quantum physics – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:18:44 -0500 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 Heat Destroys All Order. Except for in This One Special Case. https://www.quantamagazine.org/heat-destroys-all-order-except-for-in-this-one-special-case-20250116/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/heat-destroys-all-order-except-for-in-this-one-special-case-20250116/#respond Thu, 16 Jan 2025 15:10:22 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=145670 The post Heat Destroys All Order. Except for in This One Special Case. first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Sunlight melts snowflakes. Fire turns logs into soot and smoke. A hot oven will make a magnet lose its pull. Physicists know from countless examples that if you crank the temperature high enough, structures and patterns break down. Now, though, they’ve cooked up a striking exception. In a string of results over the past few years, researchers have shown that an idealized substance resembling two…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/heat-destroys-all-order-except-for-in-this-one-special-case-20250116/feed/ 0 The Year in Computer Science https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-year-in-computer-science-20241219/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-year-in-computer-science-20241219/#respond Thu, 19 Dec 2024 15:56:28 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=145149 The post The Year in Computer Science first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> The end of 2024 seems a particularly uncertain time in history, and theoretical computer science is no exception. Amid several breakthroughs and new findings, the field also confronted its own doubts and limitations. For example, artificial intelligence once again dominated the popular discourse this year. Researchers have begun to understand what might be going on within the “black boxes” of…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-year-in-computer-science-20241219/feed/ 0 Exotic New Superconductors Delight and Confound https://www.quantamagazine.org/exotic-new-superconductors-delight-and-confound-20241206/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/exotic-new-superconductors-delight-and-confound-20241206/#respond Fri, 06 Dec 2024 15:28:22 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=144715 The post Exotic New Superconductors Delight and Confound first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> This year, superconductivity — the flow of electric current with zero resistance — was discovered in three distinct materials. Two instances stretch the textbook understanding of the phenomenon. The third shreds it completely. “It’s an extremely unusual form of superconductivity that a lot of people would have said is not possible,” said Ashvin Vishwanath, a physicist at Harvard University who was…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/exotic-new-superconductors-delight-and-confound-20241206/feed/ 0 In the Quantum World, Even Points of View Are Uncertain https://www.quantamagazine.org/in-the-quantum-world-even-points-of-view-are-uncertain-20241122/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/in-the-quantum-world-even-points-of-view-are-uncertain-20241122/#respond Fri, 22 Nov 2024 14:41:58 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=144344 The post In the Quantum World, Even Points of View Are Uncertain first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Imagine standing on a railway platform watching a trolley go past. A girl on the trolley drops a bright red ball. To her, the ball falls straight down. But from the platform, you see the ball traverse an arc before hitting the trolley floor. The two of you observe the same event, but from different reference frames: one anchored to the trolley and the other to the platform. The idea of reference…

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/in-the-quantum-world-even-points-of-view-are-uncertain-20241122/feed/ 0 Physicists Spot Quantum Tornadoes Twirling in a ‘Supersolid’ https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-spot-quantum-tornadoes-twirling-in-a-supersolid-20241106/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-spot-quantum-tornadoes-twirling-in-a-supersolid-20241106/#respond Wed, 06 Nov 2024 16:00:56 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=143569 The post Physicists Spot Quantum Tornadoes Twirling in a ‘Supersolid’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In a lab nestled between the jagged peaks of the Austrian Alps, rare earth metals vaporize and spew out of an oven at the speed of a fighter jet. Then a medley of lasers and magnetic pulses slow the gas nearly to a halt, making it colder than the depths of space. The roughly 50,000 atoms in the gas lose any sense of identity, merging into a single state. Finally, with a twist of the ambient…

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