DAY 1: My learning #Quantum30 Challenge
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Discovery of Exoplanets: Exoplanets, planets situated outside our solar system, have been a subject of fascination since their first discovery in 1992. These distant worlds offer insights into the broader universe and the potential for life beyond our planet.
Elemental Genesis: The origins of the universe trace back to the Big Bang, which yielded primarily hydrogen and helium, the fundamental building blocks of matter. The initial explosion propelled these elements in all directions, forming pockets of gas. The uneven distribution of these gases led to the formation of stars, immense celestial bodies with the necessary temperature and density for fusion reactions.
The fusion process within stars begins with hydrogen and helium, giving rise to heavier elements. This process progresses from hydrogen and helium fusion to the formation of lithium, beryllium, and carbon. Subsequent generations of stars were formed from the remnants of these initial stars, enriching the universe with a wider array of elements.
Elemental Transmission and Star Life Cycle: The early stars, although short-lived, played a crucial role in dispersing newly formed elements into the universe through their explosive deaths. The second generation of stars inherited the enriched elemental composition, primarily comprising hydrogen, helium, lithium, and carbon – elements crucial for the ongoing fusion processes.
Contribution of Supernovae: Many elements, including those heavier than carbon, owe their existence to the explosive culmination of stars. Supernovae, resulting from the gravitational collapse of massive stars, ejected these elements into space, where they merged with interstellar matter, thus becoming essential building blocks for future star systems.
The Role of Exoplanets: The composition of exoplanets offers a window into the prevailing conditions of their parent stars and the surrounding environments. Elements present in exoplanetary atmospheres and surfaces reveal the legacy of stellar processes and provide insights into planetary formation and habitability.
Our Solar System's Composition: Our solar system, including Earth and its inhabitants, is composed of elements derived from the original hydrogen and helium of the Big Bang, as well as the enriched materials dispersed by previous generations of stars. The sun itself encapsulates this cosmic history, harboring a mix of elements that tell the tale of stellar evolution.
Tennessine: A Man-Made Element: Among the elements, some are artificially created by humans. Tennessine (Ts 117) is one such example, a testament to our capacity to manipulate matter and expand our understanding of the periodic table.
Human Anomaly in the Universe: The culmination of cosmic events has led to the existence of humanity – a rare and intricate outcome. The precise sequence of events, from the Big Bang to star formation and element dispersion, has set the stage for our existence. A single alteration in any of these events could have resulted in an entirely different cosmic reality, highlighting the mathematical anomaly that is our existence.
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1. Introduction: The current scientific theory and calculations propose a singularity at the beginning of time, marked as t = 0. The furthest we can trace back in time is approximately 10^-43 seconds, known as the Planck epoch. During this epoch, all four fundamental forces of the universe are believed to exist as a single unified force.
2. The Planck Epoch: Around the Planck epoch, all four fundamental forces - gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force - are thought to have existed as one single force. This unity of forces represents a crucial point in our understanding of the early universe. It lasted till 10^-43 seconds.
3. The Inflationary Period: According to our current understanding, inflation, an exponential growth of the universe, is believed to have started between 10^-36 to 10^-33 seconds after the singularity. During this period, the rate of expansion of space far exceeded the speed of light. While information and data cannot travel faster than the speed of light, the expansion of space itself can.
4. Connectivity and Information Loss: As the universe expanded rapidly during inflation, the connectivity between points in space became severed. Even though the rate of expansion exceeded the speed of light, information transfer between distant points was limited. This concept challenges our understanding of interconnectedness in the universe.
5. Separation of Forces: At approximately 10^-43 seconds, gravity is believed to have separated from the unified force. Subsequently, at 10^-32 seconds during the inflation period, the strong nuclear force followed suit. However, the electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces remained unified until approximately 10^-12 seconds.
6. Formation of Particles: During this phase, the universe experienced the formation of quarks and gluons, but all particles remained massless. The origin of particle creation remains a mystery, with hypotheses ranging from the condensation of energy to the decay of particles from the inflation field.
7. Massless and Massive Particles: A fundamental question arises concerning the coexistence of massless and massive particles mediating the electromagnetic and weak forces, respectively. Photons, which mediate electromagnetism, are massless and possess significant force, while the weak force is mediated by three massive particles: W+, W-, and Z0, much heavier than a proton.
8. The Boson Model: To address this, Glashow proposed a model introducing four bosons: W1, W2, W3, and B. However, this model only worked when all bosons were massless. The question remains: how did they evolve into one massless and three heavy mass bosons?
9. Mass and Existence: Schrodinger's equations suggest that heavier masses exist for shorter durations and interact weakly. In contrast, massless particles have a longer existence. This inherent difference in mass and its effect on particle behavior plays a pivotal role in the evolution of the fundamental forces
10. Introduction: Glashow's model, in conjunction with the Higgs Mechanism, provides crucial insights into the mystery of particle mass origins. It introduces a unique perspective on the behavior of bosons at different energy levels.
11. The Higgs Mechanism: The Higgs Mechanism explains how particles acquire mass through interactions with the Higgs field. For energies above 160 GeV, the Higgs field has a zero Higgs potential and no mass, represented as E = 0. Below this threshold, the electro-weak symmetry breaks, leading to the emergence of mass.
12. Symmetry Breaking and Boson Behavior: As the electro-weak symmetry breaks, the four bosons initially occupy a state with minimal energy. Three of these bosons start oscillating between higher and lower energy states, acquiring mass in the process. However, the fourth boson remains motionless and retains its massless character with E = 0.
13. Particle-Antiparticle Annihilation: Particle-antiparticle annihilation processes continue, resulting in the formation of progressively lighter particles. This annihilation, however, is not uniform, leaving behind a residual matter.
14. Formation of Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons: The remaining matter eventually leads to the formation of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Due to their initially high energy states, electrons cannot stably coexist within the proton's space.
15. Transition to Electrically Stable Species: As the universe's temperature decreases, electrons lose energy, transitioning to a lower energy state. Consequently, they start orbiting protons, forming electrically stable atoms.
16. Restoration of Photon Movement: The high-energy movement of electrons initially disrupts photon movement. However, as electrically neutral species form, they create an environment conducive to free photon movement, allowing the universe to become transparent and observable
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1. Introduction: Schrödinger's equation is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics, serving as an energy conservation equation that provides insight into the distribution of electrons within atomic shells.
2. Solving Schrödinger's Equation for Hydrogen: When Schrödinger's equation is applied to the simplest atom, hydrogen, it yields a set of quantum states defined by three parameters: n, l, and m.
• n represents the shell number.
• l indicates the orbital angular momentum.
• m signifies the orientation of the electron.
3. Electron States in Hydrogen: For hydrogen, when n=1, two electron states are possible, and when n=2, four electron states are possible. These states account for the observed differences in the number of atoms in the first two periods of the periodic table: 2 atoms in the first period and 8 atoms in the second period.
4. Quantum Factor of 2: The factor of 2 difference between the first and second periods and as in other periods as well in the periodic table can be attributed to the two possible states of +0.5 and -0.5 for electron spin, allowing for the accommodation of two electrons in each state.
5. Hydrogen as a Model: Hydrogen serves as a model system for understanding electron configurations in other atoms. The quantum states of hydrogen, known as hydrogenic states, provide valuable insights into the distribution of electrons in more complex elements.
6. Limitations as Atomic Mass Increases: As atomic mass increases, the solutions obtained for hydrogen become less applicable to other atoms. This is because the electron-electron interactions in heavier elements cannot be accurately represented by the hydrogenic model.
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For more about quantum challenges and knowledge, Do visit the Quantum Computing India