Adam Burgess

Two voices in a molecular duet can sound in unison or cancel each other into silence. In physics, such silence is called a dark state: a quantum excitation that does not interact with light and therefore lives unusually long.

A drop of ink in a glass of water spreads in intricate swirls. Similarly, a quantum particle exchanging energy with its environment changes its state in a complex and entangled manner. Describing this dance between particle and environment has long baffled scientists.