Making An Observation Without Making An Observation: “Seeing” Knowledge Embedded In The Physical World With One’s Own Eyes

In electron shelving, one kind of quantum jump in which an electron in an atom moves in a discontinuous fashion to another energy level, a person can "see" knowledge that a weak transition (which is very slow) has occurred since it is proven that a strong transition (which is very fast) has not occurred in the time in which the strong transition can occur. This is a null measurement. There is no physical detection of the photon in the weak transition. There is only the logical deduction that the weak transition occurred since one cannot detect the photon in the strong transition, the only other possible transition. Looking at the interruption in the fluorescence that occurs in the strong transition, a “dark” interval, is "seeing" the knowledge resulting from the logical deduction. The significance of a null measurement in leading to the conclusion that one can "see" the knowledge resulting from a logical deduction is discussed. The null measurement in the weak transition is one form of Einstein’s spooky action where something not physical occurring in the possible strong transition leads to the occurrence of the weak transition. (2021 April Meeting of the American Physical Society, https://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR21/Session/KP01.48)

The Problem of a Lifetime

Anderson is the only theorist who answers questions at a news conference at the 1987 March Meeting of the American Physical Society (the “Woodstock of Physics”) where most physicists learned details about the newly discovered high-temperature cuprate superconductors, which lose all resistance at temperatures not very far below room temperature. He had just proposed a radical non-BCS theory which attributed superconductivity in these materials to a “resonating valence bond” description of a doped Mott insulator using a model first proposed by John Hubbard. He spent the next twenty years trying to convince his colleagues of the correctness of this theory, with only limited success.

Physico-chemical properties of Selenium-Tellurium alloys across the scales

Selenium and tellurium are both energy critical elements as defined by the American Physical Society and the Materials Research Society. When mixed together, both elements form an alloy. The size-...

EPL in an eventful environment

Europhysics Letters was cofounded in 1986 by 17 European learned societies, and merged the two existing Letter journals Lettere al Nuovo Cimento – published by the Società Italiana di Fisica (SIF) – and the Journal de Physique Lettres, from the Société Françcaise de Physique (SFP). The original idea was to create a real European Letter journal competitive with Physical Review Letters of the American Physical Society. The major scientific force behind EPL is the European Physical Society (EPS) that celebrated its 50th anniversary only last year in Geneva. The publication of Europhysics Letters, re-baptized EPL in 2007 to emphasize its global impact, is a joint venture of the publishing houses of three physical societies: the Institute of Physics (IOP), the SIF, and the SFP.

2016 Andrei Sakharov Prize Awarded to Zafra Lerman

Zafra Lerman has been named a recipient of the 2016 Andrei Sakharov Prize for her outstanding leadership and achievements upholding human rights. The Andrei Sakharov Prize is awarded every second year by the American Physical Society (APS) since 2006. The recipients are chosen for “outstanding leadership and/or achievements of scientists in upholding human rights”. The prize is named after Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989), Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist.