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Tag: quantum

morning computer rings and bubbles

Published February 11, 2025 by Warren Ellis

The Einstein Ring, an extremely rare phenomenon, turned out to be hiding in plain sight in a galaxy not far away. The galaxy, called NGC 6505, is around 590 million light-years from Earth, a stone’s throw away in cosmic terms. But this is the first time that the ring of light surrounding its center is detected, thanks to Euclid’s high-resolution instruments.,

Physicists have performed a simulation they say sheds new light on an elusive phenomenon that could determine the ultimate fate of the universe.

Pioneering research in quantum field theory around 50 years ago proposed that the universe may be trapped in a false vacuum—meaning it appears stable but in fact could be on the verge of transitioning to an even more stable, true vacuum state.

While this process could trigger a catastrophic change in the universe’s structure, experts agree that predicting the timeline is challenging, but it is likely to occur over an astronomically long period, potentially spanning millions of years.

Used a machine called a quantum annealer to play out the collapse of the universe. It seems the behavior of bubbles in a false vacuum triggers the end of everything.

“Quantum Annealer,” though. That’s a good term. In the paper itself, I also find the term “Quench dynamics of the Ising chain.” No idea what it means but I love the sound and shape of the term. Science as accidental poetics once again.

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QUANTUM, Manjit Kumar

Published July 8, 2024 by Warren Ellis

This is the book I wish I’d read before I read Carlo Rovelli. A very readable book that accesses archives of correspondence and records of conversations to make the emergence and codification of quantum theory into a warm, living thing. Almost gossipy, since Wolfgang Pauli was apparently universally considered to be a bit of a dick. And this made me laugh:

‘Princeton is a madhouse’ and ‘Einstein is completely cuckoo’, wrote Robert Oppenheimer. It was January 1935 and America’s leading home-grown theoretical physicist was 31.

It is, in fact, full of funny, human moments.

Paul Ehrenfest, sensing Einstein’s disbelief at the boldness of the Born-Heisenberg assertion that quantum mechanics was a closed theory, scribbled a note and passed it to him: ‘Don’t laugh! There is a special section in purgatory for professors of quantum theory, where they will be obliged to listen to lectures on classical physics ten hours every day.’

Also lots of instances of Pauli being amusingly awful to people. And, towards the back, Einstein finding new and interesting ways to fuck with Niels Bohr. He distrusted Bohr’s path to what became the Copenhagen Interpretation that froze quantum theory in place, for several reasons. You come to believe that one of those reasons was the mystic aura that Bohr took on.

According to the Copenhagen interpretation, a microphysical object has no intrinsic properties. An electron simply does not exist at any place until an observation or measurement is performed to locate it. It does not have a velocity or any other physical attribute until it is measured. In between measurements it is meaningless to ask what is the position or velocity of an electron. Since quantum mechanics says nothing about a physical reality that exists independently of the measuring equipment, only in the act of measurement does the electron become ‘real’. An unobserved electron does not exist.

And there it is in a nutshell. Kumar is excellent at showing the building blocks towards the Interpretation, the intellectual struggles and combat, and manages to always ground it in people and personalities. It’s a really fun read.

QUANTUM, Manjit Kumar (UK) (US+)

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