2,000 Atoms Exist in Two Places at Once in Unprecedented Quantum Experiment

2,000 Atoms Exist in Two Places at Once in Unprecedented Quantum Experiment

Rafi Letzter

Giant molecules can be in two places at once, thanks to quantum physics.

That's something that scientists have long known is theoretically true based on a few facts: Every particle or group of particles in the universe is also a wave — even large particles, even bacteria, even human beings, even planets and stars. And waves occupy multiple places in space at once. So any chunk of matter can also occupy two places at once. Physicists call this phenomenon "quantum superposition," and for decades, they have demonstrated it using small particles.

But in recent years, physicists have scaled up their experiments, demonstrating quantum superposition using larger and larger particles. Now, in a paper published Sept. 23 in the journal Nature Physics, an international team of researchers has caused molecule made up of up to 2,000 atoms to occupy two places at the same time.

This quantum physics breakthrough could be the origin story for time travel

Tristan Greene

Does this mean we’ll be able to put sports equipment, people, and vehicles into quantum states one day? Maybe. Scientists are looking for a hard limit to superposition. But what would that even mean?

One theory, based on what would obviously be far-future technology, involves harnessing the powers of quantum mechanics to place humongous objects – think planets and stars – into a state of superposition. This would, theoretically, allow anyone with the “place giant things into superposition” app on their iPhone (you don’t know how they’ll operate these things either) to manipulate space-time through the precision distortion of gravity waves.

This would effectively be time-travel, allowing humans to move about through the cosmos with relatively little regard for the passage of time – at least in small bursts, perhaps even arriving in the future without having aged.

That’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves, however. Arndt and his colleagues didn’t just snatch a molecule out of thin air and force it into superposition. They created a synthetic molecule made of up to 2,000 atoms and a special interferometer just to create the perfect conditions for their observation. It could be a millennia or two before we’re at the billiard ball or planet-sized state of quantum experimentation.

So completely interesting to me.

Funny thing here too: Read a few articles recently attributed to leading scientists on the unlikely realization of humans being able to "get off planet earth" due to the massive scale of the universe and the time required to travel through propulsion-based vehicles even at "near light speed".  The gist of these negatively toned articles was around the underlying need to abandon such fanciful things in favor of taking care of our planet.

Seems so disingenuous to mix political/social morality into scientific discussions.  I'm not saying they shouldn't be resolved at an appropriate juncture, but asserting that galactic travel is a non-starter from a scientific viewpoint is just dream-dashing and ultimately ineffective at getting people to focus on keeping Earth healthy (my view).

I'm a firm believer that there is likely no conceivable limit to the ingenuity of our intelligence.  There may be no limit at all, but if there is "one" I don't know that anyone today can articulate it.  I always think of the common man of normal intelligence from 2,000 years ago: dropped into today's world they wouldn't believe what they see.  The impossible would be possible, etc.

Anyway, sorry for the blathering but I appreciated the links Sci and it prompted me to write!