Physics professor awarded one of five 2022 summer research grants from Lipscomb
Lipscomb funds professor’s study based on emergent spacetime research.
From staff reports |
Each year, Lipscomb University awards up to six grants to allow faculty to focus on research and scholarship during the summer. Past grants have benefitted the development of new courses, the writing of books and poetry, innovative research in chemistry and biology and programs to enhance Lipscomb’s relationship within the national and international community.
Dr. Michael Watson
In 2022, five faculty were awarded grants to conduct projects adding to humanity’s knowledge base. Among them were Dr. Michael Watson, professor of physics, who studied “Computation Simulation of Quantum Entanglement Binding between Spacetime Regions.”
This summer Watson is gathering the initial data to study quantum entanglement of spacetime.
Watson’s investigation is based upon emergent spacetime research. Current research proposes that the connectivity of space emerges from the strength of the quantum entanglement between regions. Watson and the student researchers will work on understanding this relationship in order to codify the entangled connections between multiple “spacetime particles.” The purpose of simulating the connections will be to investigate how spacetime emerges as a function of particle number, coupling strength and connectivity density. The simulation may allow investigation into other emergent properties, e.g. pressure, internal energy, etc.
“Entanglement may provide a means to draw regions together, but what makes them spread apart? The regions cannot overlap, does this imply a separation pressure between regions? These are a couple of the questions that I wish to explore in this project,” said Watson.
Watson’s student research assistants for the project were Jocelyn Howland and Soren Thompson.
Read more about Watson’s work with the eighth most powerful supercomputer in the world.