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Netflix’s “The 3-Body Problem” is based on a science fiction trilogy and follows a group of physicists.
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We asked an astronomer and an aerospace engineer to explain some of the show’s scientific concepts.
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Fermi paradox and Wow! It might be helpful to know a little about it. Signal before watching.
The upcoming Netflix show “The 3-Body Problem” is a science fiction story about a group of physicists grappling with the discovery of an alien civilization.
Named after a challenging orbital mechanics (three celestial bodies moving around each other), the series is based on Liu Cixin’s science fiction trilogy “Remembrance of the Earth’s Past”.
Several of the main characters in the series studied physics at Oxford University. Luckily, you don’t have to have the same background to enjoy the show.
However, before moving on to March 21, there are a few scientific concepts that may be useful to know.
The three-body problem is unsolvable and chaotic
Some of the action in the series takes place in a virtual world revolving around three suns. The celestial mechanics of such a planet have long puzzled real-world scientists.
“This is an age-old problem,” Shane Ross, a professor of aerospace and ocean engineering at Virginia Tech, told Business Insider.
Isaac Newton managed to solve the two-body problem, how a pair of massive objects such as stars or planets move when affected by each other’s gravity.
“The two-body problem is kind of an example of stability,” Ross said. But the addition of a third body turns everything upside down.
From a mathematical perspective, the three-body problem is “unsolvable,” Ross said. “You can’t write the solution of all times as an algebraic formula.”
It’s a bit like the butterfly effect: A small change can dramatically change the outcome. “Any uncertainty we have in the initial conditions grows exponentially to the point where the future state of the system becomes essentially unpredictable.”
Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to Earth
The three-body system in the story is based on a real neighboring star system called Alpha Centauri.
It is the closest star system to our own, about 4 light-years from Earth, and contains three stars: Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B and There are two planets orbiting Proxima Centauri.
“We’re talking about something very close to us,” said Franck Marchis, senior planetary astronomer at the SETI Institute. “It’s basically like looking into the neighbors’ backyard.”
But on both planets around Proxima Centauri, special conditions must exist for life, at least as we know it, to survive. “Living conditions are extremely rare,” Ross said. “I think Earth is a very special planet,” he adds, “and there may be life that takes another form that we don’t know about.”
If a civilization from Alpha Centauri evolved at a rate similar to ours, Marchis said, then “they are probably more advanced than we are”; because the age of the system was estimated to be between 5 and 7 billion years old, while the Earth’s solar system was 4.5 billion years old. Years ago.
The Fermi paradox raises the question: Where are all the aliens?
If there are highly advanced beings on other planets, why haven’t they contacted them? That’s the question astrophysicist Ye Wenjie asks when bringing up the Fermi paradox on the show.
In 1950, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi was wondering where all the extraterrestrials were. Decades later, other scientists answered this question. If other civilizations existed, they must have left some evidence.
According to Marchis, what is known as the Fermi paradox is an outdated way of thinking. “The idea is that because we are a technologically advanced civilization, the first thing we do is travel through the galaxy, ‘Star Trek’-like,” he said.
He prefers the “zoo hypothesis” instead.
If they were truly advanced, he said, “they probably have attained a certain sensitivity or consciousness that makes them more respectful of other civilizations that are advancing.”
In short, they consciously avoid contact with our planet.
Aliens Wow! They may have communicated through. signal
One of the most mysterious potential alien communications is Wow! signal. On the show, Clarence (Benedict Wong) explains how the strange signal was captured in Ohio and China.
In the 1970s, researchers at Ohio State University really got involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI. They used a radio observatory nicknamed the “Big Ear” to try and receive extraterrestrial communications.
In 1977, volunteer Jerry Ehman was looking at a computer printout of the signal Big Ear had received three days earlier. He circled the numbers and said, “Wow!” Wrote. next to them. The 72-second signal was strong and located at a frequency known as the hydrogen line.
At the time, researchers thought aliens would communicate via that frequency because “it was the easiest way to send signals across the galaxy,” Marchis said.
The signal was never repeated or detected again, Marchis said. (And no other observatory in China or anywhere else reported receiving the signal.)
Since the signal itself was not recorded, it was not possible to know whether it contained a message, Marchis said. More prosaic explanations for the signal have been proposed, such as a radio emission reflected from a passing comet.
Marchis said SETI has come a long way since the ’70s, with many researchers using newer technology and a wider range of signals. “We assume that if aliens are communicating with us, they are a little more advanced than humans were in the 1970s,” he said.
Occam’s razor suggests simple explanations are often better
Like many science fiction films and shows before it, including “Contact” and “Fringe,” “The 3 Body Problem” references Occam’s razor.
In 1852, philosopher Sir William Hamilton coined the term “Occam’s razor”, attributing the idea to the 14th-century theologian William of Ockham.
William of Ockham wrote: “Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate” or “Pluralism should never be asserted without necessity.” This is an idea also noted by Aristotle and Ptolemy.
The well-known concept today is often expressed as “the simplest solution is usually correct”. The oft-cited example is this: If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras (unless you’re in the savannah).
Neutrino detectors are built deep underground
The trailer for the show includes a dramatic shot of one of the characters stepping into what looks like a neutrino detector and presumably falling to his death.
Neutrinos, also known as ghost particles, are subatomic particles formed by the sun and the sun. supernova create. Billions of dollars pass through your body at any given time.
Similar to particle accelerators, the devices could help unlock some of the secrets of the universe. They are usually built underground to protect against cosmic rays that could interfere with data.
The arrangement of three celestial bodies side by side is called syzygy.
In the third episode of the show, the three suns in the virtual world line up in a triple eclipse.
Ross noted that the show will begin on the vernal equinox, a “cosmically significant day.” “This is the day when day and night are equal all over the world,” he said.
It is also close to the upcoming solar eclipse, a path of totality that covers much of North America.
“This means the Sun, Moon and Earth are all in line,” Ross said. “When three celestial bodies align exactly, it is called syzygy.”
Read the original article on Business Insider