An experiment outlined by a UCL (University College London)-led team of scientists from the UK and India could test whether relatively large masses have a quantum nature, resolving the question of whether quantum mechanical description works at a much larger scale than that of particles and atoms.
Quantum theory is typically seen as describing nature at the tiniest scales, and quantum effects have not been observed in a laboratory for objects more massive than about a quintillionth of a gram, or more precisely 10-20 g.
The new experiment, described in a paper published in Physical Review Letters and involving researchers at UCL, the University of Southampton, and the Bose Institute in Kolkata, India, could, in principle, test the quantumness of an object regardless of its mass or energy.
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