The physics of a fictional universe

In his 23 years working as a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Ian Tregillis has published numerous academic papers that detail aspects of his research. But his latest paper, published on February 1 in the American Journal of Physics (AJP), was written off the clock. As its title suggests, “Ergodic Lagrangian dynamics in a superhero universe” has nothing to do with Los Alamos and everything to do with Tregillis’ side hustle: fiction writing. As part of his hobby, Tregillis contributes to Wild Cards, a science fiction and superhero anthology series edited by George R. R. Martin, who penned the Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novels that were adapted into the Game of Thrones television series.

Wild Cards authors occasionally blog about the series, and in 2020 Tregillis introduced a mathematical model to evaluate the behavior of the Wild Card virus—the spread of which is the foundational event responsible for characters’ superpowers. The model doesn’t necessarily look at how the virus spreads through a group of people, but rather evaluates the different outcomes for a given group with the virus. With each blog post, the model became more elaborate. By March 2024, Tregillis’ model was, he decided, too complicated for a general audience to enjoy.

“I realized it would literally be easier to write an article intended for a physics journal than to write another blog post,” Tregillis says. “So, kind of jokingly, I said what if I tried instead to write an honest to goodness, peer-reviewed physics paper?”

Martin seemed open to the idea, so Tregillis began writing. The finished paper, co-authored by Martin, was submitted to the AJP and published earlier this year.  Note that AJP uses a double blind peer-review system so Martin’s fame had no influence on the paper’s publication chances. 

Tregillis says the response to the paper has been positive. Although the content is perhaps above the head of the average reader (an article in Forbes stated: “Of course, ‘simple’ may not be the word many readers would use to describe a paper packed with equations and technical language like ‘ergodic trajectory’”), Tregillis says his fellow Wild Cards authors have supported his endeavor. “I think they tolerate me and this weird thing I did. They sort of grit their teeth when I talk about it,” he laughs. “Developing a physics and math model for Wild Cards is kind of inexplicable to normal people. They’re like, okay, that’s nice, Ian. Now please shut up and go away.”

Looking back

That Tregillis is today both a physicist and a writer comes as no surprise to anyone who knew him as a kid. “In high school I had a mentor who asked me ‘If you couldn’t do physics, what would you do?’” Tregillis remembers. “And I said I think I’d be a writer.”

But in his youth, writing was always on the back burner as Tregillis pursued degrees in physics and astrophysics from the University of Minnesota. During that time, Tregillis says he simply didn’t have time to write. “I didn’t really indulge that desire,” he says. “I’m not a very good multitasker, and I felt like if I started indulging this side passion of writing, I would never finish my doctoral thesis.”

Instead, Tregillis pursued a career in science. In 2002, he was hired as a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos, which allowed him to return to New Mexico, a place he had become enchanted with ever since taking a spring break trip to the state as an undergrad. 

Unexpectedly, securing a position at the Lab allowed Tregillis to spend more time writing. “I didn’t know anyone in Los Alamos, so I had this plan: I’ll write evenings and weekends and try to hone my craft,” he says. “In retrospect, it seems like a crazy thing to do.”

By 2005, Tregillis was looking for avenues to take his writing to a more professional level. He submitted a writing portfolio to the Clarion Workshop—a six-week residential writing workshop at Michigan State University for fantasy and science fiction writers—and was accepted. However, Tregillis was simultaneously being considered for a staff scientist position at Los Alamos. Attending the Clarion Workshop would mean stepping away from the Lab at a critical juncture in his career. Fortunately for Tregillis, his boss was supportive and encouraged him to attend.

In Michigan, Tregillis got the break he needed. One of his instructors was Walter Jon Williams, a member of the northern New Mexico–based writers group Critical Mass. Williams invited Tregillis into the group. “Here I was, this aspiring writer starting from scratch with no idea that I’d moved into the middle, geographically, of this really vibrant community,” Tregillis says.

Upon returning to New Mexico, Tregillis’ career and hobby took off simultaneously. He was converted to a staff scientist at the Lab, and through Critical Mass, he got to know Martin and Kay McCauley, a literary agent who helped him start publishing his work. Since 2010, he’s published seven novels and co-authored dozens of papers.

“I think writing has made me a better scientist—so much of being a scientist is communicating ideas,” says Tregillis. He smiles and adds: “Whether I’m good at either pursuit is an open question.” ★

Article by Ian Laird, National Security Science magazine writer