Secrets of Universe conceived in the 100 years old equation of Ramanujan
A new study reveals that Srinivasa Ramanujan’s century-old formulas for calculating pi unexpectedly emerge within modern theories of critical phenomena, turbulence, and black holes. In school, many of us first encounter the irrational number π (pi) – rounded off as 3.14, with an infinite number of decimal digits – when we learn how a circle’s circumference relates to its diameter. Since then, computing power has advanced enormously, and modern supercomputers can now determine trillions of digits of this constant. Researchers at the Centre for High Energy Physics (CHEP), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have now shown that some of the purely mathematical formulas created a century ago to calculate pi are closely linked to present-day fundamental physics. These old formulas reappear in theoretical models used to study percolation, turbulence, and certain aspects of black holes. The trail leads back to 1914. Just before leaving Madras for Cambridge, the renowned Indian mathematician Sri...