News tagged with quantum physics

Revised theory of gravity doesn't predict a Big Bang

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Big Bang theory has formed the basis of our understanding of the universe's origins since it was first proposed in 1927 by Georges Lemaitre. And for good reason: the theory is supported ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jul 12, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (77) | comments 213 | with audio podcast feature

New study suggests researchers can now test the 'theory of everything'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers describe how to carry out the first experimental test of string theory in a paper published tomorrow in Physical Review Letters.

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 01, 2010 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (61) | comments 54 | with audio podcast

Einstein equations indicate possibility of black hole formation at the LHC

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the concerns that has been voiced about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is that it could result in the formation of black holes that could destroy the world. While most scientists ...

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 06, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (63) | comments 364 | with audio podcast feature

Physicists take steps toward delivering quantum information to the home

(PhysOrg.com) -- Today, fiber optics technology transports information in the form of classical data to homes and businesses. But researchers are currently working on ways to combine quantum data with the ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jul 18, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (50) | comments 4 | with audio podcast feature

Quantum Mechanics Not In Jeopardy: Physicists Confirm Decades-Old Key Principle Experimentally

(PhysOrg.com) -- When waves -- regardless of whether light or sound -- collide, they overlap creating interferences. Austrian and Canadian quantum physicists have now been able to rule out the existence of ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jul 22, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (43) | comments 395 | with audio podcast

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle sets limits on Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance,' new research finds

Researchers have uncovered a fundamental link between the two defining properties of quantum physics. Stephanie Wehner of Singapore's Centre for Quantum Technologies and the National University of Singapore ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Nov 18, 2010 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (44) | comments 53 | with audio podcast

Time reversal: A simple particle could reveal new physics

(PhysOrg.com) -- A simple atomic nucleus could reveal properties associated with the mysterious phenomenon known as time reversal and lead to an explanation for one of the greatest mysteries of physics: the ...

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 11, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (40) | comments 128 | with audio podcast

Why we've got the cosmological constant all wrong

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some scientists call the cosmological constant the "worst prediction of physics." And when today’s theories give an estimated value that is about 120 orders of magnitude larger than the ...

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 05, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (41) | comments 152 | with audio podcast feature

Physicists use offshoot of string theory to describe puzzling behavior of superconductors

(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists are divided on whether string theory is a viable theory of everything, but many agree that it offers a new way to look at physical phenomena that have otherwise proven difficult ...

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 05, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (39) | comments 143 | with audio podcast

Does the quantum wave function represent reality?

(Phys.org) -- At the heart of quantum mechanics lies the wave function, a probability function used by physicists to understand the nanoscale world. Using the wave function, physicists can calculate a system's ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (38) | comments 136 | with audio podcast feature

How 'spooky' quantum mechanical laws may affect everyday objects (Update)

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a study published in the July 1 issue of the journal Nature, Dartmouth researchers describe one example of the microscopic quantum world influencing--even dominating, they say--the behavi ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jul 01, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (39) | comments 20 | with audio podcast

Time travel experiment demonstrates how to avoid the grandfather paradox (Update)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Among the many intriguing concepts in Einstein’s relativity theories is the idea of closed timelike curves (CTCs), which are paths in spacetime that return to their starting points. As ...

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 01, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (38) | comments 91 | with audio podcast feature

Is space like a chessboard?

(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists at UCLA set out to design a better transistor and ended up discovering a new way to think about the structure of space.

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 18, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (38) | comments 59 | with audio podcast

Not all quantum properties are lost through interaction with the environment

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most well-known "rules" of quantum physics is that all quantum properties are lost due to environmental interaction. This rule, though, may not hold true in all situations. "We have discovered ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jun 01, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (38) | comments 33 | with audio podcast feature

In the quantum world, diamonds can communicate with each other

Researchers working at the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford in England have managed to get one small diamond to communicate with another small diamond utilizing "quantum entanglement," one ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Dec 02, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (33) | comments 96 | with audio podcast

Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a set of principles underlying the most fundamental known description of all physical systems at the submicroscopic scale (at the atomic level). Notable among these principles are simultaneous wave-like and particle-like behavior of matter and radiation ("Wave–particle duality"), and the prediction of probabilities in situations where classical physics predicts certainties. Classical physics can be derived as a good approximation to quantum physics, typically in circumstances with large numbers of particles. Thus quantum phenomena are particularly relevant in systems whose dimensions are close to the atomic scale, such as molecules, atoms, electrons, protons and other subatomic particles. Exceptions exist for certain systems which exhibit quantum mechanical effects on macroscopic scale; superfluidity is one well-known example. Quantum theory provides accurate descriptions for many previously unexplained phenomena such as black body radiation and stable electron orbits. It has also given insight into the workings of many different biological systems, including smell receptors and protein structures.

For more information about Quantum mechanics, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.