Category Archives: Quantum Physics

This idea is promoting itself quite nicely. Its based on a version of quantum mechanics. So far it has all the pizazz of a quaint new terminology (panconsciousness, panpsychism, strange loops, not physically there, etc., and a certain smugness which looks pretty damn lazy to me. If youve never read anything in your life, this would be mindblowing. If you have, its anything but. The key thing is that everything is information, expressed as thought. On that basis, humanitys claims to existence are in question, as the theory goes on to prove to itself. The universe is supposed to be a self-sustaining mental process, with subconscious micro routines, pure thought, and no advanced beings running the equivalent of a game program. It could even be the past rebooted by future people. Wow, eh? No. Its bordering on religion, almost psycho-creationism. Its not exactly a new take on anything much. Anything can be dogmatized into a self-fulfilling prophecy system. There are carrots; therefore there will be more carrots, because thats what the system predicts, aka God makes carrots. Never mind the fact that carrots dont need a system or a theory to reproduce more carrots. Theyre not likely to do much else, are they? Ask any vegetable grower how theoretical carrots are. Remarkably few carrots go to church, either. Even evolution is roped in to this remarkably not-very-new theory as experimentation by this universal quasi-consciousness. Thats very old science fiction. It goes back to at least Olaf Stapledons books circa the 1930s. All you need is a reality, you dumb bastardsQuantum physics, which is interesting, unlike this plodding series of self-supporting justifications, is also involved. Quantum physics, if nothing else, is efficient. It works. Quantum reality, in fact, creates its own loops. Quantum entanglement, one of the most significant discoveries of the last century or so, is a case in point. The point being - Everything can have a direct relationship over vast distances, regardless of space and time constraints. Imagine Jewel on a vast scale. Can thought, on whatever level an on whatever scope, manipulate quantum reality? Why not? The human brain generates enough energy to have subatomic let alone quantum particles rattling around all over the place. A universal panconsciousness, or some equivalent, wouldnt have much trouble doing that either. This is where plausibility meets an obstacle called reality. Horribly (and remarkably ineptly) defined as reality is, you need a medium like existence for all this to work efficiently on any level. In this theory, thought stands in for reality. Or does it? You have a monoculture of thought creating realities for itself? What about the reality in which this universal mind exists? Can it be one omnipresent thing? If so, where did it come from, as every child quite rightly asks? A reality is a set of applicable integrated functions. (A definition in progress, there.) However, without functionality you dont have a reality in a functional form. A self-actualizing universe could be said to be a tautology it exists because it exists. How helpful. Particularly to a theory which needs way more legs than this one has. A simulated existence also has a few holes in it. Simulated in relation to what? An underlying existence? An arbitrary existence? This theory has to presuppose the existence of way too many things. Assuming it is mentally possible to create an existence, and many ancient scripts say it is, how do these mental creations fit in with an underlying existence? Not too well, at this point. The properties of the observed universe indicate a lot of things that go boom, much quasi-chaotic behaviour, etc. And some pretty iffy parameters for whats doing what, when and where. Superimposed on this almost-slandered reality are things like entropy, cosmic attractors, black holes, and other consistent, if irritating, things rightly or wrongly based on observation. Does this universal panconsciousness have nothing better to do? Consciousness is systemic, systematic, and pretty efficient overall in basic functions. Highter thought is more demanding and often far more complex This state of existence, the electromagnetic circus, doesnt seem too focused on much more than physical processes. Panpsychism, which links everything to thought, is truly ancient. It goes way back in recorded history. Bigger thinking, like the Tao, start with the premise that the entire process is indescribable. The theory that the universe simulates itself seems more than a little redundant on that basis. Is the universe thinking about what its going to do next, before it breaks into showbiz? Chat show opportunities? Blecch. How much of this absolutely requires a universal consciousness to exist? None of it. Basic physics seem to work OK without a dogma attached to each electron. Even if you assume a mind is able to create its own universe, (and theres precious little reason to believe it cant or doesnt at the slightest excuse), so what? Must we have an overarching theory to explain that? This theory also degenerates into some pretty tacky sophisms How do you know youre not dreaming?, and other paraphrased quotes. Am I a butterfly dreaming Im a man, etc. Minds that do not require matter, and other open door non-statements are also included in this delightful package. Do better than that, guys. Very old, and much better expressed centuries ago. This go-nowhere theory achieves its purpose of reiterating millennia of prior thought. It just happens to do so very unimpressively. The ghost of von Daniken is obviously looking for company, so be very very quiet if youre hunting rabbits.

This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com

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Op-Ed: The universe is just a thought, says new theory Or maybe not - Digital Journal

Safe Deposit. Symbol of cryptocurrency safety. The man puts a physical bitcoin in small Residential ... [+] Vault. Toned soft focus picture.

Theres a lurking fear in cryptocurrency communities about quantum computing. Could it break cryptocurrencies and the encryption that protects them? How close might that be? Do the headlines around quantum supremacy mean that my private keys are at risk?

The simple answer: no. But lets dive deeper into this phenomenon and really try to understand why this is the case and how quantum computing will interact with cryptocurrencies.

To start off with, lets define quantum computing and the classical computing were all used to, and seeing where the terms compare and contrast with one another. Quantum computing can be roughly placed in the same paradigm as classical pre-1900s physics and modern physics which comprises Einsteins insights on relativity and quantum physics.

Classical computing is the kind of computers weve grown used to, the extensions of Turings theories on computation, the laptops or mobile phones that you carry around with you. Classical computing relies heavily on the manipulation of physical bits the famous 0s and 1s.

Quantum computing relies on qubits, bits that are held in superposition and use quantum principles to complete calculations. The information captured or generated by a quantum system benefits from the ability of qubits to be in more than one physical state at a time (superposition), but there is information decay in capturing the state of the system.

One point that will be immediately relevant to the discussion is that quantum computers are not universally better than classical computers as a result. When people speak about quantum supremacy, including reports from Google GOOG and/or China, they really mean that a quantum computer can do a certain task better than classical computers, perhaps one that is impossible to do in any reasonable timeframe with classical computers.

We can think of this in terms of time scales from a computing perspective there are some, but not all functions, that go from being impossible to accomplish in any meaningful human-level time period to ones that become slow but manageable with a large enough quantum computer.

In a way, you can think of Turing tests and quantum supremacy tests in much the same way. Designed at first to demonstrate the superiority of one system over another (in the case of Turing tests, artificial language generation vs. human language comprehension, in the case of quantum supremacy tests, quantum computing systems vs classical computers), theyve become more gimmick than substance.

A quantum computer has to perform better at some minute and trivial task that might seem impressive but completely useless in much the same way a Turing test of machine-generated English might fool a Ukrainian child with no fluency in the language.

This means that we have to narrow down to a function that quantum computers can be better on that would materially affect cryptocurrencies or the encryption theyre built on in order for quantum supremacy to matter.

One area of specific focus is Shors Algorithm, which can factor large prime numbers down into two smaller ones. This is a very useful property for breaking encryption, since the RSA family of encryption depends on factoring large prime numbers in exactly this manner. Shors Algorithm works in theory with a large enough quantum computer and so its a practical concern that eventually, Shors Algorithm might come into play and among other things, RSA encryption might be broken.

On this front, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has already started gathering proposals for post-quantum cryptography, encryption that would operate and not be broken even with much larger quantum computers than the ones were currently able to build. They estimate that large enough quantum computers to disrupt classical encryption will potentially arrive in the next twenty years.

For cryptocurrencies, a fork in the future that might affect large parts of the chain, but it will be somewhat predictable there is a lot of thought being placed on post-quantum encryption technology. Bitcoin would not be one of the first planks to fall if classical encryption were suddenly broken for a number of reasons. Yet, a soft fork (as opposed to a hard one) might be enough to help move crypto-assets from suddenly insecure keys to secure post-quantum encryption.

Even an efficient implementation of Shors Algorithm may not break some of the cryptography standards used in bitcoin. SHA-256 is theorized to be quantum-resistant.

The most efficient theoretical implementation of a quantum computer to detect a SHA-256 collision is actually less efficient than the theorized classical implementation for breaking the standard. The wallet file in the original Bitcoin client is using SHA-512 (a more secure version than SHA-256) to help encrypt private keys.

Most of the encryption in modern cryptocurrencies are built on elliptic curve cryptography rather than RSA especially in the generation of signatures in bitcoin which requires ECDSA. This is largely due to the fact that elliptic curves are correspondingly harder to crack than RSA (sometimes exponentially so) from classical computers.

Thanks to Moores law and better classical computing, secure RSA key sizes have grown so large so as to be impractical compared to elliptic curve cryptography so most people will opt for elliptic curve cryptography for performance reasons for their systems, which is the case with bitcoin.

However, quantum computers seem to flip this logic on its head: given a large enough quantum computer with enough qubits, you can break elliptic curve cryptography easier than you might break RSA.

Both elliptic curve cryptography are widely used in a bunch of other industries and use cases as well RSA-2048 and higher are standards in the conventional banking system to send encrypted information, for example.

Yet, even with a large enough quantum computer, you would still have to reveal or find somebodys public keys so they could be subject to attack. With cryptocurrency wallet reuse being frowned upon, and a general encouragement of good privacy practices, the likelihood of this attack is already being reduced.

Another area of attack could be Grovers algorithm, which can exponentially speed up mining with a large enough quantum computer though its probable that ASICs, the specialized classical computers mostly used to mine bitcoin now, would be faster compared to the earliest versions of more complete quantum computers.

This poses more of a stronger threat when it comes to the state of cryptocurrencies: the ability to mine quickly in a sudden quantum speedup could lead to destabilization of prices and more importantly control of the chain itself an unexpected quantum speedup could, if hidden, lead to vast centralization of mining and possible 51% attacks. Yet the most likely case is that larger systems of quantum computing will be treated like any kind of hardware, similar to the transition for miners between GPUs, FGPAs and ASICs a slow economic transition to better tooling.

Its conceivable that these avenues of attack and perhaps other more unpredictable ones might emerge, yet post-quantum encryption planning is already in process and through the mechanism of forks, cryptocurrencies can be updated to use post-quantum encryption standards and defend against these weaknesses.

Bitcoin and even other cryptocurrencies and their history are filled with examples of hardware and software changes that had to be made to make the network more secure and performant and good security practices in the present (avoiding wallet reuse) can help prepare for a more uncertain future.

So quantum computers being added to the mix wont suddenly render classical modes of encryption useless or mining trivial quantum supremacy now doesnt mean that your encryption or the security of bitcoin is at risk right at this moment.

The real threat is when quantum computers become many scales larger than they currently are by which point planning for post-quantum encryption, which is already well on the way would come to the fore, and at which point bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can soft fork and use both decentralized governance and dynamism when needed in the face of new existential threats to defeat the threat of quantum supremacy.

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Here's Why Quantum Computing Will Not Break Cryptocurrencies - Forbes

Quantum mechanics has an exciting feature: a single event can exist in a state of superposition happening bothhereandthere, or bothtodayandtomorrow.

Such superposition is quite challenging to create as they are easily destroyed if any information about the events place and time leaks into the surrounding and even if nobody records this information. Once superposition is created, they lead to observations that are very different from that of classical physics, questioning down to our very understanding of space and time.

Recently scientists from EPFL, MIT, and CEA Saclay demonstrate a state of vibration simultaneously at two different times. They evidence this quantum superposition by measuring the strongest class of quantum correlations between light beams that interact with the vibration.

Using a very short laser-pulse, scientists triggered a specific pattern of vibration inside a diamond crystal. They then oscillated pair of neighboring atoms like two masses linked by a spring. This oscillation was synchronous across the entire illuminated region.

A light of a new color was emitted during the process to conserve the energy.

This classical picture, however, is inconsistent with the experiments. Instead, both light and vibration should be described as particles, or quanta: light energy is quantized into discrete photons. In contrast, vibrational energy is quantized into discrete phonons (named after the ancient Greek photo = light and phono = sound).

Therefore, the process described above should be seen as the fission of an incoming photon from the laser into a pair of photon and phonon akin to nuclear fission of an atom into two smaller pieces.

But it is not the only shortcoming of classical physics. In quantum mechanics, particles can exist in a superposition state, like the famous Schrdinger cat being alive and dead at the same time.

In this new study, scientists successfully entangled the photon and the phonon produced in an incoming laser photons fission inside the crystal. They did this by designing an experiment in which the photon-photon pair could be created at two different instants. Classically, it would result in a situation where the pair is created at time t1 with a 50% probability or at a later time t2 with 50% probability.

Here, scientists played a trick to generate an entangled state. They arranged the experiment in such a way that not even the faintest trace of the light-vibration pair creation time (t1 vs. t2) was left in the universe.

In other words, they erased information about t1 and t2. Quantum mechanics then predicts that the photon-photon pair becomes entangled and exists in a superposition of time t1andt2. This prediction was beautifully confirmed by the measurements, which yielded results incompatible with the classical probabilistic theory.

By showing entanglement between light and vibration in a crystal that one could hold in their finger during the experiment, the new study creates a bridge between our daily experience and the fascinating realm of quantum mechanics.

Christophe Galland, head of the Laboratory for Quantum and Nano-Optics at EPFL and one of the studys main authors, said,Quantum technologies are heralded as the next technological revolution in computing, communication. They are currently being developed by top universities and large companies worldwide, but the challenge is daunting. Such technologies rely on very fragile quantum effects surviving only at extremely cold temperatures or under high vacuum.

Our study demonstrates that even a common material at ambient conditions can sustain the delicate quantum properties required for quantum technologies. There is a price to pay, though: the quantum correlations sustained by atomic vibrations in the crystal are lost after only 4 picoseconds i.e., 0.000000000004 of a second! This short time scale is, however, also an opportunity for developing ultrafast quantum technologies. But much research lies ahead to transform our experiment into a useful device a job for future quantum engineers.

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A state of vibration that exists simultaneously at two different times - Tech Explorist

Written by AZoQuantumDec 21 2020

An exclusively counterintuitive aspect of quantum mechanics is the fact that a single event can exist in a state of superpositionoccurring both here and there, or both today and tomorrow.

It is challenging to create such superpositions because they are destroyed if any type of information related to the time and place of the event leaks into the surroundingand even if nobody really records this information. However, when superpositions do happen, they result in observations that are highly distinct from that of classical physics, which questions down to the very understanding of time and space.

Researchers from EPFL, MITand CEA Saclay demonstrate a state of vibration that occurs at two different times concurrently. They have proven this quantum superposition by quantifying the strongest family of quantum correlations between light beams that tend to interact with the vibration. The findings have been published in Science Advances.

The team triggered a particular pattern of vibration within a diamond crystal by using a very short laser pulse. Each pair of neighboring atoms oscillated similar to two masses connected by a spring, where the oscillation was found to be synchronous over the entire illuminated region. Energy is conserved during this process by the emission of light of a new color and shifting toward the red end of the spectrum.

But this classical picture is not consistent with the experiments. Rather, both vibration and light should be characterized as particles, or quantalight energy is quantized into discrete photons, whereas vibrational energy is quantized into discrete phonons (which are named after the ancient Greek 'photo = light'and 'phono = sound').

The process illustrated above should hence be regarded as the fission of an incoming photon from the laser into a pair of photon and phononsimilar to nuclear fission of an atom into two smaller pieces.

However, this is not the only defect of classical physics. According to quantum mechanics, it is possible for particles to occur in a superposition state, such as the famous Schrdinger cat that is alive and dead simultaneously.

Much more counterintuitive is the fact that two particles can be entangled, thereby losing their individuality. The only information that can be gathered in relation to them is linked to their common correlations.

Since both particles are characterized by a common state or the wavefunction, these correlations are more robust compared to what is viable in classical physics. This can be demonstrated by carrying out suitable measurements on the two particles. In case a classical limit is violated by the results, then it can be said that they were entangled.

As part of the new study, researchers from EPFL were able to entangle the photon and the phonon (i.e. light and vibration) generated during the fission of an incoming laser photon within the crystal.

They achieved this by designing an experiment where the photon-phonon pair could be produced at two different instants. As per classical physics, it would lead to a condition where the pair is produced at time t1 with 50% probability, or later at time t2 with 50% probability.

However, here arrives the 'trick'played by the team to produce an entangled state. They performed an accurate arrangement of the experiment to ensure that not even the faintest trace of the light-vibration pair creation time (t1 vs t2) was left out in the universe.

Simply put, information related to t1 and t2 was erased. Then, quantum mechanics predicts whether the phonon-photon pair turns entangled and occurs in a superposition of time t1 and t2. The prediction was validated by the measurements, which produced results incompatible with the classical probabilistic theory.

The new study demonstrates entanglement between vibration and light in a crystal that can be held in the finger of a person during the experiment, thus forming a bridge between the daily experience and the enchanting world of quantum mechanics.

Quantum technologies are heralded as the next technological revolution in computing, communication, sensing, stated Christophe Galland, one of the main authors of the study, who is the head of the Laboratory for Quantum and Nano-Optics at EPFL.

They are currently being developed by top universities and large companies worldwide, but the challenge is daunting. Such technologies rely on very fragile quantum effects surviving only at extremely cold temperatures or under high vacuum. Our study demonstrates that even a common material at ambient conditions can sustain the delicate quantum properties required for quantum technologies.

Christophe Galland, Head, Laboratory for Quantum and Nano-Optics, EPFL

There is a price to pay, though: the quantum correlations sustained by atomic vibrations in the crystal are lost after only 4 picosecondsi.e., 0.000000000004 of a second! This short time scale is, however, also an opportunity for developing ultrafast quantum technologies. But much research lies ahead to transform our experiment into a useful devicea job for future quantum engineers, added Galland.

1. A laser generates a very short pulse of light. 2. A fraction of this pulse is sent to a nonlinear device to change its color. 3. The two laser pulses overlap on the same path again, creating a write & read pair of pulses. 4. Each pair is split into a short and a long path, 5. yielding an early and a late time slot, overlapping once again. 6. Inside the diamond, during the early time slot, one photon from the write pulse may generate a vibration, while one photon from the read pulse converts the vibration back into light. 7. The same sequence may also happen during the late slot. But in this experiment, the scientists made sure that only one vibration is excited in total (in both early and late time slots). 8. By overlapping the photons in time again it becomes impossible to discriminate the early vs. late moment of the vibration. The vibration is now in a quantum superposition of early and late time. 9. In the detection apparatus, write and read photons are separated according to their different colors, and analyzed with single-photon counters to reveal their entanglement. Video Credit: Santiago Tarrago Velez (EPFL).

Velez, S. T., et al. (2020) Bell correlations between light and vibration at ambient conditions. Science Advances. doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb0260.

Source: https://www.epfl.ch/en/

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Quantum Superposition Evidenced by Measuring Interaction of Light with Vibration - AZoQuantum

Its the time of year when our minds are supposed to turn to presents, mince pies, turkey dinner, and eggnogand occasionally goodwill to all mankind. But for some of us, Christmas is a time of torment and sleepless nights. The thoughts that trouble our mindspushing out images of dancing sugar plum-fairiesare of the science that allows a single man to deliver presents to every child in the World.

Fortunately, ZME Science is here to help alleviate some of these troubling thoughts, answer some lingering questions, and possibly dismiss silly doubts that Santa Claus may not be well real.

Of course, Father Christmas keeps his scientific secrets to himself. Despite the fact these scientific tricks and cheats are clearly closely guarded by Kringle, we at ZME arent the first to accept this Christmas quest. Every year physicists gather to tackle the science of Santa, explaining how Papa Noel can perform incredible feats without recourse to magic.

This is the science of Santa.The physics of Father Christmas. The chemistry of Kris Kringle. The quantum of Claus?

OK. That last one is a stretch.

To assess why Santa needs cutting-edge science to perform his annual challenge, the first question we must ask is how just how big is the scale of the operation Santa must undertake?

To assess this, first, we have to acknowledge that Santa doesnt visit every kid on Christmas Evejust those in households and homes that celebrate the holiday. Whilst there is no hard and fast way to do this, we could get a rough estimate by calculating the proportion of the world that identifies as Christian.

About 33% of the worlds population identify as Christians, so lets assume that applies to Earths 2.2 billion children too. That means about 726 million children to gift.

Dont worry Santa were going to trim that down a little bit more. There are approximately 4 children per household globally. So thats about 182 million separate homes that Santa needs to visit.

Fortunately, Father Christmas has a little over 24 hours to do this. When taking timezones into account, and factoring in the rotation of the planet, Santa can extend his time limit to 31 hours in picking the right route to take on his gargantuan present delivering operation.

Lets go to the blackboard and calculate how many stops Santa must make per second.

Thats quite the task. Santa has almost as little as 1/2000 of a second to park his sleigh, get out, slip down the chimney (or find another access point), leave presents, eat the cookie or mince pie left for him washing it down with milk (or something stronger if hes lucky), and then get back to the sleigh and move on!

Thats pretty impressive. No wonder he needs the calories from at least 182 million sweet treats!All this leads to another question; just how fast must Santa be traveling to achieve this remarkable task?

To reach the near 200 million households on Santas delivery route in just 31 hours, the jolly fat mans sleigh must be clocking in at a fair speed.To figure out just what his sleighs velocity must be, lets assume that all the homes Santa visits are equally distributed across the globe.

That means that there is an average of 1.25 km between each house, meaning Santas journey would cover a distance of about 228 million kilometers.

Whilst that is an incredible speed which is barely comprehensible, it doesnt violate the idea that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, as it is still way below the universal speed limit of around 1.08 x 10 kilometers per hour.

So its possible, albeit still way faster than the fastest a vehicle has ever been recorded on the surface of the planet4x 10 km/h. This record was, of course, set by you on Christmas Eve last year when you realized at 3:55 pm that you had forgotten to get stuffing. Or possibly by an X-15 jet belonging to the US Air Force. The speed Santa must travel at also tops the fastest speed weve recorded a space vehicle traveling at by a considerable margin.

Traveling at such speeds within an atmosphere brings with it all sorts of associated problems for Santa, of course. The most pressing of these is likely the incredible heat that it would generate.

So how does Santa deliver presents that arent charred and burnt whilst also ensuring the incredible speed speeds he flies at dont roast his reindeer?

Roasting chestnuts may be a Christmas tradition, but lets face it, none of us want to be roasting anything in the mangled wreck of Santas flaming sleigh. Fortunately, astrophysicist Knut Jrgen Red degaard, professor of physics Gaute Einevoll, professor of mathematics Nils Lid Hjort and self-described Elf expert Ane Ohrvik, have an idea of how Santa may prevent his sleigh from bursting into flames when traveling at incredible speeds.

The researchers suggest that to mitigate the generation of excessive heat, Father Christmas could use an ion-shield consisting of charged particles and held together by a magnetic field.

Non-Kringle associated scientists at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory were testing prototype mini-magnetospheres that could offer protection against high energy solar particles, as early as 2008. Its possible these researchers, who proposed their shield could help protect the delicate electronics within spacecraft from solar radiation, could have hit upon a system similar to the one employed by Santa.

Who knows? Maybe one of the team had been an exceptionally good boy or girl the year before and received it as a gift from the man himself?

Of course, Santa probably also employs the most up to date heat-resistant materials. Possibly, some of these are similar to the substances that NASA uses to protect space-vehicles from the heat associated with entering a planetary atmosphere.

The most heat resistant materials that scientists have currently developed are the ceramic compounds Tantalum carbide (TaC) and hafnium carbide (HfC). In 2016 a team of researchers from Imperial College London used laser-heating techniques to discover that the melting point of HfC is the highest ever recorded, with the compound able to withstand temperatures as great as 4,000 C.

These refractory ceramics have already been touted as ideal coatings for heat shielding on the next generation of hypersonic space vehicles. But, who knows? Maybe Santa was on to TaC and HfC way before us?

Of course, air resistance isnt the only hindrance to Santa getting around. With toys for around 33% of the Worlds children aboard the sleigh that they are hauling, Santas reindeer need all the scientific tricks they can get their hooves on.

Maybe, the scientific secret Santa employs to mitigate the weight of this load and find the space to fit it all in just a few sacks could lie in one of physics most cutting-edge theories.

String theory says that all of the particles that make up the matter and energy content of our universe are the manifestations of one-dimensional vibrating strings that fill spacetime. For string theory to work, the fabric of the Universe would have to be made up of more dimensions than the four we are aware ofthree of space and one of time.

In fact, it would require at least 11 dimensions. Maybe 26. Depends on who you ask.

These hidden dimensions exist curled up within the more familiar dimensions that we as a species are aware of. Maybe, they also exist curled up in the sack of one Santa Claus too, giving him near-infinite space to play with.

A string- theory-powered sack could also help reduce the weight load of all those toys. One of the reasons string theory was initially posited is because there is currently no quantum theory of gravity. Thus, whilst quantum physics provides a satisfactory explanation of the other three fundamental forceselectromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear forceit cant as of yet unite with general relativity and explain gravity.

One of the lingering questions about gravity is why is it so weak over large distances. This has led some physicists to suggest that some of gravitys associated effects leak into the extra dimensions of string theory. That means that a sack that exploits these extra dimensions could possibly hold a tremendous mass whilst still just weighing a marginal amount.

Who knows, maybe Santa has his whole toy factory folded up in there?

Of course, all these explanations still leave a lot of unanswered questions about Santa and the science he employs each year.

For example; how does he make his reindeer defy gravity? How does he exist in a superposition in every shopping mall in the US at one time without his wavefunction collapsing? And most importantly, why did he bring me a Go-Bot instead of the Transformer I asked for on that best-forgotten Christmas day in 1986?

Seriously Santa. You dropped the ball here. Big time.

As for how Santa determines naughty and niceness and how he knows if you are sleepingwell that all hinges on quantum entanglement, but thats way too complicated to explain in time for his visit this evening.

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The Secret Science of Santa - ZME Science

Photographs are omnipresent in our daily lives. From social media and advertising to family photos hanging on your wall. Images are used for identification and as evidence, as well as informing us at a cultural level about who we are.

Photographs are both bookmarks and timestamps. When we want to see who we were, who we are, and how far weve come, our story can be told quite simply in a photographic history.

Photographs can also act to subjectively portray the world through an art context. We are presented with the ability to take photographs anytime, all the time, and most of us do! Theres a good chance theres a camera in your pocket or on your table right now; your phone. We have replaced notetaking and manual documentation with the simple snap of a photo.

So what does it literally mean to take a photograph? And what are the processes involved in the production of a photograph? What part does the photographer play at the quantum level? Is there an invisible dynamic at work between who is capturing and what is being captured?

Im here to argue that on the quantum level, the presence of a photographer and camera alter the scene that is being viewed and photographed. This can be explained through the observer effect on a social, physical, and philosophical level.

The observer effect is most commonly linked to the realm of science, more specifically the field of quantum physics. This phenomenon refers to the idea that the very act of observing changes the way the world around us operates.

The famous double-slit experiment found that electrons shot through two slits and projected onto a photosensitive surface produced an interference pattern much like a wave. At the same time, when the electrons were observed, they produced a particle pattern (two lines). This experiment provided evidence for wave-particle duality the idea that quantum objects can be both a wave and a particle dependent upon whether or not they are observed.

What this means is that the simple act of observation dictated how the electrons behaved.

Much like electrons at the quantum level, until we observe it (it being the subject thats photographed), we dont know what the outcome will be. The very act of observing the event changes the outcome.

A camera is a powerful tool; a tool whose sole purpose is to observe and record. Recall the common visual scenario of the oblivious individual and their sudden change in behavior when they realize they are being observed. The idea of being viewed can make anyone hyper-aware of their behavior, sometimes making them change the way they act completely. This phenomenon is most commonly referred to as reactivity in psychology.

For some, a camera is an excuse to perform, and for others, its a cue to hide. Either way, its undeniable that the sheer presence of camera and photographer alter the people who are aware of its presence. It calls into the validity of a double-blind experiment. This is the social layer to the observer effect.

A camera can be like a social shield, allowing the photographer to distance themselves from the scene, but it can also act as an excuse to participate and intervene in the scene such as in giving instructions to a model or bypassing someones personal space as a street photographer. Our worldviews are shaped by things such as the culture we are raised in, the language we speak, the race we are, and the gender we identify as. These differences can show up in what and how photographers choose to capture their subjects.

Physically, there are so many different things happening at a quantum scale when a photo is captured. The camera in and of itself is like a double-slit experiment; a source of light shown through an opening and captured onto a photosensitive material. Those photons are captured on the sensor of the camera and are thus being absorbed or taken. In the act of taking a photograph, we are literally taking photons away from the scene.

On the same note, the photographer and camera are also adding light to the scene that is being captured. Of course, this light I speak of is not visible to us, but it is light nonetheless.

As stated in Kathryn Shaffers book titled What the What, Light is produced any time that charged particles move back and forth, move erratically, or jump from one place to another. By that definition, the charged particles that make up your body and are moved or accelerated when you yourself move or accelerate in any direction produce light.

Even if you were to stand still, the very act of being alive produces light in the form of heat.

The photographer, and the moving mechanics inside of the camera, produce a light of their own at the same time that the light is being taken from the scene and interpreted by the camera. A photograph is both an additive and subtractive process of light. A dynamic push and pull.

Quantum field theory states that everything is connected, but not in a pseudoscience way of understanding connection. As context, the photographer and camera which occupy a location impact the physical space around them on a quantum scale. For example, everything that has mass has its own gravitational field associated with it. These fields, which are everywhere, are constantly vibrating and interacting with each other.

The photographer changes a scene on a gravitational, electromagnetic, sound, temperature, and light level.

You can think of the photographer as a disruptor to the field around them, constantly sending out waves that interact with other waves much like a swimmer disrupts and displaces water as they move through it, creating and sending out the proverbial ripples in the water. This may not be obvious to the eye or even seen later in a printed image, but at a quantum level, these changes are measurable.

The French ready-made artist Marcel Duchamp famously said that art was completed by the viewer. Duchamp believed that before the art was observed, it didnt exist,

All in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act. Marcel Duchamp in The Creative Act

You could argue that a photograph both exists and does not exist until the moment it is observed much in the way that quantum objects can both exist and not exist simultaneously. A photograph, unlike other mediums such as painting, is often interpreted as evidence.

Take, for example, crime scene photography in a courtroom they are often presented as an index, a record, proof of what was there. According to French philosopher Jean Baudrillard in Image Studies, a photograph has four phases if you will:

What is profound about image making is that a photograph can be both a direct representation of what it captured while also containing no sense of reality whatsoever (phase 1 vs phase 4). A photograph is undoubtedly linked to the scene that it captured while also having no relation to the scene at all. The camera is a device that can be used to create a photograph, but it is not limited to or defined by the presence of a camera, but instead, photography relies on light being permanently recorded onto a light-sensitive medium. Cameraless examples in photography include solarization, the rayograph, and the similar photogram process.

But what remains the same in all photographic mediums and techniques is its inherent indexicality. Semiotics and photography are closely intertwined, if not the same. The symbol wouldnt exist without the meaning we bring to it. In other words, the symbol is expressed through the observer, and without the observer, the symbol would not only cease to exist, but there would be absolutely no need for it to exist because symbols only find meaning in what the observer brings to it.

This applies to art, language, religion, culture, etc, but not to the universe in general. Semiotics would not exist without the universe, but the universe exists without semiotics.

The steps involved in taking a photograph provide a perfect metaphorical explanation of the observer effect on a social, physical, and philosophical level. Although the very act of taking a photograph is not a study in quantum physics, metaphorically speaking it allows us to understand more easily the mystery of the observer effect on a quantum scale.

The idea of the photographer being removed from the scene because they are behind the camera holds no truth in this context.

At the social level, we are talking about the dynamic between the consciousness of the subject matter and the consciousness of the photographer. These fields of consciousness are interacting and overlapping with each other all the time. This dynamic can be overt or totally covert, but it is occurring nonetheless.

On a physical level, when a photographer sets up their tripod or raises their viewfinder to their eye, they are undeniably impacting the scene. The actual mechanical process of taking the photograph is both an additive and subtractive transaction and measurable at the quantum level.

At the philosophical level, the observer effect only happens when there is an observer. Much like photography and art in general, it takes an observer to complete the work. But the difference between art and the quantum realm is that the quantum observer does not need to be a conscious one.

About the author: Max Depatie is a photographer and artist who is currently studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of Depaties work on his website and Instagram.

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Matter Deconstructed: The Observer Effect and Photography - PetaPixel

Famous medieval poetand authorGeoffrey Chaucer once wrotethat "'timeand tide wait for no man," andthat certainly rings true whether you've still got a '90s Swatch watch strapped to your wrist, your name isDoc Brown,or you're a brilliant scientistworking on the latestatomic clock designwhich employslasers to trap and measure oscillations of quantum entangled atoms to maintain precise timekeeping.

The official time for the United States is set at the atomic clock located at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, where thisCesium Fountain Atomic Clockremainsaccurate to within one second every 300 million years.Itscesium-133 atomvibratesexactly 9,192,631,770 times per second, a permanent statistic that has officially measured one second since the machine's inception and operational rollout back in 1968.

But hoping to improve on that staggering feat, scientists at MIT have now pushed the envelope anddevised plans for an even more reliable timepiecewith notionsfor amind-bogglingnew quantum-entangled atomic clock.Details of theirresearch wererecently published in the online journalNature, where MIT's team provided the blueprintsfor this remarkable device.

You'd think that recording the vibrations of a single atom should be the ultimate method by which to document time passing. However, a pesky principle involving random quantum fluctuations can disturb the near-perfect mechanism in an effect called the Standard Quantum Limit.

Entanglement-enhanced optical atomic clocks will have the potential to reach a better precision in one second than current state-of-the-art optical clocks, noteslead author Edwin Pedrozo-Peafiel, a postdoc in MITs Research Laboratory of Electronics.

Today, most advanced quantum clocks track a gas made up of thousands of identical atoms, usually cesium, but ytterbium hasalso been harnessed by physicistsin the last few years.Cooled down to a temperature hovering near absolute zero, these atoms are locked down by lasers while a second laser measures their oscillations. In theory, by taking the average of many atoms, a more accurate answer can be reached.

The minute, wibbly-wobbly variations of the Standard Quantum Limit is something that can't be altogether eradicated, but its effects can be substantially reduced. MIT's crew has hung its thinking capon these ideasof quantum entanglement to conceive an even more accurate clock by taking full advantage of the uncanny phenomenon.

Under certain conditions, atoms in a quantumstate can become intertwined, allowing for the measuring ofone particleto affect the result of measuring the partner particle, independent ofthe distance separating the pair.

Researchers began by testing approximately350 atoms of ytterbium-171, which vibratesmuch faster than cesium. Next, the atoms are trapped in an optical cavity between two mirrors, before a laser is introduced into the space to quantum entangle the atoms.

Its like the light serves as a communication link between atoms, explainsChi Shu, co-author of the study. The first atom that sees this light will modify the light slightly, and that light also modifies the second atom, and the third atom, and through many cycles, the atoms collectively know each other and start behaving similarly."

During entanglement, a second laser is shot through the cloud to obtain a reading on their average frequency. Shu and his colleagues discovered that this arrangement manifested a clock that achieved a specific precision four times faster than a timepieceenlisting the help of non-entangled atoms.

MIT's timely invention might allow atomic clocks to be so insanely accurate that they would be less than 100 milliseconds out of sync after 14 billion years, roughly the age of the entire universe. In addition, these quantum entangled timekeepers could help researchers investigate puzzling physics like dark matter, gravitational waves, and how rules and limitations of physics can be altered over a period of time.

As the universe ages, does the speed of light change? asksVladan Vuletic, co-author of the paper. Does the charge of the electron change? Thats what you can probe with more precise atomic clocks.

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MIT's quantum entangled atomic clock could still be ticking after billions of years - SYFY WIRE

According to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the universe is constantly dividing and taking you with it so would you recognise your other selves if you met them?

By Daniel Cossins

Jonathan Knowles/Getty Images

BIOLOGICALLY speaking, there is definitively only one you (see How likely are you?). Physics might give you pause for thought, however. The most bewildering argument against your uniqueness comes from quantum mechanics, the fundamental theory that describes the often counter-intuitive behaviour of subatomic particles. It might imply not only that there are multiple, identical versions of you, but even that there are an infinite number of yous out there.

The quantum realm is notoriously fuzzy: quantum objects such as particles are described in terms of probabilities, encoded in mathematical widgets called wave functions that give you the odds on any number of different states the object might be in. Only when you observe or measure it does the object take on one of those states, at least from your perspective.

Quantum theory might imply there are an infinite number of yous out there

The truth of what happens at this point and indeed what, if anything, the wave function itself is trying to tell us about reality divides physicists. Many stick with a cop-out known as the Copenhagen interpretation: essentially, that we can never know what is happening in this fuzzy pre-measurement realm. In other words, quantum theory makes predictions about reality, but says nothing about what goes on under the hood.

That isnt good enough for some. Physicists who subscribe to the rival many worlds interpretation insist that all the possibilities encoded in the wave function are real, and that they continue to exist in different universes that split off from ours every time a quantum

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If the multiverse exists, are there infinite copies of me? - New Scientist

CHICAGO: Out of Mesopotamia, by Salar Abdoh, journeys through a labyrinth of life, from warzones to non-warzones. Abdohs profound novel follows a middle-aged man named Saleh, an Iranian journalist who has embedded himself on the frontlines of the wars in Syria and Iraq against Daesh. Taking every opportunity to escape from life in Tehran where he writes for the art section of a newspaper and avoids his state handler and most of the people in his life, Saleh finds himself teetering between life and death as he witnesses the atrocities of combat and befriends men who live to die.

Readers first meet Saleh in Syria where evil lurks around every corner of the war. Traveling with squadrons of soldiers, some of whom he can call friends, Saleh attempts to understand the war, or the chaos of it, where death is but a moment and ever-rolling replacements for soldiers are always near. He is surrounded by men who are protecting their holy sites, preserving the land of their forefathers, and by those who only wish to become martyrs. To them, the fight is their duty and because of their lack of options, they leave behind their families in the hope that they will bring prestige to their name when they are gone. The fighters are vultures perched on Mesopotamias tired bones.

Abdoh weaves Salehs story and the war seamlessly, the juxtaposition of writing about war and actually fighting in it forces predicaments on Salehs life. How can he go back to living life when he has witnessed men who live to die? He is living and writing history simultaneously as it happens and losing himself while doing so. He distances himself from life when death is always so close. And he struggles with his own career in the media, where these men who live to fight and die are the ones that bring him and his colleagues the most prestige.

With first-hand experience with militias in Iraq and Syria, Abdoh travels between war and peace in his novel, picking up on the in-between moments, the ones that are not glorified and where suffering is silent. He insightfully encompasses wars surroundings, the stories that deal with the consequences of war and patriarchal society, where fighters and survivors, much like the art Saleh writes about, lose and gain value with life and death. Where courage is not sought after but mimicked. Through his restless main character, Abdoh explores life and its moments, the value of those moments, and their ever-quiet passing.

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What We Are Reading Today: Understanding Quantum Mechanics by Roland Omnes - Arab News

Dr. Margareth Arst, an early pioneer for women in science, earned her physics Ph.D. in 1947.

It is well-documented that women are underrepresented in STEM, particularly in physics and quantum, although thankfully it is to a lesser degree today than it was many years ago. In the 1930s and 1940s, some people believed that women didn't have the proper brain structure for scientific investigation. Those opinions and other gender prejudices must have made it difficult for a little-known scientist named Margareth Arst to obtain her doctorate in physics in 1947 at the University of Vienna in Austria. According to NSF data, Dr. Arst was one of about twenty women who earned a Ph.D. in physics that year.

Women are not only underrepresented, they are also notably under-recognized for their achievementsparticularly when it comes to the Nobel prize in physics. In 2018, Donna Strickland was awarded a Nobel prize in physics. She was the first woman to receive the award in 55 years. Since 1901, only two other women have won the Nobel physics award. Marie Curie won it (with her husband) in 1903 for the study of spontaneous radiation. Maria Goeppert won it in 1963 for her shell model of the atomic nucleus.

This chart represents the disparity % between men and women across STEM disciplines.

Compared to men, women are underrepresented at all stages of their careers (bachelor's, doctorate, postdoc, and professor) across nearly every STEM discipline. As shown in the above chart, women are only above parity at the bachelor's and doctorate levels for biological sciences, but below parity at more advanced levels.

Even though women are making progress, the fundamental issue causing the imbalance remains. The American Physical Society conducted a survey in 2019 that revealed physics is the most male-dominated of all STEM fields.One thing is for sure, in 1947, there were no support groups or formal mentor programs to encourage female scientists like Dr. Arst to pursue their intellectual passions. It was a matter of self-determination and personal courage if a woman wanted a Ph.D. at that time.

After she obtained her Ph.D. in 1947, Dr. Arst would have been surprised to learn that 70 years in the future, she would serve as the inspiration for her yet unborn daughter to start a support group for women working in the highly technical field of quantum information technology.

Today, at the age of 96, Dr. Arst is still a role model for her daughter, Denise Ruffner, the founder of Women in Quantum (WIQ).Ruffner previously worked for IBM Quantum, Cambridge Quantum Computing, and she is currently employed by IonQ." I think my comfort of being a woman in science and working in a man's world comes from the fact that my mother was my role model," Ruffner said. "She's 96, and for Christmas, I give her physics textbooks, and she loves it. She's still a complete nerd, and it's really cute."

There were additional reasons Ruffner founded Women in Quantum. She felt that women needed a vehicle to highlight their contributions in quantum. She also wanted to give women access to resources that would amplify their voices in the quantum community. WIQ also offers opportunities to collaborate and have fun with fellow female quantum academics, students, entrepreneurs, investors and government representatives.

I asked Ruffner what first gave her the idea for WIQ. She told me two occurrences made her realize that a group like Women in Quantum was necessary. "I was attending an IBM event several years ago and realized I was the only woman there. IBM believes diversity is important, so afterward, it gave me a mission to actively recruit more women. Later, I also noticed that leadership photos on many company websites were only men. That bothered me, so I decided to do something about it."

Ruffner also sought the advice of her friend, Andr Knig, founder of OneQuantum, the parent organization of WIQ, who said, "I believe that it is vital to democratize Quantum Tech and make it accessible to anyone - no matter their age, gender, ethnicity, education or otherwise."

There are several other support groups for women scientists besides WIQ. For example, IBM sponsors a group called the Watson Women's Network, a community of technical staff, primarily based at the T.J. Watson Research Center. The group encourages a workplace environment that advances the professional effectiveness, individual growth, recognition and advancement of all women at IBM Research. The WWN also partners with senior management, human resources, and other diversity network groups to promote mentoring, networking, diversity, knowledge-sharing and recruiting.

Details of the upcoming Women in Quantum Summit III

The Women in Quantum Summit III is a virtual event scheduled for December 14-16.You can register for free here.

Women in Quantum is a chapter of OneQuantum, an organization focused on promoting quantum research and the quantum ecosystem and dedicated to helping quantum gain acceptance and importance in the scientific and business communities. Its important to point out that men are also welcome to join the organization or register for Summit III.

Honeywell Inc., a multinational conglomerate and developer of quantum computing hardware, is the sponsor for the OneQuantum chapter of Women in Quantum. IonQ, also a major developer of quantum computing hardware, is the sponsor for the upcoming Women in Quantum Summit III, along with Women in Technology International (WITI) as a co-sponsor.

WIQ Summit III features high profile women speakers, including founders of prominent quantum technology companies, government representatives, investors and leading academics working in various fields of quantum information science. Summit III will end each day with a virtual cocktail hour to connect attendees with each other on a one-on-one basis for discussion and relationship building.

Ruffner said the cocktail hour allows you to meet people you wouldn't otherwise get to know and it provides a way to expand your network. "It's also fun because you are randomly matched with people. Your bio comes up with your picture and their bio also pops up and you talk to each other for five minutes. After that, you are sent to a queue where you are matched to someone else."

Summit III will also feature Anisha Musti, a 15-year-old New York City high school student. Anisha Musti is the CEO and founder of a quantum company called Q-munity. Her company is a 501c3 nonprofit striving to connect and teach young people about quantum computing.

The Summit III keynote speakers are:

Denise Ruffner provides more information about the upcoming Women in Quantum Summit III in a discussion with Patrick Moorhead and me on the Moor Insights & Strategy YouTube Channelyou can find the link here if interested.

Disclosure:My firm, Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and analyst firms, provides or has provided research, analysis, advising, and/or consulting to many high-tech companies in the industry, including IBM and Honeywell. I do not hold any equity positions with any companies cited in this column.

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The Upcoming Women In Quantum Summit III And Its Secret 70 Year-Old Legacy - Forbes