Key experiments and empirical findings in modern physics, particularly quantum physics

[in progress …]

Tales of microscopes and telescopes

• the powers of 10
• EM spectrum, including microwave (visible light/optical, radio, infrared, UV, X-ray, gamma)
• electron microscopy
• colliders (as microscopes)
  • SLAC
    • cnet: SLAC knows how the universe works. Now it’s targeting your needs
    • cnet: SLAC photo gallery (33 photos and captions)
• neutrino astronomy
• gravitational-wave astronomy
• takeaways
  • evidence-based reasoning

Tales of condensed matter

Tales of lasers

Tales of “big science” observatories (ground and space-based): “As telescopic technology advances, so does our view of the universe.”

• Telescopes (astronomy/astrophysics)
  • large optical reflecting telescopes (ground)
    • European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert — “the world’s most advanced optical telescope” — the eight telescopes can create a massive interferometer
    • [Future] Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in the Cerro Armazones, Chile
    • [Future] Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) in Vallenar, Chile
  • radio telescopes
    • Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) – China
    • ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array – Chile
    • APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) – Chile
    • IRAM 30m (Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimétrique) – Spain
    • LMT (Large Millimeter Telescope) – Mexico
    • SMT (Submillimeter Telescope) – Arizona
    • JCMT (James Clerk Maxwell Telescope) – Hawaii
    • SMA (SubMillimeter Array) – Hawaii
    • SPT (South Pole Telescope) – Antarctica
  • space telescopes
    • SPHEREx [2023] near-infrared spectra everywhere over the entire sky — Caltech Magazine, Summer 2019
    • ASTERIA (Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics) — cubesat
    • European Space Agency’s Gaia space observatory
    • NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory [Space.com profile]
    • NuSTAR X-ray telescope
      • NASA Black Hole Probe to Hunt Galactic Hearts of Darkness
      • This Star Shines with the Light of Millions of Suns! – ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) – some neutron stars
• Particle colliders (SLAC, Tevatron, … LHC)
• Gravitational wave detectors (LIGO, …)
• Takeaways and empirical findings

Tales of cosmology

• ~100 years ago
• after 1998 (accelerated cosmic expansion)
  • dark matter and dark energy¹
  • the 5% solution — ordinary matter and life
• macro/micro visualization
• implications
  • science literacy
  • public policy

[1] Wiki: The standard model of cosmology indicates that the total mass–energy of the universe contains 4.9% ordinary matter, 26.8% dark matter and 68.3% dark energy.

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A story of everything and nothing

Experiments that demonstrated Newtonian (classical) mechanics was incomplete

Experiments that demonstrated that photons (EM quanta) are waves (as well as other “matter” quanta)

• 19th – 20th century double-slit experiment
• Turbulence-free double-slit interferometer
• Wired > Even Huge Molecules Follow the Quantum World’s Bizarre Rules  (09.23.2019) – A record-breaking experiment shows an enormous molecule is also both a particle and a wave – and that quantum effects don’t only apply at tiny scales

Experiments that confirmed Einstein’s theory of relativity

Experiments that demonstrated quantum behavior

• randomness
• tunneling
• entanglement (non-locality)
• quantum vacuum

Future experiments