New Delhi: The mathematical puzzles that the great mathematician Srinivas Ramanujan solved 100 years ago are still surprising the world of science. In the year 1914, Ramanujan had written some formulas for ‘Pi’ which were considered only pure mathematics at that time. But now after a century, scientists of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have made a shocking revelation. He has found that these formulas of Ramanujan were not just a game of numbers. Rather, they have a direct connection with ‘black holes’ and quantum physics. Scientists are surprised to see that at that time the theory of black holes was not even formulated properly. At that time Ramanujan was unknowingly working on the same mathematics which is being used today to understand the biggest mysteries of the universe.
That diary of 1914 and 17 magical formulas
- It is the year 1914. Srinivasa Ramanujan was preparing to go to Cambridge from Madras (now Chennai). He had a notebook in his hand. In this notebook, 17 different ‘infinite series’ formulas were written to find the value of ‘Pi’ (1/π).
- These formulas were far ahead of their time. The mathematicians of that era had methods to calculate the value of pi. Ramanujan’s formulas were much faster and more accurate than his. In just a few steps, these formulas could give the exact digits of pi.
- Even today, even after 100 years, their influence continues. In today’s era, powerful supercomputers calculate the value of Pi. He follows these ideas of Ramanujan.
- Professor Aninda Sinha of IISc’s Center for High Energy Physics (CHEP) says, ‘Today scientists have calculated up to 200 trillion digits of Pi using the Chudnovsky algorithm. But these algorithms are actually based on the work of Ramanujan.
It was not just mathematics, it was a treasure of physics.
Professor Aninda Sinha and her colleague Faizan Bhat (a former IISc PhD student) were not just interested in how fast these formulas were. They wanted to know how Ramanujan created these formulas? And do they exist only in copy-books or do they have any meaning in the real world too?
Scientists stopped seeing Ramanujan’s mathematics as just an abstract theory. He started exploring its connections in the physical world i.e. our physical world. Sinha says, ‘We wanted to see whether the origin of his formula matches any physics phenomenon. Is there a physical world where Ramanujan’s mathematics manifests itself?’ And his discovery led him to a very complex theory.
The world of black holes and Ramanujan’s connection
The search of IISc scientists took them to ‘Conformal Field Theory’. And especially till ‘Logarithmic Conformal Field Theory’. Now you might be wondering what the hell is this?
- If understood in simple language, this theory explains those systems which have ‘scale invariance’. That is, no matter how much you zoom-in or zoom-out to see something. That system looks the same. Or his behavior does not change.
- The best example of this is water. At a certain temperature and pressure it becomes difficult to differentiate between water and steam. This is called critical point. Here water behaves in a way which can be explained by this theory.
- Exactly similar behavior is seen in black holes and in the initial stages of turbulence. Scientists found that the mathematical structure of Ramanujan’s Pi formula and these modern physics theories are exactly the same.
Ramanujan is still showing the way to the world even after 100 years of his death, the biggest mystery of space is being solved with his formula. (Symbolic picture made with the help of AI.)
Ramanujan unknowingly revealed the secret of the universe
Research has found that the calculations of these complex theories can be made much easier by using Ramanujan’s formula. This will help scientists to understand difficult things like black holes and turbulence.
The surprising thing is that perhaps Ramanujan himself did not know what he was doing. Faizan Bhat says, ‘In any beautiful piece of mathematics you always get a glimpse of a physical system. Ramanujan’s motive was probably only mathematical. But unknowingly, he was writing the mathematics of things like black holes and turbulence.
This discovery shows that Ramanujan’s mind was beyond the limits of time and space. Without any knowledge of modern physics, he had prepared those structures which are the basis of cosmology today.
The path to the future will now be easier than 100 years old thinking
