How Does Classical Reality Emerge from Quantum Environments?

Quantum computing concept. Digital communication network.

Technological abstract. Getty Image/Forbes.

Quantum Darwinism is an approach is largely promoted by Wojciech Zurek of Los Alamos National Lab, who has long been associated with the idea of decoherence (picking up on work by Heinz-Dieter Zeh), in which environmental interactions are responsible for destroying quantum superpositions leading to the single observed outcomes of classical measurements. Quantum Darwinism is an outgrowth of this, which springs from the recognition that the most essential characteristic of classical reality is its objectivity: everybody agrees about the state of a classical object.

Zurek notes that in order for multiple observers to agree about the state of a quantum object, they each must be getting some information about its state from its larger environment, which is built up of a lot of other quantum objects. Interactions between the quantum object and each of the individual components of the quantum environment lead to their states becoming entangled: the state of the quantum object of interest and the state of a particular component of the environment are correlated in such a way that measuring one gives you information about the other. That entanglement is the source of the information that individual observers are using to determine the state of the quantum object of interest. (Full story)

Resurrected detector will hunt for some of the strangest particles in the universe

The ICARUS detector, seen being placed at Fermilab

in Batavia, Illinois,  will hunt for a particle called the

sterile neutrino. REIDAR HAHN/FERMILAB.

After four days Lazarus rose from the grave, but physicists here at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) are resurrecting a massive particle detector by lowering it into a tomblike pit and embalming it with a chilly fluid. In August 2018, workers eased two gleaming silver tanks bigger than shipping containers, the two halves of the detector, into a concrete-lined hole. Hauled from Europe 2 years ago, ICARUS—an outdated acronym for Imaging Cosmic And Rare Underground Signals—will soon start a second life seeking perhaps the strangest particles physicists have dreamed up, oddballs called sterile neutrinos.

The first experimental hint of sterile neutrinos came from the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND), which ran from 1993 until 1998 at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Researchers shot protons into a target to generate a beam of pure muon neutrinos. But they spotted dozens of electron neutrinos in their detector 30 meters away, far more than they were expecting for such a short distance. The result suggested muon neutrinos were quickly morphing into heavier sterile neutrinos and then into electron neutrinos, in a kind of flavor-changing shortcut. The sterile neutrino's higher mass would make the oscillation happen more quickly. (Full story)

Foreshocks Could be Big Development in Predicting Earthquakes

Scientists have discovered that, out of nearly 2 million earthquakes surveyed, foreshocks preceded about 75 percent of quakes that struck in Southern California.

The revelations could be a huge advancement earthquake forecasting.

For more, KCBS's Rebecca Corral spoke with  Daniel Trugman, Seismologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. (Full story)

Curiosity Has Now Been on Mars For 7 Years, So Here Are 7 Amazing Things It Has Seen

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

On 6 August 2012, after an epic six-month journey, NASA rover Curiosity finally arrived at her new home on Mars. This week marks seven Earth years since touchdown. here are seven amazing things it has shown us about Mars, including the discovery of Boron, which was found Using the ChemCam Instrument created at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Boron is a chemical signature of evaporated water, and while we still don't know if Mars once hosted life, the discovery is further evidence that the planet was once plentiful with water, and therefore habitable. (Full story)

Quantum Darwinism Could Explain What Makes Reality Real

Contrary to popular belief, says physicist Adán Cabello,

“quantum theory perfectly describes the emergence of

the classical world.” Olena Shmahalo/Quanta Magazine

It’s not surprising that quantum physics has a reputation for being weird and counterintuitive. The process by which “quantumness” disappears into the environment is called decoherence. It’s a crucial part of the quantum-classical transition, explaining why quantum behavior becomes hard to see in large systems with many interacting particles.

To explain the emergence of objective, classical reality, it’s not enough to say that decoherence washes away quantum behavior and thereby makes it appear classical to an observer. Somehow, it’s possible for multiple observers to agree about the properties of quantum systems. Zurek, who works at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, argues that two things must therefore be true.

First, quantum systems must have states that are especially robust in the face of disruptive decoherence by the environment. Zurek calls these “pointer states,” because they can be encoded in the possible states of a pointer on the dial of a measuring instrument. A particular location of a particle, for instance, or its speed, the value of its quantum spin, or its polarization direction can be registered as the position of a pointer on a measuring device. Zurek argues that classical behavior—the existence of well-defined, stable, objective properties—is possible only because pointer states of quantum objects exist. (Full story)

California earthquake: Scientists closer to predicting when the Big One will strike

California is a hotspot for seismic activity, and experts have been warning of a theoretical ‘Big One’ for some time. When the Big One strikes, it will devastate the Golden State – but scientists previously had no way of predicting when it will come. However, a new study has yielded some major results and it could be the key to forecasting a major earthquake in California.

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Scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory have analyzed a staggering 1.8 million minor earthquakes in California – many of which were below a magnitude one on the Richter scale.

The team found that a series of minor tremors preceded a “mainshock” in 72 percent of cases. (Full story)

 

Quantum computers to clarify the connection between the quantum and classical worlds

Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have developed a new quantum computing algorithm that offers a clearer understanding of the quantum-to-classical transition, which could help model systems on the cusp of quantum and classical worlds, such as biological proteins, and also resolve questions about how quantum mechanics applies to large-scale objects.

"The quantum-to-classical transition occurs when you add more and more particles to a quantum system," said Patrick Coles of the Physics of Condensed Matter and Complex Systems group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, "such that the weird quantum effects go away and the system starts to behave more classically. For these systems, it's essentially impossible to use a classical computer to study the quantum-to-classical transition. We could study this with our algorithm and a quantum computer consisting of several hundred qubits, which we anticipate will be available in the next few years based on the current progress in the field." (Full story)

Melting ice may change shape of Arctic river deltas

Kolyma Delta, Russia. Landsat natural color

satellite image. May 30, 2013. Credit: USGS

Thawing ice cover and easily erodible permafrost may destabilize Arctic river deltas, according to new research. A new study in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters finds sea ice and permafrost both act to stabilize channels on Arctic river deltas.

"Your channels tend to stay in one place when you have really thick ice or when you have permafrost that's really hard to erode," said Rebecca Lauzon, environmental educator at the Rochester Museum and Science Center's Cumming Nature Center in New York and the lead author of the new study.

Lauzon, who was working an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory during the time of the research, and her co-authors, created two versions of a model: One to predict the effects that ice thickness might have on Arctic river deltas and another to predict the effects of permafrost strength. (Full story)

Numerical Model Pinpoints Source of Pre-Cursor to Seismic Signals

Numerical simulations have pinpointed the source of acoustic signals emitted by stressed faults in laboratory earthquake machines. The work further unpacks the physics driving geologic faults, knowledge that could one day enable accurately predicting earthquakes.

“Previous machine-learning studies found that the acoustic signals detected from an earthquake fault can be used to predict when the next earthquake will occur,” said Ke Gao, a computational geophysicist in the Geophysics group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “This new modeling work shows us that the collapse of stress chains inside the earthquake gouge emits that signal in the lab, pointing to mechanisms that may also be important in Earth.”

Stress chains are bridges composed of grains that transmit stresses from one side of a fault block to the other. (Full story)

What happens when a deadly disease is eradicated? Scientists sequence and destroy

Rinderpest killed more than 90% of cattle in Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. Image from Nature.

Scientists who work with the deadly livestock virus rinderpest — only the second disease ever wiped out, after smallpox — achieved a milestone last month when they destroyed a huge proportion of the world’s last remaining virus samples.

“The world is not out of the woods,” says Paul Fenimore, a theoretical biologist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who has modelled the potential progress of epidemics resulting from a rinderpest release. International efforts to consolidate and eliminate stocks have already greatly reduced the risk that rinderpest could return, says Fenimore. But the chance of an accidental release, although low, exists as long as lab stocks remain, he says. (Full Story)

Quantum Darwinism, an idea to explain objective reality, passes first tests

Wojciech Zurek, LANL photo.

Surprisingly, although decoherence is a straightforward consequence of quantum mechanics, it was only identified in the 1970s, by the late German physicist Heinz-Dieter Zeh. The Polish-American physicist Wojciech Zurek further developed the idea in the early 1980s and made it better known, and there is now good experimental support for it.

But to explain the emergence of objective, classical reality, it’s not enough to say that decoherence washes away quantum behavior and thereby makes it appear classical to an observer. Somehow, it’s possible for multiple observers to agree about the properties of quantum systems. Zurek, who works at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, argues that two things must therefore be true. (Full Story)

3 rovers will head to Mars in 2020

Engineers at JPL install legs and wheels on the Mars 2020 rover.  NASA image.

China’s rover will be its second attempt to reach Mars, after a joint effort with Russia crashed in 2012 before leaving Earth’s orbit. HX-1 will reportedly carry a mast-mounted laser-induced breakdown spectrometer similar to the ChemCam on Curiosity and the SuperCam on NASA’s Mars 2020 rover. The Chinese have done “a fair amount to imitate the ChemCam on Curiosity, same as we’re doing, so it will be fun to compare,” says Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory, the SuperCam team leader.

“The fact there are three rovers headed to Mars is amazing,” Wiens says. “The success of any of those three is not assured. It’s still very much a risky business. But I can imagine the scientific conferences that would come from having three rovers in three different parts of the world.” (Full Story)

Inside the Government’s ‘Quantum Computing Summer School’

Illustration from Vice.

The hot core of Los Alamos' mission is nuclear security. And if quantum computers can successfully simulate atoms and particles, scientists can understand how the nuclear material inside existing bombs is behaving, what will happen as it sits inert, and what would happen if someone pressed the big red button. Since we’re not supposed to just blow up bombs in the desert anymore to understand them, scientists could simulate nuclear blasts (and the sitting-still bombs) on quantum computers.

While we have a good sense of what they can do, if you ask a quantum computer person how the computers work, you likely won’t get a satisfying answer. That’s partly because it’s complicated. But it’s also because quantum mechanics has no practical bearing on our interactions with the world. (Full Story)

Understanding quantum cryptography

 

Illustration from AltCoin.

The key is encrypted into a series of photons that get passed between two parties trying to share secret information. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle dictates that an adversary can’t look at these photons without changing or destroying them.

“In this case, it doesn’t matter what technology the adversary has, they’ll never be able to break the laws of physics,” said physicist Richard Hughes of Los Alamos National Laboratory, who works on quantum cryptography.

Any encryption method will only be as secure as the humans running it, added Hughes. Whenever someone claims that a particular technology “is fundamentally unbreakable, people will say that’s snake oil,” he said. (Full Story)

Algal biofuels face diverse pathogens

Healthy vs. unhealthy algae ponds, University of Arizona image.


DNA analysis of a predatory bacterium has revealed a much higher level of genetic diversity than previously thought, posing a threat to the algae biofuel industry.

Biologists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico sequenced strains of the Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus bacterium, which can destroy algae cells and render algae ineffective for biofuel production.

Blake Hovde, Los Alamos National Laboratory biologist, said: "DNA sequences show what are likely different species, suggesting a much larger diversity in this family than we originally assumed. (Full Story)

Physicist and neuroscientist Garrett Kenyon says there’s no Artificial Intelligence

Garrett Kenyon answers questions following his talk on artificial intelligence, LA Reporter photo.

Kenyon is a physicist and neuroscientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Information Sciences Division who specializes in neurally-inspired computing.

“The topic is so interesting. What is AI? What does it mean for our society? I’ve been in this field for more than 30 years now and I bring a different perspective to the topic. It will be somewhat shocking to some people because I bring a somewhat different opinion of where we’re at,” he said.

“AI doesn’t exist,” Kenyon told the Los Alamos Reporter prior to his talk. “It’s kind of a myth. It’s this word everyone uses. It’s utterly abused.” (Full Story)

Machine-learning competition boosts earthquake prediction capabilities

Earthquake prediction could improve earthquake hazard assessments, image from HPCwire.

Three teams who applied novel machine learning methods to successfully predict the timing of earthquakes from historic seismic data are splitting $50,000 in prize money from an open, online Kaggle competition hosted by Los Alamos National Laboratory and its partners.

“Crowdsourcing for new approaches in earthquake forecasting helps us leverage a wide range of expertise in addressing one of the most important problems in Earth science, because of the devastating consequences of large quakes,” said Bertrand Rouet-Leduc, a Los Alamos researcher who prepared the data for the competition. (Full Story)

Melting ice may change shape of Arctic river deltas

Kolyma Delta, Russia. Landsat natural color satellite image. USGS image.

“Your channels tend to stay in one place when you have really thick ice or when you have permafrost that’s really hard to erode,” said Rebecca Lauzon, environmental educator at the Rochester Museum and Science Center’s Cumming Nature Center in New York and the lead author of the new study.

Lauzon, who was working an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory during the time of the research, and her co-authors, created two versions of a model: One to predict the effects that ice thickness might have on Arctic river deltas and another to predict the effects of permafrost strength. (Full Story)

Los Alamos National Laboratory Summer Science Camp empowers New Mexican young women

Laboratory researcher Adrianna Reyes-Newell, right, shows students how laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy works. LANL photo.

The third annual Los Alamos National Laboratory Summer Physics Camp for Young Women recently concluded in Pojoaque, giving the 22 students from Northern New Mexico communities a grounding in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, introducing them to role models, and showcasing the wide range of STEM opportunities available at the Laboratory.

“The free camp aims at empowering local young women to explore a future in STEM by showcasing topics through demonstrations and hands-on experiments and lectures,” said Anna Llobet, camp organizer and Laboratory researcher. (Full Story)

Also from the Daily Post this week:

LANL Employees Donate $372,491 For Scholarships

During the recent Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund (LAESF) campaign, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) employees pledged $372,491 to support scholarships for Northern New Mexico students.

The annual drive encourages Laboratory employees, retirees and subcontract personnel to donate to funds that award scholarships to qualified students pursuing a bachelor’s degree, associate’s degree, or professional certification in any area of study or in pursuit of a trade. (Full Story)

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