String theory offers a unified framework in which the fundamental constituents of nature are one-dimensional objects whose vibrational modes give rise to particles and forces. By embedding gravity ...

The gauge bosons of the standard model of particle physics are responsible for three of the four known forces in the universe, conveyed through the exchange of virtual bosons. In electromagnetism, the ...

An international team led by Innsbruck quantum physicist Peter Zoller, together with the US company QuEra Computing, has directly observed a gauge field theory similar to models from particle physics ...

Tiny but ageing neutrinos can be used to test the very foundations of quantum theory at unprecedented cosmological time scales Schrodinger’s skinniest kittens Must the Schrodinger’s Cat be fat enough ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. String theory captured the hearts and minds of many physicists decades ago because of a beautiful simplicity. Zoom in far enough on a ...

A philandering string theorist is caught with another woman by his wife. “But darling,” he pleads, “I can explain everything!” I didn’t invent the joke; it appeared in the satirical magazine The Onion ...

Theoretical physicists routinely introduce fictitious particles and fields in their calculations, in view of completing a theory or simply to make it more elegant. A striking example concerns the ...

Irrational numbers have underpinned quantum mechanics for a century. Removing them could eliminate its strangest features and trigger the biggest upheaval in physics since quantum theory began ...

Discover everything about 25 Mind-Bending Concepts in Quantum Physics Explained for the Curious. Comprehensive guide with ...

What if the life you did not choose is actually being lived somewhere else? From the Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum ...

String field theory is a second-quantised framework that recasts the perturbative dynamics of strings in terms of field-theoretic variables on the space of string configurations. By organising ...

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