Archive for the ‘quantum physics’ category: Page 773
Jul 14, 2016
The Noise at the Bottom of the Universe
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: information science, particle physics, quantum physics, space
Is search of the sound of silence.
To a physicist, perfect quiet is the ultimate noise. Silence your cellphone, still your thoughts, and muffle every kind of vibration, and you would still be left with quantum noise. It represents an indeterminacy deep within nature, bursts of static and inexplicable motions that cannot be gotten rid of, or made sense of. It seems devoid of meaning.
Considering how pervasive this noise is, you might presume that physicists would have a good explanation for it. But it remains one of the great unsolved problems in science. Quantum theory is silent not just on where the noise comes from, but on how exactly it enters the world. The theory’s defining equation, the Schrödinger equation, is completely deterministic. There is no noise in it at all. To explain why we observe quantum particles to be noisy, we need some additional principle.
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Jul 14, 2016
In Nanolasers, A Little Impurity Goes A Long Way
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: computing, internet, particle physics, quantum physics
How zinc atoms improved Nanolaser light emission which could lead to the development of low-cost biomedical sensors, quantum computing and faster internet.
By adding impurities in the form of zinc atoms, researchers have improved nanolaser light emission by a hundredfold.
Jul 13, 2016
Quantum is Coming
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: computing, encryption, quantum physics
Google to run Chrome Canary experimentally for the next two years to address post-quantum cryptography.
Alphabet’s forthcoming Chrome Canary browser is just the “canary” in the coalmine—quantum computing is coming faster than you might think.
Jul 13, 2016
Researchers Develop A Universal Quantum Gate
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics
The universal quantum gate to enable long distance communications with QC without degradation.
Scientists have now developed a universal quantum gate, which could become the key component in a quantum computer.
Light particles completely ignore each other. In order that these particles can nevertheless switch each other when processing quantum information, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching have now developed a universal quantum gate. Quantum gates are essential elements of a quantum computer. Switching them with photons, i.e. light particles, would have practical advantages over operating them with other carriers of quantum information.
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Jul 13, 2016
Air Force wants to leap ahead in quantum computing
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: computing, military, quantum physics
US AF does need to get onboard quickly or be left in the dust.
Quantum computing could be a competitive advantage for the U.S. military, and the Air Force Research Lab wants to keep pace.
Jul 13, 2016
Diamond coupled to carbon nanotube could be used for quantum information processing
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: nanotechnology, quantum physics
Why synthetic diamonds are critical to the QC story.
(Phys.org)—By carefully placing a tiny piece of diamond within a few nanometers of a carbon nanotube, and then sending an electric current through the nanotube, researchers have designed a device that could one day form the building blocks of quantum information processing systems. In their recent study, they have shown that the electrified nanotube’s mechanical vibrations couple to the magnetic (or spin) properties of defects in the diamond. This coupling allows for the quantum states of the nanotube and diamond to be transferred to each other as well as to a second diamond positioned several micrometers away.
The researchers, Peng-Bo Li et al., have published a paper on the new hybrid quantum device in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters.
Jul 13, 2016
The quantum origin of time
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: futurism, quantum physics
In our experience the past is the past and the future is the future, but sometimes the two can cross over.
Jul 13, 2016
Physicists collide ultracold atoms to observe key quantum principle
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: particle physics, quantum physics
Physicists from New Zealand’s University of Otago have used steerable ‘optical tweezers’ to split minute clouds of ultracold atoms and slowly smash them together to directly observe a key theoretical principle of quantum mechanics.
The principle, known as Pauli Exclusion, places fundamental constraints on the behavior of groups of identical particles and underpins the structure and stability of atoms as well as the mechanical, electrical, magnetic and chemical properties of almost all materials.
Otago Physics researcher Associate Professor Niels Kjærgaard led the research, which is newly published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications (“Multiple scattering dynamics of fermions at an isolated p-wave resonance”).
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Jul 13, 2016
Collapse: Has quantum theory’s greatest mystery been solved?
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: particle physics, quantum physics
Our best theory of reality says things only become real when we look at them. Understanding how the universe came to be requires a better explanation.
By Jon Cartwright
WHERE, when you aren’t looking at it, is a subatomic particle? A quantum physicist would probably answer: sort of all over the place. An unobserved particle is a wisp of reality, a shimmer of existence – there isn’t a good metaphor for it, because it is vague both by definition and by nature. Until you do have a peek. Then it becomes a particle proper, it can be put into words, it is a thing with a place.
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