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submitted 5 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 30 points 5 months ago

There are geometrical objects called spinors which are basically vectors with a half spin. Interestingly, they were introduced before we realized they could describe spin of electron and other particles like it. Sometimes a purely theoretical mathematical concept suddenly turns out to be describing very real things.

[-] egerlach@lemmy.ca 6 points 5 months ago

So quarks are möbius strips? Got it. 😛

[-] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 2 points 5 months ago

What you've got there is string theory

[-] egerlach@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 months ago

Wait, how close is that to true? Does string theory really just boil down to "quarks are möbius strips"?

[-] psud@aussie.zone 2 points 5 months ago

I feel like it was a joke; I don't think Moebius strips are at all relevant to string theory

Most of this stuff is really not amenable to language, and can only really be understood in the mathematics that physicists use

[-] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 1 points 5 months ago

Not specifically Möbius strips, but the main premise is that all elementary particles are in fact strings in high dimensional space, and all of their unique properties come from the way those strings are shaped and moving.

Maybe there would be a particle that corresponds to a string tied in a Möbius loop, for all I know.