In the Altes Museum in Berlin stands a boy with his arms raised to the heavens. Aside from the right heel, which is slightly arched, this ancient Greek statue is almost perfectly symmetrical. Did the sculptor impose this balance for purely artistic reasons?
Hermann Weyl thought not. We are drawn to symmetry, said the German mathematician, because it governs the very order of the universe.
In the early 20th century, Weyl helped to uncover symmetry – and, by extension, beauty – as the bedrock of modern physics. Here, it means far more than visual balance. It means that nature behaves the same way in different places, at different times and under countless other changes. Symmetry explains why energy cannot be created or destroyed, and even why many things exist at all. No wonder Weyl thought it had a metaphysical status. Symmetry, he said, “is one idea by which man through the ages has tried to comprehend and create order, beauty, and perfection”.
Today, most physicists are chasing ever-greater symmetry in ideas such as supersymmetry and string theory. But is it really as sacred as it seems? A slew of recent results suggests the universe has a deeper law: a preference for extreme levels of the strange quantum phenomenon known as entanglement. If borne out, it would mark a profound shift in our understanding of reality, from one governed by geometric perfection to one shaped by a ghostly interconnectedness of things. . ."
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