Physics students often ask how it is that a massless photon can have momentum. In this video, Don Lincoln shows that the question arises from a misuse of equations and also shows that, when you think about it, it’s not surprising at all.
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There’s no one best way to build a telescope.
The quantum eraser experiment is one of the weirdest phenomena that has ever been observed. It seems that quantum mechanics mixes past and future together. In this video, Fermilab’s Don Lincoln takes you through this quantum conundrum.
The ATLAS experiment at CERN sees possible evidence of quark-gluon plasma production during collisions between photons and heavy nuclei inside the Large Hadron Collider.
Quantum mechanics is one of the most confusing fields of contemporary physics. Fermilab’s Don Lincoln introduces the big ideas and prepares the viewer for a follow-on video that is even more mind-blowing.
Quanta of light called photons are the smallest possible packets of electromagnetic energy. Learn the history behind how scientists came to understand photons — and what these particles have shown us (and might show us) they can do.
From U Chicago News, April 13, 2021: Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Chicago have demonstrated a new technique based on quantum technology that will advance the search for dark matter, which accounts for 85% of all matter in the universe.
Quantum bits acting as particle detectors offer a fast and highly reliable means of solving one of the great mysteries in physics: the nature of dark matter. This new method promises a more efficient way to detect dark matter candidates by improving the experimental signal-to-noise ratio.
From Berkeley Lab, Feb. 17, 2021: Fermilab is part of a team of national labs that designed, built and fully tested a prototype magnet for today’s and tomorrow’s light sources. These light sources let scientists see things once thought impossible. They can use these visions to create more durable materials, build more efficient batteries and computers, and learn more about the natural world.
From University of Birmingham, Jan. 13, 2021: Fermilab will take part in an international collaboration, led by Cardiff University, on quantum-enhanced interferometry for new physics. The project’s four table-top experiments may help explore new parameter spaces of photon-dark matter interaction, and seek answers to the long-standing question at the heart of modern science: How can gravity be united with the other fundamental forces?