The Synchronous Dance of Quantum Tops ⚡ экспресс
Physicists watched quantum particles on an IBM processor synchronize their oscillations by themselves, like fireflies flashing in unison. But the most intriguing part came with strong disorder: some particles synced up while their neighbors didn't, creating a 'quantum chimera'. How might this hybrid state be useful for technology?
Physicists took 28 quantum tops—particles with intrinsic spin—and ran a cyclic process on a quantum computer predicted by Werner Heisenberg nearly a century ago. At first, each top spun however it pleased. But after a few cycles, their wobbles aligned: without any external force, they whirled in unison—order emerged from disorder.
The secret to synchronization is a hidden symmetry, reminiscent of a rule that lets tops spin in any direction yet still "agree." Once the symmetry was broken, the collective dance fell apart. Thus, symmetry protects harmony in the quantum world—a principle that also pervades the standard model of particles.
But the real surprise came with 156 tops. With a small initial spread, all synchronized. But with a large spread, a quantum chimera formed: within small groups, tops spun together, while the rest remained disordered. It's like a crowd of pedestrians where some groups walk in step while others move chaotically, even though the rules of movement are the same for all. Such a mix of order and chaos has been seen before in lasers and chemical reactions, but at the quantum level, it paves the way for ultra-stable devices.
🎯 Chimera states—a blend of order and chaos—were long considered a curiosity, but were later found in chemical reactions, lasers, and even pedestrian behavior.
🎬 In Peter Watts' 'Blindsight,' the collective mind resembles a quantum chimera: its parts act independently but form a unified whole.