AI Comes Up with Bizarre Physics Experiments. But They Work.
1 min read
Summary
Artificial intelligence is helping physicists design experimental equipment to test theories in quantum mechanics and gravity.
Software designed for laser interferometers used in detecting gravitational waves has discovered previously overlooked design elements that can improve sensitivity.
For instance, an AI program created machines that were more effective than the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) instrument, which is sensitive enough to detect ripples in spacetime caused by colliding black holes.
Physicists are also training AI programs to spot hidden patterns in data from the Large Hadron Collider, which smashes particles together to reveal the secrets of the universe.
Patterns that would be invisible to humans have been spotted in the cosmic rays fired out during collisions that could reveal new forces or particles.
AI is also being used to try to devise new tabletop experiments.
