Quantum mechanics: Bizarre world at atomic scales
Sunday May 1st, 6 pm-8pm
Venue: live at Oskar Kleins auditorium of Stockholm University and streamed over Zoom (registration is required)
Lecturers: Dmytro Volin (quantum mechanics) and Jakub Mareček (recent advances in quantum computing)
In preparation, we used videos from:
Brown Physics Demos demonstrating double slit with single photons (check other experiments also!),
as well as generated our own:
Double slit simulation from 2D Schrödinger equation ,
An illustration for Feynman path integral
We also suggest:
Popular discussion of double-slit experiments on Veritasium channel
Many videos on quantum mechanics and not only on Sabine Hossenfelder's channel
Contents of the lecture
Intro: Scales in Nature
What do people perceive as 'too big' or 'too small'?
From atomic distances to galaxies: how our perception of reality changes.
The main conclusion for Quantum mechanics: we must upgrade our intuition.
Part I: Quasi-classical perspective
Trying to keep the classical ideas of particles and waves and brew them into the quantum world description.
Main paradigms
Observer problem (is there something when we can't observe it?)
Double slit experiments - wave behaviour of electron particles
Path integral approach - the possibility of many choices, probabilistic interpretation
Actual experiments, including interference patterns in experiments with large molecules
Brief history of wave and particle views, since the time of Newton
Low-intensity light experiments - particle behaviour of electromagnetic waves
Schrödinger equation and main conclusion: 'Propagates as a wave, observed as a particle'
Comments on pilot-wave interpretations
hydrodynamic interpretation and its usage for image generation (Schrödinger's smoke)
experimental visualisation through walking droplets (disclaimer: this experiment does not explain all QM features, but has some)
Coffee break where you can chat with our team. People on zoom can chat as well.
Part II: Hilbert space perspective
Entanglement
Idea of spin (and finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces)
Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky paradox
Bell's inequality: experimental confirmation of the absence of local hidden variables.
Probabilistic nature of QM, the question of choice and will
Quantum teleportation
Quantum computing:
Guest lecture by Jakub Mareček, a researcher in quantum computing technology and former member of IBM Research.
(Image courtesy of https://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2010/09/21/abstruse-goose-life-paths-integrated-over-time/)