Quantum Physics

Physicists Discover a New Way to Measure Time

(Loren Zemlicka/Moment/Getty Images)While in our everyday lives measuring time is simply a matter of counting the seconds between the past and the present, things work quite differently in the quantum world. At microscopic scales, events don’t follow a predictable order, and the “now” often blurs with the “before,” rendering conventional stopwatches useless in certain...

Physicists Create Quantum Rubik’s Cube and Discover the Best Way to Solve It

Credit: DepositphotosQuantum physics is already a puzzle in itself — and now, researchers have taken that quite literally. A team of mathematicians from the University of Colorado Boulder has developed a quantum version of the Rubik’s Cube, featuring infinite possible configurations and strange new moves that make the challenge even more complex.The Classic Cube...

A Quantum Twist: Scientists Create “Hot” Schrödinger’s Cat States

Credit: University of Innsbruck/Harald RitschQuantum physics has long required extreme precision and ultra-cold temperatures to observe its most mind-bending phenomena. But a breakthrough from researchers in Innsbruck, Austria, challenges that assumption—revealing that quantum states can persist even in warmer, less controlled environments.In a new study published in Science Advances, a team from the University...

Quantum Search for the Origin of Time Reveals No Distinction Between Past and Future

Credit: PixabayIn search of the source of time, University of Surrey physicists Thomas Guff, Chintalpati Umashankar Shastry, and Andrea Rocco examined what they likened to a hot quantum bathtub beneath the endless stretch of eternity.No matter how hard we try, we can't remember what will happen tomorrow—and physicists still don't know why.They didn't find...

Quantum Mechanics was Established a Century Ago, and Physicists are Marking the Milestone

In 1927, physicists gathered to discuss the recent formulation of quantum mechanics, at the Solvay Conference on Physics in Brussels. Many important figures were in attendance, including Werner Heisenberg (back row, third from right) and Erwin Schrödinger (back row, sixth from right.) Albert Einstein is front row center.Pictorial Press Ltd./Alamy Stock PhotoA century ago,...

Scientists Have Verified the Existence of a Third Type of Magnetism

GarryKillian//Getty ImagesScientists have recently developed and captured images of a new magnetic substance called altermagnetic material. Unlike some discoveries that take decades to materialize after being theorized, altermagnetism has quickly gained attention in the scientific community. In a new paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, researchers demonstrate their ability to precisely tune these...

Physicists Discover a Groundbreaking Method to Entangle Light and Sound

(Alasabyss/Creatas Video+/Getty Images Plus)Quantum entanglement, a cornerstone of modern physics, involves correlating two or more unmeasured particles so that their properties intertwine and mirror each other. When one particle is measured, its counterpart’s corresponding properties instantly solidify, even when the two are separated by vast distances.In a groundbreaking development, physicists have introduced a bold...

No, Chinese Quantum Computers Have not Broken Military-Grade Encryption

Hacking a 50-bit RSA key is so easy you could do it with your cell phone in secondsRecent headlines claim Chinese researchers used D-Wave quantum computers to hack RSA, AES, and "military-grade encryption." This is both true and misleading.A May 2024 white paper in the Chinese Journal of Computers details how researchers used D-Wave's...

Heaviest Clumps of Antimatter Ever Created in Particle Collider

An illustration of the newly discovered antimatter nucleus, antihyperhydrogen-4Institute of Modern Physics, ChinaPhysicists have achieved a significant milestone by producing the heaviest antimatter clumps ever recorded. These clumps, known as antihyperhydrogen-4, could provide insights into some of physics' most complex questions.Understanding AntimatterAntimatter consists of particles with the same mass as regular matter but...

Levitating Nanodiamonds Spin at 1.2 Billion RPM in a Vacuum

Prof. Tongcang Li (left), Dr. Yuanbin Jin (middle) and Kunhong Shen perform experiments with levitated and rotating fluorescent diamonds at Purdue UniversityPhysicists at Purdue University levitated nanoscale diamonds, making them glow and spin at 1.2 billion rpm with lasers. These experiments could greatly advance quantum physics research.Creating Quantum-Ready Nanodiamonds via High PressureThe nanodiamonds,...