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Everyday science

Everyday science

A map of quantum physics, sound of a wave-function collapse, famous physicists as dogs

07 Aug 2020 Hamish Johnston

Above is a video by the physicist, YouTuber and quantum cartographer Dominic Walliman, who describes a map of quantum physics that he has created. The map introduces quantum mechanics by providing bite-sized chunks of information that are organized in a way that gives an overview of the quantum world and the academic disciplines that study it. Walliman then goes on to look at the map – and quantum mechanics – in much more detail.

“Could we hear the pop of a wave-function collapse, and if so, what would it sound like?” asks Antoine Tilloy of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany. To find out why the “sound is disappointingly banal, indistinguishable from any other click,” read his preprint on arXiv: “The subtle sound of quantum jumps”.

The Internet and the World Wide Web were invented for very serious reasons of national defence and scientific communication – but now they are the realm of “Famous physicists imagined as dogs”. I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing, so enjoy.

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