Tag Archives: quantum entanglement
Using 10,000 atoms and 1 to probe the Bohr-Einstein debate
The double-slit experiment has often been described as the most beautiful demonstration in physics. In one striking image, it shows the strange dual character of matter and light. When particles such as electrons or photons are sent through two narrow … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm, Science
Tagged Albert Einstein, Bohr-Einstein debate, complementarity, Debye-Waller factor, double-slit experiment, hidden variables, lasers, Niels Bohr, optical lattice, optical tweezer, Pan Jianwei, quantum entanglement, Quantum mechanics, rubidium atoms, scattered light, uncertainty principle, wavepacket, Wolfgang Ketterle
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Dispelling Maxwell’s demon
Maxwell’s demon is one of the most famous thought experiments in the history of physics, a puzzle first posed in the 1860s that continues to shape scientific debates to this day. I’ve struggled to make sense of it for years. … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm, Science
Tagged arrow of time, Charles Bennett, decoherence, Dennis Gabor, entropy, information theory, James Clerk Maxwell, Leo Szilard, Léon Brillouin, Maxwell's demon, no-cloning theorem, quantum entanglement, quantum information, Quantum mechanics, Rolf Landauer, Schrödinger's cat, second law of thermodynamics, unitarity, wavefunction collapse
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What does it mean to interpret quantum physics?
The United Nations has designated 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Many physics magazines and journals have taken the opportunity to publish more articles on quantum physics than they usually do, and that has meant quantum physics … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged Bohmian mechanics, classical physics, Copenhagen interpretation, hidden variables, many-worlds interpretation, Nirmalya Kajuri, nonlocality, QBism, quantum computing, quantum cosmology, quantum entanglement, quantum physics, quantum superposition, wavefunction
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The gap between language and quantum mechanics
Physics World has a fantastic article about the problem with using a language invented, in Terry Pratchett’s words, “to tell other monkeys where the ripe fruit is”, to describe the peculiar but very much real possibilities created by the rules … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture, Scicomm
Tagged Embassytown, faith, Higgs boson, language, quantum computing, quantum entanglement, Quantum mechanics, quantum superposition, Werner Heisenberg
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Climate change, like quantum physics, will strain language
One of the defining features of quantum mechanics is that it shows up human language, and thought supported by that language, to be insufficient and limited. Many of the most popular languages of the world, including Tamil, Hindi and English, … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Science
Tagged causality, chaos theory, climate change, emergent phenomena, language, logograms, quantum entanglement, superposition
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Disentangling entanglement
There has been considerable speculation if the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize for physics, due to be announced at 2.30 pm IST on October 8, will include Alain Aspect and Anton Zeilinger. They’ve both made significant experimental contributions related … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm
Tagged Alain Aspect, Albert Einstein, Anton Zeilinger, Boris Podolsky, communication loophole, detection loophole, EPR paradox, John Clauser, John Stewart Bell, Nathan Rosen, Niels Bohr, Nobel Prize for physics, quantum entanglement, Rober Hanson, spooky action at a distance, Wolf Prize
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Relativity’s kin, the Bose-Einstein condensate, is 90 now
The BEC was Einstein’s last major prediction and it took a revolution in quantum optics to be realised. Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Bose-Einstein condensate, laser cooling, magnetic traps, quantum entanglement, Quantum mechanics, Satyendra Nath Bose, Wolfgang Ketterle
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A closet of hidden phenomena
Science has been rarely counter-intuitive to our understanding of reality, and its elegant rationalism at every step of the way has been reassuring. This is why Bell’s theorem has been one of the strangest concepts of reality scientists have come across: … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged classical physics, EPR paradox, John Stuart Bell, locality, quantum entanglement, realism, unification of forces
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The travails of science communication
There’s an interesting phenomenon in the world of science communication, at least so far as I’ve noticed. Every once in a while, there comes along a concept that is gaining in research traction worldwide but is quite tricky to explain … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Big Physics, funding, Higgs mechanism, journalism, public discourse, quantum entanglement, science communication, scientific research
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