Clipmarks | Mohir's 'quantum' clips

Do subatomic particles have free will?

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:19:46 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: But physicists all the way back to Einstein have been unhappy with this idea. Einstein famously grumped, “God does not play dice.” And indeed, ever since the birth of quantum mechanics, some physicists have offered alternate interpretations of its equations that aim to get rid of this indeterminism. The most famous alternative is attributed to the physicist David Bohm, who argued in the 1950s that the behavior of subatomic particles is entirely determined by “hidden variables” that cannot be observed.

Conway and Kochen say this search is hopeless, and they claim to have proven that indeterminacy is inherent in the world itself, rather than just in quantum theory. And to Bohmians and other like-minded physicists, the pair says: Give up determinism, or give up free will. Even the tiniest bit of free will.

Clip Source: www.sciencenews.org

“If the atoms never swerve so as to originate some new movement that will snap the bonds of fate, the everlasting sequence of cause and effect—what is the source of the free will possessed by living things throughout the earth?”—Titus Lucretius Carus, Roman philosopher and poet, 99–55 BC.

Human free will might seem like the squishiest of philosophical subjects, way beyond the realm of mathematical demonstration. But two highly regarded Princeton mathematicians, John Conway and Simon Kochen, claim to have proven that if humans have even the tiniest amount of free will, then atoms themselves must also behave unpredictably.

The finding won’t give many physicists a moment’s worry, because traditional interpretations of quantum mechanics embrace unpredictability already. The best anyone can hope to do, quantum theory says, is predict the probability that a particle will behave in a certain way.

Tags: free will, atoms

Physicists Produce Quantum-Entangled Images

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:33:03 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.kurzweilai.net

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland (UM) have produced "quantum images," pairs of information-rich visual patterns whose features are entangled (linked by the laws of quantum physics).

Matching up both quantum images and subtracting their fluctuations, their noise is lower (so their information content potentially higher) than it is from any two classical images.

In addition to promising better detection of faint objects and improved amplification and positioning of light beams, the researchers' technique for producing quantum images may someday be useful for storing patterns of data in quantum computers and transmitting large amounts of highly secure encrypted information.

Tags: quantum, quantum entanglment, computing, images

Pioneering Physicist John Wheeler Dies at 96

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:35:38 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: a real genius,
if i am not mistaken he was Hugh Everett III's professor of physics,
also he is the one the suggested the 'delayed choice' experiment that showed the experimenter can choose, AFTER THE FACT, whether the photon was in both places or just one.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Manhattan Project veteran came up with the term "black hole" and co-authored standard text on Einstein's general theory of relativity

renowned physicist John Archibald Wheeler died of pneumonia. He was an iconic figure: a veteran of the Manhattan Project, a pioneer of the search for a quantum theory of gravity, and an originator of such evocative terms as "black hole." Most physics students know him as co-author of the standard textbook on Einstein's general theory of relativity—a tome that defies almost every stereotype of a textbook, much as Wheeler's own career defied almost every generalization. He was rigorous yet playful, and he always had a pithy, Zen-like phrase for profound ideas and questions: "it from bit," "mass without mass" and "Why the quantum?". An out-of-the-box thinker who wasn't afraid to speculate, he always carefully identified speculation as such. In so doing, he opened up space for his colleagues to push the boundaries.

Tags: physics, wheeler, quantum

Before the Big Bang - the Big Bounce

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:40:14 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: Now, however, Dr Bojowald and fellow physicists are exploring territory unknown even to Einstein - the time before the Big Bang - using his new theory, called Loop Quantum Cosmology.

An analysis of this, one of a series of newly-emerging theories which combine Einstein's theory of gravity (general relativity) with that of the subatomic world (quantum theory), "is supposed to provide a non-singular framework in which one could address the question of what was there before the Big Bang," he says.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Scientists have obtained their first glimpse of what happened before the Big Bang of creation, revealing there was a "Big Bounce".

The new work suggests that time existed before the Big Bang, when a more ancient universe collapsed to give birth to the one we live in today.

Ours is the latest universe in a series that expanded, then collapsed, before another - slightly different cosmos - was born anew, though many details are obscure and, the theory concludes, will always remain that way.

As described by Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, which dates back almost a century, the origin of the Big Bang is a mathematically nonsensical state - a "singularity" of zero volume that nevertheless contained infinite density and infinitely large energy.

"The usual understanding was that, according to general relativity, everything including time itself started with the Big Bang such that it simply does not make sense to ask what was there before," says Dr Bojowald.

Tags: big bang, time, physics

IBM Is Working on DNA-Based processors

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:21:14 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: This new goal is an addition to the research on the "DNA origami," conducted by Paul Rothemund of California Institute of Technology. Currently, more and more researchers are turning to DNA in search of an older goal, the "self-assembly".

The advantages of building semiconductors based on DNA and nanotubes are especially concerning the chips' size, given the fact that DNA can work at a 2-nanometer scale. Imagine a chip built at two-nanometer node, then compare it to a state-of-the-art processor built with the 45-nanometer production node.

Clip Source: news.softpedia.com

IBM scientists are currently researcher on linking DNA molecules with conductive carbon nanotubes. The procedure is extremely complicated because of the small scale the engineers are forced

to work at. Once the carbon nanotubes are interconnected, the DNA can be shed off, leaving just an orderly grid of nanotubes. The grid itself is a data storage matrix, but at the same time it can perform basic calculations.

Clip Source: news.softpedia.com

"These are DNA nanostructures that are self-assembled into discrete shapes. Our goal is to use these structures as bread boards on which to assemble carbon nanotubes, silicon nanowires, quantum dots," said Greg Wallraff, an IBM scientist and a lithography and materials expert working on the project. "What we are really making are tiny DNA circuit boards that will be used to assemble other components."

Tags: cpu, computing, dna, nanotubes

Scientists Scan Striking Nanoscale Images

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:36:13 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.wired.com

For the first time, late last year, a team of British scientists filmed the nanoscale interaction of an attacking virus with an enzyme and a DNA strand in real time.

This image captured in German labs by Thorsten Dziomba, shows GeSi quantum dots -- a mere 15 nanometers high and 70 nanometers in diameter.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

This E. coli bacterium displays well-preserved flagella that are just 30 nanometers long.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

The leaves of several plants, including the lotus plant, show self-cleaning properties.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

This image of cyanobacteria (more commonly known as blue-green algae) was taken as part of a series of experiments designed to help scientists understand how the structure of the algae's cell walls helps it move.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

The bright halo is created by charges emitted from the nanotube cap, while the discharged nanotube appears dark.

Tags: nanotechnology, photography

The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:32:26 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett

After his now celebrated theory of multiple universes met scorn, Hugh Everett abandoned the world of academic physics. He turned to top-secret military research and led a tragic private life
*Supplement: The Many Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics

ugh Everett III was a brilliant mathematician, an iconoclastic quantum theorist and, later, a successful defense contractor with access to the nation’s most sensitive military secrets. He introduced a new conception of reality to physics and influenced the course of world history at a time when nuclear Armageddon loomed large. To science-fiction aficionados, he remains a folk hero: the man who invented a quantum theory of multiple universes. To his children, he was someone else again: an emotionally unavailable father; “a lump of furniture sitting at the dining room table,” cigarette in hand. He was also a chain-smoking alcoholic who died prematurely.

Tags: physics, multiverse, evert

Is mathematical pattern the theory of everything?

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:45:47 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Is mathematical pattern the theory of everything?

Clip Source: uk.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

GARRETT LISI is an unlikely individual to be staking a claim for a theory of everything. He has no university affiliation and spends most of the year surfing in Hawaii. In winter, he heads to the mountains near Lake Tahoe, California, to teach snowboarding. Until recently, physics was not much more than a hobby.

That hasn't stopped some leading physicists sitting up and taking notice after Lisi made his theory public on the physics pre-print archive this week (www.arxiv.org/abs/0711.0770). By analysing the most elegant and intricate pattern known to mathematics, Lisi has uncovered a relationship underlying all the universe's particles and forces, including gravity - or so he hopes. Lee Smolin at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, describes Lisi's work as "fabulous". "It is one of the most compelling unification models I've seen in many, many years," he says.

Tags: physics, toe, quantum, gravity, mathematics

Black holes may harbour their own universes

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:24:05 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: space.newscientist.com

Black holes may harbour their own universes

When matter gets swallowed by a black hole, it could fall into another universe contained inside the black hole, or get trapped inside a wormhole-like connection to a second black hole, a new study suggests.

What's inside a black hole is one of the biggest mysteries in physics. The theory that predicted black holes in the first place – general relativity – says that all the matter inside them gets squashed into a central point of infinite density called a singularity. But then, "things break down mathematically", says Christian Böhmer of University College London, in the UK. "We would like to see the singularity removed."

Many researchers believe that some kind of new, overarching theory that unites gravity and quantum effects will resolve the problem. String theory is the most popular of these alternatives.

Tags: physics, black hole, universe, string theory

Could quantum effects explain consciousness?

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:06:16 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Could quantum effects explain consciousness?

With its triumphant descriptions of a range of subatomic phenomena, quantum mechanics is one of the most successful scientific theories of all time. Now it holds out the tantalising prospect of explaining one of the great mysteries in biology: the nature of consciousness. It may even explain why dreams are dream-like.

Enlarge image

Is it a vase or two faces?

These hopes stem from a quantum model of consciousness developed by Efstratios Manousakis of Florida State University, Tallahassee. It is inspired by the "image flips" the brain makes when faced with an ambiguous image such as the one to the right, which can look like either a vase or two faces. Psychologists have long been fascinated by the fact that the brain cannot consciously perceive both versions simultaneously.

Tags: quantum, physics, consciousness, mind, brain

Two Giant Steps In Advancement Of Quantum Computing Achieved

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:04:47 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Two Giant Steps In Advancement Of Quantum Computing Achieved

Science Daily — Two major steps toward putting quantum computers into real practice -- sending a photon signal on demand from a qubit onto wires and transmitting the signal to a second, distant qubit -- have been brought about by a team of scientists at Yale.

The accomplishments are reported in sequential issues of Nature on September 20 and September 27, on which it is highlighted as the cover along with complementary work from a group at the National Institute of Standards and Technologies.

The first breakthrough reported is the ability to produce on demand -- and control -- single, discrete microwave photons as the carriers of encoded quantum information. While microwave energy is used in cell phones and ovens, their sources do not produce just one photon. This new system creates a certainty of producing individual photons.

Tags: quantum, computinig, physics, technology

Parallel universes make quantum sense

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 14:44:36 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: space.newscientist.com

Parallel universes make quantum sense

If you think of yourself as unique, think again. The days when physicists could ignore the concept of parallel universes may have come to an end. If that doesn't send a shudder down your spine, think of it this way: our world is just one of many. You are just one version of many.

David Deutsch at the University of Oxford and colleagues have shown that key equations of quantum mechanics arise from the mathematics of parallel universes. "This work will go down as one of the most important developments in the history of science," says Andy Albrecht, a physicist at the University of California at Davis. In one parallel universe, at least, it will - whether it does in our one remains to be seen.

The "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics was proposed 50 years ago by Hugh Everett, a graduate student at Princeton University. Rather than ...

Tags: physics, quantum, parallel universes

Finally, a MAGIC test for string theory?

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:06:42 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Finally, a MAGIC test for string theory?

BEING 4 minutes late doesn't usually cause physicists around the world to fizz with excitement - but it's a different matter if the latecomer is a photon, and its tardiness could indicate a breakdown of relativity on cosmic scales. What's more, this delay could provide us with our first hints of quantum gravity at work, and thus be a unique way of testing string theory.

Last month, the MAGIC gamma-ray telescope collaboration based on La Palma in the Canary Islands announced that they had measured a 4-minute time difference between the arrival of high and low-energy gamma rays released at the same time in a flare from the Markarian 501 galaxy, some half a billion light years away. According to Einstein's theory of special relativity, both sets of photons should have arrived simultaneously, and the team is controversially claiming that the discrepancy is due to the first ...

Tags: physics, quantum, string theory, photon

Scientists claim to have broken speed of light

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:24:55 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.engadget.com

German scientists claim to have broken speed of light

We're almost terrified to hear what the physicists in the crowd have to say about this one, but a duo of German scientists have reportedly broken the speed of light. To do so, the two "set up an experiment in which microwave photons, energetic packets of light, appeared to travel instantaneously between two prisms forming the halves of a cube placed a meter apart." According to them, they were able to force light to overcome its own speed limit by utilizing a "strange phenomenon known as quantum tunneling." Dr. Gunter Nimtz was even quoted as saying that for the time being, it was the "only violation of special relativity that he knew of," and while it does indeed sound (way) too good to be true, we'll step aside and let the experts battle it out.

Tags: physics, science, light, speed of light, quantum, photon

Levitation breakthrough proposed

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:53:16 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

Levitation breakthrough proposed

A way of making levitation possible using a mysterious force of nature has been proposed by two British physicists.

Their ideas are now being looked at seriously by a leading American scientist who may put them into practice.

The theory will not enable people to fly like Peter Pan but could revolutionise nanotechnology and the design of micro-machines. It centres on a phenomenon called the "Casimir force" predicted by quantum physicists in 1948 and first measured in 1997.

The force is caused by a strange quirk of nature that at tiny scales allows particles to pop into existence from nowhere. This creates a force that will push two objects placed very close to each other, such as a pair of mirrors, together.

Generally the Casimir force has no effect on everyday life and can be ignored. But it is extremely important when trying to develop tiny switches and micro-machines, since their components tend to stick to each other.

Tags: physics, quantum, nature

Clipmarks | Mohir's 'quantum' clips

Do subatomic particles have free will?

Physicists Produce Quantum-Entangled Images

Pioneering Physicist John Wheeler Dies at 96

Manhattan Project veteran came up with the term "black hole" and co-authored standard text on Einstein's general theory of relativity

Before the Big Bang - the Big Bounce

IBM Is Working on DNA-Based processors

Scientists Scan Striking Nanoscale Images

The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett

The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett

After his now celebrated theory of multiple universes met scorn, Hugh Everett abandoned the world of academic physics. He turned to top-secret military research and led a tragic private life *Supplement: The Many Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics

Is mathematical pattern the theory of everything?

Is mathematical pattern the theory of everything?

Black holes may harbour their own universes

Black holes may harbour their own universes

Could quantum effects explain consciousness?

Could quantum effects explain consciousness?

Two Giant Steps In Advancement Of Quantum Computing Achieved

Two Giant Steps In Advancement Of Quantum Computing Achieved

Parallel universes make quantum sense

Parallel universes make quantum sense

Finally, a MAGIC test for string theory?

Finally, a MAGIC test for string theory?

Scientists claim to have broken speed of light

Levitation breakthrough proposed

After his now celebrated theory of multiple universes met scorn, Hugh Everett abandoned the world of academic physics. He turned to top-secret military research and led a tragic private life
*Supplement: The Many Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics