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Quantum State Created In Largest Object Yet
SpuriousLogic writes "A team of researchers have created a 'quantum state' in an object billions of times larger than ever before. From the article: 'Such states, in which an object is effectively in two places at once, have until now only been accomplished with single particles, atoms and molecules. In this experiment, published in the journal Nature, scientists produced a quantum state in an object billions of times larger than previous tests. The team says the result could have significant implications in quantum computing.'"
I don't need to be told that it's "billions of times than ever before", or to compare it to the library of congress, I can understand measurements. so how big is the object? 1 nanometer? 1 kilometer? what? the article doesn't seem to say either.
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Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
I think the subject line says it all, but I want a transporter that puts me in two places at once, then destroys the first me leaving the copied me. That would be awesome.
Once we get into quantum computing, we're going to have to drop the whole binary "yes"-"no" thing for "yes", "no", "maybe", "uninitialized", "42"
They think it 'could have' significant implications?
Surely they mean it definitely has significant implications and also hasn't?
They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
That's almost large enough to be a CAT!
Oh noes! I iz in suprpuzishun!
"In this experiment, published in the journal Nature, scientists produced a quantum state in an object billions of times larger than previous tests."
Hmmm, if I count correctly, a cat is still many orders of magnitude heavier. I can only hope that they will make further progress in the decades to come.
Ezekiel 23:20
... to the size of a cat.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
From what the article looks like, all they've done is created a BEC (They don't mention that in the article, am I off?) of the largest object yet, which just means they cooled the material to milli-kelvin using some kind of trap, and the material becomes a new state of matter, a Bose Einstein Condensate.
For some reason, I expected some kind of two-slit or uncertainty principle thing with a very large object. This doesn't really seem that impressive to me, but then my quantum is a bit dated.
I have a question that I assume has a reasonable answer, just one I've never actually gotten confirmation on.
Once they've placed this object in a quantum state, how do they verify that it's "occupying two states at once?" Do they just measure it and repeat the process several times, and note that it's occasionally at 1 quanta, occasionally at 0, and from that infer that it was in a quantum state up until they measured it?
Second question, while I'm here - am I right in saying that according to the many-worlds interpretation, the universe branches when this object enters a quantum state, and we end up in one of two universes, one where the object has 1 quanta of energy and one where it has 0?
Trying to grok all this "quantum mechanics" stuff :)
"I am convinced that science is getting us closer and closer to God. Pretty soon we're going to understand how the universe works and He's going to say "you figured it out! Come up to My kingdom!" and we'll get to go to Heaven. Blessed be!"
More likely it'll be "OMFM! Wall hacks, BANNED!!!!!"
OMFM = Oh My Fuckin Me
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
It's barely visible to the naked eye, but if you look under light magnification you can read a caption:
"I can has quantum state?"
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
Now it can AND cannot has cheezburger at the same time!
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Here is the link to the naturenews article if anyone would like it: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100317/full/news.2010.130.html
What lack of vision. Just put the girlfriend in the teleporter. Then put her and the copy in the teleporter again. Everybody wins. ?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Similarly macroscopic quantum states have been achieved in superconductors. So the significance of this work is that macroscopic superposition is accomplished with a mechanical system, not an electronic one. The Nature article that the BBC is referring to: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature08967.html The BBC removed the scale bar, which shows that the resonator is about 70 microns long, with an "active region" 40 microns long. But the resonant frequency is still up in the GHz, so they only have to cool to 0.1K, which is not so hard these days.
The object is not in two places at once. The quantum wavefunction of the object has non-negligible probability in two places at once. This means that the object is equally likely to be found in two different locations.
The wording of the article is extremely sloppy. Remember that a wavefunction is not the object. The wavefunction is nothing more than a way to calculate the probability of finding the object in a particular place. A better description of where the object is when it is in superposition is "nowhere in particular, until measured, at which point it is highly likely to be found at point A or at point B." But that also goes for more run-of-the-mill quantum states.
The interesting thing here is not the wavefunction, but the fact that they have achieved a coherent quantum state between about a trillion atoms.
Collap5e w4veforms with your huge dong!
c1ick here
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
If it is true that '"I don't think there is a limit, that there will be a certain size where quantum mechanics starts to break down," Dr Aspelmeyer said,' then that means that even larger objects also go into superpositions of quantum states. That would go all the way up to human sized and larger. This is the fundamental principle of the Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI), that when quantum measurements occur, even though we only see one outcome, actually we go into a superposition of multiple states, each of which sees a different outcome. Each state evolves independently. It is as though the world splits into parallel universes, where every possible outcome occurs in a different universe.
This follows strictly from the principle that QM applies at all sizes. And this new experiment certainly pushes us in that direction.
Some scientists, notably Roger Penrose, had speculated that QM would break down at macroscopic sizes. He specifically proposed that once sizes were large enough for gravitational forces to exceed some threshold, QM would break down. Wikipedia has this: "Tiny superpositions, e.g. an electron separated from itself, if isolated from environment, would require 10 million years to reach OR threshold. An isolated one kilogram object (e.g. Schrödinger's cat) would reach OR threshold in only 10^-37 seconds." Now here we have a trilliion atom object. That is about 10^13 amu, which is 10^-14 kg. Dividing 10^-37 seconds by 10^-14 we get 10^-23 seconds, which is far shorter than this experiment lasted. This means basically that this experiment disproves Penrose's theory! This is the first time this has happened, and I am (AFAIK) the first person to notice this.
In short it is becoming harder and harder to avoid accepting the reality of parallel worlds. What this should mean for our actions is up to the philosophers, but we should not bury our heads and pretend it isn't true.