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 A Prime Case of Chaos



"A Prime Case of Chaos" is an article from Volume 4 of What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences by Barry Cipra, published by the AMS. This article describes conjectural links between the Riemann zeta function, which is intimately related with prime numbers, and chaotic quantum-mechanical systems. Mathematicians have been studying the zeta function since the time of Riemann, in the 19th century, while quantum mechanics is a development of 20th century physics. Both of these areas, independently, as well as the hypothesized connection between the two, are topics of intense current research.

 

 

-- Steven Weintraub