Aug 9, 2023 10:19 PM
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-...in-the-lab
EXCERPT: . . . Decades ago, scientists showed that as temperatures dropped to near absolute zero, particles even began to mesh together into conglomerates with a shared quantum identity; their individual properties washed out by strange collective behaviors that began to dominate.
Molecules are much harder to tame than atoms, though. But come 2019 scientists had found a way to wrangle them into shared quantum states too.
From there, scientists predicted that if molecules cohere or stick together when lured into the same quantum state, there could be a whole new kind of chemistry inside the quantum landscape.
In some cases, this shared quantum state, known as quantum degeneracy, was seen to suppress chemical reactions at a rate far greater than cold temperatures usually slow chemical reactions.
Researchers also thought molecules sharing a quantum state might produce accelerated chemical reactions if those molecules were 'coupled' together and reacting as one. However, as with any experiments probing the quantum realm, this theorized behavior has been difficult to observe.
"The observation of these many-body phenomena, also known as 'superchemistry', has been elusive so far," Chin and colleagues write in their published paper. In their attempt... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPT: . . . Decades ago, scientists showed that as temperatures dropped to near absolute zero, particles even began to mesh together into conglomerates with a shared quantum identity; their individual properties washed out by strange collective behaviors that began to dominate.
Molecules are much harder to tame than atoms, though. But come 2019 scientists had found a way to wrangle them into shared quantum states too.
From there, scientists predicted that if molecules cohere or stick together when lured into the same quantum state, there could be a whole new kind of chemistry inside the quantum landscape.
In some cases, this shared quantum state, known as quantum degeneracy, was seen to suppress chemical reactions at a rate far greater than cold temperatures usually slow chemical reactions.
Researchers also thought molecules sharing a quantum state might produce accelerated chemical reactions if those molecules were 'coupled' together and reacting as one. However, as with any experiments probing the quantum realm, this theorized behavior has been difficult to observe.
"The observation of these many-body phenomena, also known as 'superchemistry', has been elusive so far," Chin and colleagues write in their published paper. In their attempt... (MORE - missing details)