Latest Quantum mechanics Stories

Location-based security is ensured by using quantum mechanicsA research group led by computer scientists at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has proved that cryptography "” the practice and study of hiding information "” that is based solely on physical location is possible by using quantum mechanics.Such a method, the researchers say, allows one to encrypt and decrypt data at a secure location without pre-sharing any cryptographic keys that can be used to...

IRVINE, Calif., July 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. ("Quantum") (Nasdaq: QTWW) announced today that Jonathan Lundy has joined the Board of Directors of Quantum Technologies. Mr. Lundy is the Senior Vice-President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and is responsible for the company's Legal and Compliance functions. Mr. Lundy was previously CEO of Schneider Power, a developer and operator...

Recently, academic debate has been swirling around the existence of unusual quantum mechanical effects in the most ubiquitous of phenomena, including photosynthesis, the process by which organisms convert light into chemical energy. In particular, physicists have suggested that entanglement (the quantum interconnection of two or more objects like photons, electrons, or atoms that are separated in physical space) could be occurring in the photosynthetic complexes of plants, particularly in the...

Bridging the classical/quantum divideDartmouth researchers have discovered a potentially important piece of the quantum/classical puzzle "“ learning how the rules of physics in the quantum world (think smaller than microscopic) change when applied to the classical world (think every day items, like cars and trees).In a study published in the July 1 issue of the journal Nature, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Alex Rimberg and his colleagues describe one example of the...

Since Richard Feynman's first envisioned the quantum computer in 1982, there have been many studies of potential candidates -- computers that use quantum bits, or qubits, capable of holding an more than one value at a time and computing at speeds far beyond existing silicon-based machines for certain problems. Most of these candidate systems, such as atoms and semiconducting quantum dots, work for quantum computing, but only at very low temperatures.Now a team of researchers from the Wuhan...

In a study published in the July 1 issue of the journal Nature, Dartmouth researchers describe one example of the microscopic quantum world influencing--even dominating, they say--the behavior of something in the macroscopic classical world."One major question in physics has to do with the connection between the microscopic and macroscopic worlds," said Alex Rimberg, associate professor of physics at Dartmouth College.In the microscopic world, tiny sub-atomic particles such as...

The best theory for explaining the subatomic world got its start in 1928 when theorist Paul Dirac combined quantum mechanics with special relativity to explain the behavior of the electron. The result was relativistic quantum mechanics, which became a major ingredient in quantum field theory. With a few assumptions and ad hoc adjustments, quantum field theory has proven powerful enough to form the basis of the Standard Model of particles and forces."Even so, it should be remembered that...

Experiment tests underpinnings of quantum field theory, Bose-Einstein statistics of photonsOf all the assumptions underlying quantum mechanics and the theory that describes how particles interact at the most elementary level, perhaps the most basic is that particles are either bosons or fermions. Bosons, such as the particles of light called photons, play by one set of rules; fermions, including electrons, play by another.Seven years ago, University of California, Berkeley, physicists asked a...

The remarkable ability of an electron to exist in two places at once has been controlled in the most common electronic material "“ silicon - for the first time. The research findings - published in Nature by a UK-Dutch team from the University of Surrey, UCL (University College) London, Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and the FOM Institute for Plasma Physics near Utrecht - marks a significant step towards the making of an affordable "quantum computer".According to the...

A sensitive measuring device must not be dropped - because this usually destroys the precision of the instrument. A team of researchers including scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics has done exactly this, however. And the researchers want to use this experience to make the measuring instrument even more sensitive. The team, headed by physicists from the University of Hanover, dropped a piece of apparatus, in which they generated a weightless Bose-Einstein condensate...