How circuits simulate hyperspace geometry
Physicists have created a virtual crystal with four spatial dimensions that acts as a topological insulator
— a material that conducts electricity on only its outer boundary. To
do so, the team wired up connections among electrical circuits to
simulate those in a four-dimensional (4D) crystal. (Just as cubes have
six square faces, hypercubes have eight cubic ‘faces’ — so when
hypercubes are stacked in 4D, each one is in contact with eight
neighbours.) A similar scheme could extend to even more dimensions of
space, leading to the observation of new phenomena. “There are
suggestions that some really cool things could happen in 5D and 6D,”
says theoretical physicist Hannah Price. Exotic topological insulators
could find applications in future quantum computers.
Physics World | 3 min read
Source:
Nature Communications paper
