Physicists have created the world’s most amazingly difficult maze that has the potential to boost carbon capture.
Inspired by the Knight’s movements on a chessboard, the group of difficult mazes was created by researchers from the University of Bristol and Cardiff University.
The unique labyrinthine creations might help unravel other difficult problems including simplifying industrial processes from carbon capture to fertiliser production, according to researchers.
Incredibly intricate mazes
Dr Felix Flicker, Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of Bristol, observed that when examining the patterns of the lines they created, they discovered remarkably complex mazes.
“When we looked at the shapes of the lines we constructed, we noticed they formed incredibly intricate mazes,” said lead author Dr Felix Flicker , Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of Bristol.
“The sizes of subsequent mazes grow exponentially – and there are an infinite number of them.”
In chessboard, a Knight visits every square of the chessboard just once before returning to its starting square due to its unusual movement. According to researchers, this is similar to ‘Hamiltonian cycle’ – a loop through a map visiting all stopping points only once.
Quasicrystals may be better than crystals
An infinity of ever-larger Hamiltonian cycles in irregular structures, which describe exotic matter known as quasicrystals, was created by theoretical physicists.
Researchers maintained that the result of study shows that quasicrystals can be highly efficient adsorbers. One use of adsorption is carbon capture and storage, in which CO2 molecules are stopped from entering the atmosphere.
“Our work also shows quasicrystals may be better than crystals for some adsorption applications,” said co-author Shobhna Singh, a PhD researcher in Physics at Cardiff University.
“For example, bendy molecules will find more ways to land on the irregularly arranged atoms of quasicrystals. Quasicrystals are also brittle, meaning they readily break into tiny grains. This maximises their surface area for adsorption.”
Adsorption applications
Efficient adsorption could also make quasicrystals surprising candidates for catalysts, which increase industrial efficiency by lowering the energy of chemical reactions. For example, adsorption is a key step in the Haber catalysis process, used to produce ammonia fertiliser for farming.
Quasicrystals also have the potential to become surprising candidates for catalysts due to their efficient adsorption capabilities. In the Haber catalysis process, adsorption is a key step that’s used to produce ammonia fertiliser.
Mathematically, quasicrystals can be described as slices through crystals that live in six dimensions , as opposed to the three of our familiar universe.
Research maintained that so far, only three natural quasicrystals have ever been found, all in the same Siberian meteorite. The first artificial quasicrystal was created accidentally in the 1945 Trinity Test, which was the first detonation of a nuclear weapon.
Researchers’ Hamiltonian cycles visit every atom on the surface of certain quasicrystals precisely once. The resulting paths form uniquely complex mazes, described by mathematical objects called ‘fractals’.
Applications in a process known as ‘scanning tunneling microscopy’
According to the researchers, these paths have the special property that an atomically sharp pencil could draw straight lines connecting all neighbouring atoms, without the pencil lifting or the line crossing itself.
“This has applications in a process known as ‘scanning tunneling microscopy’, where the pencil is an atomically sharp microscope tip capable of imaging individual atoms.”
They claimed that the Hamiltonian cycles form the fastest possible routes for the microscope to follow. This is helpful, as a state-of-the-art scanning tunneling microscopy image can take a month to produce.
The study was recently published in the journal Physical Review X .
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