A beautiful solution of the gravitational 4-body problem. But keep watching, because it's not stable!https://twitter.com/simon_tardivel/status/1215728659010670594 …
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0:16Show this thread -
John Carlos Baez Retweeted Simon Tardivel
This solution of the 3-body problem is stable, apparently:https://twitter.com/simon_tardivel/status/1215726342421041152 …
John Carlos Baez added,
0:45Simon Tardivel @simon_tardivelLa 2eme particularité... C'est que c'est stable ! Si on n'est pas exactement sur les bonnes conditions initiales des particules, et bah on va quand même voir le même comportement. Et ça, c'est vraiment étrange, voyez plutôt. Vous comprenez ce qu'il se passe ? pic.twitter.com/j8xBpMkkusShow this thread9 replies 97 retweets 475 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @johncarlosbaez
i’m not sure which is more surprising: that this is stable or that the other one suddenly isn’t!
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Replying to @tim_hosgood
If I knew enough physics I'd have some intuition for when these orbits are stable, but I don't.
2 replies 0 retweets 10 likes -
Replying to @johncarlosbaez
Perhaps the universe is also trying to find out whether galaxies are stable.
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Replying to @PulkkinenEsa
The current accepted wisdom is that stars will gradually "boil off" and leave galaxies as individual stars randomly happen to pick up enough velocity. Galaxies should be gone in around 10^19 years. Thermodynamically, galaxies are unstable.
1 reply 2 retweets 6 likes -
Replying to @johncarlosbaez @PulkkinenEsa
An interesting question is whether on that time scale, civilizations inevitably arise that can harness power and engineer on galactic scales. Life, after all, is also a natural phenomenon. So maybe 'bare galaxies' are unstable, but inevitably evolve into something quite alien.
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Replying to @Pinboard @PulkkinenEsa
I hope that life thrives on galactic scales. We're having plenty of trouble managing one planet so far, but we're learning.
2 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
There;'s something about the gap between modeling galaxies as gravitationally interacting point masses, and a potentially complex self-modifying system, that tickles my brain, but I can't find better expression for it than "woo aliens". Thanks for all you're doing on our planet!
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