Category Archives: Quantum Physics

The dominant interpretation of the quantum wave function sees it as real as part of the physical furniture of the universe. Some even go as far as to argue that the entire universe is a quantum wave function. But this interpretation runs into a number of problems, including a clash with Einsteins theory of relativity. Karl Popper prize-winner, Eddy Keming Chen, suggests that we instead interpret the wave function as the basis for a law of nature that describes how particles, fields and ordinary objects move through space and time. That way, a number of puzzles around quantum mechanics are resolved.

Believe me when I say it's easy to love quantum mechanicsthe fundamental rules that describe our physical world, starting at the microscopic level but hard to interpret what its really about. Quantum mechanics is unquestionably useful as an algorithm for predicting the outcomes of experiments and has given birth to many technological innovations from MRIs to semiconductors. But when it comes to the question of what quantum mechanics tells us about the nature of physical reality, things get very complicated, very quickly. Does quantum mechanics really reveal what exists at the fundamental level of the universe?

Reality is just a quantum wave functionRead moreSuch questions are at the heart of the foundations of physics. Physicists and philosophers have debated them since the early days of quantum mechanics. And while there are many divergent interpretations, most of them agree that uncovering the physical reality of the quantum world requires us to come to terms with the wave function - the central mathematical object used in quantum mechanics. But what is the wave function? We have invented a beautiful mathematical framework to talk about the wave function, but it is very hard to give a physical interpretation of its abstract mathematics. One dominant interpretation of the wave function is that it in fact represents physical reality some even argue that the universe as a whole is just a quantum wave function. But that interpretation runs into a number of problems. What I suggest is that we stop thinking of the wave function as real, as part of physical reality, and instead interpret it as providing the basis for a simple law of nature.

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At first glance, the wave function stands to quantum mechanics as particles to classical mechanics and electromagnetic fields to classical electrodynamics. The wave function of quantum mechanics seems to have all the marks of something real, indispensable, and should presumably be just as much a part of the constitution of physical reality as ordinary objects like tables and chairs. This might motivate one to adopt a realist interpretation of the wave function. Proponents of this view include many prominent physicists and philosophers such as Sean Carroll, David Albert, and Alyssa Ney. Yet, compared to particles and electromagnetic fields, the wave function is a highly abstract mathematical object that lives in a high-dimensional space, and includes imaginary numbers. It is far from clear how the wave-function is connected to our ordinary world of physical reality.

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The task of interpreting quantum mechanics, I argue, becomes easier if we reject the orthodox view that the quantum universe must be described by a wave function (a pure state, in technical terms). We should reconsider the realist interpretations of the wave function. Instead of thinking of quantum mechanics as telling us that, at the fundamental level, the universe is actually a wave function, we should think of it as providing us with the basis for a simple law of nature, one that determines how ordinary physical objects, such as particles and fields, move in space and time.

To motivate the new picture, let me summarize some of the problems facing the realist interpretations of the wave function. First, if we take seriously the space on which the wave function is defined, we might need to accept that the real arena where physical events unfold is a space of extremely high dimensions - about 10 to the power of 80, which is a huge number. While we may believe our universe may contain the 20+ dimensions postulated by some versions of string theory, it is much harder to swallow the idea that in fact, the real number of dimensions of the universe is 10 to the power of 80. It is difficult to see how ordinary four-dimensional objects like dogs and cats can emerge from it.

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Second, if we assume that the wave function is a physical object living in four-dimensional spacetime, it leads to a surprising kind of holism. Suppose we have a group of particles in spacetime. The wave function would endow the group with properties that cannot be derived from properties of the individual particles. The whole is, as it were, more than its parts. That is related to what is called quantum entanglement.

Finally, realist interpretations of the wave function seem to be in tension with Einsteins relativity theory a pillar of modern physics. If there is no objective and unique way of slicing spacetime into space and time, as relativity theory tells us, admitting quantum entanglement as a fundamental feature of the physical world makes it difficult to describe the full history of the universe. As David Albert argues, the history of a quantum universe on one way of slicing spacetime cannot be related to that on another, just by changing the reference frame. Instead, it requires details about the laws of nature.

Hence, we already have motivations to seek an alternative to the realist interpretations of the wave function as a physical object. According to an earlier proposal (due to Detlef Drr, Sheldon Goldstein, Stefan Teufel, and Nino Zangh), the wave function of the universe is not a physical object, but a physical law, like Newtons second law of motion. The wave function determines the motion of physical objects - both at the quantum level, and at the everyday level - such as particles, fields, tables and chairs. My proposal is inspired by theirs, but I suggest there is an easier and simpler way to implement the idea.

A hypothetical wave function of the universe is fairly complex. As it carries so much information, it can be complicated to specify. Because of its complexity, it does not look like a law of nature, which we expect to be relatively simple, like the expression for the law of universal gravitation and Newtons second law F = m a.

I suggest that we take a step back, by zooming out a bit. There is a mathematically well-defined way to do so (yielding what is known as the density matrix) but let me use a metaphor. Think of each possible wave function as a pixel on a screen. Think of the wave function of the actual universe as a particular pixel marked in red. If we have a powerful microscope, we see every dot on the screen, including the red dot. Specifying the location of the red dot requires a lot of information. Now, if we adjust the magnification and zoom out a bit, we stop seeing individual pixels. At the right level of magnification, we see some pattern emerging. The pattern, being more coarse-grained, can be easier and simpler to describe than the exact locations of individual pixels. I suggest that such a coarse-grained pattern suffices as a law describing the motion of ordinary physical objects. This less detailed description is given by a density matrix.

If we zoom out too much, there is the danger of throwing away too much information and hence missing out on the pattern. So what is the right level of magnification to use? The answer to that question relates to another remarkable feature of our world---the arrow of time. Even though the microscopic dynamical laws do not distinguish between the past and the future, our ordinary experience is full of processes that do. Just think of the melting of ice, the spreading of smoke, and the decaying of fruits. The universe appears more orderly in the past and less orderly in the future. This observation is summarized in the Second Law of Thermodynamics, according to which isolated systems tend to increase in entropy, a measure of disorder. What is responsible for this arrow of time? A standard answer is to add a fundamental axiom or a law of nature called the Past Hypothesis, according to which the universe started in a special state of very low entropy, at or near the Big Bang. Such a state can be characterized in relatively simple terms using macroscopic variables such as entropy, temperature, density, and volume. The Past Hypothesis, as it were, picks out the magnification level for the microscope. It strikes the perfect balance and selects just the right amount of information we need for specifying a simple and yet empirically adequate law.

Because of the simplicity of the Past Hypothesis, the coarse-grained pattern obtained from it can be described by a remarkably simple object. It carries much less information than a hypothetical wave function. It is sufficiently simple to be a candidate law of nature and sufficiently informative to determine the motion of ordinary objects. As a result, we do not need to reify the wave function as either a physical object or a physical law. This has two implications. First, it shows that conceptual issues about the arrow of time are intimately connected to the interpretations of quantum mechanics. Second, it provides an attractive alternative to realist interpretations of the wave function.

I develop this idea in a proposal called the Wentaculus. (The name comes from the word Mentaculus, which, as used in the Cohen Brothers movieA Serious Man, means the probability map of the universe. In the philosophy of science literature, David Albert and Barry Loewer have named their theory the Mentaculus. For my proposal, Ive changed M to W as the latter is used to denote a density matrix.) The picture of the world it offers is easier to embrace than the realist interpretations of the wave function. The quantum universe includes ordinary objects made of particles, fields, and / or other localized entities. The wave function is no longer central in this theory as either a physical object or a physical law. Instead, we postulate a much more coarse-grained and simpler object that naturally arises from considerations about the Past Hypothesis. The simple object represents a law of nature determining the motion of ordinary objects.

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The Wentaculus reduces the types of randomness in the world. On the orthodox view, the outcomes of quantum experiments are random, and the randomness is predicted (probabilistically) by the wave function. However, the wave function itself is also chosen at random from a collection of many different hypothetical wave functions, and such randomness is an additional postulate in the theory. On the Wentaculus, the second postulate of randomness is eliminated; there is only one physically possible quantum state and it is not random at all.

Moreover, the Wentaculus unifies the universe with its subsystems (small parts of the universe). On the orthodox view, the universe is described by a wave function, but most subsystems cannot be described by wave functions because of the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. On the Wentaculus view, the entire universe---including all of its parts---can be described by the same mathematical equations.

Furthermore, the Wentaculus version of Everetts many-worlds quantum mechanics is the first realistic and simple example of strong determinism, the idea (introduced by Roger Penrose) that laws of nature allow only one possible model of physical reality. On the orthodox version of Everetts theory, the wave function gives rise to many different and parallel branches, each realizing a different history. All of them are real and included in a gigantic multiverse, a much larger version of what we commonly regard as the physical reality. However, on the orthodox version of Everetts theory, there can be different wave functions and hence different multiverses. The actual multiverse could be any one of them. In other words, physical reality is not pinned down by the laws of nature, as they allow distinct models of the multiverse. On the Wentaculus version of Everett, in contrast, the laws of nature completely specify the multiverse, so there is only one way physical reality could be. In other words, the actual multiverse could not have been different on pain of violating physical laws.

The orthodox view assumes that, if physical reality is quantum mechanical, the universe must be described by a wave function. This view leads to difficulties, because the wave function is not something we can easily regard as a physical object (as it is too abstract) or a physical law (as it is too complicated). The situation is transformed when we zoom out a bit. The most natural object of quantum mechanics compatible with the Past Hypothesis becomes simple enough to be a law of nature.

Quantum mechanics is hard to interpret. We can make progress if we stop being realists about the quantum wave function, and zoom out.

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The quantum wave function isn't real | Eddy Keming Chen - IAI

Fully understanding the complexity of Kevin Wrights laboratory in Wilder Hall would require a deep knowledge of ultracold quantum physics. But who has time for that? Understanding a hot cup of coffee could do just fine.

To visualize what it means for something to be a superfluid, imagine stirring your coffee with a spoon, then removing it, explainsWright, assistant professor of physics and astronomy. And then imagine that the coffee keeps swirling in circles forever, never coming to rest.

Now imagine that the never-ending swirling coffee is not being stirred by a spoon but by a web of laser beams that crisscross in a way that somehow makes perfect sense in the spooky world of quantum physics.

And instead of coffee, its a cloud of lithium atoms thats swirling around.

Welcome to the worlds first tunable superfluid circuit that uses ultracold electron-like atoms. That maze of laser light and cloud of superfluid atoms are part of a one-of-a-kind microscopic test bed designed by Wright to explore how electrons work in real materials.

A web of lasers allow researchers to cool, move, and detect electron-like atoms in the superfluid circuit. (Photo by Robert Gill)

Much of modern technology revolves around controlling the flow of electrons around circuits, says Wright. For the first time, researchers can now analyze the strange behavior of these kinds of quantum particles in a highly controllable setting.

While common conductive materials such as copper are well understood, researchers do not fully know how electrons move or can be controlled in exotic materials like superconductors.

The challenge is isolating and controlling individual electrons to study their behavior. The novelty of Wrights circuit is that it uses a complete atom to demonstrate how one of its single, fundamental parts behaves. Unfortunately, there is no coffee analogy that suffices here, but according to Wright, We are learning about electrons without using electrons.

Kevin Wright, assistant professor of physics and astronomy. (Photo by Robert Gill)

Further comprehending Wrights research requires the understanding that atomic particles can be either bosons or fermions. Bosons, such as photons, tend to bunch together. Fermions, such as electrons, tend to avoid each other.

While superfluid circuits using ultracold boson-like atoms already existpioneered by Wright when he was at the National Institute of Standards and Technologythe Dartmouth circuit is the first to use ultracold atoms that act as those asocial fermions.

Electrons can do things that are far stranger and more rich than anyone has imagined, says Wright. By using electron-like atoms, we can test theories in ways that were not possible before.

Lithium-6 makes the work possible. Although the isotope is a complete atom with a nucleus, protons and electrons, it behaves like an electron. The lasers are used to cool the lithium to temperatures near absolute zero and then to move the atoms around in ways that mimic electrons flowing around superconducting circuits. The lasers also detect how the atoms are acting and even provide the structure of the circuita microscopic racetrack in an ultrahigh vacuum chamber for the atoms to circle around.

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By using electron-like atoms, we can test theories in ways that were not possible before.

Attribution

Kevin Wright, assistant professor of physics and astronomy.

Spread across three stainless steel optical tables stretching about 18-feet wide, the test bed gives physicists access to a quantum emulator that will allow them to study the formation and decay of currents that flow indefinitely without added energythat imaginary endlessly swirling coffee.

The labs success in creating the superfluid environment is detailed in a recent study written by Yanping Cai, Guarini 21,Daniel Allman, Guarini 23,Parth Sabharwal, Guarini 24, and Wright that was published inPhysical Review Letters.

Yanping Cai, Guarini 21; Parth Sabharwal, Guarini 24; and Daniel Allman, Guarini 23. (Yanping Cai-Courtesy of Yanping Cai; Parth Sabharwal-Courtesy of Parth Sabharwal; Daniel Allman- photo by Robert Gill)

Its amazing to be a part of something that nobody has ever done, says Allman, who Wright credits with being a master troubleshooter in the lab. This is the frontier of new research, and it is cool.

Wrights lab puts Dartmouth at the center of experimental research using ultracold fermions and has the potential to attract researchers looking to test theories and analyze special materials. Findings from the lab could also create opportunities for the development of new kinds of devices that use superconductors and other exotic quantum materials that can be useful for quantum computers.

We have crossed the threshold to build test circuits with fermionic quantum gases, says Wright with a hint of modest pride. Designing and controlling the atom flow around a circuit with ultracold fermions in the same way that is done in an electronic device has just never been accomplished before.

Daniel Allman, left, and Kevin Wright observe a ring of Lithium-6 atoms in the microscopic circuit. (Photo by Robert Gill)

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Lasers and Ultracold Atoms Combine in One-of-a-Kind Lab - Dartmouth News

For research projects in quantum condensed matter, the cultural history of wrestlingand the formation of planetary systems, three University of Toronto scholars from the Faculty of Arts & Science have received prestigious2022 Guggenheim Fellowships.

Fellowships are awarded by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and this year the 97th year of the competition just 180 of 2500 applicants received the awards.

When honours like the Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded to multiple Faculty scholars, I am always impressed and fascinated by the diverse disciplines of the winners, saysMelanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. This years cohort is no exception. I am very happy that the fellowships will allow each to pursue their exciting and important work, and I congratulate them all.

Here are the three U of T scholars who receivedGuggenheim Fellowships this year:

Yong-Baek Kimis a professor in thedepartment of physics,as well as the director of theCentre for Quantum Materialsand a member of theCentre for Quantum Information & Quantum Control. Kims research focus is theoretical quantum condensed matter physics,which involves the study of matter and its exotic behaviour when subjected to extreme conditions such as low temperature and high pressure. His work has potential applications for diverse quantum technologies, including quantum computing.

I am particularly interested in emergent quantum phases of strongly interacting electrons in quantum materials which may serve as potential platforms for quantum technology, says Kim.

"Receiving the Guggenheim fellowship is a great honor for me. It's wonderful to see that my work is appreciated by peer intellectuals. I have been privileged to meet and work with so many talented people, especially my former and current students, postdoctoral fellows and collaborators. I thank them for generously sharing their insights."

Yanqin Wuis a professor of theoretical astrophysics in theDavid A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics. Throughout her career, she has studied planets both in and beyond our solar system. Using data gathered by the Kepler planet-hunting space telescope and other observing programs, she studies their internal structure, motions and formation.

Wus Guggenheim Fellowship will allow her to focus on research into proto-planetary disks of gas and dust around newly developing stars structures from which all planets arise. In particular, Wu is investigating an aspect referred to as segmented disks.

"The puzzle is that proto-planetary disks, when observed at sufficiently high resolutions, display prominent bright rings and dark gaps, says Wu. I am proposing ideas to resolve this puzzle and to understand how it affects planet formation.

Says Wu about the fellowship, It is a luxurious honour to be recognized for doing something that one enjoys and working with people one likes.

John Zilcoskyis a professor in thedepartment of Germanic languages and literaturesand theCentre for Comparative Literature. His expertise encompasses modern European literature, psychoanalysis, the art of traveland the history and philosophy of sports.

With the help of the fellowship, Zilcosky will be able to devote time to writing his next book,Wrestling: A Cultural History. In it, he attempts to answer big questions: Why do we wrestle? And why was wrestling humanitys first sport? He will explain why wrestling is not only humankind's oldest sport but also its most significant. The book will trace the history of grappling from early civilizations and mythsthrough the classical,Renaissance and modern eras all the way to todays pro wrestling.

It will also explore wrestlings presence in Indigenous cultures and also women practitioners from the Greek goddess, Palaistra, to todays Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) television series. And it will delve into the erotic violence that is always just beneath wrestlings surface.

Says Zilcosky:What a thrill! This is a labour of love, returning me to my youth as a high school and U.S. collegiate wrestler. Its exciting that the Guggenheim Foundation finds this project which connects the histories of sport and of civilization compelling. Such recognition reminds me of my conversation with the world and injects me with new energy.

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Quantum physics, planet formation and wrestling: Three U of T researchers awarded 2022 Guggenheim Fellowships - University of Toronto

Stephen Hawking once suggested Albert Einsteins assertion that God does not play dice with the universe was wrong. In Hawkings view, the discovery of black hole physics confirmed that not only did God play dice, but that he sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they cant be seen.

Are we here by chance or design?

A more pragmatic approach to the question, considering the subject matter, would be to assume that all answers are correct. In fact, thats the basis of quantum physics.

Heres the simplest explanation of how it all works that youll ever read: imagine flipping a coin and then walking away secure in the knowledge that it landed on heads or tails.

If we look at the entire universe and start zooming in until you get down to the tiniest particles, youll see the exact same effect in their interactions. Theyre either going to do one thing or another. And, until you observe them, that potential remains.

With all that potential out there in the universe just waiting to be observed, were able to build quantum computers.

However, like all things quantum, theres a duality involved in harnessing Gods dice for our own human needs. For every mind-blowing feat of quantum engineering we come up with just wait until you read about laser tweezers and time crystals we need some grounded technology to control it.

In reality, theres no such thing as a purely-quantum computer and there probably never will be. Theyre all hybrid quantum-classical systems in one way or another.

Lets start off with why we need quantum computers. Classical (or binary, as theyre often called) computers the kind youre reading this on complete goals by solving tasks.

We program computers to do what we want by giving them a series of commands. If I press the A key on my keyboard, then the computer displays the letter A on my screen.

Somewhere inside the machine, theres code telling it how to interpret the key press and how to display the results.

It took our species approximately 200,000 years to get that far.

In the past century or so, weve come to understand that Newtonian physics doesnt apply to things at very small scales, such as particles, or objects at particularly massive scales such as black holes.

The most useful lesson weve learned in our relatively recent study of quantum physics is that particles can become entangled.

Quantum computers allow us to harness the power of entanglement. Instead of waiting for one command to execute, as binary computers do, quantum computers can come to all of their conclusions at once. In essence, theyre able to come up with (nearly) all the possible answers at the same time.

The main benefit to this is time. A simulation or optimization task that might take a supercomputer a month to process could be completed in mere seconds on a quantum computer.

The most commonly cited example of this is drug discovery.In order to create new drugs, scientists have to study their chemical interactions. Its a lot like looking for a needle in a never-ending field of haystacks.

There are near-infinite possible chemical combinations in the universe, sorting out their individual combined chemical reactions is a task no supercomputer can do within a useful amount of time.

Quantum computing promises to accelerate these kinds of tasks and make previously impossible computations commonplace.

But it takes more than just expensive, cutting-edge hardware to produce these ultra-fast outputs.

Hybrid quantum computing systems integrate classical computing platforms and software with quantum algorithms and simulations.

And, because theyre ridiculously expensive and mostly experimental, theyre almost exclusively accessed via cloud connectivity.

In fact, theres a whole suite of quantum technologies out there aside from hybrid quantum computers, though theyre the technology that gets the most attention.

In a recent interview with Neural, the CEO of SandboxAQ (a Google sibling company under the Alphabet umbrella), Jack Hidary, lamented:

For whatever reason, the mainstream media seems to only focus on quantum computing.

There are also quantum sensing, quantum communications, quantum imaging, and quantum simulations although, some of those overlap with quantum hybrid computing as well.

The point is, as Hidary also told Neural, were at an inflection point. Quantum tech is no longer a far-future technology. Its here in many forms today.

But the scope of this article is limited to hybrid quantum computing technologies. And, for that, were focused on two things:

There are two kinds of problems in the quantum computing world: optimization problems and the kind that arent optimization problems.

For the former, you need a quantum annealing system. And, for everything else, you need a gate-based quantum computer probably. Those are still very much in the early stages of development.

But companies such as D-Wave have been building quantum annealing systems for decades.

Heres how D-Wave describes the annealing process:

The systems starts with a set of qubits, each in a superposition state of 0 and 1. They are not yet coupled. When they undergo quantum annealing, the couplers and biases are introduced and the qubits become entangled. At this point, the system is in an entangled state of many possible answers. By the end of the anneal, each qubit is in a classical state that represents the minimum energy state of the problem, or one very close to it.

Heres how we describe it here at Neural: have you ever seen one of those 3-D pin art sculpture things?

Thats pretty much what the annealing process is. The pin art sculpture thing is the computer and your hand is the annealing process. Whats left behind is the minimum energy state of the problem.

Gate-based quantum computers, on the other hand, function entirely differently. Theyre incredibly complex and there are a number of different ways to implement them but, essentially, they run algorithms.

These include Microsofts new cutting-edge experimental system which, according to a recent blog post, is almost ready for prime time:

Microsofts approach has been to pursue a topological qubit that has built-in protection from environmental noise, which means it should take far fewer qubits to perform useful computation and correct errors. Topological qubits should also be able to process information quickly, and one can fit more than a million on a wafer thats smaller than the security chip on a credit card.

And even the most casual of science readers have probably heard about Googles amazing time crystal breakthrough.

Last year, here on Neural, I wrote:

Googles time crystals could be the greatest scientific achievement of our lifetimes.

A time crystal is a new phase of matter that, simplified, would be like having a snowflake that constantly cycled back and forth between two different configurations. Its a seven-pointed lattice one moment and a ten-pointed lattice the next, or whatever.

Whats amazing about time crystals is that when they cycle back and forth between two different configurations, they dont lose or use any energy.

Heck, even D-Wave, the company that put quantum annealing on the map, has plans to introduce cross-platform hybrid quantum computing to the masses with an upcoming gate-based model of its own.

The quantum computing industry is already thriving. As far as were concerned here at Neural, the mainstream is just now starting to catch a whiff of what the 2030s are going to look like.

As Bob Wisnieff, CTO of IBM Quantum, told Neural back in 2019 when IBM unveiled its first commercial quantum system:

We get to be in the right place at the right time for quantum computing, this is a joy project This design represents a pivotal moment in tech.

According to Wisnieff and others building the hybrid quantum computer systems of tomorrow, the timeline from experimental to fully-implemented is very short.

Where annealing and similar quantum optimization systems have been around for years, were now seeing the first generation of gate-based models of quantum advantage come to market.

You might remember reading about quantum supremacy a few years back. Quantum advantage is the same thing but, semantically speaking, its a bit more accurate. Both terms represent the point at which a quantum computer can perform a given function in a reasonable amount of time that would take a classical computer too long to do.

The reason supremacy quickly went out of favor is because quantum computers rely on classical computers to perform these functions, so it makes more sense to say they give an advantage when used in tandem. Thats the very definition of hybrid quantum computing.

As for whats next? Its unlikely youll see a ticker-tape parade for quantum computing any time soon. There wont be an iPhone of quantum computers, or a cultural zeitgeist surrounding the launch of a particular processor.

Instead, like all great things in science, over the course of the next five, 10, 100, and 1,000 years, scientists and engineers will continue to pass the baton from one generation to the next as they stand upon the shoulders of giants to see into the future.

Thanks to their continuing work, in our lifetimes were likely to see vast improvements to power grids, a resolution to mass scheduling conflicts, dynamic shipping optimizations, pitch-perfect quantum chemistry simulations, and even the first inklings of far-future tech such as warp engines.

These technological advances will improve our quality of life, extend our lives, and help us to reverse human-caused climate change.

Hybrid quantum computing is, in our humble opinion here at Neural, the single most important technology humankind has ever endeavored to develop. We hope youll stick with us as we continue to blaze a trail of coverage at the frontier of this new and exciting realm of engineering.

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A regular person's guide to the mind-blowing world of hybrid quantum computing - The Next Web

Aristotle used to say that nature abhors a vacuum. So, he conjectured, there is no such thing. His model accounted for that absence by filling up space with an imponderable substance: the ether.

As students and researchers know, physics abhors singularities. Where we find a singularity, it usually means that the model we are using to describe a physical system or a phenomenon breaks down. Breaking down is a filler expression for something is happening here and we dont know what it is. Figuring out how to avoid singularities opens new possibilities in physics.

Indeed, behind every singularity in physics hides a secret door to a new understanding of the world.

The reader knows that physics is the art of modeling. We describe complex natural systems, such as the sun and the planets orbiting around it thats an easy one in terms of mathematical equations. The equations describe how functions of a variable or a set of variables change in time. In the case of planetary orbits, the equations describe how planets move in space along their orbits.

Singularity as a term is used in many contexts, including within mathematics. The word also appears in speculation about artificial intelligence, such as to describe the day when supposedly machines will become more intelligent than humans. This kind of singularity is something completely different, and it deserves its own essay. For today, lets stick to physics and math.

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Physicists have a love-hate relationship with singularities. On one hand, singularities signal the breakdown of a theory, or of the mathematical model describing the theory. But on the other hand, they can also be a gateway to new discoveries.

Perhaps the most famous singularities in physics have to do with gravity. In Newtonian physics, the gravitational acceleration caused by a body of mass M and radius R is g = GM/R2, where G is the gravitational constant (a measurable number that sets the strength of the gravitational force). Now consider the situation where the radius R of the body shrinks while its mass remains constant. (So, give it a good squeeze.) As R becomes smaller, the gravitational acceleration g becomes larger. In the limit (we love to say in the limit in physics and mathematics), when R goes to zero, the acceleration g goes to infinity. That is a singularity.

Okay, thats what mathematics says. But can this ever happen? This is where things get more interesting.

The quick answer is an emphatic no. First, mass occupies volume in space. If you keep on squeezing the mass to a smaller volume, where does the mass go? Well, you need new physics to think about that!

Classical Newtonian physics cannot handle physics at very small distances. You need to add quantum physics into your model. So, as you squeeze the mass to smaller volumes, quantum effects will help describe what is happening.

First, you need to know that matter itself is not a solid thing. It is made of molecules. Molecules, in turn, are made of atoms. By the time your ball becomes smaller than about one-billionth of a meter, it is no longer a ball at all. It is a collection of atomic clouds superimposed onto one another according to the laws of quantum mechanics. The very notion of an object being a ball ceases to have any meaning.

What if you could keep on squeezing this atomic cloud to smaller and smaller volumes? Well, you need to include the effects from Einsteins theory of relativity that says that a mass curves the space around it. Not only is the notion of a ball long gone now the very space around it is warped. Indeed, when the supposed radius of the supposed ball reaches a critical value,R = GM/c2, where c is the speed of light, what we had supposed to be a ball becomes a black hole!

Now we are in trouble. The black hole we formed creates an event horizon around it with the radius we just calculated. This is called the Schwarzschild radius. Whatever happens inside this radius is hidden from us on the outside. If you choose to go in there, you will never emerge to tell the story. As the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus once quipped, nature loves to hide. A black hole is the ultimate hideout.

In our exploration, we started with an ordinary ball of ordinary material. We soon needed to expand our physics to include quantum physics and Einsteins general relativity. The singularity that exists by simply taking the limit of a variable to zero (the radius of the ball in our case) was the gateway to new physics.

But we finish this journey with the very unsatisfying feeling of a mission not accomplished. We do not know what goes on inside the black hole. If we push our equations at least Einsteins equation we get a singularity at the very center of the black hole. Here, gravity itself goes to infinity. Physicists call this a singularity point. It is a place in the universe that exists and does not exist at the same time. But then, we remember quantum physics. And quantum physics tells us that a point located in space means infinite precision of position. Such infinite precision cannot exist. Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle tells us that a singularity point is actually a jittery thing, moving about every time we try to locate it. This means we cannot get to the center of a black hole, even in principle.

So, if we are to take our theories seriously, the mathematical singularity that appears in our models not only opens the door to new physics it also cannot exist in nature. Somehow, and we do not know how, nature finds a way to get around it. Unfortunately to us, this trick seems beyond the reach of our models, at least for now. Whatever it is that goes on inside a black hole, as tantalizing as it is to our imagination, needs a physics we do not yet have.

To make our exploration even more difficult, we cannot get data from inside there. And without data, how are we to decide which one of our new models makes sense? No wonder Einstein did not like black holes, creations of his own theory. As the realist that he was, discovering aspects of the natural world that are beyond our grasp was exasperating.

Here, perhaps, we find a new lesson. Although we should keep trying to figure this out, we should also embrace the mindset that it is okay not to find answers to all of our questions. After all, not knowing is what propels us to keep on looking. As the English playwright Tom Stoppard once wrote, Its wanting to know that makes us matter. Even if our question is unanswerable in the end.

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Do singularities exist in nature? - Big Think

From the discovery of the first subatomic particle to the confirmation of the Higgs boson in 2012, Suzie Sheehy's account of experiments that changed our world is detailed but lively

By Elle Hunt

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland

Maximilien Brice/CERN

The Matter of Everything

Suzie Sheehy

Bloomsbury

IN 1930, Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli set out to solve a mystery. The variability of energy values for beta particles, defying the basic scientific principles of conservation of energy and momentum, had been confounding physicists since the turn of the century.

Pauli a physicist so rigorous in his approach that he had been called the scourge of God seemed well-placed to address it. And yet, when he put his mind to finding a theoretical solution for the problem of beta decay, Pauli created only further ambiguity.

He proposed the existence of an entirely new, chargeless and near-massless particle that would allow for energy and momentum to be conserved, but would be almost impossible to find. I have done a terrible thing, he wrote. I have postulated a particle that cannot be detected.

Pauli, a pioneer of quantum physics, is one of many names to cross the pages of The Matter of Everything, Suzie Sheehys lively account of experiments that changed our world. Through 12 significant discoveries over the course of the 20th century, Sheehy shows how physics transformed the world and our understanding of it in many cases, as a direct result of the curiosity and dedication of individuals.

Sheehy is an experimental physicist in the field of accelerator physics, based at the University of Oxford and the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her own expertise makes The Matter of Everything a more technical book than the framing of 12 experiments might suggest, and certainly more so than the average popular science title, but it is nonetheless accessible to the lay reader and vividly described.

From experiments with cathode rays in a German lab in 1895, leading to the detection of X-rays and to the discovery of the first subatomic particle, to the confirmation of the Higgs boson in 2012, The Matter of Everything is an opportunity to learn not just about individual success stories, but the nature of physics itself.

Sheehy does well to set out the questions that these scientists wanted to answer and what lay at stake with their discoveries, on the macro level as well as the micro one, showing how physics not only helped us to understand the world, but shaped it. These early firsts came from small-scale experiments, with researchers operating their own equipment and even building it from scratch.

The Matter of Everything also highlights those whose contributions might have historically been overlooked, such as Lise Meitner, dubbed the German Marie Curie by Albert Einstein. Her work on nuclear fission went unacknowledged for some 50 years after her colleague Otto Hahn was solely awarded the Nobel prize in 1944.

The commitment and collaboration of physicists and engineers through the second world war showed what was possible for good and evil. Sheehy describes how the development of the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki awakened a social conscience in the field, paving the way to the international cooperation we see today, such as on the Large Hadron Collider.

United behind a common goal, and with cross-government support, answers that had never before seemed possible suddenly appeared within grasp. To Sheehy, this is evidence of the potential for physics to overcome the challenges that face science and society now from the nature of dark matter to tackling the climate crisis.

At the start of the 20th century, she points out, it was said that we knew everything there was to know about the universe; by the end of the century, the world had changed beyond recognition.

The terrible particles Pauli proposed which he called neutrons, but we now know as neutrinos were finally confirmed in 1956. His response was quietly triumphant: Everything comes to him who knows how to wait.

A sweeping but detailed and pacy account of 100 years of scientific advancement, The Matter of Everything has a cheering takeaway. What such leaps lie ahead? What questions seem intractable now that we wont give a thought to in the future?

Sheehy mounts the case that with persistence, curiosity and collaboration we may yet overcome challenges that now seem impossible.

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The Matter of Everything review: A pacy look at 20th-century physics - New Scientist

Its a very good thing Carlo Rovelli did not get eaten by a bear in 1976though even he admits it would have been his own fault. Camping alone in western Canada, he decided to save the money it would have cost him to pitch his tent in a designated area, and picked instead a wilder part of the wilderness. No sooner had he set up camp and prepared to settle in than the grizzly appeared.

Fortunately for Rovelli, the bear was more interested in the easy pickings of the food supplies he had left out in the open than it was in human prey. I packed super rapidly, he says, left the food, took my tent and backpack, ran to the campsite, and was happy to pay the $2 it cost to camp there.

That $2 ensured that Rovelli remained in the world, andto the gratitude of millions of his modern-day readers and followersthat the world got to keep Rovelli. It turned out to be a good deal all around.

The 65-year-old research physicist now directs the quantum-gravity research group at the Centre de Physique Thorique in Marseilles, France, and is the best-selling author of seven books, including 2014s Seven Brief Lessons on Physicswhich has been translated into more than 40 languagesand the new There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness, coming May 10, a collection of his newspaper columns originally published from 2010 to 2020.

Read More: The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Decade

Quick-talking and small-framed, Rovelli is rather blas about trafficking in the nearly hallucinogenic concepts of his field, from quantum theorywhich involves the behavior of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic levels, where the precepts of classical physics break downto relativity, to certainty (which, for what its worth, he insists does not exist). Im a simple mechanic, he says. In Italian thats almost a pejorative. However, Im not the person who thinks that science is a fundamental explanation of everything. I think scientists should be humble. They are not the masters of todays knowledge.

Maybe not. And yet, Rovellis lifes goal is to be the first physicist to reconcile quantum mechanics and more traditional theories of gravity and Einsteinian space-time. That work, should he achieve it, would make Rovelli more than just an accomplished physicist and a gifted communicator. It would make him a legend.

Rovelli began breaking rules long before he pitched his tent in a place he wasnt supposed to. Born in Bologna, Italy, he ran away from home at age 14 and hitchhiked across Europe. At 16, he began experimenting with LSD, which he credits with first allowing him to understand that linear time, as we experience it, may not be all there is. The experience, he writes in his new book, left me with a calm awareness of the prejudices of our rigid mental categories.

That kind of thinking predisposed Rovelli as much to philosophy as to physics, and when he enrolled in college, at the University of Bologna, he had yet to decide firmly. But when it came time to register for classes, the queue at the physics table was much shorter than the one for philosophy.

Physics was a little bit of a random choice, he says. I also discovered, to my surprise, that I was good at it.

Read More: What Einstein Got Wrong About the Speed of Light

Good indeed. After earning his PhD at the University of Padova, Rovelli held postdoctoral positions at numerous schools, including Yale University and the University of Rome, and taught for a decade at the University of Pittsburgh. Rovelli has come to conclude that if you want to understand how the universe worksand he would be very happy to teach youits important to grasp three essential concepts. First, things dont happen according to exact equations, but rather only to probability. Next, space-time is not a continuum but is ultimately reducible to grains, the smallest possible units of the universe. We should think about space around us as if were immersed in a bucket of sand, he says. At some point, you get down to a single grain and cannot get it to break.

Finally, Rovelli argues, all objectseven grizzly bearsdo not have their own properties, but properties only insofar as they relate to other objects. The world is not made of stones, he says. Its made of kisses.

Rovelli concedes that theres a limit to how much sense any of what he traffics in daily is comprehensible to most people. Work as a heart surgeon and you can explain straightforwardly what your job involves. Work as a theoretical physicist and youre left resorting to metaphor.

What makes things really challenging is that the universe does a good job misleading us with what appears to be simplicity. The ground is down there; spacewhich has no grains as far as we can seeis up there; time moves forward. The trick for all of us, physicists included, is not learning new truths but unlearning old falsehoods. Galileo Galileis seminal book, which explained the motion of the earth, is perhaps historys best example of that process.

Its meant to convince you that the earth goes around the sun and that the earth rotates, Rovelli says. But whats remarkable is that the actual arguments for the earth moving take a few pages. Most of the book is devoted to trying to bring the reader out from the obvious conviction that thats impossible.

Read More: Teleportation Is Real and Heres Why it Matters

Where humanity as a whole fits into the cosmos is not a matter that Rovelli addresses muchor that seems, within his science, to require that much addressing. Consciousness and life itself, he says, are a trick of biochemistry and thermodynamics and not a whole lot more. Life is a super-complicated phenomenon, but theres no mystery here, he says. Whats more, death brings an end to things utterly.

I dont like to feel consolation in the idea that I will be welcomed by God after my death, he writes in his new book. I like to look directly at the limited length of our lives, to learn to look at our sister, death, with serenity. I like to wake in the morning, look at the sea, and thank the wind, the waves, the sky the life that allows me to exist.

The stem-winding title of Rovellis new book comes from a 2016 essay in which he visits a mosque in Senegal. He removes his sandals before stepping inside the building, as directed, but carries them inside with him. A young man approaches him and points to the sandals; Rovelli realizes that the rule is actually that dirtshedding shoes should not enter the building at all. He hurries back outside and leaves the sandals behind. An old man picks the sandals back up, places them in a bag, and carries them into the mosque himself to hand them back to Rovelli. The mans desire to put the travelers mind at ease about his shoes has taken precedence over even that rule.

I am speechless, Rovelli writes; there are places in the world where rules are less important than kindness.

The universe Rovelli has devoted his life to explaining might be a cold, indifferent, even unkind oneat least insofar as it largely limits us to our tiny little beachhead of earth. But it is a clearer and more elegant one for Rovellis efforts. That, in a very real sense, is its own act of kindness.

More Must-Read Stories From TIME

Write to Jeffrey Kluger at jeffrey.kluger@time.com.

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Carlo Rovelli Explains the Universe In His New Book - TIME

image:Professor Mattias Christandl has helped find a new form of security identification, that could soon see the light of day and help us protect our data from hackers and cybercriminals. view more

Credit: University of Copenhagen, Quantum for Life Centre

A new form of security identification could soon see the light of day and help us protect our data from hackers and cybercriminals. Quantum mathematicians at the University of Copenhagen have solved a mathematical riddle that allows for a person's geographical location to be used as a personal ID that is secure against even the most advanced cyber attacks.

People have used codes and encryption to protect information from falling into the wrong hands for thousands of years. Today, encryption is widely used to protect our digital activity from hackers and cybercriminals who assume false identities and exploit the internet and our increasing number of digital devices to steal from us.

As such, there is an ever-growing need for new security measures to detect hackers posing as our banks or other trusted institutions. Within this realm, researchers from the University of Copenhagens Department of Mathematical Sciences have just made a giant leap.

There is a constant battle in cryptography between those who want to protect information and those seeking to crack it. New security keys are being developed and later broken and so the cycle continues. Until, that is, a completely different type of key has been found., says Professor Matthias Christandl.

For nearly twenty years, researchers around the world have been trying to solve the riddle of how to securely determine a person's geographical location and use it as a secure ID. Until now, this had not been possible by way of normal methods like GPS tracking.

"Today, there are no traditional ways, whether by internet or radio signals for example, to determine where another person is situated geographically with one hundred percent accuracy. Current methods are not unbreakable, and hackers can impersonate someone you trust even when they are far far away. However, quantum physics opens up a few entirely different possibilities," says Matthias Christandl.

Quantum physics makes hacking impossible

Using the laws of quantum physics, the researchers developed a new security protocol that uses a person's geographical location to guarantee that they are communicating with the right person. Position-based quantum encryption, as it is called, can be used to ensure that a person is speaking with an actual bank representative when the bank calls and asks a customer to make changes to their account.

"Ask yourself, why do I trust an employee at the bank counter? Because they're in a bank. Their location creates trust. This explains the principle behind pposition-based cryptography, where physical location is used to identify oneself," explains postdoc Andreas Bluhm.

The researchers' recipe for securing a person's location combines the information in a single quantum bit a qubit followed by classical bits, consisting of the ones and zeroes that we are familiar with from ordinary computers.

Both types of bits are needed to send a message that is impossible for cybercriminals to read, hack or manipulate, and which can confirm whether a person is in your banks office or in some far-off country.

The quantum bit serves as a kind of lock on the message, due to the role of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics, which causes quantum information to be disrupted and impossible to decode when trying to measure it. It is also due to what is known as the "no-cloning theorem", which makes quantum information impossible to intercept and secretly copy. This will remain the case for quite some time.

"Until a full-fledged quantum computer is built and hackers gain access to one, our method is completely secure and impossible to hack," says Andreas Bluhm.

Could soon be a reality

The researchers highlight the fact that the new method is particularly handy because only a single quantum bit is needed for position verification. So, unlike many other quantum technologies that require further development, this new discovery can be put to use today. Suitable quantum sources that can send a quantum bit of light already exist.

"The particular strength of our technique is that it is relatively straightforward to implement. Were already able to send individual quantum bits, which is all this technique requires," says Matthias Christandl.

The security ID needs to be developed commercially, by a company for example, before it can be widely adopted. However, its quantum foundation is in place.

The new research result is particularly useful in contexts where communications between two parties need to be extremely secure. This could be payments on the internet or transmission of sensitive personal data.

"Secure communication is a key element of our daily lives. Whenever we communicate with public authorities, our banks or any party that manages our personal data and information, we need to know that the people were dealing with are those who we expect them to be and not criminals," says Andreas Bluhm.

The research has just been published in Nature Physics and was presented at the QCrypt 2021 conference. Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xt5gsEuPL4&list=PLVgC3LSv44hCboHkzAjBsDYUr6PxficlU&index=23

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Phone call results in 35-million-dollar bank heist

In 2020, swindlers robbed a bank in the United Arab Emirates of 35 million dollars using deep voice technology.

Using the imitated voice of the bank director on a phone call, the fraudsters told a bank manager that the bank was about to acquire a company and asked the manager to transfer funds to the company's lawyer. However, the lawyer was one of the scammers and the money immediately vanished into several accounts. The heist could have been averted if the bank manager had been able to verify that it was indeed the bank director giving the order over the phone.

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About the study

The article "A single-qubit position verification protocol that is secure against multi-qubit attacks" has just been published in Nature Physics. The article was written in collaboration with Florian Speelman, a researcher based at the University of Amsterdam.

Contact:

Matthias ChristandlProfessorDepartment of Mathematical SciencesUniversity of CopenhagenMobile: +45 51 82 43 25christandl@math.ku.dk

Andreas BluhmPostdocDepartment of Mathematical SciencesUniversity of CopenhagenMail: bluhm@math.ku.dk

Michael Skov JensenJournalistThe Faculty of ScienceUniversity of CopenhagenMobile: +45 93 56 58 97msj@science.ku.dk

A single-qubit position verification protocol that is secure against multi-qubit attacks

28-Apr-2022

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Scientific advance leads to a new tool in the fight against hackers - EurekAlert

An experiment has been designed that could confirm the fifth state of matter in the universe and change physics as we know it. If proven correct, it would show that information is the fifth form of matter, alongside solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. In fact, information could be the elusive dark matter that makes up almost a third of the universe.

An experiment that could confirm the fifth state of matter in the universe and change physics as we know it has been published in a new research paper from the University of Portsmouth in England.

Dr. Melvin Vopson, a physicist, has already published findings indicating that information has mass and that all elementary particles, the universes smallest known building blocks, store information about themselves, similar to the way humans have DNA.

Now he has designed an experiment which if proved correct means he will have discovered that information is the fifth form of matter, alongside solid, liquid, gas, and plasma.

Dr. Vopson said: This would be a eureka moment because it would change physics as we know it and expand our understanding of the universe. But it wouldnt conflict with any of the existing laws of physics.

It doesnt contradict quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, thermodynamics, or classical mechanics. All it does is complement physics with something new and incredibly exciting.

Dr. Vopsons previous research suggests that information is the fundamental building block of the universe and has physical mass.

He even claims that information could be the elusive dark matter that makes up almost a third of the universe.

He said: If we assume that information is physical and has mass, and that elementary particles have a DNA of information about themselves, how can we prove it? My latest paper is about putting these theories to the test so they can be taken seriously by the scientific community.

Dr. Vopsons experiment proposes how to detect and measure the information in an elementary particle by using particle-antiparticle collision.

He said: The information in an electron is 22 million times smaller than the mass of it, but we can measure the information content by erasing it.

We know that when you collide a particle of matter with a particle of antimatter, they annihilate each other. And the information from the particle has to go somewhere when its annihilated.

The annihilation process converts all the remaining mass of the particles into energy, typically gamma photons. Any particles containing information are converted into low-energy infrared photons.

In the study, Dr. Vopson predicts the exact energy of the infrared photons resulting from erasing the information.

Dr. Vopson believes his work could demonstrate how information is a key component of everything in the universe and a new field of physics research could emerge.

The paper is published in the journal AIP Advances.

Reference: Experimental protocol for testing the massenergyinformation equivalence principle by Melvin M. Vopson, 4 March 2022, AIP Advances.DOI: 10.1063/5.0087175

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An Experiment That Could Confirm the Fifth State of Matter in the Universe And Change Physics As We Know It - SciTechDaily

Quantum theory has predicted many phenomena that are difficult, if not impossible, to observe in practice. One particularly tricky example is the Unruh effect, which would take longer than the age of the universe to reveal itself in straightforward experiments. However, a team of physicists have argued it is theoretically possible to shorten this process to a few hours. They're now working on ways to actually carry the idea out, hopefully catching a thermal glow that will confirm one part of our understanding of the basic laws of the universe.

The Unruh (or Fulling-Davies-Unruh) effect is thought to cause accelerating objects to be bathed in a thermal bath of electromagnetic radiation. If some immense power allowed a spacecraft to rapidly approach light speed, passengers not squashed by the extreme g forces would witness a warm glow around them. As envisaged, it's a counterpart to Hawking radiation produced by black holes, and observing either would help confirm the other. The problem for experimentalists is the amount of radiation produced under most circumstances is so low as to be effectively undetectable.

However, in Physical Review Letters physicists note you can stimulate the Unruh effect by accelerating your object in the presence of electromagnetic radiation. Although this light would normally induce other effects that would once again make the Unruh radiation undetectable, they claim to have found ways around this.

One of the mind-bending consequences of quantum theory is that there are no true vacuums pairs of subatomic virtual particles are constantly fluctuating into existence before almost immediately annihilating each other. Unruh's theory postulates objects with mass amplify these quantum fluctuations when accelerating, warming themselves and creating a thermal glow that others should be able to see.

Most acceleration simply isn't large enough to produce anything noticeable, however, and even when we apply all the power we can muster in a particle accelerator we're unlikely to witness anything. However, every photon of light passing through a vacuum increases the density of quantum fluctuations, making it more likely an accelerated particle will experience a noticeable Unruh effect.

However, an atom can also absorb the light used to stimulate Unruh radiation, raising its energy level enough to overwhelm something so subtle. This is just one of three resonant effects light can have on an atom. Observing the effect becomes a little like trying to spot a planet by the reflected light of its star. Extra starlight makes the planet brighter, but also makes it harder to see in the star's glare.

Just as astronomers mask stars to let us see their planets, University of Waterloo PhD student Barbara Sodaargues it is possible to make the atom invisible to the light so it cannot absorb any of the photons. This would prevent the absorption from obscuring our view of the Unruh radiation. Soda and co-authors call this acceleration-induced transparency.

Provided the accelerating object's path through a field of photons is right, the authors conclude we can get the Unruh effect without the absorption. We show that by engineering the trajectory of the particle, we can essentially turn off [the resonant] effects, Soda said in a statement.

Co-author Dr Vivishek Sudhir of MIT is working on designing a practical experiment to implement the idea by firing electrons at close to the speed of light through a microwave laser at the appropriate angle.

Now we have this mechanism that seems to statistically amplify this effect via stimulation, Sudhir said. Given the 40-year history of this problem, weve now in theory fixed the biggest bottleneck.

Unexpected acceleration of certain spacecraft as they flew by Earth has been attributed to the Unruh effect, but competing explanations exist. If the Unruh effect actually is the cause it would reveal a real-world influence, one we might even be able to harness.

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There May Be A Fast Way To Observe This Never-Before-Seen Quantum Effect - IFLScience