Is A Subatomic World Possible And What Would It Look Like? - DISCOVER Magazine

In 2022, three physicists won the Nobel Prize successful physics for their enactment connected “spooky” quantum entanglement. Some quantum seekers present envision having a Halloween enactment successful the subatomic world. There, they anticipation to acquisition firsthand the weird quantum effects that person agelong stoked their imaginations.

But what would the subatomic satellite look and consciousness like, and however would you get there?

The Quantum Realm

The bully quality is the quantum satellite is not acold away. We unrecorded successful it. The mentation of quantum mechanics describes the full universe, including the mundane satellite we are acquainted with. However, astatine the macroscopic level, the weird quantum effects are comparatively anemic and hard to perceive.

To readily acquisition quantum weirdness, a quality would person to shrink to astir the size of an atom, says Jim Kakalios, a physics prof astatine the University of Minnesota. The occupation with that is each atoms are astir the aforesaid size and cannot themselves shrink. Humans are composed of astir 7 octillion atoms, and each those atoms would person to cram into a abstraction the size of 1 atom. A shrunk quality would beryllium unimaginably dense.

Read more: What Is Quantum Entanglement? A Physicist Explains The Science Of Einstein’s ‘Spooky Action At A Distance’

“[Humans] would person to fig retired immoderate mode to change the cardinal constants of the beingness to alteration the size of their atoms. There’s nary mode to bash that,” says Kakalios.

But what if you did negociate to evade the laws of physics and shrink to the size of an atom? “When you’re down to that size, your interactions with airy volition beryllium precise antithetic from what you usually see,” Kakalios says. “Our eyes could observe azygous photons. […] Everything would beryllium benignant of staticky and weird alternatively of similar a continuous stream. Single photons of airy would onslaught your eyes similar rainfall connected a tin roof. How you would beryllium capable to process that is precise hard to say.”

Two quality eyes mightiness comparison to idiosyncratic Thomas Young’s double-slit experiments from the aboriginal 1800s, which are celebrated for starring america down the roadworthy to quantum mechanics. In the experiments, that were revisited successful the 20th century, scientists sought to find whether airy is simply a question oregon a watercourse of particles and recovered that airy successful information acts arsenic some a question and a watercourse of particles. In 1 mentation of the experiment, 1 photon astatine a clip was sent done the slits and a question signifier formed implicit clip connected the photographic sheet down the barrier.

As airy enters our eyes successful the subatomic world, photon by photon, “I would conjecture you mightiness spot this weird fuzziness, and that you would person to look astatine thing for a portion earlier you spot a default pattern, and adjacent then, the default signifier volition beryllium an interference pattern,” Kakalios says.

Entanglement mightiness beryllium easier to observe successful the quantum realm and it occurs erstwhile you bring 2 identical particles unneurotic and past abstracted them carefully. “The 2 particles,” Kakalios says, “would beryllium described by a azygous question relation adjacent if you abstracted them by a ample distance. And if you bash thing to 1 particle, the effects would beryllium ‘instantly’ felt by the different particle due to the fact that they’re inactive being described by 1 azygous question function.”

However, Kakalios says the thought is impractical adjacent considering aboriginal technology.

A Microworld

We cannot shrink ourselves into the quantum realm, but Spiros Michalakis, a mathematical physicist astatine Caltech, who was the subject advisor to Ant-Man and the inventor of the movie’s quantum realm, has an idea. What astir bringing the quantum realm to our scale?

“We unrecorded successful this world, [and] we privation to clip question successful this world, not the microworld. We privation to teleport successful this world. We privation to person superpowers successful this satellite connected Earth. The subject says each of this is possible,” says Michalakis.

The quantum realm, Michalakis says, is simply a benignant of hackable “source codification of reality.” And “quantum physics says you’re allowed to bash thing you tin ever ideate if you cognize however to drawstring things together. If you person the ingredients and the recipe, you tin marque thing you want,” says Michalakis.

Michalakis envisions a quantum-engineered aboriginal of superpowers, a quantum internet, states of substance that make small Lego blocks of reality, and overmuch more, each derived from the quantum realm.

“What we privation to bash is make a macroscopic mentation of the quantum realm,” says Michalakis.

But according to Hideo Mabuchi, an applied physics prof astatine Stanford, “a built-in diagnostic of quantum mechanics is that each of the truly weird worldly lone happens nether the hood — you could ne'er interact with it directly. Even if you could ideate shrinking yourself down to the size of an atom, you would ne'er virtually spot oregon consciousness a particle to beryllium successful the superposition of 2 antithetic positions […] what would that look oregon consciousness like? That’s not thing that we’re wired to experience.”

Mabuchi is skeptical that immoderate macroscopic life-size exertion would ever behave successful a mode that’s quantum mechanical. “You would person to perfectly isolate ample things from immoderate biology interference implicit agelong times,” says Mabuchi.

However, with virtual reality, Mabuchi thinks we could person a mentation of precocious microscopy. “You could […] usage this technological instrumentality and person a Halloween enactment successful the atomic world, astatine slightest by a benignant of by proxy. That’s thing I […] could ideate mightiness 1 time beryllium reality,” says Mabuchi.

While we mightiness privation to shrink similar Ant-Man, the virtual world exertion is not present yet. The closest we tin get to an acquisition similar the quantum-weird satellite whitethorn beryllium a locomotion successful the woods astatine night.

“Have you ever been successful the woods connected a moonless nighttime walking around?” asks Lucas Wagner, a physics prof astatine the University of Illinois astatine Urbana-Champaign. “Your eyes benignant of adjust, and you tin benignant of spot things, [but] they’re conscionable very, precise dark. The edges of things commencement to get fuzzy, and they look to beryllium moving a small bit," helium says. "I deliberation fixed what I cognize of the physics, everything would beryllium benignant of similar that [in the quantum realm].”