Researchers from the University of Twente in the Netherlands have gained important insights into photons, the elementary particles that make up light. They 'behave' in an amazingly greater variety than electrons surrounding ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 8, 2024
2
323
A research team has constructed a coherent superposition of quantum evolution with two opposite directions in a photonic system and confirmed its advantage in characterizing input-output indefiniteness. The study was published ...
Quantum Physics
Jul 8, 2024
0
275
A new study in Nature Physics demonstrates a novel method for generating quantum entanglement using a quantum dot, which violates the Bell inequality. This method uses ultra-low power levels and could pave the way for scalable ...
While investigating how string theory can be used to explain certain physical phenomena, scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have stumbled upon on a new series representation for the irrational number π. ...
General Physics
Jun 18, 2024
9
2021
For the last seven decades, astrophysicists have theorized the existence of "kugelblitze," black holes caused by extremely high concentrations of light.
General Physics
Jun 24, 2024
14
1030
Tachyons are hypothetical particles that travel at speeds greater than the speed of light. These superluminal particles, are the "enfant terrible" of modern physics. Until recently, they were generally regarded as entities ...
Quantum Physics
Jul 11, 2024
5
1592
The LHCb collaboration reported the observation of the hyperon Σ+→pμ+μ- rare decay at the XV International Conference on Beauty, Charm, Hyperons in Hadronic Interactions (BEACH 2024) in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. ...
General Physics
Jun 28, 2024
0
145
One of the most counter-intuitive aspects of quantum physics is the idea that a quantum system, unlike a physical system governed by the everyday physics of the macroscopic universe, can exist in two states at once even if ...
Quantum Physics
Jun 17, 2024
1
83
Mechanical systems are highly suitable for realizing applications such as quantum information processing, quantum sensing and bosonic quantum simulation. The effective use of these systems for these applications, however, ...
As predicted by the theory of general relativity, the passage of gravitational waves can leave a measurable change in the relative positions of objects. This physical phenomenon, known as gravitational wave memory, could ...
In physics, a quantum (plural: quanta) is an indivisible entity of a quantity that has the same units as the Planck constant and is related to both energy and momentum of elementary particles of matter (called fermions) and of photons and other bosons. The word comes from the Latin "quantus", for "how much." Behind this, one finds the fundamental notion that a physical property may be "quantized", referred to as "quantization". This means that the magnitude can take on only certain discrete numerical values, rather than any value, at least within a range. There is a related term of quantum number.
A photon is often referred to as a "light quantum". The energy of an electron bound to an atom (at rest) is said to be quantized, which results in the stability of atoms, and of matter in general. But these terms can be a little misleading, because what is quantized is this Planck's constant quantity whose units can be viewed as either energy multiplied by time or momentum multiplied by distance.
Usually referred to as quantum "mechanics", it is regarded by virtually every professional physicist as the most fundamental framework we have for understanding and describing nature at the infinitesimal level, for the very practical reason that it works. It is "in the nature of things", not a more or less arbitrary human preference.
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