"GOD AS A MATHEMATICIAN" - AVIK DUBEY

“I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon. I want to know his thoughts, the rest are details”- Albert Einstein

“An equation for me has no meaning unless it expresses a thought of God”- S.Ramanujan.

The mind of God we believe is cosmic music, the music of strings resonating  through 11 dimensional hyperspace. That is the mind of God.

Some people ask questions “of what good is math?” what is the relationship between mathematics and physics? Well, sometimes math leads. Sometimes physics leads. Sometimes they come together because, of course, there’s a use for the mathematics. For example, in the 1600s Sir Isaac Newton asked a simple question: If an apple falls then does the moon also fall? That is perhaps one of the greatest questions ever asked by a member of Homo sapiens since the six million years, ever since we parted ways with the apes. If an apple falls, does the moon also fall?  

                                                       

                                                                

Isaac Newton said yes, the moon falls because of the Inverse square law. So does an apple. He had a unified theory of the heavens, but he didn’t have the math to solve the falling moon problem. So what did he do? He invented calculus. So, calculus is a direct consequence of solving the falling moon problem. In fact, when you learn calculus for the first time, what is the first thing you do? The first thing you do with calculus is you calculate the motion of falling bodies, which is exactly how Newton  calculated the falling moon, which opened up celestial mechanics.

So here is a situation where math and physics were almost conjoined like twin brothers, born together for a very practical question, how to calculate the motion of celestial bodies? Then here comes Einstein asking a different question: what is the nature and origin of gravity? Einstein said that “gravity is nothing but the byproduct of curved space”. So why am I sitting on this chair? A normal person would say, “I’m sitting on this chair because gravity pulls me to the ground.” But Einstein said no, there is no such thing as gravitational pull; the earth has curved the space over my head and around my body, so space is pushing me into my chair. So to summarize Einstein’s theory, gravity does not pull; space pushes. But, you see the pushing of the fabric of space and time requires differential calculus. That is the language of curved surfaces, differential calculus.

So again, here is a situation where math and physics were very closely combined, but this time math came first. The theory of curved surfaces came first. Einstein took that theory of curved surfaces and then imported it into physics.

Now we have string theory. It turns out that 100 years ago math and physics parted ways. In fact, when Einstein proposed Special Theory of Relativity in 1905, it was also around this time, the birth of topology took place, the topology of hyper-dimensional objects, e.g., spheres in 10, 11, 12, 26, (or whatever dimension you take). Thereby physics and math parted ways. Math went into hyperspace and Mathematicians said to themselves, aha! Finally we have found an area of math that has no physical application whatsoever. Mathematicians pride themselves on being useless. They love being useless! It’s a badge of courage being useless and they said the most useless thing of all is- a theory of differential topology and higher dimensions.

Well, physics plotted alone for many decades. Physicists worked out atomic bombs, stars, laser beams etc but recently they discovered String theory, and String theory exists in 10 and 11 dimensional hyperspace. Not only that, but these dimensions are super. They are super symmetric. A new kind of numbers that mathematicians never talked about evolved within string theory. That is how physicists call it “super string theory”. Well, the mathematicians were floored. They were shocked because all of a sudden out of physics came up with new math, super numbers, super topology, and super differential geometry.

All of a sudden physicists had super symmetric theories coming out of physics that then revolutionized math, and so the goal of physics we believe is to find an equation perhaps no more than one inch long will allow us to unify all forces of nature and allow us to read the mind of God. And what is the key to that one inch equation?  Super-symmetry, a symmetry that comes out of physics, not mathematics, has shocked the world of mathematics.

But you see, all this is pure mathematics and so the ultimate resolution could be that God is a mathematician.

The main motivation for this writing is the interesting mysterious night sky –when I was a kid wonderer about all stars (till now) and the systems of universe i.e. what magic behind the thing keeps the equilibrium of universe? The another motivational reason is “The Man Who Knew Infinity”- a genius Indian mathematician Dr. Srinivasa Ramanujan (Great mathematician of 20^th century). A  Hollywood film made on his biography that is very inspiring if you have not watched it …then doesn’t be late. Dr. Hardy became a cherub and a good mentor for Sir Ramanujan who gave him the opportunity to show the world a real genius.

                                                                                   

Once Dr. Hardy told him that he wanted to see the papers of Ramanujan beside the Sir Isaac Newton’s “Principia Mathematica” and  that was happened ……….. in 1976 a “lost notebook” was discovered containing groundbreaking new formulas from the last year of Ramanujan’s life. The importance of which was compared to the discovery of Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony. A century later these formulas are being used to understand the behavior of black holes. At the age of 32 he was died during of his illness and he believed that all the formulas of mathematics belonged with the mind of God.

                                  References: - 1. Hyperspace – Dr.Michio Kaku.

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