Scottish artist Gregor Harvie has created a new artwork to mark 100 years since Erwin Schrödinger published his famous equation that governs how the wave function of a physical system changes over time.
Dubbed Superposition, the piece has been created in collaboration with the quantum theory group at the University of Glasgow.
The installation explores two of features of quantum physics: superposition and entanglement.
It does so via 16 aluminium panels that each have hundreds of holes drilled through them, forming complex patterns.
One side is white while the other is coloured and when someone approaches, the panels begin to spin at 400rpm so that their forms “dissolve into shifting three-dimensional illusions”.
The panels are arranged in eight pairs and the stopping positions of the panels are random but over time seven pairs show the same side as their partner half the time. This is an analogy for superposition, where the spinning stops is akin to the collapse of the wavefunction.
Yet the eighth pair is different. Individually, its two panels still appear to stop randomly, but when seen together they show the same side three quarters of the time – an analogy for entanglement.
Harvie, who has a PhD in computational fluid dynamics and previous work Beyond Absolute Zero marked the bicentenary of the birth of Lord Kelvin in 2024, says the artwork puts people inside the quantum universe.
“I wanted to make something you could stand in front of and genuinely not know what you are looking at,” notes Harvie. “The artworks are made of holes, so in a way there is nothing there, but spun fast enough they transform into something remarkable, something the eye can’t quite hold onto. Their form changes depending on where you are looking at them from, and one pair behaves in a way that defies logic.”
Theoretical physicist Stephen Barnett at the University of Glasgow says the artwork allows everyone to experience the “strangeness” of quantum mechanics and to question what they are seeing. “Quantum physics challenges our most basic ideas about what it means for something to have a definite state,” he says. “It tells us reality is stranger than anything we encounter in everyday life.”
If you want to experience the artwork for yourself, Superposition will be displayed at the Technology and Innovation Centre at the University of Strathclyde during weekdays from 20 to 29 October.
