Quantum Weirdness Research Articles

Parallels of quantum superposition in ecological models: from counterintuitive patterns to eco-evolutionary interpretations of cryptic species

BackgroundSuperposition, i.e. the ability of a particle (electron, photon) to occur in different states or positions simultaneously, is a hallmark in the subatomic world of quantum mechanics. Although counterintuitive at first sight, the quantum world has potential to inform macro-systems of people and nature. Using time series and spatial analysis of bird, phytoplankton and benthic invertebrate communities, this paper shows that superposition can occur analogously in redundancy analysis (RDA) frequently used by ecologists.ResultsWe show that within individual ecosystems single species can be associated simultaneously with different orthogonal axes in RDA models, which suggests that they operate in more than one niche spaces. We discuss this counterintuitive result in relation to the statistical and mathematical features of RDA and the recognized limitations with current traditional species concepts based on vegetative morphology.ConclusionWe suggest that such “quantum weirdness” in the models is reconcilable with classical ecosystems logic when the focus of research shifts from morphological species to cryptic species that consist of genetically and ecologically differentiated subpopulations. We support our argument with theoretical discussions of eco-evolutionary interpretations that should become testable once suitable data are available.

Unraveling the mystery of the cosmological constant: Does spacetime uncertainty hold the key?(a)

In addressing the cosmological constant problem, we propose that the discrepancy between the theoretical and observed values can be ascribed to the inherent uncertainty in the spacetime metric. Mach's principle, which posits that mass shapes spacetime, intersects with quantum mechanics’ description of a particle as a quantum cloud, rendering the precise location of a particle's mass unknowable. Consequently, understanding spacetime structure at the quantum level becomes elusive. This connection between quantum and spacetime uncertainty could hold the key to resolving the cosmological constant problem. Intriguingly, the length scale of spacetime uncertainty, aligns with the macroscopic quantum weirdness observed in recent experiments. The spacetime uncertainty can be quantified by the scale factor in the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe.

Retrocausality How backwards-in-time effects could explain quantum weirdness

Retrocausality How backwards-in-time effects could explain quantum weirdness

Toward a global quantum network

About 90 years ago, Albert Einstein complained about the “spooky action at a distance” of quantum entanglement and questioned the completeness of quantum mechanics [1]. This year, the Nobel Prize is awarded to three pioneers that put Einstein’s curiosity under experimental tests based on Bell’s inequality [2]. The fundamentals of quantum mechanics are not of just theoretical or philosophical interest. Rather, worldwide efforts are harnessing these quantum weirdness to develop emerging technologies.

Double dose of quantum weirdness pushes sensors past the limit

Physicists at JILA in the US have incorporated the principle of delocalization and entanglement into a single quantum sensor for the first time.

A Unifying Theory for Quantum Physics, Part 1:

Is the quantum world as strange as they say? If this were an unsolved mathematics question, we might try a new angle of attack. We know quantum mechanics (QM) is the most accurate and productive science humans ever had, meaning its probability predictions are accurate. Every probability has two square roots. The Born rule says either would produce the same probability. Assume nature uses the negative of QM’s equations. What could that mean? We’d need to revise Feynman’s path-integrals and Schrödinger’s equation. If waves travel in the opposite direction as what QM believes, that could produce the negative equations. No wave-particle duality. Free particles would follow backwards zero-energy waves coming from detectors. This, surprisingly, gets rid of quantum weirdness. Our proposal is that nature uses the negative of QM’s equations because particles follow zero-energy waves backwards. Considerable evidence fits this model, including a neutron-interferometer and the Davisson-Germer experiments, a quantum-eraser experiment, Wheeler-gedanken and double-slit experiments, Bell-test experiments, Stern-Gerlach, and high-energy scattering experiments. Finally, we propose a plan for how to motivate students to want to study quantum technologies, thereby addressing the most prominent problem in QM today: the shortage of an educated workforce, the scarcity of aspiring students.

Redundantly Amplified Information Suppresses Quantum Correlations in Many-Body Systems

We establish bounds on quantum correlations in many-body systems. They reveal what sort of information about a quantum system can be simultaneously recorded in different parts of its environment. Specifically, independent agents who monitor environment fragments can eavesdrop only on amplified and redundantly disseminated-hence, effectively classical-information about the decoherence-resistant pointer observable. We also show that the emergence of classical objectivity is signaled by a distinctive scaling of the conditional mutual information, bypassing hard numerical optimizations. Our results validate the core idea of quantum Darwinism: objective classical reality does not need to be postulated and is not accidental, but rather a compelling emergent feature of quantum theory that otherwise-in the absence of decoherence and amplification-leads to "quantum weirdness." In particular, a lack of consensus between agents that access environment fragments is bounded by the information deficit, a measure of the incompleteness of the information about the system.

Comparing Classical and Quantum Electromagnetics: Part 3 [Special Series: Guest Editorial

Quantum technology is becoming increasingly important with the recent advancements in quantum computers. The article “Casimir Force: Vacuum Fluctuation, Zero-Point Energy, and Computational Electromagnetics,” by Xia et al., summarizes how to calculate the Casimir force in the simplest fashion. It gives a brief overview of quantum theory and quantum weirdness. It then explains the role of quantum theory in electromagnetics and how the Casimir energy is equal to the sum of the zero-point energies of different modes in a system. The zero-point energy gives rise to vacuum fluctuations that persist down to zero temperature. Next, the article shows how to find the electromagnetic modes of an electromagnetic system using computational electromagnetics. The authors discuss the use of the argument principle as a way of finding this sum of zero-point energies indirectly. Moreover, a broadband fast multipole algorithm is discussed that is error controllable from statics to microwave frequencies. As a result, both attractive and repulsive Casimir forces are demonstrated with some complex structures.

Where does quantum weirdness end?

Particles in many places at once, spooky influences over vast distances, cats in boxes that are dead and alive at the same time – the quantum world is notoriously weird. Things get most baffling with the questions quantum theory raises about the nature of reality. These are frontiers of our understanding, beyond which lies a wilderness of interpretation where physics begins to blend into philosophy. Over the next 10 pages, we explore this – rather fuzzy – cutting edge and look at the new insights and experiments both deepening and challenging our understanding. We kick off with the question that lies at the heart of all the rest…

PDE boundary conditions that eliminate quantum weirdness: a mathematical game inspired by Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing

Although boundary condition problems in quantum mathematics (QM) are well known, no one ever used boundary conditions technology to abolish quantum weirdness. We employ boundary conditions to build a mathematical game that is fun to learn, and by using it you will discover that quantum weirdness evaporates and vanishes. Our clever game is so designed that you can solve the boundary condition problems for a single point if-and-only-if you also solve the “weirdness” problem for all of quantum mathematics. Our approach differs radically from Dirichlet, Neumann, Robin, or Wolfram Alpha. We define domain Ω in one-dimension, on which a partial differential equation (PDE) is defined. Point α on ∂Ω is the location of a boundary condition game that involves an off-center bi-directional wave solution called Æ, an “elementary wave.” Study of this unusual, complex wave is called the Theory of Elementary Waves (TEW). We are inspired by Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing who built mathematical games that demonstrated that axiomatization of all mathematics was impossible. In our machine quantum weirdness vanishes if understood from the perspective of a single point α, because that pinpoint teaches us that nature is organized differently than we expect.

The Periodic Table needs negative orbitals in order to eliminate quantum weirdness: a new quantum chemistry mathematics

A consensus among quantum experts is that the quantum world is not properly understood. It is a mistake to think we can cure quantum weirdness by tinkering with superficial aspects of quantum mechanics (QM). We propose that nature uses (–ψ) as its wave function, whereas QM uses (+ψ). We propose therefore that the Periodical Table should be changed to negative orbitals (–ψ). Surprisingly, this change makes almost no difference to chemistry on a practical level. The Born rule takes the absolute square of an amplitude to obtain a probability to test in chemistry lab P=|–ψ|2=|+ψ|2. We propose a new math based on (–ψ) that is the mirror image of quantum mathematics. We call it the Theory of Elementary Waves (TEW). The negative sign is not an electrical charge. It has nothing to do with Coulomb’s law. Valence electrons are unchanged. Ions, covalent bonds, dipoles, metals, hydrogen bonding and the hydrogen 21 cm line are unchanged. The octet rule and rules for drawing dot structures of molecules do not change. Amino acids, sugars and DNA do not change their handedness. We cite abundant experimental evidence showing that TEW is correct and QM is wrong.

There are two solutions to the equations of Feynman’s Quantum Electrodynamics (QED): the newly discovered solution is free of quantum weirdness

No one previously noticed there is a second solution to the equations of Richard Feynman’s Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). It makes identical predictions in the lab. The new solution (Reverse-QED) is closer to nature: it is free of quantum weirdness. For example, it eliminates Schrödinger’s cat. This article is the first time the equations of R-QED have been published. The R-QED amplitude is the negative of Feynman’s amplitude. Because of the Born rule, both amplitude and negative amplitude, when squared, produce the same probability to be tested against empirical data. If you were to measure the distance from Los Angeles to New York City with R-QED’s accuracy, it would be exact to the breadth of a human hair. If reality corresponds to the newly discovered R-QED equations, but scientists use the old QED equations, the result would be predictions for the lab that are precisely accurate, but scientists would be unable to construct a coherent picture of the quantum world. R-QED is based on a different picture of how the quantum world is organized. Experiments, including a neutron interferometer experiment we review, show that particles follow waves backward. R-QED integrates in the same direction that the waves travel.

Bohm's theory of quantum mechanics and the notion of classicality

When David Bohm published his alternative theory of quantum mechanics in 1952, it was not received well; a recurring criticism was that it formed a reactionary attempt to return to classical physics. In response, Bohm emphasized the progressiveness of his approach, and even turned the accusation of classicality around by arguing that he wanted to move beyond classical elements still inherent in orthodox quantum mechanics. In later years, he moved more and more towards speculative and mystical directions.This paper aims to explain this discrepancy between the ways in which Bohm's work on quantum mechanics has been received and the way in which Bohm himself presented it. I reject the idea that Bohm's early work can be described as mechanist, determinist, and realist, in contrast to his later writings, and argue that there is in fact a strong continuity between his work on quantum mechanics from the early 1950s and his later, more speculative writings. In particular, I argue that Bohm was never strongly committed to determinism and was a realist in some ways but not in others. A closer look at Bohm's philosophical commitments highlights the ways in which his theory of quantum mechanics is non-classical and does not offer a way to avoid all ‘quantum weirdness’.

A Tiny, Counterintuitive Change to the Mathematics of the Schrodinger Wave Packet and Quantum ElectroDynamics Could Vastly Simplify How We View Nature


 
 
 This article proposes that an unexpected approach to the mathematics of a Schro ̋dinger wave packet and Quantum Electro-Dynamics (QED), could vastly simplify how we perceive the world around us. It could get rid of most if not all quantum weirdness. Schro ̋dinger’s cat would be gone. Even things that we thought were unquestionably true about the quantum world would change. For example, the double slit experiment would no longer support wave particle duality. Experiments that appeared to say that entangled particles can communicate instantaneously over great distances, would no longer say that. Although the tiny mathematical change is counterintuitive, Occam’s razor dictates that we consider it because it simplifies how we view Nature in such a pervasive way. The change in question is to view a Schro ̋dinger wave packet as part of a larger Elementary Wave traveling in the opposite direction. It is known in quantum mechanics that the same wave can travel in two countervailing directions simultaneously. Equivalent changes would be made to QED and Quantum Field Theory. It is known in QM that there are zero energy waves: for example, the Schro ̋dinger wave carries amplitudes but not energy.
 
 

New Schrödinger wave mathematics changes experiments from saying there is, to denying there is quantum weirdness


 
 
 With a clever new interpretation of the Schrödinger equation, those quantum experiments that allegedly prove that the quantum world is weird, no longer do so. When we approach the math from an unexpected angle, experiments that appeared to prove that time can go backwards in the quantum world, no longer say that. Experiments that appeared to demonstrate that a particle can be in two places at the same time, no longer say that. This requires that we take a counter-intuitive approach to the math, rather than a counter-intuitive approach to the quantum world. QM makes sensible assumptions and discovers that the quantum world is weird. Our math from the Theory of Elementary Waves (TEW) makes weird assumptions and discovers that the quantum world is sensible. We pay the weirdness tax up front. QM does not pay the weirdness tax and is penalized with a permanent misperception of the quantum world. This article is paired with a lively YouTube video that explains the same thing in 18 minutes: “New Schrödinger wave mathematics changes experiments from saying there is, to denying there is quantum weirdness.” That video can be found at the website ElementaryWave.com.
 
 

“Quantum Weirdness” in Exploitation by the International Gravitational‐Wave Observatory Network

AbstractThe detectors of the international gravitational‐wave (GW) observatory network are currently taking data with sensitivities improved via squeezing the photon counting noise of the laser light used. Several GW candidate events, such as black‐hole mergers, are already in the pipeline to be analyzed in detail. While the brand‐new field of GW astronomy relies on squeezed light for reaching higher sensitivities, the physical understanding of such light, although being well described by quantum theory, is still under discussion. Herein, a physical description of why squeezed light, as now being exploited by GW observatories, constitutes rather remarkable physics is presented. Consideration of the Fourier transform seems to provide an argument why the measurement of squeezed photon statistics from quasi‐monochromatic light is “weird.” It is further argued that the measurement of squeezed photon statistics is related to the famous gedanken experiment formulated by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen in 1935. This work illuminates “quantum weirdness” in a clear way and might be the starting point for finding the physics of quantum correlations in general, which scientists have been seeking for decades.

Emergent Universe from Many Unreal World Interpretation

There are multiple interpretations of quantum mechanics, 2 most famous interpretations are Copenhagen interpretation and many world interpretations. Copenhagen interpretation fails to explain the mechanism behind wave function collapse and many world interpretations avoid collapse by adding infinite branching worlds. Goal of this paper is to provide alternate interpretations which explains mechanism behind collapse using finite pre-existent unreal worlds. All quantum weirdness can be narrowed down to few postulates, if we consider every particle has a dedicated address in event horizon, every address has its own dedicated spacetime fabric, particles will have its projected shadows on other space time fabric and whenever there is interaction between true particle and other shadow particle, new address is assigned for both interacting particles and instantaneously all projected shadow becomes void. We perceive universe from collapse perspective only when particles collapse and new address are assigned, thus giving an illusion that we live in one universe but its result of interaction of multiple worlds. From new postulates we were able to explain how one of the entangled photons can decides other photons path in Wheeler's delayed choice experiment and thus helps us to removes problematic retro causality speculation to explain the phenomenon observed in this experiment.

Einsteinian Physics in the Classroom: Integrating Physical and Digital Learning Resources in the Context of an International Research Collaboration

This study reports on a pilot program conducted by members of the international Einsteinian Physics Education Research (EPER) Collaboration that aims to pool and combine innovative learning approaches in Einsteinian Physics. The collaboration also aims to disseminate learning resources and research results across a range of countries. In this study, we describe an integrated pilot programme that combines physical models and digital resources to explore secondary school students’ (Grade 10, 15 years old) conceptual understanding in the learning domain of Einsteinian physics. After the teaching units “gravity and warped time”, “gravity is geometry”, and “quantum weirdness”, we found that students had gained knowledge of key concepts in the learning domain of Einsteinian Physics. The units rely on physical models or digital learning resources. Both approaches proved successful in introducing Einsteinian concepts. By reporting on this integrated programme, we wish to share our model of an international physics education collaboration. Raising awareness for the need and possibility of introducing Einsteinian physics to school curricula, we hope to offer valuable impetus to the field of physics education that will inspire researchers and teachers alike.

Daily briefing: How to see quantum weirdness with our own eyes

Daily briefing: How to see quantum weirdness with our own eyes

Free access platforms for integrating environmental chemical exposure and hazard information

How does the world crystallise from quantum weirdness? We might just have heard the answer, says Bob Henderson