Yes, Chaos Can Create Order, New Experiment Shows

Quick Overview

The concept that chaos can create order is demonstrated by a recent experiment showing that random thermal fluctuations (Brownian motion) of nanoparticles can amplify the polarization of scattered light, leading to macroscopic correlations, suggesting that fundamental laws of nature, like those governing quantum mechanics and general relativity, which are based on simple symmetries (U(1), SU(2), SU(3)), might emerge from a more chaotic, underlying substrate.

Key Points: A recent experiment demonstrated that random motion (Brownian motion) of nanoparticles can lead to macroscopic correlations by amplifying the polarization of scattered light. The experiment involved shining linearly polarized light onto a glass container filled with nanoparticles, observing that the scattered light's polarization was amplified based on direction. This phenomenon suggests that the simple symmetries found in fundamental physics theories, such as the Standard Model (U(1), SU(2), SU(3)) and General Relativity (SO(3,1)), might emerge from a more chaotic, underlying substrate. The work by Foerster, Nielsen, and Ninomiya (1980) showed that the long-distance behavior of gauge theories is stable despite gauge noninvariant interactions at small distances, supporting the idea of order from chaos. The Penrose-Hameroff theory of consciousness posits that consciousness arises from quantum effects within brain microtubules, which physicist Sabine Hossenfelder argues is counterintuitive because quantum effects are typically washed out by chaotic environments. The video suggests that the random interactions observed in the experiment might explain how quantum effects could survive in the chaotic environment of the brain, potentially supporting theories like that of Penrose and Hameroff.

Context: The video features Sabine Hossenfelder discussing the concept of 'Order from Chaos,' specifically referencing a 1980 paper by D. Foerster, H.B. Nielsen, and M. Ninomiya which explored the dynamical stability of local gauge symmetry. Hossenfelder contrasts this with the idea that the fundamental symmetries underlying physics (like those in the Standard Model) are simple, while also touching upon the controversial Penrose-Hameroff Orchestrated Objective Reduction theory of consciousness, which relies on quantum effects surviving in the brain's chaotic environment.