We all know that the theory of relativity describes weirdo happenings in our world of space, time and mass.
We all know that quantum mechanics describes weirdo things in the world of the utterly tiny - the atom, the electron, the neutrino, the photon.
And we all know just how well tested both theories are, that they describe aspects of reality very, very well, but that they are also hopelessly at odds with each other.
Well in the Jan 3 issue of New Scientist is an article titled “The Secret Life of Reality”. It seems that some researchers suspect that gravity may be the thing that stops us, in our daily lives, from acting in a quantum manner.
In discussing the classical light interference pattern made when single atoms are fired at the two slit interferometer, the article states:-
“The only explanation for such a pattern is that each atom splits in two, with one part going through each slit, then interfering before it reaches the detector.”
It then describes the even weirder effect of using a detector to determine which slit the atom actually went through. That causes:-
“... decoherence and destroys the interference pattern. It seems that the atom only behaves oddly when no one - or nothing - is looking.”
The article discusses various ideas as to why this kind of thing might happen. It then deals with what happens with collections of atoms shot at interferometers. This is where gravity begins to come it. The bolding and coloring is mine:-
“No one really knows what to make of this [the kind of observations mentioned just before]. It is made even worse by the discovery that large collections of atoms seem to be unable to exist in superposition. We have made interference patterns with molecules composed of 800 atoms, but the more massive they get, the shorter-lived the superposition. This has led some to suspect that gravity might be the real reason why massive collections of atoms - including us - are not quantum.”
What makes this so interesting is that the technology nearly exists and physicists are beginning to think of testing this. For example, they are thinking of testing how:-
“... an atom in a supposition [quantum effect] experiences time [relativistic effect] as it flies through different paths in an interferometer and them recombines to produce an interference pattern”.
Keep your ears to the ground. This is amazing stuff.
We all know that quantum mechanics describes weirdo things in the world of the utterly tiny - the atom, the electron, the neutrino, the photon.
And we all know just how well tested both theories are, that they describe aspects of reality very, very well, but that they are also hopelessly at odds with each other.
Well in the Jan 3 issue of New Scientist is an article titled “The Secret Life of Reality”. It seems that some researchers suspect that gravity may be the thing that stops us, in our daily lives, from acting in a quantum manner.
In discussing the classical light interference pattern made when single atoms are fired at the two slit interferometer, the article states:-
“The only explanation for such a pattern is that each atom splits in two, with one part going through each slit, then interfering before it reaches the detector.”
It then describes the even weirder effect of using a detector to determine which slit the atom actually went through. That causes:-
“... decoherence and destroys the interference pattern. It seems that the atom only behaves oddly when no one - or nothing - is looking.”
The article discusses various ideas as to why this kind of thing might happen. It then deals with what happens with collections of atoms shot at interferometers. This is where gravity begins to come it. The bolding and coloring is mine:-
“No one really knows what to make of this [the kind of observations mentioned just before]. It is made even worse by the discovery that large collections of atoms seem to be unable to exist in superposition. We have made interference patterns with molecules composed of 800 atoms, but the more massive they get, the shorter-lived the superposition. This has led some to suspect that gravity might be the real reason why massive collections of atoms - including us - are not quantum.”
What makes this so interesting is that the technology nearly exists and physicists are beginning to think of testing this. For example, they are thinking of testing how:-
“... an atom in a supposition [quantum effect] experiences time [relativistic effect] as it flies through different paths in an interferometer and them recombines to produce an interference pattern”.
Keep your ears to the ground. This is amazing stuff.
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