Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation

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Abstract

Observable consequences of the hypothesis that the observed universe is a numerical simulation performed on a cubic space-time lattice or grid are explored. The simulation scenario is first motivated by extrapolating current trends in computational resource requirements for lattice QCD into the future. Using the historical development of lattice gauge theory technology as a guide, we assume that our universe is an early numerical simulation with unimproved Wilson fermion discretization and investigate potentially-observable consequences. Among the observables that are considered are the muon g-2 and the current differences between determinations of alpha, but the most stringent bound on the inverse lattice spacing of the universe, b^(-1) >~ 10^(11) GeV, is derived from the high-energy cut off of the cosmic ray spectrum. The numerical simulation scenario could reveal itself in the distributions of the highest energy cosmic rays exhibiting a degree of rotational symmetry breaking that reflects the structure of the underlying lattice.

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Lorentz invariance and quantum gravity: an additional fine-tuning problem?

Luis Eduardo Urrutia, Daniel Sudarsky, Alejandro Colsa Perez … (2004)

Trying to combine standard quantum field theories with gravity leads to a breakdown of the usual structure of space-time at around the Planck length, 1.6*10^{-35} m, with possible violations of Lorentz invariance. Calculations of preferred-frame effects in quantum gravity have further motivated high precision searches for Lorentz violation. Here, we explain that combining known elementary particle interactions with a Planck-scale preferred frame gives rise to Lorentz violation at the percent level, some 20 orders of magnitude higher than earlier estimates, unless the bare parameters of the theory are unnaturally strongly fine-tuned. Therefore an important task is not just the improvement of the precision of searches for violations of Lorentz invariance, but also the search for theoretical mechanisms for automatically preserving Lorentz invariance.

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Light Hadron Masses from Lattice QCD

Zoltán Fodor, Christian Hoelbling (2012)

This article reviews lattice QCD results for the light hadron spectrum. We give an overview of different formulations of lattice QCD, with discussions on the fermion doubling problem and improvement programs. We summarize recent developments in algorithms and analysis techniques, that render calculations with light, dynamical quarks feasible on present day computer resources. Finally, we summarize spectrum results for ground state hadrons and resonances using various actions.