‘Next-Level’ Chaos Traces the True Limit of Predictability

Physicists have uncovered a new constraint on predicting system behavior, called undecidability, which extends beyond chaos theory and quantum uncertainty. This affects both quantum and classical systems, making some questions about future behavior unanswerable, even with perfect knowledge of the current state. Examples include a theoretical Turing machine-like pinball machine and quantum systems with undecidable spectral gaps. This discovery imposes fundamental limits on scientific knowledge and predictability in physics, akin to established limitations in mathematics and computer science.