Braided Magnetic Flux Ropes Are Found at Both Human and Light Year Scales
Posted5 months agoActive5 months ago
caltech.eduResearchstory
calmpositive
Debate
20/100
MagnetohydrodynamicsPlasma PhysicsAstrophysics
Key topics
Magnetohydrodynamics
Plasma Physics
Astrophysics
Researchers discover braided magnetic flux ropes at both human and light year scales, highlighting the scalability of magnetohydrodynamics.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
Discussion Activity
Light discussionFirst comment
4h
Peak period
1
3-4h
Avg / period
1
Key moments
- 01Story posted
Aug 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM EDT
5 months ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
Aug 23, 2025 at 12:14 AM EDT
4h after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
1 comments in 3-4h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03 - 04Latest activity
Aug 23, 2025 at 12:14 AM EDT
5 months ago
Step 04
Generating AI Summary...
Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns
ID: 44991644Type: storyLast synced: 11/18/2025, 12:02:15 AM
Want the full context?
Jump to the original sources
Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.
"Magnetic Double Helix" (2025) https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/sz9k-6l22 :
> Magnetic flux ropes
From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43603048 .. From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43044159 :
>>> Would helical polarization like quasar astrophysical jets be more stable than other methods for entanglement at astronomical distances?
"Deterministic remote entanglement using a chiral quantum interconnect" (2025) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-02811-1
"Magnetohydrodynamics" ... supermagnetohydrodynamics; supergravitomagnetohydrodynamics because what about gravity too
Marco Fedi's SQR; SQR predicts superfluids (Bose-Einstein Condensates) and also predicts Mercury's perihelion.
A Gross-Pitaevskii model of the solar system predicts the orbits of the planets including the perihelion of Mercury.
SQR incorporates Gross-Pitaevskii.
/? drodyn , pitaev , gravito https://westurner.github.io/hnlog/#
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42067233#42082690
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31383784 :
> "Gravity as a fluid dynamic phenomenon in a superfluid quantum space. Fluid quantum gravity and relativity." (2017)
>> Due to non-zero, positive viscosity of the SQS, and to Bernoulli pressure, these vortices attract the surrounding quanta, pressure decreases and the consequent incoming flow of quanta lets arise a gravitational potential. This is called superfluid quantum gravity. In this model we don't resort to gravitons. Once comparing superfluid quantum gravity with general relativity, it is evident how a hydrodynamic gravity could fully account for the relativistic effects attributed to spacetime distortion, where the space curvature is substituted by flows of quanta. Also special relativity can be merged in the hydrodynamics of a SQS and we obtain a general simplification of Einstein's relativity under the single effect of superfluid quantum gravity.
But what are the limits of scale invariance in these fields?
Re: unification of QG with QFT and the Standard Model: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40478219 :
> But the Standard Model Lagrangian doesn't describe n-body gravity, n-body quantum gravity, photons in Bose-Einstein Condensates; liquid light in superfluids and superconductors, black hole thermodynamics and external or internal topology, unreversibility or not, or even fluids with vortices or curl that certainly affect particles interacting in multiple fields.
Are magnetic flux ropes similar to helically polarized astrophysical jets like solar CMEs and the quasar jet that is pointed at earth? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39132365
Do helical or double-helical plasmas effectively beam energy?
How is a magsail different from a light sail?
Are there any deployed magsails? Are there combo solar+magsails?
A magsail could be built out of a superconducting loop.