Research

Research across physical systems, computation, the origin of life, mathematical foundations, and experimental inquiry.

Current research

  • Kachelofen 2.0

    Kachelofen 2.0 investigates a compact high-temperature heat store based on magnetite, an abundant, inexpensive, inorganic, and non-toxic material. Magnetite naturally has a high heat capacity, while special treatment can also give the storage layer low thermal conductivity. The key idea is that the storage layer itself can therefore serve as thermal insulation. A 13 kWh research prototype has already been built and tested. Experiments have demonstrated heat redistribution and storage behaviour over several days. Validated thermal models are available to support scale-up and further design iterations. The concept is the subject of a patent application.

  • Mechanical Self-Replication

    While my previous work, "Mechanical mechanism for self-replication," established a foundational framework for this process, several engineering challenges remain. The most pressing of these is the need to meet the strict timing requirements. Subsequent analysis suggested that these rigid timing constraints are not fundamentally essential to the replication process. Consequently, current research focuses on redesigning the mechanism to achieve asynchronous operation. However, this turns out to be harder than expected.

  • Poincaré Gauge Theory

    When I studied general relativity, string theory, and quantum gravity, I never noticed the existence of Poincaré Gauge Theory (PGT), let alone took it seriously. I knew about Ashtekar variables and vierbeins, but something was always missing. It was clear to me that the Poincaré group is the relevant symmetry for a quantum theory of gravity, yet the essential step of making torsion propagate totally escaped me. That is exactly where I want to dive in.

  • Experimental Free Will

    Philosophy has debated free will for millennia, but experiments may offer a different path. Inspired in part by Conway and Kochen's Free Will Theorem, this research asks whether simpler physical systems can bridge the gap between elementary particles and human beings in testable ways. This work is deeply fascinating because it links the foundations of mathematics (Turing and Gödel), and its extensions via mathematical oracles, with quantum mechanics through Bell's and the Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt (CHSH) inequalities. It also connects to quantum cryptography (Hall–Branciard) and potentially thermodynamics and entropy (Landauer and Bennett). Truly interesting stuff.

  • Small Universal Turing Machines and 2-Tag Systems

    Universality is just about the most intriguing thing that is out there: the idea of simulating yourself. Once you understand Minsky's UTM(7,4) (to me still the one easiest to understand) and look at his universality proof using the 2-tag system, one really wonders what else is there? And isn't self-awareness a closely related phenomenon? And and and...

  • Cellular Automata as Logic Gates

    Well, rule 110 is universal, Matthew Cook has proven it. To me the proof is not all that intuitive. And is 110 the only one? So I started with rule 110 and just played around with it, until I realized the following (which may be known to others already): a line in a CA is two things at once: it is the input data to a program, but it is also the program itself. This is really cool, quite mind-blowing, and totally useless...

Publications

Papers, preprints, theses, conference contributions, and patents.

  1. Wärmespeichervorrichtung, Verfahren zu ihrem Betrieb und Verwendung der Wärmespeichervorrichtung

    R. P. Lano, B. Raab, and S. Hofmeister · German patent application 10 2026 122 227.7 · 2026

  2. Mechanical mechanism for self-replication

    R. P. Lano · Quarterly of Applied Mathematics 83, 603–654 · 2025 · DOI 10.1090/qam/1709

  3. Self-Replicating Mechanical Universal Turing Machine

    R. P. Lano · arXiv:2409.19037 · 2024 · DOI 10.48550/arXiv.2409.19037

  4. Self-folding Self-replication

    R. P. Lano · arXiv:2408.07154 · 2024 · DOI 10.48550/arXiv.2408.07154

  5. Mechanical Self-replication

    R. P. Lano · arXiv:2407.14556 · 2024 · DOI 10.48550/arXiv.2407.14556

  6. Selbstfaltendes Selbstreplikationssystem

    R. P. Lano and L. Ochs · German patent application 10 2024 114 319.3 · 2024

  7. Selbstreplikationssystem

    R. P. Lano · German patent application 10 2023 134 897.3 · 2023

  8. Towards a Self-Replicating Turing Machine

    R. P. Lano · arXiv:2306.16872 · 2023 · DOI 10.48550/arXiv.2306.16872

  9. Clustering of Texts Facilitating Efficient Searching in Spatial Search Engines

    R. Göbel and R. P. Lano · DMS 2008

  10. An International Collaborative Approach to Supporting the International Learner

    A. Monger, R. Lano, and G. Herrmann · INSPIRE 2008

  11. Teaching Databases Internationally, Teaching International Databases

    A. Monger, K. Wheeler, and R. Lano · BNCOD 2007 · DOI 10.1109/BNCOD.2007.21

  12. Electronic test item display as an image with overlay controls

    W. E. Lamarche and R. P. Lano · US Patent 6,988,895 · 2006

  13. Prototyping the multimedia home gateway

    M. Huber and R. Lano · 2001

  14. Yang-Mills, Gravity, and String Symmetries

    T. Branson, R. P. Lano, and V. G. J. Rodgers · Physics Letters B 412, 253–258 · 1997 · DOI 10.1016/S0370-2693(97)01029-0

  15. Gravitational Phase Transition in Neutron Stars

    R. P. Lano · arXiv:gr-qc/9611023 · 1996 · DOI 10.48550/arXiv.gr-qc/9611023

  16. Quantum Gravity: Variations on a Theme

    R. P. Lano · Ph.D. thesis, The University of Iowa · 1996 · DOI 10.25820/etd.008463

  17. Gravitational Meissner Effect

    R. P. Lano · arXiv:hep-th/9603077 · 1996 · withdrawn · DOI 10.48550/arXiv.hep-th/9603077

  18. A Study of Fermions Coupled to Gauge and Gravitational Fields on a Cylinder

    R. P. Lano and V. G. J. Rodgers · Nuclear Physics B 437, 45–59 · 1995 · DOI 10.1016/0550-3213(94)00544-O

  19. Application of Co-adjoint Orbits to the Loop Group and the Diffeomorphism Group of the Circle

    R. P. Lano · M.S. thesis, The University of Iowa · 1994 · DOI 10.17077/etd.e5lek2vf

  20. Applications of W-algebras to BF theories, QCD and 4D Gravity

    R. Lano and V. G. J. Rodgers · Modern Physics Letters A 7, 1725–1736 · 1992 · DOI 10.1142/S0217732392001427

  21. The brightness of a black hole due to gravitational lensing

    R. P. Lano · Astrophysics and Space Science 159, 125–132 · 1989 · DOI 10.1007/BF00640494