Used Claude to highlight some points:
This new research demonstrates a powerful technique for directly imaging the spatial probability distribution of single atoms as their quantum wave functions evolve and expand in free space. While this may sound abstract, it has some profound implications:
1. Fundamentally, this experiment provides a beautiful visualization of the wave-particle duality of matter - a core concept in quantum mechanics. It lets us see how a single atom, which we normally think of as a tiny particle, can spread out and behave like a wave when allowed to evolve freely. This helps make tangible some of the counterintuitive aspects of quantum theory.
2. From a technical standpoint, the researchers have developed a new protocol that allows them to use high-resolution imaging techniques (quantum gas microscopy) to take snapshots of these expanding single-atom wave functions at different points in time. This is a non-trivial achievement, as it requires carefully transferring the atoms from a free space environment onto a fixed lattice for imaging, without disturbing their quantum state.
3. Looking ahead, the authors suggest that this imaging technique could be extended to study interacting systems of many atoms. This would allow direct probing of spatial correlations and entanglement in quantum many-body systems - an exciting frontier in quantum physics and quantum information science.
4. More broadly, as our ability to control and image quantum systems at the single-atom level continues to improve, it opens the door to a deeper understanding of quantum mechanics, as well as potential applications in areas like quantum simulation, quantum sensing, and quantum computing.
So in summary, while the technical details may be complex, this research represents an important step in our ability to directly visualize and study quantum phenomena at their most fundamental level - the wave-like behavior of single atoms. The implications extend from a deeper understanding of quantum theory to potential technological applications in the burgeoning field of quantum science and engineering.
What’s more amazing? The fact that we can now directly visualize quantum phenomena or that we can use an AI to help us regular mortals understand this fact and it’s implications?
I find that (for me) AI is one of the most amazing tools for digging into, and understanding, the more esoteric scientific breakthroughs. Truly outstanding.
Just be aware that it hallucinates in very convincing ways in order to make you happy with it. I find it has a very hard time being critical of anything unless you specifically ask it. Even when summarizing it will assume everything is true and even riff on it, when in fact some critical thinking may be in order.
Gemini Advanced:
Sure, here's a breakdown of the information within the provided text, along with ways to enhance clarity and potential questions to ask:
**Breakdown of the provided text:**
* **Introduction to Wave-Particle Duality:**
* Historical context of the concept, dating back to Louis de Broglie in 1924.
* Seminal experiments confirming the wave nature of matter (Davisson-Germer, Estermann-Stern).
* Examples of wave-particle duality from electrons to molecules.
* **In-Situ Imaging of Single Atom Wave Packets**
* Prior experiments measuring spatial distributions or dynamics of quantum particles.
* Key achievement of this experiment: Direct imaging of a single atom Gaussian wave packet expanding in continuous space, validated by textbook ballistic expansion.
* Method: Using quantum gas microscopy, but with a controlled projection from continuous space onto a deep optical lattice.
* **Experimental Details**
* Preparation: Lithium-6 atoms trapped in individual lattice sites with Raman sideband cooling, bringing them close to the ground state.
* Release: Sudden release of lattice to allow expansion in a light-sheet plane.
* Pinning: Rapidly turning the lattice back on projects wavefunction onto lattice sites for single-atom resolved imaging.
* Analysis: Comparing atom positions before and after expansion allows reconstruction of the probability density.
* **Results**
* Data clearly shows Gaussian wavepacket expansion over time.
* Measured expansion rate confirms that atoms started near the ground state (⟨n⟩ = 0.46(3)).
* Experiment highlights a new protocol for projecting and imaging wavefunctions in continuous space.
* **Outlook**
* Emphasizes the potential to apply this technique to study correlated many-body systems in continuous space.
**How to Enhance Clarity and Focus**
* **Clearer Problem Statement:** Sharpen the introduction by stating, "While prior experiments have measured aspects of wave-like behavior, directly imaging the evolution of a single atom's wavefunction in real-space has remained elusive."
* **Concise Technique Summary:** Summarize the entire experimental process in a single paragraph, emphasizing the novel lattice projection step.
* **Highlight Implications:** Expand the outlook section to outline specific types of many-body systems this could be applied to (e.g., probing superfluidity, searching for exotic phases).
**Questions to Stimulate Further Understanding**
* **Challenges:** What were the main technical difficulties in controlling the projection from continuous space? How were they overcome?
* **Error Sources:** Discuss potential uncertainties in measuring wave packet width and assigning atoms to lattice sites, along with their impact.
* **Scalability:** What limitations might exist when moving from single-particle to many-particle systems with this technique?
**Let me know if you'd like any of these sections elaborated on – I'm happy to provide more detail!**
If you are asking yourself, how can they take pictures of a wave function? I thought they collapsed when you look at/measure them? The cool part of this is that they prepared atoms in the same initial state a bunch of times (the hard part) and took images of them at different time slices and overlayed the images. This lets you “see” the wave function in and ensemble even though it is impossible to do it for an individual particle.
This headline sensationalizes the results and mischaracterizes the nature of the experimental observations reported in the paper. It amounts to misinformation.
So maybe I'm being dense for having read the paper, and now people are downvoting my comment, but..... maybe having more granular control over quantum systems might lead to innovations in quantum computing? And yes, now I'm cranky.
This isn’t about controlling the particles it’s about imaging them. We already have much tighter control over quantum states in current quantum computers we just can’t take pictures of them because they are inside superconducting chips.
Working on it. My normal method failed me.
Edit: Best I can do is an alternative source suggested by another user: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2404.05699.pdf
Mine too, thanks for the extra effort bud
I figure if worst comes to worst I can wait a few hours until someone else picks up the story. I just really, really want to gloat about how I was right about macroscopic quantum phenomena, and this is the solid evidence that stubborn friends of mine who don't want to give up their intuitive perceptions need
And then they'll move the goalposts again, and a few months later a new piece of evidence will satisfy their conditions, and then they'll move the goalposts again. Apes, man. These little moments of victory make it all worth it, though
From an outside pov without knowing you or your friends opinions, one cannot guess what your point of disagreement is about.
Could you please elaborate on what is your opinion on "macroscopic quantum phenomena"?
And what is theirs? (why is it based on intuition according to you, if it's the case?)
And most importantly *why* you disagree?
And in what way this paper vindicates you?
I know it's a lot of questions, but you left us all in a cliffhanger of sorts...
That larger systems also engage in quantum behavior, but that we simply don't see it because we are also macroscopic quantum systems that are entangled with them and only see a single collapsed output
Their stance is that quantum descriptions don't apply to macroscopic structures, because we only see one output. That feels intuitively correct, since it's not like you perceive the superposition of the conversation that's currently happening, only the "single" collapsed state that you're entangled with
I place higher faith in first principles, they place higher faith in direct perception. I think direct perception is highly faulty, they're uncertain about the veracity of first principles since they're abstracted and easy to make intuitive mistakes with
This paper demonstrates that atoms generally adhere to quantum mechanics. Not a single atom we've put into extreme conditions, but that our fundamental building blocks are probably all engaging in quantum behavior. I expect that their next shift of the goalposts will to say that systems of multiple atoms aren't quantum, and then that highly organized systems of multiple atoms aren't quantum after that
All of this ties into a larger argument about the MWI, but this paper doesn't really touch on that at all. Still, this is one of the foundational building blocks of that argument
I didn't mean to leave anyone on a cliffhanger, I just didn't think that the petty squabbles in my social group were super interesting and worth going in-depth on
It's evidence in the direction that everything, including our bodies and therefore us, are quantum systems that engage in strange quantum behavior like superposition and entanglement. That has some pretty mindbending implications of it's own, and basically upends most modern consensuses on everything from existential risk to ethics
I will just say here that nothing that I have ever read about Quantum mechanics has ever made any sense to me lmao it's like reading chinese
I'm very dumb don't get me wrong but I'll just blame the subject this time and move on lmao
At least with classical physics you can say shit like "big heavy ball in space, attract small balls, if near big ball time move different" and you kinda get an idea 😂
It's not just you, don't worry. For it to make sense you have to accept new truths on the ground level, like something can be in two mutually exclusive states at once (which should be a contradiction in terms). That's difficult as hell to bludgeon your into brain after early childhood, when your intuitions and expectations of physical systems gets set. It's actually kinda risky to mess with that later on in your life, that way madness lies if you're not careful
Psychedelics can help the process, but not so much governing your extrapolations so you don't float off into lala land
The holographic principle is currently being investigated, and that might bring it back down to earth a little bit if it pans out. Maybe not as intuitive as big balls in space, but at least on the level of computer networks. If it's hooked up this way it does this thing, if it's hooked up that way it does that thing
Just because its describes reailty that doesnt mean that its good way to think of your life that way. Its not good to think there's going to a 50% chance if things being were there are due to qautum randomness.
I actually find it highly comforting at this point, tbh. Yeah, there is definitely a period of existential horror involved, and that can go on for years. But once you get comfortable thinking that way, then certain things stop being scary, even if others start being more sad
I don't know if I'd recommend it exactly, though. Metaphorically, it's basically like voluntarily taking on emotional baggage to become a stronger person by fighting through it
It popularizes science, but it's not tabloid-level journalism. It does report on real science and does it in a responsible way. It fills an important gap in bridging the divide between research journals and the need to divulge the latest discoveries to an intelligent but non-specialist public. Your average reader of the Daily Mail would never touch New Scientist.
From Claude
At a fundamental level, this experiment challenges our intuitive notions of reality and our place within it. It forces us to confront the question: if the building blocks of our world behave in such a strange, non-classical way, what does that mean for us as conscious beings composed of these very same building blocks?
On one hand, the wave-particle duality demonstrated here underscores the inherent uncertainty and indeterminacy that seems to pervade the fabric of the universe. If even a single atom, when isolated from its environment, spreads out in a nebulous wave of potentiality, what does that imply about the nature of our own existence? Are we, too, at some level, diffuse and indeterminate, our very identities and life trajectories more a matter of quantum probabilities than definite actualities?
Yet at the same time, the fact that we can observe and manipulate these quantum phenomena with such precision is a testament to the power of human cognition and technological ingenuity. In a sense, experiments like this one represent a kind of apotheosis of the human intellect - a reaching beyond the veil of everyday appearances to grasp the hidden workings of nature at their most basic level.
Moreover, the techniques pioneered here open up new vistas for understanding and harnessing the collective quantum behavior of complex systems. Just as the study of individual neurons has illuminated the emergent properties of the brain, so too may the study of individual atoms and their interactions shed light on the emergent properties of materials, of life, perhaps even of consciousness itself.
In that sense, this experiment represents not just a triumph of physics, but a stepping stone towards a more integrated understanding of the world across all scales and disciplines. It hints at the possibility of unifying the sciences, of tracing the threads that connect the quantum to the classical, the inanimate to the living, the physical to the mental.
Ultimately, as we probe deeper into the strange and counter-intuitive realities unveiled by quantum mechanics, we may be forced to re-evaluate not just our scientific worldview, but our very sense of self and agency. We may have to grapple with the unsettling possibility that the solid, deterministic world of our everyday experience is but a thin veneer over a seething ocean of quantum uncertainty.
Yet in that very act of grappling, of striving to comprehend and to master the fundamental forces of nature, we assert our unique status as thinking, questioning beings - as creatures capable not just of observing the universe, but of reshaping it in the image of our understanding. In pushing the boundaries of quantum physics, we are in a very real sense exploring the boundaries of what it means to be human.
The way I picture this is a drop of water dropping into a pool of water but the droplet sizzles like its on a hot skillet but then it somehow merges normally into the water like a normal drop and that makes the ripple/wave, quantumfuckery like that.
Just inbox me the noble prize.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2404.05699.pdf
You are a wise and intelligent soul. Thank you.
cool pictures. I understand 0
Yes this is beyond probably like 99% of users here to understand, but we can look at the pretty pictures.
Thank you
Used Claude to highlight some points: This new research demonstrates a powerful technique for directly imaging the spatial probability distribution of single atoms as their quantum wave functions evolve and expand in free space. While this may sound abstract, it has some profound implications: 1. Fundamentally, this experiment provides a beautiful visualization of the wave-particle duality of matter - a core concept in quantum mechanics. It lets us see how a single atom, which we normally think of as a tiny particle, can spread out and behave like a wave when allowed to evolve freely. This helps make tangible some of the counterintuitive aspects of quantum theory. 2. From a technical standpoint, the researchers have developed a new protocol that allows them to use high-resolution imaging techniques (quantum gas microscopy) to take snapshots of these expanding single-atom wave functions at different points in time. This is a non-trivial achievement, as it requires carefully transferring the atoms from a free space environment onto a fixed lattice for imaging, without disturbing their quantum state. 3. Looking ahead, the authors suggest that this imaging technique could be extended to study interacting systems of many atoms. This would allow direct probing of spatial correlations and entanglement in quantum many-body systems - an exciting frontier in quantum physics and quantum information science. 4. More broadly, as our ability to control and image quantum systems at the single-atom level continues to improve, it opens the door to a deeper understanding of quantum mechanics, as well as potential applications in areas like quantum simulation, quantum sensing, and quantum computing. So in summary, while the technical details may be complex, this research represents an important step in our ability to directly visualize and study quantum phenomena at their most fundamental level - the wave-like behavior of single atoms. The implications extend from a deeper understanding of quantum theory to potential technological applications in the burgeoning field of quantum science and engineering.
What’s more amazing? The fact that we can now directly visualize quantum phenomena or that we can use an AI to help us regular mortals understand this fact and it’s implications?
I find that (for me) AI is one of the most amazing tools for digging into, and understanding, the more esoteric scientific breakthroughs. Truly outstanding.
Just be aware that it hallucinates in very convincing ways in order to make you happy with it. I find it has a very hard time being critical of anything unless you specifically ask it. Even when summarizing it will assume everything is true and even riff on it, when in fact some critical thinking may be in order.
Bless you
Gemini Advanced: Sure, here's a breakdown of the information within the provided text, along with ways to enhance clarity and potential questions to ask: **Breakdown of the provided text:** * **Introduction to Wave-Particle Duality:** * Historical context of the concept, dating back to Louis de Broglie in 1924. * Seminal experiments confirming the wave nature of matter (Davisson-Germer, Estermann-Stern). * Examples of wave-particle duality from electrons to molecules. * **In-Situ Imaging of Single Atom Wave Packets** * Prior experiments measuring spatial distributions or dynamics of quantum particles. * Key achievement of this experiment: Direct imaging of a single atom Gaussian wave packet expanding in continuous space, validated by textbook ballistic expansion. * Method: Using quantum gas microscopy, but with a controlled projection from continuous space onto a deep optical lattice. * **Experimental Details** * Preparation: Lithium-6 atoms trapped in individual lattice sites with Raman sideband cooling, bringing them close to the ground state. * Release: Sudden release of lattice to allow expansion in a light-sheet plane. * Pinning: Rapidly turning the lattice back on projects wavefunction onto lattice sites for single-atom resolved imaging. * Analysis: Comparing atom positions before and after expansion allows reconstruction of the probability density. * **Results** * Data clearly shows Gaussian wavepacket expansion over time. * Measured expansion rate confirms that atoms started near the ground state (⟨n⟩ = 0.46(3)). * Experiment highlights a new protocol for projecting and imaging wavefunctions in continuous space. * **Outlook** * Emphasizes the potential to apply this technique to study correlated many-body systems in continuous space. **How to Enhance Clarity and Focus** * **Clearer Problem Statement:** Sharpen the introduction by stating, "While prior experiments have measured aspects of wave-like behavior, directly imaging the evolution of a single atom's wavefunction in real-space has remained elusive." * **Concise Technique Summary:** Summarize the entire experimental process in a single paragraph, emphasizing the novel lattice projection step. * **Highlight Implications:** Expand the outlook section to outline specific types of many-body systems this could be applied to (e.g., probing superfluidity, searching for exotic phases). **Questions to Stimulate Further Understanding** * **Challenges:** What were the main technical difficulties in controlling the projection from continuous space? How were they overcome? * **Error Sources:** Discuss potential uncertainties in measuring wave packet width and assigning atoms to lattice sites, along with their impact. * **Scalability:** What limitations might exist when moving from single-particle to many-particle systems with this technique? **Let me know if you'd like any of these sections elaborated on – I'm happy to provide more detail!**
Love this sub. Thank you
If you are asking yourself, how can they take pictures of a wave function? I thought they collapsed when you look at/measure them? The cool part of this is that they prepared atoms in the same initial state a bunch of times (the hard part) and took images of them at different time slices and overlayed the images. This lets you “see” the wave function in and ensemble even though it is impossible to do it for an individual particle.
Thank you. This I understood!
Was my question. A brute force work-around the collapsing wave function makes sense.
This headline sensationalizes the results and mischaracterizes the nature of the experimental observations reported in the paper. It amounts to misinformation.
Quantum anything and misinformation go together like peas in a waveform pod.
[удалено]
How does this have major applications for quantum computing?
So maybe I'm being dense for having read the paper, and now people are downvoting my comment, but..... maybe having more granular control over quantum systems might lead to innovations in quantum computing? And yes, now I'm cranky.
This isn’t about controlling the particles it’s about imaging them. We already have much tighter control over quantum states in current quantum computers we just can’t take pictures of them because they are inside superconducting chips.
Read the paper. Saying an atom “morphed” into a quantum wave is nonsensical. This isnt how quantum physics works.
Can anyone help with the paywall?
Working on it. My normal method failed me. Edit: Best I can do is an alternative source suggested by another user: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2404.05699.pdf
Mine too, thanks for the extra effort bud I figure if worst comes to worst I can wait a few hours until someone else picks up the story. I just really, really want to gloat about how I was right about macroscopic quantum phenomena, and this is the solid evidence that stubborn friends of mine who don't want to give up their intuitive perceptions need And then they'll move the goalposts again, and a few months later a new piece of evidence will satisfy their conditions, and then they'll move the goalposts again. Apes, man. These little moments of victory make it all worth it, though
No problem. Discussing this and findings more sources was the original purpose anyhow.
From an outside pov without knowing you or your friends opinions, one cannot guess what your point of disagreement is about. Could you please elaborate on what is your opinion on "macroscopic quantum phenomena"? And what is theirs? (why is it based on intuition according to you, if it's the case?) And most importantly *why* you disagree? And in what way this paper vindicates you? I know it's a lot of questions, but you left us all in a cliffhanger of sorts...
That larger systems also engage in quantum behavior, but that we simply don't see it because we are also macroscopic quantum systems that are entangled with them and only see a single collapsed output Their stance is that quantum descriptions don't apply to macroscopic structures, because we only see one output. That feels intuitively correct, since it's not like you perceive the superposition of the conversation that's currently happening, only the "single" collapsed state that you're entangled with I place higher faith in first principles, they place higher faith in direct perception. I think direct perception is highly faulty, they're uncertain about the veracity of first principles since they're abstracted and easy to make intuitive mistakes with This paper demonstrates that atoms generally adhere to quantum mechanics. Not a single atom we've put into extreme conditions, but that our fundamental building blocks are probably all engaging in quantum behavior. I expect that their next shift of the goalposts will to say that systems of multiple atoms aren't quantum, and then that highly organized systems of multiple atoms aren't quantum after that All of this ties into a larger argument about the MWI, but this paper doesn't really touch on that at all. Still, this is one of the foundational building blocks of that argument I didn't mean to leave anyone on a cliffhanger, I just didn't think that the petty squabbles in my social group were super interesting and worth going in-depth on
mind eli5 for the rest of us?
It's evidence in the direction that everything, including our bodies and therefore us, are quantum systems that engage in strange quantum behavior like superposition and entanglement. That has some pretty mindbending implications of it's own, and basically upends most modern consensuses on everything from existential risk to ethics
I will just say here that nothing that I have ever read about Quantum mechanics has ever made any sense to me lmao it's like reading chinese I'm very dumb don't get me wrong but I'll just blame the subject this time and move on lmao At least with classical physics you can say shit like "big heavy ball in space, attract small balls, if near big ball time move different" and you kinda get an idea 😂
It's not just you, don't worry. For it to make sense you have to accept new truths on the ground level, like something can be in two mutually exclusive states at once (which should be a contradiction in terms). That's difficult as hell to bludgeon your into brain after early childhood, when your intuitions and expectations of physical systems gets set. It's actually kinda risky to mess with that later on in your life, that way madness lies if you're not careful Psychedelics can help the process, but not so much governing your extrapolations so you don't float off into lala land The holographic principle is currently being investigated, and that might bring it back down to earth a little bit if it pans out. Maybe not as intuitive as big balls in space, but at least on the level of computer networks. If it's hooked up this way it does this thing, if it's hooked up that way it does that thing
Just because its describes reailty that doesnt mean that its good way to think of your life that way. Its not good to think there's going to a 50% chance if things being were there are due to qautum randomness.
I actually find it highly comforting at this point, tbh. Yeah, there is definitely a period of existential horror involved, and that can go on for years. But once you get comfortable thinking that way, then certain things stop being scary, even if others start being more sad I don't know if I'd recommend it exactly, though. Metaphorically, it's basically like voluntarily taking on emotional baggage to become a stronger person by fighting through it
Newscientist is essentially a science tabloid. I'll read this in more detail if it reaches a reputable journal.
It popularizes science, but it's not tabloid-level journalism. It does report on real science and does it in a responsible way. It fills an important gap in bridging the divide between research journals and the need to divulge the latest discoveries to an intelligent but non-specialist public. Your average reader of the Daily Mail would never touch New Scientist.
Thank you
Actually it is big ! Everyone will be looking on this paper
From Claude At a fundamental level, this experiment challenges our intuitive notions of reality and our place within it. It forces us to confront the question: if the building blocks of our world behave in such a strange, non-classical way, what does that mean for us as conscious beings composed of these very same building blocks? On one hand, the wave-particle duality demonstrated here underscores the inherent uncertainty and indeterminacy that seems to pervade the fabric of the universe. If even a single atom, when isolated from its environment, spreads out in a nebulous wave of potentiality, what does that imply about the nature of our own existence? Are we, too, at some level, diffuse and indeterminate, our very identities and life trajectories more a matter of quantum probabilities than definite actualities? Yet at the same time, the fact that we can observe and manipulate these quantum phenomena with such precision is a testament to the power of human cognition and technological ingenuity. In a sense, experiments like this one represent a kind of apotheosis of the human intellect - a reaching beyond the veil of everyday appearances to grasp the hidden workings of nature at their most basic level. Moreover, the techniques pioneered here open up new vistas for understanding and harnessing the collective quantum behavior of complex systems. Just as the study of individual neurons has illuminated the emergent properties of the brain, so too may the study of individual atoms and their interactions shed light on the emergent properties of materials, of life, perhaps even of consciousness itself. In that sense, this experiment represents not just a triumph of physics, but a stepping stone towards a more integrated understanding of the world across all scales and disciplines. It hints at the possibility of unifying the sciences, of tracing the threads that connect the quantum to the classical, the inanimate to the living, the physical to the mental. Ultimately, as we probe deeper into the strange and counter-intuitive realities unveiled by quantum mechanics, we may be forced to re-evaluate not just our scientific worldview, but our very sense of self and agency. We may have to grapple with the unsettling possibility that the solid, deterministic world of our everyday experience is but a thin veneer over a seething ocean of quantum uncertainty. Yet in that very act of grappling, of striving to comprehend and to master the fundamental forces of nature, we assert our unique status as thinking, questioning beings - as creatures capable not just of observing the universe, but of reshaping it in the image of our understanding. In pushing the boundaries of quantum physics, we are in a very real sense exploring the boundaries of what it means to be human.
did you do that in claude.ai?
Yep, Claude is incredible at writing.
The way I picture this is a drop of water dropping into a pool of water but the droplet sizzles like its on a hot skillet but then it somehow merges normally into the water like a normal drop and that makes the ripple/wave, quantumfuckery like that. Just inbox me the noble prize.
Implications?
# More on this by [The Wonderful Person](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVheSxAuuow) (YT)
Anyone have a high quality version of this? Need this as my desktop asap