot even *think* about time/space theory or physics of any sort.)

Sonia has a large cup of coffee in hand, and attempts to take notes, but is simply too tired to contribute much to the discussion.