Physicists Reveal a New Quantum State Where Electrons Run Wild

ScienceDaily reports: Electrons can freeze into strange geometric crystals and then melt back into liquid-like motion under the right quantum conditions. Researchers identified how to tune these transitions and even discovered a bizarre "pinball" state where some electrons stay locked in place while others dart around freely. Their simulations help explain how these phases form and how they might be harnessed for advanced quantum technologies...

When electrons settle into these rigid arrangements, the material undergoes a shift in its state of matter and stops conducting electricity. Instead of acting like a metal, it behaves as an insulator. This unusual behavior provides scientists with valuable insight into how electrons interact and has opened the door to advances in quantum computing, high-performance superconductors used in energy and medical imaging, innovative lighting systems, and extremely precise atomic clocks... [Florida State University assistant professor Cyprian Lewandowski said] "Here, it turns out there are other quantum knobs we can play with to manipulate states of matter, which can lead to impressive advances in experimental research."

"Electrons run wild"

[davidwr]

This sounds like either a wild-animal-nature TV show or a pay-TV program not suitable for children.

Re: "Electrons run wild"

[AcidFnTonic]

I can hear the autotune from here.

Re:

[mrbester]

/r/electronsgonewild, the subreddit you never knew you needed

This might be what proves Free Will exists

[rsilvergun]

There's a concept of determinism because of some of the consequences of how physics work. Basically the idea that every decision is already made because if we're made of molecules you can predict what those molecules have to do moment to moment.

Like how your body has already decided to move by the time you do it.

But quantum mechanics kind of throws all that right out the fucking door. My favorite fact is if we try to create a complete vacuum we still have little particles popping into existence out

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[davidwr]

>and we can't explain it.

Scientists of the future will say: "challenge accepted."

Re: This might be what proves Free Will exists

[LindleyF]

All you really need is for randomness to be truly random. Movies depict time travel as repeating the same events, but if randomness is random, and not just pseudorandom, that wouldn't happen. Going back in time would play forward to a completely different set of events pretty quickly.

Re:

[quonset]

Going back in time would play forward to a completely different set of events pretty quickly.

Only if the Many Worlds Interpretation holds true. If what Hawking said is true, that there is some time of time chronology protection which prevents changes to the timeline, no matter what you do will not cause a change to already happened future events. Or, put another way, history will always be history.

Re: This might be what proves Free Will exists

[LindleyF]

I think that means you can't visit the past, more than that you can't change it if you do.

Re:This might be what proves Free Will exists

[ClickOnThis]

Forgive my rewording of your post: you appear to claim that non-quantum physics is essentially deterministic and therefore does not support the concept of free will, whereas quantum mechanics proposes an uncertainty in the universe that may be fundamental, and thus supports free will.

I'm a physicist, not a philosopher. This discussion mostly is in the philosopher's bailiwick. So, with that disclosure, let's move on.

Compatibilists are those who reconcile determinism with free will by claiming that a person has free will even if their mental state is the consequence of deterministic processes. This sounds as though they claim free will is an illusion, but our legal system demands that people take responsibility for their actions, so perhaps we're forced to accept this illusion.

However, non-deterministic quantum theory does not necessarily support free will. The strictest non-deterministic interpretation that I know of is the Copenhagen interpretation, which states that a system does not have definite physical properties until it is measured. The mind could make measurements of the external world and still be induced to follow certain patterns as a consequence of them. The initial uncertainty may again present the illusion of free will without it actually being present.

In the end, free will is something that may be impossible to prove is present, because that would require that you could make more than one distinct choice from exactly the same initial conditions, and you cannot conduct such an experiment, because any attempt to offer the same choice more than once could not hide the history of prior choices.

Re:

[Tablizer]

because any attempt to offer the same choice more than once could not hide the history of prior choices.

Test it on advanced Alzheimer patients.

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[retchdog]

Even that hypothetical experiment may be insufficient, as many such as Kurt Gödel have observed.

Simply making the same exact choice every time, does not mean that it isn't a choice. Perfectly predictable behavior does not contradict free will, just as random or chaotic behavior does not indicate free will.

Re:

[ClickOnThis]

Even that hypothetical experiment may be insufficient, as many such as Kurt Gödel have observed.

What part of Gödel's work do you mean? His Incompleteness Theorem? Because that's not relevant.

Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem reveals that axiomatic systems cannot, within themselves, reveal all true statements via proof-arguments: being true is a broader category than being provable.

I'm talking about how we cannot determine whether an individual can make more than one free choice under given pre-choice starting-conditions because you cannot duplicate the identical pre-choice starting-conditions i

Re:

[sabbede]

I'm not bedeviled by Laplace's Demon (the idea you just described), for much of the same reason. Even if you could know any particle's position and velocity at the same time (which may be impossible), they refuse to consistently exist. So, even if you could know every particle's position and velocity, you still couldn't know either the past or the future.

It's like some kind of...

[smithmc]

...Quantumania!