Recreating the Big Bang with Metamaterials

Igor Smolyaninov at the University of Maryland has found a mathematical analogy between optical metamaterials and general relativity. Smolyaninov is researching a way to create metamaterials that reproduce the behavior of light in various kinds of spacetimes. He gives the example of a metamaterial which is a formal equivalent to a (2+2) spacetime with two dimensions of space and two of time. He uses a mathematical demonstration of an event in which a phase transition inside a (2+2) metamaterial leads to the sudden creation of a 2+1 spacetime (two dimensions of space and one of time) together with a large population of particles. Smolyaninov is describing an optical equivalent of the Big Bang in which a spacetime is created along with the particles to populate it.Learn more from Technology Review.Read Smolyaninov’s research.