Researchers believe they have discovered a new transcendental number as fundamental as Pi or e.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
High-Precision Computation and PSLQ Identification of Stokes Multipliers for Anharmonic Oscillators
arXiv · 2603.27613
The Takeaway
By using 300-digit precision arithmetic to solve complex physics equations, scientists found that certain quantum oscillators cannot be described using any known numbers. This strongly suggests the existence of a previously unknown transcendental constant, essentially discovering a new 'primary color' in the mathematical universe.
From the abstract
We present a large-scale computational study combining arbitrary-precision arithmetic, sequence acceleration, and the PSLQ integer relation algorithm to discover exact closed-form expressions for fundamental constants arising in asymptotic analysis. We compute the Stokes multipliers C_M of the one-dimensional anharmonic oscillators H = p^2/2 + x^2/2 + g x^{2M} for M = 2, 3, ..., 11, extracting 17-30 significant digits from up to 1200 perturbation coefficients computed at 300-digit working precis