I got pretty badly nerd-sniped by this song. Turns out, Alice Rings are real! But they're not quite as spectacular as this song makes them out to be. Quantum Physics is one of those subjects that is very, _very_ philosophically and existentially blursed while requiring an assload of esoteric math and physics knowledge to dig into (not understand, mind you, dig into.) Which has resulted in a whole bunch of explanations for quantum properties and phenomena that make negative sense whilst ranging from "Close enough" to "Wait are we even talking about the same subject?" And I think that that is an absolute travesty, because it does a fantastic job of obscuring the elegance and genius of what is perhaps modern physics' greatest achievement. This is what I've gathered on Alice Rings from reading a bunch of Wikipedia articles, a couple of news stories, and the beginning of the paper which reported on their -discovery- scientific confirmation. Before we get to Alice Rings, we should start by clarifying some things. Y'know how everyone talks about quantum things being both a wave and a particle at the same time? Yeah, it doesn't really work like that. Quantum objects are all always waves, but some interactions will "stir up" that wave so it becomes more like a "spike" in a particular spot. We call that spike a particle. (The in-between state is neither a particle nor a wave, it's something completely different that can behave like a wave sometimes and a particle other times, but is not itself human-understandable because of course it isn't.) It's not possible in quantum mechanics (or really in general) to gain information about an object without interacting with it (I mean, light has to bounce off something and into your eyes for you to see it,) and the process of a quantum interaction causes the whatever to take on a form with the state that you could determine by studying the interacting objects afterward. Follow? Probably not, but if you do, then congrats! You now have an extremely surface-level but technically accurate (hopefully) understanding of wave-particle duality, superposition, and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Now we have to talk about states of matter (can you see why I said I got nerd-sniped?) It turns out that the slower an atom moves (which is actually the same thing as being cold), the more like a wave it behaves, since there's nothing to "stir" it closer to being a particle. So if you cool down a bunch of atoms enough (to within a few thousandths of whatever temperature scale you want of absolute zero), their waves get _huge,_ by quantum standards at least, until they meld into one quantum system consisting of all of those atoms together. This single wave is called a Bose-Einstein Condensate, or BEC, and it is an _unbelievably_ cursed part of a long-ass list of states of matter, most of which you've never heard of. No surprise, then, that it's only in these conditions where you can find Alice Rings. Now we get to talk about...quasiparticles? Really?! Yes, but we're getting close. Quasiparticles, and their cousins, collective excitations (which are technically different but not in a way that matters to us), are patterns of interaction between normal particles that act a hell of a lot like objects themselves. So much so, that we can describe them mathematically _as_ objects. This is precisely what an Alice Ring is. These strange phenomena are one of many which form as part of BECs (and some similar forms of matter.) They form from another strange quasiparticle called a monopole - an object that seems to have a single magnetic pole (hence the name). These are impossible for a normal particle, but can be emulated by particle interactions - quasiparticles. These monopoles are very unstable, and decay in milliseconds into Alice Rings. These rings can last several times longer than the monopoles they spawn from, but still only a few milliseconds. And indeed, a monopole that passes through an Alice Ring has its polarity reversed - turning it into what is essentially an antimatter version of itself. And since observing quantum objects requires interacting with them, observing the world (other quasiparticles in the BEC) through an Alice Ring would make it seem as though you were staring at an antimatter version of whatever (quasiparticle) was behind it - because all the quantum objects (quasiparticles) you used to observe those things got flipped when they passed through. To be absolutely clear, though, _none of the things I have said about Alice Rings apply to anything outside of other quasiparticles, which, by definition, are not and can never be particles._ None of the atoms in the BEC are meaningfully changed by the presence of these quasiparticles, and all of them go away completely the instant anything disturbs the BEC. They can neither exist outside of a BEC nor affect things other than the BEC, not even the atoms that make it up. So no, they cannot destroy the world. In fact, they and everything they do are destroyed by the world. But that doesn't mean they're not interesting or useful. Their behavior could be invaluable in understanding the behavior of real matter and antimatter, and how they interact under the most extreme conditions. This knowledge will be instrumental in unraveling some of the biggest mysteries about the early universe and how it came to be. Plus, Alice Rings are closely related to some of the most important concepts in String Theory, and studying them may help settle the debate about the theory's validity - something which has been in serious question since it was first developed. They'll also be useful in studying other theories which hope to unify Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity, finally putting to rest what may be the most important conflict in the history of physics itself. From a strange and limited product of particle interactions to the opportunity to answer Humanity's biggest questions - it seems that a brand new universe is on the other side of the Alice Ring after all. We just need to look through it.
I got pretty badly nerd-sniped by this song.
Turns out, Alice Rings are real! But they're not quite as spectacular as this song makes them out to be.
Quantum Physics is one of those subjects that is very, _very_ philosophically and existentially blursed while requiring an assload of esoteric math and physics knowledge to dig into (not understand, mind you, dig into.)
Which has resulted in a whole bunch of explanations for quantum properties and phenomena that make negative sense whilst ranging from "Close enough" to "Wait are we even talking about the same subject?"
And I think that that is an absolute travesty, because it does a fantastic job of obscuring the elegance and genius of what is perhaps modern physics' greatest achievement.
This is what I've gathered on Alice Rings from reading a bunch of Wikipedia articles, a couple of news stories, and the beginning of the paper which reported on their -discovery- scientific confirmation.
Before we get to Alice Rings, we should start by clarifying some things.
Y'know how everyone talks about quantum things being both a wave and a particle at the same time? Yeah, it doesn't really work like that. Quantum objects are all always waves, but some interactions will "stir up" that wave so it becomes more like a "spike" in a particular spot. We call that spike a particle. (The in-between state is neither a particle nor a wave, it's something completely different that can behave like a wave sometimes and a particle other times, but is not itself human-understandable because of course it isn't.) It's not possible in quantum mechanics (or really in general) to gain information about an object without interacting with it (I mean, light has to bounce off something and into your eyes for you to see it,) and the process of a quantum interaction causes the whatever to take on a form with the state that you could determine by studying the interacting objects afterward.
Follow? Probably not, but if you do, then congrats! You now have an extremely surface-level but technically accurate (hopefully) understanding of wave-particle duality, superposition, and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
Now we have to talk about states of matter (can you see why I said I got nerd-sniped?) It turns out that the slower an atom moves (which is actually the same thing as being cold), the more like a wave it behaves, since there's nothing to "stir" it closer to being a particle. So if you cool down a bunch of atoms enough (to within a few thousandths of whatever temperature scale you want of absolute zero), their waves get _huge,_ by quantum standards at least, until they meld into one quantum system consisting of all of those atoms together. This single wave is called a Bose-Einstein Condensate, or BEC, and it is an _unbelievably_ cursed part of a long-ass list of states of matter, most of which you've never heard of. No surprise, then, that it's only in these conditions where you can find Alice Rings.
Now we get to talk about...quasiparticles? Really?! Yes, but we're getting close. Quasiparticles, and their cousins, collective excitations (which are technically different but not in a way that matters to us), are patterns of interaction between normal particles that act a hell of a lot like objects themselves. So much so, that we can describe them mathematically _as_ objects.
This is precisely what an Alice Ring is. These strange phenomena are one of many which form as part of BECs (and some similar forms of matter.) They form from another strange quasiparticle called a monopole - an object that seems to have a single magnetic pole (hence the name). These are impossible for a normal particle, but can be emulated by particle interactions - quasiparticles.
These monopoles are very unstable, and decay in milliseconds into Alice Rings. These rings can last several times longer than the monopoles they spawn from, but still only a few milliseconds.
And indeed, a monopole that passes through an Alice Ring has its polarity reversed - turning it into what is essentially an antimatter version of itself. And since observing quantum objects requires interacting with them, observing the world (other quasiparticles in the BEC) through an Alice Ring would make it seem as though you were staring at an antimatter version of whatever (quasiparticle) was behind it - because all the quantum objects (quasiparticles) you used to observe those things got flipped when they passed through.
To be absolutely clear, though, _none of the things I have said about Alice Rings apply to anything outside of other quasiparticles, which, by definition, are not and can never be particles._ None of the atoms in the BEC are meaningfully changed by the presence of these quasiparticles, and all of them go away completely the instant anything disturbs the BEC. They can neither exist outside of a BEC nor affect things other than the BEC, not even the atoms that make it up. So no, they cannot destroy the world. In fact, they and everything they do are destroyed by the world.
But that doesn't mean they're not interesting or useful. Their behavior could be invaluable in understanding the behavior of real matter and antimatter, and how they interact under the most extreme conditions. This knowledge will be instrumental in unraveling some of the biggest mysteries about the early universe and how it came to be. Plus, Alice Rings are closely related to some of the most important concepts in String Theory, and studying them may help settle the debate about the theory's validity - something which has been in serious question since it was first developed. They'll also be useful in studying other theories which hope to unify Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity, finally putting to rest what may be the most important conflict in the history of physics itself.
From a strange and limited product of particle interactions to the opportunity to answer Humanity's biggest questions - it seems that a brand new universe is on the other side of the Alice Ring after all. We just need to look through it.
"woah"
idk where that sample's from but at this point it's become a convexity signature
It is first heard in As Time Goes On, if I'm not mistaken
"remain calm"
nuked
i love ur style bro
RAAAAHHHHHH ATONAL
What even is that snare
It doesn't even sound like snare anymore wth
epico
second