All entities move and nothing remains still: this sums up the vision of the universe expressed by the famous Greek philosopher Heraclitus. To say it with a well known quote attributed to Heraclitus and later reported by Plato: “πάντα ρει” (“panta rei“), i.e. everything flows.
This is remarkably true once one gets down to the smallest components of the fabric of the world, in the realm of quantum mechanics: even if something appears still to our macroscopic perception, the particles inside it never stop moving, fluctuating, exchanging energy and getting correlated with the others nearby, even when cooled down to the absolute zero temperature. From here comes the inspiration for the name of our blog, “κβάντα ρει” (“quanta rei“).
Duke Pantarei from Tales of Vesperia (art by Muinyakurumi, http://www.zerochan.net/1046479)
In this page, there will be a flow of ideas, stories, popular accounts and sometimes more advanced facts inspired by and dealing with quantum phenomena. Along the journey, we will show you how quantum science is everywhere near us, and its genuine signatures manifest in unexpected conditions within our big and noisy world. You will get excited with us about the dawning quantum technology revolution, which is taking place right now in our era, bringing dramatic changes to worldwide communications, computing, sensing and whatnot.
We are a group of researchers based in Nottingham, and we plan to publish at least one post per month in quanta rei. Each post will be written by one or a few of our students and staff members. Sometimes, it will be a diary of a recent event, like an international conference or meeting one of us has attended (with plenty of behind-the-scenes!). Sometimes, an invitation to a fundamental concept like quantum entanglement or superposition. Sometimes, a down-to-earth dissemination of a particularly notable achievement in our own research. Sometimes, just a piece of writing or art, about what we feel to share!
The blog is aimed at nonspecialist readers with a passion for science and who are intrigued by all things quantum. The occasional more technical post will be marked by a word of warning…
Please follow us and keep checking this space for novel inspiring updates.
Pingback: Quanta rei, or not? | quanta rei