#put a physics major and engineering major in one room and the plot of gravity falls will ensue

[mouseshift]

just realized ive never drawn them in college . a crime really

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 115: Adventures in Light Distortion

”There's no time.”

Steven recently had a really long day. It began with checking out an art exhibit at the barn, and ended in a spaceship grappling with his mother’s dark and secret past. It had its moments, like fusing into Smoky Quartz, but all in all it was life-changingly bad. It’s not fair that another such day has come for him so soon, but here he is.

We don’t have a moment to waste as this follow-up to Steven’s Dream opens, because every second spent on Earth is a second where Greg is speeding further from it. Steven is already blaming himself for the abduction, adding a more personal sense of rush to the affair. The irony is that while Blue Diamond’s actions aren’t his fault, the guilt he harbors causes serious mistakes that are his fault. But considering the dire circumstances, who could blame him? 

Even the exposition here is swift and economical, as Garnet gives Amethyst and Pearl the lowdown on our last episode and Pearl dusts off her old Pearlsplaining cap from Season 1 to tell us about the Zoo. As is standard to this show, we learn important plot details while developing the character relaying them: in this case, on top of being a great showcase of Pearl’s nerves (“Amethyst, turn into a chair, I need to sit down!”), we add new wrinkles to her past. Her terror is informed by how anxious she was at seeing the palanquin in Steven’s Dream, and that brief moment of her eyes darting away from “When I still served...Homeworld” speaks volumes. We’ll go into more detail later about the implications of the Zoo and Pink Diamond’s efforts to help Earth through half-measures before going full Rose, but for now, it’s a terrific beat in retrospect that Pearl only knows where Greg was taken because she served the creator of his new prison.

With the Gems all caught up, we get straight to business prepping for takeoff, and it’s here that Steven makes his first two mistakes. First, he brushes off Peridot, the planet’s most qualified expert in modern Gem space travel. He doesn’t even invite her along, despite how obviously helpful she would be. Impatience trumps any sense of caution, and while it doesn’t make much sense for him to leave a helpful ally behind even in his frazzled state, her inability to grasp the importance of the situation (mixing serious travel concerns with pointless aesthetic quibbles) perhaps makes her a liability in his mind. Regardless, his second mistake is even bigger when it comes to his personal life, and it also involves leaving someone behind.

Yes, there’s no time to waste. So no, he probably shouldn’t have waited for Connie. He even tasks her with defending Beach City, showing that he does value her as a fighter as well as a friend. By itself, this probably wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But alongside his second foray into space down the line, it’s understandable that Connie starts to think that Steven doesn’t take her as seriously as he should. While there’s truth to that, the bigger issue is that Steven thinks that he alone should bear the burden of his perceived mistakes, and while it’s only hinted at now, that sense of martyrdom only gets worse as his guilt grows. This is a throwaway moment in the episode, but has major ramifications down the line.

And then we’re off! I’m honestly not into the gag of Pearl still not getting that 70 years is a long time for humans—it works early on, such as in Space Race, but she definitely would know better by now—and it’s joined by her not knowing the word for “birthday” despite several episodes introducing her to the concept. She’s grown a lot, and at times the show doesn’t seem to want to reflect this when an easy joke can be made. But at least she’s good at winding her way through a variety of space rocks, including tiny sentient ones.

Upon remembering the whole reality warping element of modern Gem space travel, Steven makes another hasty decision in boosting the speed, despite acknowledging that it might kill him. I mean, he makes a joke about how syrup can go with his new pancaked form, but it’s still an acknowledgment that self-sacrifice is a badge he’s proud to wear. And while it’s obviously a good thing that he survives, it can’t be healthy for his self-image to be proven right when he takes actions that might hurt or kill himself to help others.

Perhaps not wanting to delve too deeply into that topic quite yet, we get an extended comedy bit about the weird distortions the Gems face as physics gets wonky, as well as a small lesson about how light constructs work (complete with unusually cartoony diagrams, such as the one above comparing heights). I’m surprised by how effective the humor is; it’s not riotously funny to me or anything, but considering the stakes it really ought to feel annoying and in the way, and it works just fine. Part of the reason is that there’s nothing else to do while we’re waiting for the ship to arrive, so nothing feels interrupted. But I also appreciate it because it finally starts to show how destructive Steven’s rashness can be.

Activating the gravity engine was a choice that was reckless, but made sense: Steven needed to get to his dad in fewer than 70 years. But frantically pressing buttons he doesn’t understand to fix the Gems, instead of letting a more experienced hand figure it out, is almost frustratingly dumb. I say “almost” because it’s crystal clear by now that Steven is losing it, and the sight gags of our growing and shrinking Gems can’t hide that something is going to go wrong. When it inevitably does, and Steven is alone for the first time since Greg’s abduction, all that manic energy collapses into the grief he’s been trying to put at bay.

After the little visualized diagrams and the distorting forms of the Gems, we get an even more impressive animation-exclusive sequence: the striking use of onion skinning to convey the mindbending speed of the ship. Together with the ruby red lighting and the immediate disappearance of the Gems’ bodies, the tone lurches from one form of alarm to another. What was once a frenzied dash to fix things becomes a life-threatening race against the clock, and allows for one of the best performances of Zach Callison’s tenure on the show.

Steven has panicked before, but the greatest asset of this episode is Callison’s ability to crank it up a notch and sell the sheer stupefying terror of not knowing what to do in a crisis. He’s amazing throughout the episode as he practically hyperventilates his lines without delving into overdramatic emoting, but his despair as he’s left all alone on a doomed ship is heartwrenching.

It takes a strong performer and good, earnest writing to make a scene like this work, because verbally laying out all of your problems could come across as just telling instead of showing, and openly weeping can falter in any number of ways. It could’ve been melodramatic, it could’ve been overly childish, it could’ve been incoherent, and instead it’s a raw and moving outburst of sorrow after an episode where huge tears were a reaction to danger instead of emotion.

It’s also a great choice to follow up this moment of anguish with quieter determination. Instead of narrating his newfound resolve as he tries again to turn off the warp speed, this time eventually succeeding, the sequence is wordless and tense. Steven doesn’t need to tell us why he’s trying so hard, and after such a strong speech there’s no need to gild the lily when visuals work on their own.

The return of the Gems coincides with the return of regular light and animation, creating a palpable sense of relief despite it being sort of a given that they weren’t really going to kill off three main characters in this episode. Garnet provides Steven some much-needed reassurance, and while it doesn’t solve his martyr complex forever, it’s a welcome capper to the episode.

The logistics of an episode that’s literally just getting our characters from one place to another can’t be easy to navigate. If the crew wanted, we could’ve used that warp speed to jump straight to the action. Still, despite moving faster than light, it’s nice to slow down from the huge cliffhanger of Steven’s Dream to let our hero have a moment to collect his thoughts. Now that the initial shock has had a chance to pass, we can proceed with the rescue operation with a competent Steven that isn’t unrealistically okay with how things are going, and as a bonus we get our second episode since Bubbled that explores Steven’s increasingly sacrificial mindset. Everything working out for the best may seem like a neat way to finish Adventures in Light Distortion, but we’ll see the downsides in time.

Future Vision!

Yes, Steven leaving Connie behind is a catalyst for the Breakup Arc. But perhaps more importantly, they combine with Garnet similarly tasking Peridot and Lapis to protect Beach City to form the Crystal Temps!

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

A perfectly good entry in the Steven Universe catalog, bolstered by an amazing performance from Zach Callison, but ultimately an episode that isn’t too special on its own. It needs Steven’s Dream to pack its full punch, and the victory at the end is just reaching our next episode safely. Still, I like it!

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

No Thanks!

     6. Horror Club      5. Fusion Cuisine      4. House Guest      3. Onion Gang      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

[didanawisgi]

“A ubiquitous quantum phenomenon has been detected in a large class of superconducting materials, fueling a growing belief among physicists that an unknown organizing principle governs the collective behavior of particles and determines how they spread energy and information. Understanding this organizing principle could be a key into “quantum strangeness at its deepest level,” said Subir Sachdev, a theorist at Harvard University who was not involved with the new experiments.

The findings, reported today in Nature Physics by a team working at the University of Sherbrooke in Canada and the National Laboratory for Intense Magnetic Fields (LNCMI) in France, indicate that electrons inside a variety of ceramic crystals called “cuprates” seem to dissipate energy as quickly as possible, apparently bumping up against a fundamental quantum speed limit. And past studies, especially a 2013 paper in Science, found that other exotic superconducting compounds — strontium ruthenates, pnictides, tetramethyltetrathiafulvalenes and more — also burn energy at what appears to be a maximum allowed rate.

Strikingly, this speed limit is linked to the numerical value of Planck’s constant, the fundamental quantity of quantum mechanics representing the smallest possible action that can be taken in nature.

“When you see that, you know you’re touching on something very, very deep and fundamental,” said Louis Taillefer, a condensed matter physicist at Sherbrooke, who conducted the new cuprate experiment with his graduate student Anaëlle Legros, Cyril Proust of LNCMI, and 13 collaborators.

This energy-burning behavior occurs when the cuprates and other exotic compounds are in a “strange metal” phase, in which they resist the flow of electricity more than conventional metals. But when they’re cooled to a critical temperature, these strange metals transform into perfect, lossless conductors of electricity. Physicists have been struggling for 32 years to understand and control this powerful form of superconductivity, and the behavior of electrons in the preceding strange-metal phase is increasingly seen as a key part of the story.

“It’s really a major mystery,” said Sachdev, a leader in the field of condensed matter physics.

Exactly what electrons, the carriers of electricity, are doing in strange metals isn’t known. But experts hypothesize that they may be organizing themselves into a “maximally scrambled” quantum state, in which the properties of each electron depend on those of every other. This state of maximum scrambling might allow the electrons to scatter off one another and spread energy as quickly as the laws of quantum mechanics permit.

This scrambled state is quantum strangeness in the extreme, Sachdev said. In the 1930s, Albert Einstein bristled at the idea of two particles becoming entangled, with properties that stay interdependent even after the particles have traveled far apart. “Here we have entanglement of millions of electrons leading to a whole state of matter,” Sachdev said, “so we are really exploring the frontier of entanglement.”

An organizing principle could be a way in.

“The experiments point to a tantalizing universality across materials, one that would involve a deep idea in quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics,” said Sean Hartnoll, a theoretical physicist at Stanford University. The effort to pinpoint that deep idea has turned up surprising connections to black holes, gravity and quantum information theory.

Strange Metals

In 1986, when Georg Bednorz and Alex Müller of IBM Research Zurich synthesized the first cuprate and discovered what’s known as “high-temperature superconductivity,” they noticed something strange about their revolutionary new crystal. As the duo cooled down their cuprate — this one made of lanthanum, barium, copper and oxygen atoms — toward its critical temperature, they observed that the crystal’s electrical resistance decreased linearly with the falling temperature, so that when plotted it formed a downward-trending straight line. For conventional materials, this relationship forms a more complicated curve.

At the time, this observation was overshadowed by the more dramatic result. Bednorz and Müller’s discovery of superconductivity at a higher critical temperature than was previously thought possible quickly won them the physics Nobel Prize and set off a fevered search for similar materials. “It was a pretty mad time,” said Joseph Orenstein, a physicist who was then at Bell Labs in New Jersey. “The place went crazy.”

Other labs soon discovered cuprates and other compounds that superconducted at even higher temperatures. Since then, physicists have dreamed of finding or synthesizing materials that superconduct electricity all the way up to room temperature. Such materials could make human electrical infrastructure vastly more efficient and could power magnetically levitating vehicles, revolutionizing the way we live.

But to create higher-temperature superconductors, physicists had to strengthen the glue that binds electrons together, allowing the electrons to effortlessly convey electric charge. The problem was, the researchers first had to figure out what that glue is. Theories proliferated, but the striking complexity of cuprates and other high-temperature superconductors confounded every attempt.

Over time, one part of the fuzzy picture came into focus: The mysterious linear resistivity that Bednorz and Müller observed in their first cuprate kept showing up in other cuprates and materials before the onset of superconductivity. This behavior became associated with the strange-metal phase that seems to underlie superconductivity in some way. The phase not only transitions to superconductivity at a critical temperature, but persists at lower temperatures if magnetic fields are used to destroy the superconducting state. The superconducting and strange-metal phases appear to compete, with the critical temperature acting as the tipping point between them. To dial up the critical temperature, physicists need to understand both phases. “We probably won’t understand why the superconducting temperature in cuprates is high until we understand the strange-metal phase out of which the superconductivity emerges,” Hartnoll said.

The straight line indicated the existence of “a beautiful, simple, robust law,” said Taillefer. “There has to be a simple, deep theoretical explanation.”

Starting in 1990, researchers began finding evidence of a quantum nature to the linear resistivity. That year, Orenstein and his colleagues at Bell Labs studied a cuprate called yttrium barium copper oxide and found that, like Bednorz and Müller’s sample, its electrical resistance dropped linearly as it was cooled toward its critical temperature. By using an alternating current, they were able to measure the rate at which electrons in the material scatter off each other, which is the source of resistance. They discovered that the new straight line representing the electron scattering rate as a function of temperature had a slope strikingly close to the fundamental constant ħ (pronounced “h-bar”), called the reduced Planck’s constant. In quantum mechanics, ħ represents, among other things, the smallest possible action, which is an amount of energy multiplied by an amount of time.

“At that time I thought it was interesting,” said Orenstein, who is now a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “but I didn’t realize that 30 years later it would still be a completely unexplained mystery that was being related to black holes and information theory.”

The 2013 Science paper and today’s Nature Physics findings show that the slope of the line relating electron scattering rate to temperature in strange metals is invariably the same: ħ.

The Quantum Speed Limit

In 2004, the Dutch theorist Jan Zaanen gave this curious phenomenon a name: Planckian dissipation. He argued in a Nature News & Views article that electrons in these materials, and in other exotic states of matter sometimes referred to as “quantum soup,” are all reaching a fundamental quantum speed limit on how fast they can dissipate energy.

“If you’re on a freeway and all the cars are going at the same speed, it’s not because their engines are identical; it’s just because there’s a speed limit,” Hartnoll said.

The German physicist Max Planck, who originated quantum theory in 1900 by discovering that energy is quantized in discrete packets.

To understand why electrons in strange metals push up against the putative speed limit, theorists want to figure out where it comes from. The best argument traces the speed limit to the uncertainty principle, the famous formula introduced by Werner Heisenberg in 1927 that puts an upper limit on the amount of certainty that you can have about the world — or, equivalently, on the amount of definiteness the world itself possesses. This upper limit is determined by ħ.

Conceived and approximated by Max Planck in 1900 and later put in reduced form by Paul Dirac, ħ shows up all over quantum theory. Its extremely small value, now known with high precision, represents the quantum unit of action, but in addition, as Heisenberg showed, ħ is the quantum unit of uncertainty: an inescapable, base-level fuzziness in nature. The fuzziness appears when you try measuring two things at once: the position and momentum of a particle, for instance, or how much energy it possesses and for how long. In other words, position and momentum can’t both be defined to greater accuracy than ħ; nor can energy and time. The better you know one, the less certain the other.

The hypothesis is that electrons in strange metals might be “dissipating as quickly as they can consistent with the uncertainty principle,” Hartnoll explained. The electrons possess an amount of energy that’s proportional to the temperature of the strange metal, and dissipation is a process that takes a certain amount of time. Time and energy can’t both be defined to arbitrary precision because of the uncertainty principle, Hartnoll said, so it’s possible that Planckian dissipation arises “when the dissipation time is as fast as it can be.”

It’s only a rough sketch, he admits. He and other theorists want to prove the quantum bound more rigorously, which might help clarify why hordes of electrons in materials like cuprates so naturally reach it.

For the last few years, Hartnoll, Sachdev and other theorists have been attacking the problem using a surprising “holographic duality” that mathematically connects systems of scrambled quantum particles, like those in strange metals, to imaginary black holes in one higher dimension. (The black hole pops out of the particle system like a hologram.) Remarkably, physicists find that black holes — incredibly dense, spherical objects whose gravity is so strong that not even light can escape — do the equivalent of Planckian dissipation, reaching a bound on how fast they can possibly scramble information that falls into them. In other words, black holes and strange metals go to extremes in some common way. The holographic duality is enabling the researchers to translate properties of black holes into dual properties of the scrambled-particle systems. They hope this will reveal what electrons are doing in strange metals, what happens in the competing superconducting phase, and potentially how to tip the balance between the two, extending superconductivity to higher temperatures.

As they study the behavior of scrambled electrons using the holographic duality and other methods, researchers are gaining a sense of progress and partial insight. Some feel that the field is on a cusp of a conceptual breakthrough.  Hartnoll said of the Planckian dissipation phenomenon, “I think it may be understood soon.”