Spacelike Directions Research Articles

Anyon Condensation and the Color Code

The manipulation of topologically ordered phases of matter to encode and process quantum information forms the cornerstone of many approaches to fault-tolerant quantum computing. Here we demonstrate that fault-tolerant logical operations in these approaches can be interpreted as instances of anyon condensation. We present a constructive theory for anyon condensation and, in tandem, illustrate our theory explicitly using the color-code model. We show that different condensation processes are associated with a general class of domain walls, which can exist in both spacelike and timelike directions. This class includes semitransparent domain walls that condense certain subsets of anyons. We use our theory to classify topological objects and design novel fault-tolerant logic gates for the color code. As a final example, we also argue that dynamical “Floquet codes” can be viewed as a series of condensation operations. We propose a general construction for realizing planar dynamically driven codes based on condensation operations on the color code. We use our construction to introduce a new Calderbank-Shor-Steane–type Floquet code that we call the Floquet color code. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Unified treatment of null and spatial infinity III: asymptotically minkowski space-times

The Spi framework provides a 4-dimensional approach to investigate the asymptotic properties of gravitational fields as one recedes from isolated systems in any space-like direction, without reference to a Cauchy surface [1]. It is well suited to unify descriptions at null and spatial infinity because I\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{I} $$\\end{document} arises as the null cone of i°. The goal of this work is to complete this task by introducing a natural extension of the asymptotic conditions at null and spatial infinity of [2], by ‘gluing’ the two descriptions appropriately. Space-times satisfying these conditions are asymptotically flat in both regimes and thus represent isolated gravitating systems. They will be said to be Asymptotically Minkowskian at i°. We show that in these space-times the Spi group S\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathfrak{S} $$\\end{document} as well as the BMS group B\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{B} $$\\end{document} naturally reduce to a single Poincaré group, denoted by pi°\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathfrak{p}}_{i^{{}^{\\circ}}} $$\\end{document} to highlight the fact that it arises from the gluing procedure at i°. The asymptotic conditions are sufficiently weak to allow for the possibility that the Newman-Penrose component Ψ1°\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\Psi}_1^{{}^{\\circ}} $$\\end{document} diverges in the distant past along I\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{I} $$\\end{document}+. This can occur in astrophysical sources that are not asymptotically stationary in the past, e.g. in scattering situations. Nonetheless, as we show in the companion paper [5], the energy momentum and angular momentum defined at i° equals the sum of that defined at a cross-section C of I\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{I} $$\\end{document}+ and corresponding flux across I\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{I} $$\\end{document}+ to the past of C, when the quantities refer to the preferred Poincaré subgroup pi°\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathfrak{p}}_{i^{{}^{\\circ}}} $$\\end{document}.

Unified treatment of null and spatial infinity IV: angular momentum at null and spatial infinity

In a companion paper [1] we introduced the notion of asymptotically Minkowski spacetimes. These space-times are asymptotically flat at both null and spatial infinity, and furthermore there is a harmonious matching of limits of certain fields as one approaches i° in null and space-like directions. These matching conditions are quite weak but suffice to reduce the asymptotic symmetry group to a Poincaré group pi°\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathfrak{p}}_{i{}^{\\circ}} $$\\end{document}. Restriction of pi°\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathfrak{p}}_{i{}^{\\circ}} $$\\end{document} to future null infinity I+\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathcal{I}}^{+} $$\\end{document} yields the canonical Poincaré subgroup pi°bms\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathfrak{p}}_{i{}^{\\circ}}^{\ extrm{bms}} $$\\end{document} of the BMS group B\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathfrak{B} $$\\end{document} selected in [2, 3] and that its restriction to spatial infinity i°, the canonical subgroup pi°spi\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathfrak{p}}_{i{}^{\\circ}}^{\ extrm{spi}} $$\\end{document} of the Spi group S\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathfrak{S} $$\\end{document} selected in [4, 5]. As a result, one can meaningfully compare angular momentum that has been defined at i° using pi°spi\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathfrak{p}}_{i{}^{\\circ}}^{\ extrm{spi}} $$\\end{document} with that defined on I+\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathcal{I}}^{+} $$\\end{document} using pi°bms\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathfrak{p}}_{i{}^{\\circ}}^{\ extrm{bms}} $$\\end{document}. We show that the angular momentum charge at i° equals the sum of the angular momentum charge at any 2-sphere cross-section S of I+\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathcal{I}}^{+} $$\\end{document} and the total flux of angular momentum radiated across the portion of I+\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathcal{I}}^{+} $$\\end{document} to the past of S. In general the balance law holds only when angular momentum refers to SO(3) subgroups of the Poincaré group pi°\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\mathfrak{p}}_{i{}^{\\circ}} $$\\end{document}.

Modelling the emergence of cosmic anisotropy from non-linear structures

Astronomical observations suggest that the Universe may be anisotropic on the largest scales. In order to model this situation, we develop a new approach to cosmology that allows for large-scale anisotropy to emerge from the growth of non-linear structure. This is achieved by decomposing all relevant fields with respect to a preferred space-like direction, and then averaging the resulting scalar quantities over spatial domains. Our approach allows us to derive a set of large-scale effective field equations that govern the dynamics of any emergent large-scale anisotropy, and which (up to back-reaction terms) take the form of the field equations of the locally rotationally symmetric Bianchi cosmologies. We apply our approach to the dust-filled Farnsworth solutions, which are an interesting set of exact cosmological models that allow for both anisotropic expansion and large-scale bulk flow.

Extremal surfaces and thin-shell wormholes

We study extremal surfaces in a traversable wormhole geometry that connects two locally ${\mathrm{AdS}}_{5}$ asymptotic regions. In the context of the $\mathrm{AdS}/\mathrm{CFT}$ correspondence, we use these to compute the holographic entanglement entropy for different configurations: First, we consider an extremal surface anchored at the boundary on a spatial 2-sphere of radius $R$. The other scenario is a slab configuration which extends in two of the boundary spacelike directions while having a finite size $L$ in the third one. We show that in both cases the divergent and the finite pieces of the holographic entanglement entropy give results consistent with the holographic picture and this is used to explore the phase transitions that the dual theory undergoes. The geometries we consider here are stable thin-shell wormholes with flat codimension-one hypersurfaces at fixed radial coordinate. They appear as electrovacuum solutions of higher-curvature gravity theories coupled to Abelian gauge fields. The presence of the thin shells produces a refraction of the extremal surfaces in the bulk, leading to the presence of cusps in the phase space diagram. Further, the traversable wormhole captures a phase transition for the subsystems made up of a union of disconnected regions in different boundaries. We discuss these and other features of the phase diagram.

On inhomogeneous polynuclear growth

This article studies the inhomogeneous geometric polynuclear growth model; the distribution of which is related to Schur functions. We explain a method to derive its distribution functions in both space-like and time-like directions, focusing on the two-time distribution. Asymptotics of the two-time distribution in the KPZ-scaling limit is then considered, extending to two times several single-time distributions in the KPZ universality class.

Supersymmetric solitons and a degeneracy of solutions in AdS/CFT

We study Lorentzian supersymmetric configurations in D = 4 and D = 5 gauged mathcal{N} = 2 supergravity. We show that there are smooth 1/2 BPS solutions which are asymptotically AdS4 and AdS5 with a planar boundary, a compact spacelike direction and with a Wilson line on that circle. There are solitons where the S1 shrinks smoothly to zero in the interior, with a magnetic flux through the circle determined by the Wilson line, which are AdS analogues of the Melvin fluxtube. There is also a solution with a constant gauge field, which is pure AdS. Both solutions preserve half of the supersymmetries at a special value of the Wilson line. There is a phase transition between these two saddle-points as a function of the Wilson line precisely at the supersymmetric point. Thus, the supersymmetric solutions are degenerate, at least at the supergravity level. We extend this discussion to one of the Romans solutions in four dimensions when the Euclidean boundary is S1× Σg where Σg is a Riemann surface with genus g > 0. We speculate that the supersymmetric state of the CFT on the boundary is dual to a superposition of the two degenerate geometries.

Relativistic spacetime crystals.

Periodic space crystals are well established and widely used in physical sciences. Time crystals have been increasingly explored more recently, where time is disconnected from space. Periodic relativistic spacetime crystals on the other hand need to account for the mixing of space and time in special relativity through Lorentz transformation, and have been listed only in 2D. This work shows that there exists a transformation between the conventional Minkowski spacetime (MS) and what is referred to here as renormalized blended spacetime (RBS); they are shown to be equivalent descriptions of relativistic physics in flat spacetime. There are two elements to this reformulation of MS, namely, blending and renormalization. When observers in two inertial frames adopt each other's clocks as their own, while retaining their original space coordinates, the observers become blended. This process reformulates the Lorentz boosts into Euclidean rotations while retaining the original spacetime hyperbola describing worldlines of constant spacetime length from the origin. By renormalizing the blended coordinates with an appropriate factor that is a function of the relative velocities between the various frames, the hyperbola is transformed into a Euclidean circle. With these two steps, one obtains the RBS coordinates complete with new light lines, but now with a Euclidean construction. One can now enumerate the RBS point and space groups in various dimensions with their mapping to the well known space crystal groups. The RBS point group for flat isotropic RBS spacetime is identified to be that of cylinders in various dimensions: mm2 which is that of a rectangle in 2D, (∞/m)m which is that of a cylinder in 3D, and that of a hypercylinder in 4D. An antisymmetry operation is introduced that can swap between space-like and time-like directions, leading to color spacetime groups. The formalism reveals RBS symmetries that are not readily apparent in the conventional MS formulation. Mathematica script is provided for plotting the MS and RBS geometries discussed in the work.

Cosmological solutions, a new wick-rotation, and the first law of thermodynamics

We present a modified implementation of the Euclidean action formalism suitable for studying the thermodynamics of a class of cosmological solutions containing Killing horizons. To obtain a real metric of definite signature, we perform a “triple Wick-rotation” by analytically continuing all spacelike directions. The resulting Euclidean geometry is used to calculate the Euclidean on-shell action, which defines a thermodynamic potential. We show that for the vacuum de Sitter solution, planar solutions of Einstein-Maxwell theory and a previously found class of cosmological solutions of mathcal{N} = 2 supergravity, this thermodynamic potential can be used to define an internal energy which obeys the first law of thermodynamics. Our approach is complementary to, but consistent with the isolated horizon formalism. For planar Einstein-Maxwell solutions, we find dual solutions in Einstein-anti-Maxwell theory where the sign of the Maxwell term is reversed. These solutions are planar black holes, rather than cosmological solutions, but give rise, upon a standard Wick-rotation to the same Euclidean action and thermodynamic relations.

Can a false vacuum bubble remove the singularity inside a black hole?

We investigate a regular black hole model with a de Sitter-like core at its center. This type of a black hole model with a false vacuum core was introduced with the hope of singularity-resolution and is a common feature shared by many regular black holes. In this paper, we examine this claim of a singularity-free black hole by employing the thin-shell formalism, and exploring its dynamics, within the Vaidya approximation. We find that during gravitational collapse, the shell necessarily moves along a space-like direction. More interestingly, during the evaporation phase, the shell and the outer apparent horizon approach each other but, unless the evaporation takes place very rapidly, the approaching tendency is too slow to avoid singularity-formation. This shows that albeit a false vacuum core may remove the singularity along the ingoing null direction, there still exists a singularity along the outgoing null direction, unless the evaporation is very strong.

Emergent conformal symmetry in nonunitary random dynamics of free fermions

We present random quantum circuit models for non-unitary quantum dynamics of free fermions in one spatial dimension. Numerical simulations reveal that the dynamics tends towards steady states with logarithmic violations of the entanglement area law and power law correlation functions. Moreover, starting with a short-range entangled many-body state, the dynamical evolution of entanglement and correlations quantitatively agrees with the predictions of two-dimensional conformal field theory with a space-like time direction. We argue that this behavior is generic in non-unitary free quantum dynamics with time-dependent randomness, and show that the emergent conformal dynamics of two-point functions arises out of a simple "nonlinear master equation".

The Area of Graphs on Arbitrary Carnot Groups with Sub-Lorentzian Structure

We prove the area formula for the classes of graph mappings on the Carnot groups and nilpotent graded groups with sub-Lorentzian structure which are of arbitrary dimension and depth. The number of spacelike and timelike directions is arbitrary as well.

Excision and avoiding the use of boundary conditions in numerical relativity

A procedure for evolving hyperbolic systems of equations on compact computational domains with no boundary conditions was recently described in Bieri et al (2019 (arXiv:1905.08657 [gr-qc])). In that proposal, the computational grid is expanded in spacelike directions with respect to the outermost characteristic and initial data is imposed on the expanded grid boundary. We discuss a related method that removes the need for imposing boundary conditions: the computational domain is excised along a direction spacelike or tangent to the innermost going characteristic. We compare the two methods, and provide example evolutions from a code that implements the excision method: evolution of a massless self-gravitating scalar field in spherical symmetry.

Local incompatibility of the microlocal spectrum condition with the KMS property along spacelike directions in quantum field theory on curved spacetime

States of a generic quantum field theory on a curved spacetime are considered which satisfy the KMS condition with respect to an evolution associated with a complete (Killing) vector field. It is shown that at any point where the vector field is spacelike, such states cannot satisfy a certain microlocal condition which is weaker than the microlocal spectrum condition in the case of asymptotically free fields.

Exact relation between canonical and metric energy-momentum tensors for higher derivative tensor field theories

We discuss the relation between canonical and metric energy-momentum tensors for field theories with actions that can depend on the higher derivatives of tensor fields in a flat spacetime. In order to obtain it we use a modification of the Noether's procedure for curved space-time. For considered case the difference between these two tensors turns out to have more general form than for theories with no more than first order derivatives. Despite this fact we prove that the difference between corresponding integrals of motion still has the form of integral over 2-dimensional surface that is infinitely remote in the spacelike directions.

Are there testable discrete Poincaré invariant physical theories?

In a model of physics taking place on a discrete set of points that approximates Minkowski space, one might perhaps expect there to be an empirically identifiable preferred frame. However, the work of Dowker et al (2004 Mod. Phys. Lett. A 19 1829–40) and Bombelli et al (2009 Mod. Phys. Lett. A 24 2579–87) might be taken to suggest that random sprinklings of points in Minkowski space define a discrete model that is provably Poincaré invariant in a natural sense. We examine this possibility here.We argue that a genuinely Poincaré invariant model requires a probability distribution on sprinklable sets—Poincaré orbits of sprinklings—rather than individual sprinklings. The corresponding σ-algebra contains only sets of measure zero or one. This makes testing the hypothesis of discrete Poincaré invariance problematic, since any local violation of Poincaré invariance, however gross and large scale, is possible, and cannot be said to be improbable.We also note that the Bombelli et al (2009 Mod. Phys. Lett. A 24 2579–87) argument, which rules out constructions of preferred timelike directions for typical sprinklings, is not sufficient to establish full Lorentz invariance. For example, once a pair of timelike separated points is fixed, a preferred spacelike direction can be defined for a typical sprinkling, breaking the remaining rotational invariance.

Smoothness of the future and past trapped sets in Kerr–Newman–Taub-NUT spacetimes

We consider the sets of future/past trapped null geodesics in the exterior region of a sub-extremal Kerr–Newman–Taub-NUT spacetime. We show that from the point of view of any timelike observer outside of such a black hole, trapping can be understood as two smooth sets of spacelike directions on the celestial sphere of the observer.

A $q$-Robinson-Schensted-Knuth Algorithm and a $q$-Polymer

In Matveev-Petrov (2017) a $q$-deformed Robinson-Schensted-Knuth algorithm ($q$RSK) was introduced.In this article we give reformulations of this algorithm in terms of the Noumi-Yamada description, growth diagrams and local moves. We show that the algorithm is symmetric, namely the output tableaux pairs are swapped in a sense of distribution when the input matrix is transposed. We also formulate a $q$-polymer model based on the $q$RSK, prove the corresponding Burke property, which we use to show a strong law of large numbers for the partition function given stationary boundary conditions and $q$-geometric weights.We use the $q$-local moves to define a generalisation of the $q$RSK taking a Young diagram-shape of array as the input. We write down the joint distribution of partition functions in the space-like direction of the $q$-polymer in $q$-geometric environment, formulate a $q$-version of the multilayer polynuclear growth model ($q$PNG) and write down the joint distribution of the $q$-polymer partition functions at a fixed time.

Limit directions for Lorentzian Coxeter systems

Every Coxeter group admits a geometric representation as a group generated by reflections in a real vector space. In the projective representation space of a Coxeter group, limit directions arising from a point are accumulation points of the orbit of this point. In particular, limit directions arising from roots are called limit roots. Recent studies show that limit roots lie on the isotropic cone of the representation space. In this paper, we study limit directions of Coxeter groups arising from any point when the representation space is a Lorentz space. We prove that the limit roots are the only light-like limit directions, and characterize the limit roots using eigenvectors of infinite-order elements. Then we describe the structure of space-like limit directions in terms of the projective Coxeter arrangement. Some non-Lorentzian cases are also discussed.

Introducing surface tension to spacetime

Concepts from physical chemistry of surfaces and surface tension are applied to spacetime. More specifically, spacetime is modeled as a spatial fluid continuum bound together by a multi-dimensional membrane of time. A metric tensor that relates empty flat spacetime to energetic curved spacetime is found. Equations of motion for an infinitesimal unit of spacetime are derived. The equation of motion in a time-like direction is a Klein-Gordon type equation. The equations of motion in space-like directions take the form of Schrodinger’s equation where Plank’s constant is related to membrane elastic modulus. Although much work remains, it is suggested that the spacetime surface tension may serve as a mechanical model for many phenomena in quantum mechanics and atomic particle physics.