Higgs Boson music. What the newly found particle taught to be the Higgs Boson sounds like.

Originally posted by jhn7537
Can someone explain to me how you can make beautiful music from data?

Note- I've never played an instrument...

From the article:

The researchers used so-called data sonification to transform data collected by the ATLAS experiment (one of the two experiments, CMS is the other, that found evidence for the likely Higgs particle) into sound. Essentially, they used a graph showing the ATLAS data and turned the energies of collisions shown on that graph into musical notes. Each data point, or energy number for a collision, was always given the same musical note, with the melody changes following exactly the same profile (the ups and downs) of the scientific data.

"It offers the same qualitative and quantitative information contained in the graph, only translated into notes," composer, physicist and engineer Domenico Vicinanza told LiveScience.

Basically you can take numbers and assign it to any musical parameter... in this case they map the data points to pitch and time (I'm assuming the timing comes out in 16th notes because the energy measurements were taken in steady increments). While this is very fascinating to me as a musician interested in technology, I can't help but feel that something probably gets lost in translation through this kind of mapping. Let me try to illustrate...

It's like let's say you're reconstructing a picture of a dog via digital mapping. You're taking tiny squares, or pixels, and assigning single colors to each one, then arranging them in a way that accurately represents the picture. Now, if you are working with 12 gigapixels (12 billion pixels) as many modern digital cameras have, you can recreate this image pretty damn accurately. But what if you only had 4 pixels? The image would look like 4 squares on a grid-- you'd have no idea what the hell you're looking at!

That's essentially my fear with this representation.. Now, I'm sure they took extremely high-precision measurements at incredibly minuscule increments of time, but since this is the very frontier of modern science, dealing with impossibly fast moving subatomic particles, I can't help but wonder what all of the in-between measurements would produce for us to fill in the gaps.

Furthermore, how would this music sound if we mapped out other data along with the energy levels? For example, mapping particle position to panning, some other parameter to amplitude, etc.

I don't know the details of the experiment so I'm just throwing ideas out, but I think this is certainly the right direction-- reflecting our existence through mediums of art...

This is pretty darn awesome!

As I heard it, I kept thinking back to Bill & Ted and the Wyld Stallions, didn't they're music eventually harmonize the universe???

Perhaps there is a way in which every higgs, gluon, muon etc. is its own instrument in a gigantic celestial orchestra by studying they're vibrations.

Who say's science isn't a beautiful art!

reply to post by solarjetman




well said. your comment partially hints on what i was trying to hint at with my inquiry. though you came from another angle/entry point and made other points.

Originally posted by DCLXVI
reply to post by krossfyter

 

1+1=2

regardless of where you are in the universe or how you write the number 1 and 2.

thnx DCLXVI for your comments. caused me to think some more about where you are coming from. i read the article via your link, though i didnt read it closely. i may have to go back and read it again. but essentially what its saying is the reason why math on another world would be the same is because its a reflection of our world especially if you are a solid. makes some sense. but i still can't help but think that perhaps things are "lost in translation" because we our viewing it from a very human-centric perspective, as we should and as is really the only thing possible we have at this point with understanding our world.


aliens or sentient beings from another area of space time probably have another angle to the underlying structure using their own symbols,language and representations (numbers, letters etc.). or perhaps the structure we are seeing, while it works for us so far, is just a bent illusion breed from having lived on the gravity of our corner in space and time and so this creates perception based truths (or what we call truths). rhizome not linear.

reply to post by krossfyter

Sound Thinking! We base these notes upon how we perceive frequency of these particles in an auditory way. There maybe perhaps other E.T. Races with different forms of Sensory Perception to which these changing vibrations can be perceived in an entirely different way that is unknown to Humans as we do not have these perception abilities or alternate biological sensory detection constructs.

As I am a Musician in one of my jobs...I was very interested in hearing this. As it stands on it's own...without embellishment...I was surprised...despite the mechanical precision of the timing...that there was in fact a MELODY...that unto itself is surprising!

Very Nice Post! Split Infinity

if that is what it sounds like...the Higgs Boson is not what the world is looking for.

why would they have even played those notes with a piano anyway...that's just silly.

Originally posted by michaelbrux
if that is what it sounds like...the Higgs Boson is not what the world is looking for.

why would they have even played those notes with a piano anyway...that's just silly.

Taught you were trolling than looked at your stats and realized you were being serious. Could you explain why it is not the Higg Boson if it sounds like that and also what does it matter if it was piano, violin or whatever else instrument?

Thank you.

Originally posted by michaelbrux
if that is what it sounds like...the Higgs Boson is not what the world is looking for.

why would they have even played those notes with a piano anyway...that's just silly.

They just THINK it MAY BE the Higgs-Boson which I of course...do not believe exists...at least in the way they believe it to or have the described properties and abilities of what the described...Higgs-Boson is supposed to be able to do...mainly...be the Quantum Particle that allows or gives Protons and Neutrons...MASS.

The use of a PIANO is obvious as a Piano can quickly without Note Tone Overlay...allow the Human Ear to be able to easily hear individual NOTES. This could be done with many other instruments but not so easily or as efficiently as say using an Electric Guitar...some of the notes may not be possible to achieve in the proper KEY or say a Flute which would have a musician playing at a rate beyond what might be possible or a Violin...where a Musician would have note tonal over bleed.

This was most likely an Electronic Keyboard which would allow for all notes to be Data Entered and then any instrumental sound can be put in place of these notes as well as keep perfect timing. I think that the first Score was done in this fashion as I hear Mechanical Precision...however...there are some people capable of playing this...but they are of a Fantastically High Level of Skill...I vote for the Electronic Keys with a MIDI.
Split Infinity

Cute! Maybe God has a piano?

reply to post by DCLXVI


the God particle should be played with a trumpet. at least that's what my 'research' has led me to believe.

and there is no variation in the tone.

so really what I'm saying is that if that is the sound the Higgs makes, its not the particle they want.

and after they do all they can with what they do have...they are going to begin a search for something else very soon. just a prediction.





for some reason I thought this Higgs had something to do with qeneral relativity...after reading again what this Higgs boson is supposed to be about, it is now clear that the people searching for it aren't necessarily on that subject.

Higgs the scientist is right...they shouldn't be calling it the God particle. That's just wrong. God's not a chick.

So, perhaps it does sound like a piano piece. I apologize for jumping off the way I did.

Originally posted by SplitInfinity

Originally posted by michaelbrux
if that is what it sounds like...the Higgs Boson is not what the world is looking for.

why would they have even played those notes with a piano anyway...that's just silly.

They just THINK it MAY BE the Higgs-Boson which I of course...do not believe exists...at least in the way they believe it to or have the described properties and abilities of what the described...Higgs-Boson is supposed to be able to do...mainly...be the Quantum Particle that allows or gives Protons and Neutrons...MASS.

Wait, so you are saying that they made all of this up? Elaborate if you will. Last I heard, they had gathered enough data, all of which failed to reject its existence.

The word "think" is pretty subjective here, and remember, nothing is usually ever "100%" in science. For instance, I 'think' an apple will fall to the ground if I drop it, they 'think it may be the Higgs', I 'think' the earth is round, they 'think' the earth is round. And it's not like one guy flipped a switch a couple of times and they said, "eureka! no one will ever know that we made this all up!" The tests all had to be replicated multiple times in order to have any grounding to their claims, and I'm sure there is a mile long line of people that are going to try to disprove their claims (with real data).



Funny to me that people accept the existence of protons, neutrons, viruses, etc., when they can't physically see them, but they are still flat out denying the existence of the Higgs, which really is no different of a concept to grasp.

reply to post by thepainweaver

I am not trying to deny that they have found something...I just do not believe it is responsible for giving or allowing Protons and Neutrons to have MASS. THAT is what I would need to see proven by specific experimentation before accepting their claim.

Many Times...a Quantum Particle has been found only to be or do something else.
Split Infinity

I thought I'd jump into the electron stream and include space noises into the original music I've been working on. I've used such things as earth whistlers and Jovian cyclotron emissions, slowed, reversed, effects, etc.

I'm considering other radio signals, but particle music, great concept. Like the harmony of the spheres, very interesting. Just a comment to keep track of this thread.

So we just payed 5 billion dollars to hear some piano..... makes sense.

reply to post by IntoxicatingMadness


Do you realize that about everything in your house today from your stove to your computer has been made possible by discoveries in the field of physics? And the inventors did not have a 5 billion dollar budget. Imagine all the great things that are going to come out of the LHC!!!

This is fantastic.

Thank you for this thread.

Originally posted by CompisMentis
reply to post by IntoxicatingMadness

 

Do you realize that about everything in your house today from your stove to your computer has been made possible by discoveries in the field of physics? And the inventors did not have a 5 billion dollar budget. Imagine all the great things that are going to come out of the LHC!!!

The Hermetic alchemists knew of the secret race of three-eyed invaders but despite their efforts could not contact them. Therefore their efforts to support Frederick V, Elector Palatine, King of Bohemia, failed. "The Empire never ended."-Tractates Cryptica Scriptura

imagine where we would be at technology wise if the king of bohemia succeeded.

Originally posted by SplitInfinity
reply to post by krossfyter

 

Sound Thinking! We base these notes upon how we perceive frequency of these particles in an auditory way. There maybe perhaps other E.T. Races with different forms of Sensory Perception to which these changing vibrations can be perceived in an entirely different way that is unknown to Humans as we do not have these perception abilities or alternate biological sensory detection constructs.

Originally posted by DCLXVI
reply to post by krossfyter

 

1+1=2

regardless of where you are in the universe or how you write the number 1 and 2.

i found something of note in my research that could relate as a counter rebuttal in an indirect way.

Before we probe for clues to the God Problem, we need to equip ourselves with five tools—the five heresies. Remember the second rule of science: look at things right under your nose as if you’ve never seen them before, then proceed from there. Question your assumptions. To question your assumptions, you have to find them. And that’s the really hard part. But here are five assumptions conveniently overturned for your edification and delight. Five heresies we’ll use to crack the code of cosmic creativity.
1. A does not equal a.
2. One plus one does not equal two.
3. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, that all things tend toward disorder, that all things tend toward entropy, is wrong.
4. The concept of randomness is mistake. These days randomness goes under the fancy name of stochasticity. But no matter how it slicks itself up with arcane terminology, there is far less randomness in this universe than today’s science believes. And far less randomness than you and I often think.
5. Information theory is not really about information. Its equations cover only a tiny sliver of what the theory claims. The real core of communication is what Information Theory’s founder Claude Shannon calls “meaning.” And “meaning,” believe it or not, is not covered in Information Theory. Why is that a big mistake? Meaning is central to the cosmos. Central to quarks, protons, photons, galaxies, stars, lizards, lobsters, puppies, bees, and human beings.
And here are a few of the concepts we’ll use to peel open the robes with which nature hides the secret curves of her creativity, concepts we’ll use to probe the implications of the five heresies.
* Ur patterns, deep structures of the cosmos, patterns the cosmos repeats over and over again.
* Repetition. Better known in mathematics as iteration. When you repeat an old pattern in a new location, you sometimes make something new.
* Which leads to the concept of translation. Translation is just another word for repeating something old in a new medium. Or is it?
* Corollary generator theory. From a few basic rules you can generate a cosmos. Some call these basic rules axioms. Some call them algorithms. But don’t let the fancy names fool you. They’re just simple rules.
* Implicit versus explicit realities. Here’s a question for you. If you can generate an entire mathematical system from just a few simple rules (and you can), was that mathematical system implicit in the rules from the beginning? Was it hidden in some spooky way? Is the future hovering in your vicinity at this very minute, immanent and ghostly but just out of reach? Does every blockbuster invention that the cosmos—and that we—will someday conceive exist in a possibility space just outside the bounds of reality?
* Opposites are joined at the hip. Night and day, poisons and pleasures, innovation and destruction, are usually different facets of the very same thing. Despite the battle they wage with each other, they are Siamese twins, children of the same parents, children that have taken slightly different paths. Opposites work together in the very opposite of the way they seem—not tearing each other to bits or threatening to annihilate each other. Opposites are like the right and the left end of a football defensive line. They work together in teams.
* The bottom line? Sociality. This is a profoundly social cosmos. A profoundly conversational cosmos. In a social cosmos, a talking cosmos, a muttering, whispering, singing, wooing, and order-shouting cosmos, relationships count. Things can’t exist without each other. And the ways things relate to each other can make them radically different from their fellow things. Got that? No? Believe me, as we move forward, you will. And if the muses are with us, you’ll enjoy the ride.