Quantum Mechanics

Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.

Niels Bohr: 1932-1957 essay on quantum physics

Introduction

Niels Bohr was right. Quantum mechanics (the study of atoms and sub-atomic particles) is the most puzzling study yet. It has wonders that either blow your mind or break it completely. From the true atoms to eerie entanglement, I will be explaining some of the more popular topics on this post.

Quantum Entanglement

According to the Copenhagen interpretation, entanglement is when the physical states of 2 waves become intertwined throughout space-time. For e.g- If 2 neutrino waves collide with each other, they will respond to each other’s physical states even if they are on the edge of the universe. This doesn’t mean that information is sent through it, as that would break Einstein’s law of Special Relativity ( A photon is the fastest way information can travel). For now, entanglement can only transmit states, not actual writing or meaning. Like a statue, it doesn’t transmit information to you but if you push it, it gets moved (its physical state changes).

The true model of the atom

You know all the models of atoms where electrons are shown orbiting the sun. Yeah, that’s a bit misleading. That is a Bohr model of the atom which shows the shells of the electrons. The true model of the atom is this-

This model was created by Einstein, Planck, De Broglie and Max Born. The electrons are behaving like waves that form a cloud around the nucleus. We cannot identify a particular electron’s movement and momentum both from this. The more luminous orbitals are at the middle, between the orbital‘s exterior and the nucleus as that it their excited state which means that they have more energy. According to quantum mechanics, we cannot identify a single particle’s exact physical quantities (movement ,momentum or mass ,position ) as observation requires electromagnetic waves (light) which are too big to strike particles, and if compressed to smaller gamma rays contain enough energy to change a particle’s physical properties, giving us only a probabilistic value.

The standard model of particle physics

The standard model of particle physics is like a periodic table for elementary particles. I’ve added the graviton (hypothetical carrier of gravity) but it hasn’t been discovered yet.

Quarks and Leptons

The quarks and leptons are fermions which are particles that make up matter. Out of the quarks, only Up and Down appear to make stable matter. The rest of the quarks decay into them as they’re under too much pressure in an equilibrial system (non Big Bang-like conditions). Quarks are only found in groups explained by the phenomenon of de-confinement. They are held together by the gluons (strong force carrier) and trios form protons and neutrons. These form atomic nuclei newly made or alpha radiation particles. Leptons always orbit the quarks and communicate with them via the weak bosons (W and Z). Muons and taus are used to measure attoseconds ( the length of time it takes to travel 3 hydrogen atoms) but they can only be created by cosmic rays hitting Earth’s atmosphere. Each lepton has a following neutrino that can travel like ghosts through matter. Neutrinos are created by all atomic structures.

Bosons

Named after Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, these particle-waves are described as the force carriers-

Gauge Bosons- Bosons that carry out vectorial forces such as electromagnetism, weak and strong force. They always have an integer-valued spin.

Scalar bosons- Bosons that have a spin of 0 only, and carry out scalar forces like mass.

Tensor bosons- Spin-2 bosons such as gravitation which is caused by the stress–energy tensor, a second-order tensor (compared with electromagnetism‘s spin-1 photon, the source of which is the four-current, a first-order tensor)

Gluon- The carrier of the strong force, a gauge boson which has an integer spin (0,1). It bonds quarks and nuclei together to form protons and neutrons which form atomic nuclei.

W+ , W-, W0 and Z bosons- these bosons are the carriers of the weak force. Each variation of the weak force is used in different things. The W bosons allow leptons (Electrons) to communicate with quarks, creating atoms. The Z bosons are like substitutes of the electromagnetic force, only with no transversal waves.

Photon- The photon is a type of elementary particle. It is the quantum of the electromagnetic field including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. The mass of the photon is zero; it always moves at the speed of light in a vacuum, and is propelled by perpendicular electric and magnetic fields across space-time. It doesn’t react with the Higgs Field, according to Bose-Einstein statistics.

Higgs Boson – A heavy boson, which gives particles their mass through the Higgs field. Some particles interact more strongly with the Higgs field than others. The Higgs boson is a scalar decay twin of the X-Boson, but carries Force rather than matter and energy.

Graviton- A hypothetical boson, thought to be the carrier of gravitational force. It has been described widely in string theory, but has never been observed even though gravity is an archetypal force.