Washington Quantum Computing Meetup

Title: Revisiting the Casimir Effect
Date: Dec 6 2025 Noon - 14:00 EST

Summary: Most physicists assume the existence of a “quantum foam” as a firmly proven given due to experimental proof of the Casimir effect. In this presentation, Terry will conduct a deep dive into past and current research on the Casimir effect, examining how Casimir interactions can be reframed as remnants of the process by which particles create the highly structured, very-low-energy separation processes that generate the collective particle states we refer to as “space.”

Speaker: Terry Bollinger is a computer scientist with BS, MS, and Professional Degrees from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Date : Dec 20 2025 13:00 - 15:00 EST
Title: Why Classical Physics Could Not Unify Gravity: The Missing Density Constant
Summary: Classical physics divides nature into two regimes: a quantum world governed by the Planck constant h, and a gravitational world governed by the Newtonian constant G. Despite one century of effort, the two regimes remain formally incompatible because neither framework contains a parameter that characterizes the density of space itself. In this paper, I argue that a fundamental density scale—denoted \mu_g—is logically necessary for any unified physical theory. Building on recent geometric models where space evolves as a helical motion, I show that the familiar constants G, \hbar, and c correspond to radial, torsional, and axial components of the same geometric motion. From this perspective, h cannot serve as the universal constant of unification because it measures action, not density. The density constant \mu_g provides the missing bridge: it allows gravitational coupling to be expressed as a property of space itself and reveals that the quantum constant \hbar is also a geometric quantity, proportional to \mu_g c \ell_\Omega^2. This analysis explains why classical and quantum physics have remained disjoint: both lack the necessary density scale. I conclude by proposing that \mu_g is not an additional assumption but a fundamental property of space that any geometric unified field theory must incorporate.
References to the prior geometric theory by Zhang Xiangqian and Xu Yuchuan are included to situate this work within the emerging framework of helical-space physics.

Speaker: Lynn Lou Beran is a Senior IT Security Analyst and an author, translator, and editor working at the intersection of science, engineering, and communication. She translated and edited multiple editions of Zhang XiangQian’s Unified Field Theory and co-authored recent manuscripts developing a geometric, motion-based view of physical reality. Lynn’s broader work focuses on making advanced ideas accessible without sacrificing rigor, and on connecting conceptual insight to testable predictions and practical tools.

Note: This is an online event. The Zoom registration form will be provided no later than one hour prior to the event start time.

Title: On Quantizing General Relativity
Date: Jan 17 2026 Noon -14:00 EST

Summary: Why has a century passed without anyone developing a persuasive, broadly accepted, and experimentally predictive unified theory of quantum mechanics and general relativity? In this presentation, Terry will begin by explaining how Einstein’s post-1911 adoption of the Minkowski concept of an infinitely smooth spacetime fabric destroyed any possibility of such a merger by making spacetime infinitely classical, and thus inherently incompatible with the quantum reality of all forms of matter and energy. Next, Terry will discuss how the concept of infinitely smooth spacetime, in combination with similarly cost-indifferent field theories, wasted a century of theorizing by loading empty space with non-existent, asymptotically infinitely energies that exist only briefly in very-high-energy physics. Finally, Terry will discuss how recognizing that quantum observation is nothing more than acceleration. Terry reframes general relativity as the remnant of relationships remaining after massive observation creates localized instances of spacetime.

Speaker: Terry Bollinger is a computer scientist with BS, MS, and professional degrees from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.