Quantum Physics conundrum proved unsolvable
5 Jan 2016 by Evoluted New Media
A physics problem on determining whether a material has superconductive properties or nor has been declared impossible to solve.
A physics problem on determining whether a material has superconductive properties or nor has been declared impossible to solve.
The spectral gap is the energy required for an electron to shift from a low energy state to an excited one. A small spectral gap is important for semiconductors and when the special gap closes it allows material to become superconductors.
This finding – the first of its kind in quantum physics – show that a perfect description of the microscopic properties of a material is insufficient in predicting its macroscopic behaviour.
Dr Toby Cubitt, from UCL Computer Science, said: “Alan Turing is famous for his role in cracking the Enigma code, but among mathematicians and computer scientists, he is even more famous for proving that certain mathematical questions are `undecidable' - neither true nor false, beyond the reach of mathematics.
“What we've shown is the spectral gap is one of these undecidable problems. This means a general method to determine whether matter described by quantum mechanics has a spectral gap, or not, cannot exist. This limits the extent to which we can predict the behaviour of quantum materials, and potentially even fundamental particle physics.”
The next step for the scientists is seeing if their findings can be applied to quantum materials that could be seen in the laboratory.
The research was published in Nature.
