quantum physics

Analysis and Comment (6)

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When you shine a torch into a dusty room, not all the photons reach their destination. Simon Greig (xrrr)

‘Louder’ light could power a brighter quantum future

By Geoff Pryde, Griffith University

All of the light we see around us comes in chunks of energy known as photons. As well as making up light, photons can be used to carry and process information and their quantum properties make possible…
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A cat, or the superposition of an inordinate number of wave functions? Blind Hen ⁑ Blind Höna

Schrödinger’s Qur’an – a 2012 thought experiment

By Matthew Bailes, Swinburne University of Technology

Whenever I see angry mobs reacting to the destruction of religious books it makes me think of Schrödinger, iPads and how we should interpret fundamentalist religious teachings in the digital era. The…
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No matter which way you look at it, you can’t find out everything.

Was Heisenberg too uncertain? In principle … maybe

By Howard Wiseman, Griffith University

The Uncertainty Principle, introduced by Heisenberg in 1927, applies to observations of the properties of the quantum world, which is typically microscopic in scale. As I explained a few months ago, it…
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“We’re accused of sitting in our ivory tower when we don’t engage with the public, and of sensationalism when we do.” photosteve101

‘Rewriting’ the Big Bang theory – a personal perspective

By James Quach, University of Melbourne

Melbourne Researchers Rewrite Big Bang Theory sang a recent headline in the Sydney Morning Herald. It was one of many suggesting the Big Bang theory had been somehow overthrown. As the principal investigator…
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Life would be pretty boring if we could predict what was coming next. ModernDope

Explainer: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

By Howard Wiseman, Griffith University

The term “uncertainty principle” suggests some grand philosophical idea, like “you can never be sure of anything”, or “there are some things you can never be sure of” and sometimes people use it as if…
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Without quantum mechanics, we would not have the transistor. IvyMike/Flickr

Explainer: Quantum physics

By Michael J. Biercuk

This might surprise you, but there may be literally thousands, or even tens of thousands, of devices and components surrounding you right now that work because of our understanding of quantum physics…

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