Quantum mechanics allows a clock to move as if it were traveling at two different speeds simultaneously. New research has found that this leads to improvements in atomic clocks known as “quantum time deletion”. Credit: Petra Korlevic
The phenomenon of quantum mechanics, known as supert position, can affect time maintenance in high-precision clocks, according to theoretical studies from Dartmouth K College Ledge, St. Aslam College and Santa Clara University.
Research describing the effect shows that superposition – the ability of one Atom Existing in more than one state at the same time – leads to an improvement in atomic clocks known as “quantum time deletion”.
The research, published today (October 23, 2020) in the journal Nature Communications, Considering quantum influences outside of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity to make new predictions about the nature of time.
“Whenever we develop better watches, we learn something new about the world,” said Alexander Smith, an assistant professor of physics at St. Anselm’s College Ledge and an assistant professor at Dartmouth College, who led the research as a junior fellow at Dr. Alexander Rtmouth. Fellow Society. “Quantum time deletion is the result of both quantum mechanics and Einstein’s relativity, and thus offers a new opportunity to test basic physics at their intersection.”
In the early 1900s, Albert Einstein presented a revolutionary picture of space and time, showing that the time experienced by a clock depends on how fast it is moving – as the speed of a clock increases, the rate at which it ticks decreases. Is. This was a radical departure from the whole notion of Sir Isaac Newton’s time.
Quantum mechanics, the principle of motion governing the atomic field, allows a clock to move as if it were traveling at two different speeds simultaneously: a quantum “superposition” of motion. The research paper considers this possibility and provides a possible theory of time conservation, which led to the prediction of quantum time deletion.
To develop the new theory, the team combined modern technologies of quantum information science with the theory developed in the 1980s to explain how time emerges from the quantum theory of gravity.
“Physicists have been trying for decades to incorporate time dynamics into quantum theory,” said Mehdi Ahmadi, a spokeswoman for the University of Santa Clara, who co-authored the study. “In our work, we predict improvements to the relative time interference that come out of the fact that the clocks used to measure this effect are quantum mechanical in nature.”
In the same way that carbon dating relies on decaying molecules to determine the age of organic matter, the lifespan of a stimulated molecule works clockwise. If such an atom proceeds in a superposition of different speeds, its lifespan will either increase or decrease depending on the nature of the superposition compared to an atom moving at a certain speed.
The correction in the lifetime of an atom is so small that it would be impossible to measure it in terms of what makes sense on a human basis. But the ability to take this effect into account can enable the investigation of quantum time deletion using very advanced atomic clocks.
As the utility of quantum mechanics for medical imaging, computing and microscopy, it can be difficult to predict that when that theory was developed in the early 1900s, it would be too early to imagine the full practical effects of quantum time deletion.
Ref: 23 October October 2020, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-020-18264-4
