Such a simple mathematical model would allow physicists to test ideas about how to bridge the apparently incompatible chaotic and quantum-mechanical descriptions of the microscopic world. Why the Riemann zeta function so convincingly mimics a quantum system without being one remains a matter of conjecture and mystery. Cipra, B. 1998. A prime case of chaos. In What's Happening in the Mathematical Sciences , Vol. 4.
Prime formula weds number theory and quantum physics.
Davis, P.J., and R. Hersch. 1981. The Mathematical Experience . Katz, N.M., and P. Sarnak. Zeroes of zeta functions and symmetry. Peterson, I. 1995.