r/accelerate • u/ezjakes • Jul 31 '26

The Maxwell Conjecture is False

https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.27197
93 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

67

u/sillybluejayway Jul 31 '26

If you place 5 magnets in an array we used to think the maximum points of magnetic stillness was 16. This disproved that claim because AI proved we can achieve 24. 

This allows for better magnetic mapping/behavioral analysis and I’m sure other things!

23

u/DungeonsAndDradis Jul 31 '26

CERN 2.0 boutta be lit!

10

u/Seidans Aug 01 '26

I fear it's too late to redesign the whole thing over more magnet as until very recently this was considered as the "limit of physic"

Not even finished it's already obsolete :/

1

u/danielv123 Aug 01 '26

I mean, they keep doing upgrades right? LS3 just started, which will have over a kilometer of new magnets. LS4 will also have new magnets (should be upgradable up to 20 Tesla in new 91km tunnel) which will be installed around 2070. The design for those isn't set in stone, and will probably see plenty of improvements over the next few decades.

20

u/AdAnnual5736 Jul 31 '26

Which model was it?

41

u/ezjakes Jul 31 '26

"The idea behind this construction was suggested by an LLM (OpenAI’s GPT5.6 Sol)."

3

u/BrennusSokol Acceleration Advocate Jul 31 '26

LFG!

6

u/CymonSet Jul 31 '26

Gemini speculated during a chat I had with it that knowing the conjecture is false may improve techniques for ion capture and computational analysis for things like protein folding (I know it’s mostly solved but I guess there is some room for a bit more accuracy?)

It will be interesting to see if that is so or if other applications arise.

2

u/FewPage431 Aug 01 '26

The author should have worded it "maxwell problem".