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Category: cosmology – Page 126

Sabine Hossenfelder, Rupert Sheldrake and Bjorn Ekeberg go head to head on consciousness, panpsychism, physics and dard matter.

Watch more fiery contenet at https://iai.tv?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description&utm…e-universe.

“Not only is the universe stranger than we think. It is stranger than we can think.” So argued Niels Bohr, one of the founders of quantum theory. We imagine our theories uncover how things are but, from quantum particles to dark matter, at fundamental levels the closer we get to what we imagine to be reality the stranger and more incomprehensible it appears to become.

Might science, and philosophy one day stretch to meet the universe’s strangeness? Or is the universe not so strange after all? Or should we give up the idea that we can uncover the essential character of the world, and with Bohr conclude that the strangeness of the universe and the quantum world transcend the limits of the human mind?

Continue reading “Can we understand the universe? | Sheldrake & Hossenfelder go head to head on dark matter IN FULL” | >

Over the past decade, scientists have made tremendous progress in generating quantum phenomena in mechanical systems. What seemed impossible only fifteen years ago has now become a reality, as researchers successfully create quantum states in macroscopic mechanical objects.

By coupling these mechanical oscillators to light photons—known as “optomechanical systems”—scientists have been able to cool them down to their lowest energy level close to the , “squeeze them” to reduce their vibrations even further, and entangle them with each other. These advancements have opened up new opportunities in , compact storage in quantum computing, fundamental tests of quantum gravity, and even in the search for dark matter.

In order to efficiently operate optomechanical systems in the quantum regime, scientists face a dilemma. On one hand, the mechanical oscillators must be properly isolated from their environment to minimize ; on the other hand, they must be well-coupled to other such as electromagnetic resonators to control them.

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Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument reveals the star, nicknamed Earendel, to be a massive B-type star more than twice as hot as our sun, and about a million times more luminous. (Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, D. Coe (STScI/AURA for ESA; Johns Hopkins University), B. Welch (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; University of Maryland, College Park). Image processing: Z. Levay.)

The star in the very distant universe, and a billion years after the big bang, was captured by the observatory’s Near-InfraRed Camera instrument.

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All this and stamp collecting?paraphrase Lord Kelvin.

If you’d like to learn more about quantum mechanics, use our link https://brilliant.org/sabine — You can get started for free, and the first 200 will get 20% off the annual premium subscription.

Correction to what I say at 14:22 — The KATRIN experiment does not look for neutrinoless double beta decay, it’s trying to measure the absolute neutrino masses. There are several other experiments looking for neutrinoless double beta decay. Sorry about that mixup!

Continue reading “New physics or not? I’ll sort it out for you” | >

There is increasing talk of quantum computers and how they will allow us to solve problems that traditional computers cannot solve. It’s important to note that quantum computers will not replace traditional computers: they are only intended to solve problems other than those that can be solved with classical mainframe computers and supercomputers. And any problem that is impossible to solve with classical computers will also be impossible with quantum computers. And traditional computers will always be more adept than quantum computers at memory-intensive tasks such as sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing documents and spreadsheets, desktop publishing, and so on.

There is nothing “magic” about quantum computers. Still, the mathematics and physics that govern their operation are more complex and reside in quantum physics.

The idea of quantum physics is still surrounded by an aura of great intellectual distance from the vast majority of us. It is a subject associated with the great minds of the 20th century such as Karl Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, Max Planck, Wolfgang Pauli, and Erwin Schrodinger, whose famous hypothetical cat experiment was popularized in an episode of the hit TV show ‘The Big Bang Theory’. As for Schrodinger, his observations of the uncertainty principle, serve as a reminder of the enigmatic nature of quantum mechanics. The uncertainty principle holds that the observer determines the characteristics of an examined particle (charge, spin, position) only at the moment of detection. Schrödinger explained this using the theoretical experiment, known as the paradox of Schrödinger’s cat. The experiment’s worth mentioning, as it describes one of the most important aspects of quantum computing.

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Detecting extremely distant stars, or those closest in time to the big bang, can provide insights into the first few chapters of the history of our universe. In 2022, the Hubble Space Telescope broke its own record, and spotted the most distant star yet. This star, nicknamed Earendel, emitted its light within the universe’s first billion years.

Spotting, and confirming, the distance of the star is just the beginning, though. That’s where NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope comes in. Webb’s initial observations of Earendel have revealed insights into the star’s type, and even the galaxy surrounding the star. Future analysis of Webb spectroscopic observations of Earendel and its host galaxy, the Sunrise Arc, could also reveal information about brightness, temperature, and composition.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has followed up on observations by the Hubble Space Telescope of the farthest star ever detected in the very distant universe, within the first billion years after the . Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument reveals the star to be a massive B-type star more than twice as hot as our sun, and about a million times more luminous.

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When Albert Einstein famously said “God does not play dice with the universe” he wasn’t objecting to the idea that randomness exists in our everyday lives.

What he didn’t like was the idea that randomness is so essential to the laws of physics, that even with the most precise measurements and carefully controlled experiments there would always be some level at which the outcome is effectively an educated guess. He believed there was another option.

This video discusses how probability is determined in quantum mechanics. Let’s play some dice with the universe and talk about it.

Join Katie Mack, Perimeter Institute’s Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication, over 10 short forays into the weird, wonderful world of quantum science. Episodes are published weekly, subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss an update.

Continue reading “Quantum 101 Episode 6: Quantum Probability Explained” | >

A group of international researchers led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and Smithsonian (CfA) achieved the once-unimaginable four years ago: using a groundbreaking telescope to capture an image of a black hole.

Last month some of those researchers, engineers, and physicists convened at Harvard to consider and begin drawing up plans for the next step: a closer study of the photon rings that encircle in glowing orange. The mission has been dubbed the Event Horizon Explorer (EHE), and the group hopes it will offer additional insight into black holes, which sit at the center of galaxies.

The $300 million project examining the nature of space and time builds on the success of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project of 2019, when researchers took the first-ever picture of a black hole, a focal point so tiny “the biggest ones on the sky are only about the same size as an atom held at arm’s length,” said Michael Johnson, an astrophysicist at the CfA.

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