There’s real science behind this show’s name: Three stars gravitationally interacting with each other can be so chaotic that it’s impossible to accurately calculate their future orbits. Much of both the series and its original source, Liu Qixin’s books, are based on various physical concepts. But for the sake of the matter, some of these sciences explore incredible and even physically impossible scales, he writes 24 Channels.

three body problem

It is worth noting that the real physical theory is called the “Three-Body Problem” and not the “Problem”, but this does not change its essence.

For two orbiting objects, scientists can accurately predict the position and speed of these objects in the far future. But for three or more rotating objects the motion becomes chaotic. This means the results are unpredictable.

In the series “The Three-Body Problem”, an alien race called the San Ti lives on a planet in a triple star system four light-years from Earth. The unpredictable orbits of stars give rise to “stable” and “chaotic” periods. Chaotic Ages are wreaking havoc on the planet’s climate, destroying entire civilizations.

Actually The Alpha Centauri star system near the Sun contains three stars and even planets about four light-years from Earth. However, this system is not chaotic. While two massive stars orbit close to each other, the less massive star orbits them at a distance. So this particular system has a very stable solution.

However, in a hypothetical system with three stars orbiting chaotically, the planet would probably not survive for long. Most likely, the planet will very quickly fall into one of the stars or be thrown into space by gravity.

quantum entanglement

In the series, Sun-Tis are able to manipulate events on Earth by communicating with humans, controlling video screens and speakers, remotely interfering with particle physics experiments, and even making stars twinkle (even though they don’t actually twinkle). These abilities are so-called Sophons, defined as proton-sized supercomputers in the series.

Depending on the topic, a proton can become a supercomputer because San Ti uses additional dimensions to create these. Extra dimensions are a real physical idea: In string theory, for example, scientists propose that there are 10 or more dimensions in space instead of the three we know and the one in time. However, as modern science indicates, these additional dimensions must be very small. However, in the series, additional dimensions are expanded to enormous sizes, allowing the computer to be embodied in a proton. The modified Proton was made very large by alien technology and can then quickly change in size from giant to tiny at San Ti’s will. Although the proton is large, the size of a planet, the aliens actually create a supercomputer by printing microcircuits on it, as shown in episode 5. After that, it shrinks to its original size but retains all its new features. This is pure science fiction.

Another mystery is that Sun Ti accelerated the Sophons and sent them from their planet to Earth, thereby manipulating events there, but it is not explained how the Sophons slowed down and arrived in the Earth’s atmosphere unharmed. High-speed protons from space regularly enter the Earth’s atmosphere; these are called cosmic rays. When these cosmic rays arrive, they break apart and turn into particle rain. Likewise, sophon will enter the atmosphere and disintegrate.

But that’s not all. According to the scenario, Sophons can instantly transmit information to San Ti at speeds exceeding the speed of light. It is told in this series quantum entanglement is a real feature of physics, It is a situation frequently abused by science fiction writers. According to the actual theory, entangled particles have properties that are interconnected and replicate each other in real time. If you bring two particles to any distance, even to opposite ends of the galaxy or universe, manipulation of one particle will instantly produce the same result on the other particle. Thus, measuring one particle allows us to know what happens to the other even though they are light-years apart.

But physicists are absolutely clear about one thing: Quantum entanglement cannot transmit information. Each measurement of an entangled particle produces a random result. So the best we can do is take a measurement, get random numbers, and get random numbers on the other side.

Could nuclear explosions power a space probe?

According to the story, Sun Ti is heading towards Earth, but their arrival will not be as fast as the arrival of the tiny Sophons, who managed to reach gigantic speed. It would take as long as 400 years for an alien race to arrive in person.

People who want to find possible solutions to this problem submit research for this problem. The team decides to spend money to accelerate it to about 1 percent of the speed of light. A series of carefully timed nuclear explosions so that a large sail catches the explosions and pulls the craft forward.Increases speed with each subsequent explosion.

The calculations might work, but the impact of each explosion would be small, according to cosmologist Jacques Delabroix of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, US, and the National Center for Scientific Research in France. Most of the energy of each explosion will be lost to space and will not be used to propel the probe. “I think that’s a bit optimistic,” he says.

What else

According to Delabroix, there were many other moments in the show that, despite being based on real science, became implausible:

• For example, nanofibers can create truly impressively strong materials, but individual nanofibers cannot tear apart an entire ship.
• Scientists tried to send a message to aliens, but the Sun did not amplify the radio signal that humans broadcast.
• People on the surface of the planet could not be lifted into the air by the stars aligned side by side. This would require enormous tidal forces that would tear the entire planet apart even sooner.