My Blog

The Worst Prediction in the Whole of Physics

One of the most amazing consequences of quantization of the electromagnetic field is the appearance of the so called zero-point energy or the quantum vacuum.

Be Wise – Quantize (or “the wave that wasn’t there”)

I’ve learnt an interesting bit of physics history recently and I want to use it as an excuse to tell you about (no surprises here) quantum physics (proper, not its history). The idea is (mistakenly, but I will come to that 😊) called an “interaction-free” measurement (spoiler: the mistake will turn out to be the fact that there is an interaction after all).

Quantum Tunnelling and Energy Conservation Whodunit

I’m back in a less angry mode and would like to tell you about a topic that I revisited with some friends and colleagues last week. We met in the beautiful Piedmont’s village of Cocconato for three days and – over some cheese and (a copious amount of) wine – debated a number of fundamental aspects of quantum physics.

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(Quantum) Resonance

Advanced warning: this blog is certificate 18. No-one under 18 is allowed to read an 18 blog and no 18 rated works are suitable for children.

I am a bit fed up with some stuff I keep hearing about and I’d like to get things off my chest. I apologise in advance for the seemingly angry tone of this blog, but I just feel compelled to write about it.

Real numbers and reality

We’ve all learnt that the complex numbers play a fundamental role in quantum physics, while – in classical physics – they are just a matter of mere convenience. Many people have commented on this fact, and – for no particular reason other than possibly his dramatic tone – we quote Dyson, who says: “…But then came the surprise. Schrödinger put the square root of minus one into the equation, and suddenly it made sense. Suddenly it became a wave equation instead of a heat conduction equation. . . .

The B-M-V Effect

I’d like to tell you about testing quantum gravity in the lab. It is possible to do so and this is surprising because gravity is by far the weakest of all the forces (I might devote another blog to arguments why gravity can never be tested to be quantum!)