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Updated: Dec 3, 2025

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
Extended harmonic mapping connects the equations in classical, statistical, fluid, quantum physics and general
Xiaobo Zhai1,2, Changyu Huang1, Gang Ren3
1The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
Abstract:
One potential pathway to find an ultimate rule governing our universe is to hunt for a connection among the fundamental equations in physics. Recently, Ren et al. reported that the harmonic maps with potential introduced by Duan, named extended harmonic mapping (EHM), connect the equations of general relativity, chaos and quantum mechanics via a universal geodesic equation. The equation, expressed as Euler-Lagrange equations on the Riemannian manifold, was obtained from the principle of least action. Here, we further demonstrate that more than ten fundamental equations, including that of classical mechanics, fluid physics, statistical physics, astrophysics, quantum physics and general relativity, can be connected by the same universal geodesic equation. The connection sketches a family tree of the physics equations, and their intrinsic connections reflect an alternative ultimate rule of our universe, i.e., the principle of least action on a Finsler manifold.
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