Lifeboat Foundation

Quantum mechanics: it’s the realm of science where nothing is normal, and everything seems to undermine the fundaments of our common understanding of reality. Nonetheless, we simple humans tick on.

But quantum physicists, who pride themselves on staring into the abyss and gleaning its spooky secrets, have just discovered another baffling phenomenon to make your mind melt: “negative time.”

As detailed in a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed study covered by Scientific American, a team of researchers say they’ve observed photons exhibiting this bizarre temporal behavior as the result of what’s known as atomic excitation.

Physicists from the University of Basel have succeeded in coupling two Andreev qubits coherently over a macroscopic distance for the first time. They achieved this with the help of microwave photons generated in a narrow superconducting resonator. The results of the experiments and accompanying calculations were recently published in Nature Physics, laying the foundation for the use of coupled Andreev qubits in quantum communication and quantum computing.

The next generation of handheld devices requires a novel solution. Spintronics, or spin electronics, is a revolutionary new field in condensed-matter physics that can increase the memory and logic processing capability of nano-electronic devices while reducing power consumption and production costs. This is accomplished by using inexpensive materials and the magnetic properties of an electron’s spin to perform memory and logic functions instead of using the flow of electron charge used in typical electronics.

New work by Florida State University scientists is propelling spintronics research forward.

Professors Biwu Ma in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Peng Xiong in the Department of Physics work with low-dimensional organic metal halide hybrids, a new class of hybrid materials that can power optoelectronic devices like solar cells, light-emitting diodes, or LEDs and photodetectors.

Now, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) have proposed a new type of memory, in which optical data is transferred from a rare earth element embedded within a solid material to a nearby quantum defect. Their analysis of how such a technology could work is published in Physical Review Research.

“We worked out the basic physics behind how the transfer of energy between defects could underlie an incredibly efficient optical storage method,” said Giulia Galli, an Argonne senior scientist and Liew Family Professor at PME. “This research illustrates the importance of exploring first-principles and quantum mechanical theories to illuminate new, emerging technologies.”

Most optical memory storage methods developed in the past, including CDs and DVDs, are limited by the diffraction limit of light. A single data point cannot be smaller than the wavelength of the laser writing and reading the data. In the new work, the researchers proposed boosting the bit density of optical storage by embedding many rare-earth emitters within the material. By using slightly different wavelengths of light—an approach known as wavelength multiplexing—they hypothesized that these emitters could hold more data within the same area.

Physicists showed that photons can seem to exit a material before entering it, revealing observational evidence of negative time.

By Manon Bischoff & Jeanna Bryner

Quantum physicists are familiar with wonky, seemingly nonsensical phenomena: atoms and molecules sometimes act as particles, sometimes as waves; particles can be connected to one another by a “spooky action at a distance,” even over great distances; and quantum objects can detach themselves from their properties like the Cheshire Cat from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland detaches itself from its grin. Now researchers led by Daniela Angulo of the University of Toronto have revealed another oddball quantum outcome: photons, wave-particles of light, can spend a negative amount of time zipping through a cloud of chilled atoms. In other words, photons can seem to exit a material before entering it.

Adding extra dimensions to a theory known as “fuzzy gravity” may help bridge the gap between quantum mechanics and relativity.

A recent study has made strides toward solving one of physics’ biggest puzzles: including all known particles and interactions into the theory of quantum gravity.

The solution is to modify the quantum description of gravity dubbed “fuzzy gravity” by introducing extra dimensions to spacetime. In this theory, spacetime is treated not as a continuous entity but by a grid of discrete points, and adding extra dimensions to this grid results in the occurrence of other fields and particles.

Understanding this unique form of superconductivity is crucial and could lead to exciting applications, like functional quantum computers.

A newly synthesized material made from rhodium, selenium, and tellurium, has been found to exhibit superconductivity at extremely low temperatures.

“The scientists believe the material’s behavior might stem from the excitation of quasiparticles — disturbances within the material that behave like particles — making it a ” topological” superconductor. This is significant because these quasiparticles’ quantum states could potentially be more resilient, remaining stable even when the material or its environment changes.

I have been thinking for a while about the mathematics used to formulate our physical theories, especially the similarities and differences among different mathematical formulations. This was a focus of my 2021 book, Physics, Structure, and Reality, where I discussed these things in the context of classical and spacetime physics.

Recently this has led me toward thinking about mathematical formulations of quantum mechanics, where an interesting question arises concerning the use of complex numbers. (I recently secured a grant from the National Science Foundation for a project investigating this.)

It is frequently said by physicists that complex numbers are essential to formulating quantum mechanics, and that this is different from the situation in classical physics, where complex numbers appear as a useful but ultimately dispensable calculational tool. It is not often said why, or in what way, complex numbers are supposed to be essential to quantum mechanics as opposed to classical physics.

An international team of physicists has devised a method to test alternatives to standard quantum theory, proposing a possible explanation for why quantum effects don’t appear in larger objects like cats.

Their findings explore why objects only display quantum properties at microscopic levels, involving sophisticated experiments with spontaneous radiation that could validate these new models.

Exploring Quantum Paradoxes