THE QUANTUM DANCE OF SHIVA

Concept by Meghraj Tambaku, Art by Rahul Marathe and Interpretation by Nikhil Malhotra

On a Saturday night, this day on 19th September, I received a message from a very good friend of mine. The message opens up to the image which is the main image of the article. As the message reveals itself more, I see some more images and it feels as if I have entered a realm of meditation, a realm which is beyond the physical , and touching the quantum or the world of sub-atomic particles. I have always interpreted the world as a physicist. The world of physics, like my understanding has gone through several upheavals, from Newtonian determinism which gave an answer to every physical phenomenon and a formula, to the quantum world of sub-atomic particles which behaves in the most probabilistic way ever.

These images as I start downloading, tell me how the Vedic philosophers and Rishi Munis (Scientists of Yore) would have interpreted their universe. Did they go through the same conundrum as I go through or did they manage to solve the mystery of the universe, the quintessential questions viz, why are we here on this planet ? What makes life tick as we see it? and Is there a standard model of the universe? , But before I go through my interpretation of this canvas art, which has been so meticulously put down by my friends in the most abstract and seamless way, (a fusion of sorts where the ink reflects the state of a human mind), I must start with a brief history of the science that reflects all of it.

I wish to put a disclaimer that this purely my interpretation as I look at the world in this manner. The art is there for all to cherish and buy from the artist directly...

A Little History

It is essential to understand a little bit about the history of what triggered this Force in nature and you can blame it all on “Light”, yes “Light, which is both “Weird” and “Awesome” .

By the turn of the 19th century, Light was considered to be a wave. For the lay reader, a wave is when you drop a pebble in a pond and you see ripples in water like disturbances. It was proven by the famous Thomas Young’s experiment of double slits. Young took a light beam and directed it to double slit, as shown below. Light coming out of the slit was measured by a light detector , a plate at the end of the double slits. What Young observed were patterns of dark and light interspersed at the back. We all know this from our classical wave theory as a phenomenon called “interference” .We also know this from our practical life, when we throw a stone at a still pond and the patterns we observe. The patterns that exhibit interference, ensuring that water essentially dissipates in a wave like pattern

Well, this experiment essentially proved that light was a wave and it exhibited the usual wave like characteristics of “crests” and “troughs” when two or more waves collided which essentially caused the dark and light bands at the back of the double slits

Come 1900s, scientists observed another phenomenon, which was to become the precursor of yet another mystery in science. Scientists observed that when light was shined on a metal it emitted electrons. (Well no guesses here because a metal is made up of electrons and hence electrons help conduct electricity. It is for this reason that metals are good conductors of electricity).

 However, it was observed that only some kinds of light emitted electrons within some metals. The first thought was that since light is a wave and a wave has energy, it would take wave with an appropriate energy to dispel electrons. What this meant was whether the light source was far away or closer to the metal in question, it would enable the metal to release electrons. Well!! Surprise!! Surprise !!! nothing of this happened. It did not matter, how far or close the light source was, all it mattered was, what the wavelength of the light was.

It took no other than the brilliant young physicist Albert Einstein in 1905 to prove that light it its wake carried discrete packets of energy, called photons which dispelled electrons when they had the requisite energy. Photons carried these discrete packets of energy which were named “Quanta”. 

Einstein got his Noble prize in 1921 based on this theory. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Einstein did not get his Noble prize for “theory of relativity” but for the light effect called as “photoelectric effect”

In comes another brilliant scientist, Louise De Broglie who shakes the scientific community with his suggestion that goes like this

“If Light is a wave that can behave as particles, can particles behave as waves too”

Louie De Broglie was ridiculed by his professors. They were confused whether this guy was a nut case or a genius, but Broglie's social status as a prince did not allow his superiors to stop the paper. It took none other than Einstein to realize his genius. He was indeed right. In fact De Broglie went ahead to also duplicate the double slit experiment, but this time with electrons (as sub atomic particles)

The results were as De Broglie expected. When an electron beam was shined on a double slit used by Young, the effect seen at the Geiger counter at the plates was astonishingly the same as a wave. Electrons concentrated as particles with light and dark region. The wave and particle duality was confirmed. De Broglie even went ahead and calculated the wavelength of an electron to confirm his findings.

It was thus confirmed that light behaves as a particle and a wave and a duality law was established in nature. Edwin Schrodinger went ahead and even gave a wave function to each particle as below

This wave equation has a partial derivative and is the corner stone of all things in nature. The only component that comes out from this equation is the constant “h”. This constant is called as the Planck’s constant from the famous Max Planck .The significance of Planck's constant in this context is that radiation, such as light, is emitted, transmitted, and absorbed in discrete energy packets, or quanta, determined by the frequency of the radiation and the value of Planck's constant. Planck even had a number associated with this constant and that number is as follows

6.62607004 × 10-34 m2 kg / s

Yes, and the reason it is called a “constant:” is because it is a constant of nature. It is because of the Planck’s constant that quantum effects are only seen in subatomic particles. Had Planck’s constant been larger, we would have seen these effects in our classical world as well.

Fundamentally, the world exists in two formats, a classical world which we see and observe, wherever everything seems real but is a probability and the subatomic world where everything seems probabilistic but is real. In essence the nature of existence, the thoughts and beliefs are fundamentally probabilistic as proven by Maths.

[PS: Quantum theories have stood the test of time both mathematically and experimentally]

My Art interpretation

The reader after reading the history would be interested in finding more about the quantum world that exists, and I would try and humbly explain this via the art that I received from my friends. This is the way I interpret Shiva and his quantum dance. As my good friend Dr. Ruta Sawarkar and Dr. Vishal Sangle who are Vedic scientists commented as I gave them this art and interpretation

"Shiva , the Nirgun and ParaBrahman gets transformed in energy and matter !! Anti-matter is an avastha of transformations or Lay (dance) which is very volatile, undefined and cannot be anticipated. It is not bound by any physics rules of the classical world because it is neither matter nor actual energy , but it is simply beautiful . It resembles the ephemeral cycle of destruction and creation . Only meditation with a pure heart can see this"

Artifact 1

Shiva , the Nirgun is represented is by this first art. There are two ways to interpret this

Artistic Interpretation : The artist and the conceptualizer wished to see Shiva omni present at all times but at the same time they wanted to reflect this as an abstract idea, open to the entire world to see. If you notice the above art, you would see a broad outline of Shiva constructed from the the very fabric of physical things we see in the world , yet the world can interpret it differently .

My Quantum Interpretation: As I saw this, I was immediately reminded of the superposition of quantum particles. Particles can exist as both waves and particle in the sub-atomic realm, and these particles manifest themselves in different ways. Unless measured by a classical apparatus, particles do not leave their quantum state and continue to be in a wave like state. Shiva here is represented in the same way. The superposition is the principle which also is counter-intuitive to think as we computer scientists think of a bit being either 0 or 1 but in the quantum world, a bit can take both 0 and 1 value with some probability at the same time

Artifact 2

Artistic Interpretation : The dance of Shiva which is also the dance of destruction and creation as an ephemeral cycle.

My QI: The dance represents the dance between matter and anti-matter. There is more antimatter in the universe then there is matter. In fact the entire matter that we see including our solar system, the milky way and the galaxies accounts for only 4% of the entire matter of the universe. The remaining 96% is referred to as the dark matter (silly name as it cannot be seen), but what this represents is the ephemeral dance between the matter and the anti-matter and the four forces of nature that we know of, electrostatic force, weak and strong nuclear force and gravity

Artifact 3

Artistic Interpretation : Shiva is present everywhere even at the edge of our thought

My QI: I slightly digress here to explain the point from a scientific principle. In the old Indian mythology, the abode of Gods have been referred to as Mount Meru. Mount Meru starts at the equator and is an imaginary, non visible mountain that extends to the LEO (lower earth orbit of the planet and is also the central axis of the planet. This in scientific terms represent the magnetic force field effect of the planet earth. The earth as we know is a huge bar magnet. The motion of magna and molten matter in earth gives rise to magnetism of the planet and it is this magnetic field that keeps us safe from the stellar radiations. This is also the reason people up North can see Auroras or dancing lights . My interpretation of the Shiva is the Aura around the planet and the force field created by sub-atomic particles

Artifact 4

Artistic Interpretation : Shiva is entangled with the universe in his physical and meta physical form

My QI: Entanglement of sub-atomic particles. Possibly the most counter-intuitive concept of quantum physics , a concept which Einstein also regarded as a spooky principle at a distance was something I immediately envisioned when I saw this. let me try and explain this to a lay reader here

Most particles in the universe are made in pairs. These pairs because of some electrostatic transactions somehow entangle this particle. What does that mean? let us consider a property of the particle called a "spin", this spin denotes how a particle is spinning . Particles may be spinning clockwise or anti-clockwise and if particles are not observed, they can exhibit a superposition between these spins, which means that they may be spinning downwards sometimes and upwards sometimes. If you measure now, a particle may show it spinning up and if you measure the same particle after some time, you may see the particle spinning down. The state of the particle is a superposition between these spinning states.

Now there are two such particles which are entangled. What entanglement means is let us say without measuring one particle , I keep it in my pocket and I send the other in a box without measuring to Moon (some 100s and thousands of kilometers away). Now, if I measure the particle in my pocket and at that very time the particle shows a spin up, the other particle on moon almost instantaneously changes its state to show spin down. This effect is so spooky and counter intuitive as it explains the effect at a distance unfazed by space distance and the speed of light . Shiva in his meditative form also resembles the entanglement of the universe .

A good way to check this is the entanglement at a psychological plane each kid has with his/her mother. The mother instantly knows when you are in trouble unfazed by the distance and speed of light

Artifact 5

Artistic Interpretation : Shiva is at the heart of destruction and creation

My QI: The ephemeral cycle of the universe and also the big bang. The big bang has had several theories and possibly the best one that explains is the inflation theory. I also interpret this as the multiverse in which we live

Conclusion

My interpretation is purely based on my state of mind and this is because I interpret the world in a quantum physical manner being a quantum computing researcher. The reader however is free to interpret and meditate on the various states of Shiva.

MAY THE PSI(the trishul like component in Schrodinger wave equation which represents the wav function ) be with you.

OM NAMAH SHIVAY...................

If you are also interested in buying this art, please reach out to my friends Meghraj.Tambaku@gmail.com and Rahul-marathe2811@gmail.com