Strange Motion of Neutrons Proves Nature Is Fundamentally Bizarre \ stacker news ~science

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Strange Motion of Neutrons Proves Nature Is Fundamentally Bizarre www.sciencealert.com/strange-motion-of-neutrons-proves-nature-is-fundamentally-bizarre

323 sats \ 4 comments \ @south_korea_ln 10 Jul science

Numerous physicists have asked over the decades whether there is some way the physics we use to describe macroscopic experiences can also be used to explain all of quantum physics.

Now a new study has also determined that the answer is a big fat nope.

Specifically, neutrons fired in a beam in a neutron interferometer can exist in two places at the same time, something that is impossible under classical physics.

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31 sats \ 2 replies \ @MaaliMKen 10 Jul

They exist in a superposition of positions :) The way I like to understand it (possibly false analogy but bear with it) is that fundamentally, at the smallest scales, particle forces are probabilistically determined.

Force vectors thus randomly (probabilitically) pop in and out of existence through worm-hole-like portals as per the laws of quantum mechanics and these force vectors are what decay into particles and vice versa.

So depending on the conditions, these neutrons coud behave like quantum force-vector particles and vice versa.

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln OP 10 Jul

Not an expert, but there are indeed theories that try to do away with these apparent probabilities and reinstate determinism by moving the unfulfilled probability counterparts to the visible collapsed ones into parallel universes. The wavefunction collapse is just an illusion in those theories. It's closer to philosophy than science, even though it's based on actual equations. As it likely cannot be proven, it mostly makes for some interesting science-inspired fiction books. I think people like Brian Greene wrote about this, but I haven't read these books in years so I'm not sure.