QUANTUM mechanics is ultimately just a physical theory, albeit a hugely successful one. It precisely and accurately describes the way things behave at the smallest scales. Yet the word 鈥渜uantum鈥� is supremely evocative. The infinitesimal realm of subatomic particles and forces it brings to mind has a reputation for strangeness 鈥� a place that mere mortals fear to tread, never mind understand.
We are told that particles are fields and vice versa, that uncertainty reigns and that wave functions collapse vague clouds of probabilities to manifest the distilled reality we know. It can be tempting, in the face of such revelations, to wheel out the notorious meme from physicist Richard Feynman: 鈥淣obody understands quantum mechanics.鈥�
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All of which is true, in a sense. But it would be a mistake to conclude as a result that the subatomic world is somehow off-limits. On the contrary, its inherent strangeness and the conundrums it contains are precisely what makes it such a thrill to discover. And it is in that spirit of exploration that we present our feature, The quantum world: A concise guide to the particles that make reality.
Last year, with our inventory of the universe issue, we explored the large-scale cosmos all the way out to its furthest reaches. This time, we are heading in the opposite direction, to the very smallest of the small. You can think of it as a subatomic safari, or at least a field guide to the denizens of the microworld. Not only will you discover the particles and forces we know about, you will also make sense of their strange behaviours and the laws that govern them. You will meet the dazzling cast of hypothetical particles that physicists suspect could solve cosmology鈥檚 biggest mysteries, as well as some of the stranger things that they think could yet be found at an even deeper level of reality.
We hope you will find it an exhilarating tour. And, as you will see, the quantum world is less confusing and more delightful than you might think, just as long as you enter prepared to abandon your intuitions.
