Move over, Plato
Geometry’s answer to the atom: shapes that can’t be broken down into smaller shapes. These “edgeless” shapes are described rather as “flow”, and a unique flow pattern makes a shape an atom.
“Mathematicians are creating their own version of the periodic table that will provide a vast directory of all the possible shapes in the universe across three, four and five dimensions, linking shapes together in the same way as the periodic table links groups of chemical elements.
The researchers, from Imperial College London and institutions in Australia, Japan and Russia, are aiming to identify all the shapes across three, four and five dimensions that cannot be divided into other shapes.”
Calabi Yau
“The scientists will be analyzing shapes that involve dimensions that cannot be ‘seen’ in a conventional sense in the physical world. For example, the space-time described by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity has four dimensions – the three spatial dimensions, plus time.
String theorists believe that the universe is made up of many additional hidden dimensions that cannot be seen. They have already figured out how to turn flowing, higher dimensional shapes into differential equations. The Calabi-Yau manifold represents the 10 dimensions of string theory. A similar mathematical method is being used to search for unique shape “atoms”. There are hundreds of millions of potential shapes to examine, but researchers expect to find a few thousand atoms amongst them.”
They’re quite beautiful, but the static images are only part of the story. There are a few animations on the web of these shapes in motion. For shapes that are defined as “flow” the motion seems important. Yet no matter how we view these shapes, for our eyes they’re always going to be merely the illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional plane. We aren’t going to experience them in five dimensions.*
* Bucket list:
1. Experience the Calabi Yau in all ten dimensions.