Holiday Nerd Card 2009

Hello:

I have a tradition of creating a holiday card which has extremely technical image that no one but me understands, yet tries to make a human point in the brief prose. Here is this years addition:

The text on the inside reads:
Nature does all
at all time-places.
Not add or multiply,
add and multiply.
Not separate,
Links overlap.

Live is all a life knows
at conception through death.
Not live or love,
Live and love.
Not alone,
beings intertwined.

Technically what is shown in the image is the covariant derivative used in the standard model. Tensors can be added together, while the groups can multiply different members within the group together to make another member of the group. These are viewed as separate operations for tensors and groups.

My work proposes to use quaternions which can do both addition and multiplication. The operations needed for tensors and groups are merged, leading to a decrease in the number of symbols required. Neither Greek letters or internal symmetry labels (the i and a) are required.

Oops, looks like my card had a mess up. The multiplication list should be Y, , . Oh well.

My mother-in-law was mystified by the image, but the text sounded Buddhist to her ear. The first stanza is a direct interpretation of the math, while the second one is a human variation on the first.

I have order 72 cards which should arrive on December 23.