Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation
Silas R. Beane, Zohreh Davoudi, Martin J. Savage
(Submitted on 4 Oct 2012 (v1), last revised 9 Nov 2012 (this version, v2))
Not related to this article/Não relacionada ao artigo
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.
Comments: 14 pages, 3 figures
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph); High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE); High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat); High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th); Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
Report number: NT@UW-12-14; INT-PUB-12-046
Cite as: arXiv:1210.1847 [hep-ph]
(or arXiv:1210.1847v2 [hep-ph] for this version)
Submission history
From: Martin J. Savage [view email]
[v1] Thu, 4 Oct 2012 20:06:02 GMT (245kb,D)
[v2] Fri, 9 Nov 2012 19:07:18 GMT (246kb,D)
