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Quantum ripples in chaos

Nature volume 412, pages 687–688 (2001)Cite this article

The differences between quantum and classical chaos show up on the smallest of scales. Although tiny, these differences have implications for our understanding of quantum mechanics.

A mere 100 years ago — a recent event in the history of human endeavour — mankind discovered that underlying all the familiar laws of physics is the strange world of quantum mechanics. Superficially, at least, the quantum world appears to contradict many things we intuitively 'know' to be true about nature. For example, in the quantum world, position and momentum cannot both be precisely specified. Solid particles have a wave-like nature that allows them to produce interference patterns like ripples on a pond. It is even possible for familiar objects to be assigned strange 'coherent superposition states' (for example, to be simultaneously dead and alive in the case of Schrödinger's famous cat).

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Figure 1: The double-slit experiment.

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  1. Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, 95616, California, USA

    Andreas Albrecht

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  1. Andreas Albrecht
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Correspondence to Andreas Albrecht.

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Albrecht, A. Quantum ripples in chaos. Nature 412, 687–688 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35089156

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