Scientists captured the secret quantum dance of atoms for the first time

The most powerful X -ray laser in the world was able to record the hidden and incessant vibrations of atoms within the molecules. This first direct observation of the “zero point movement” reveals that atoms move in accurate and synchronized patterns, even in their lower energy state.

For most of us, it is difficult to understand the quantum world: according to the principle of Heisenberg’s uncertainty, it is how observe a dance You can never see at the same time exactly where someone is dancing and what speed moves – you always need to choose one of the aspects.

And yet this quantum dance It’s far from chaotic; The dancers follow a strict choreography.

In molecules, this peculiar behavior has another consequence: even if a molecule was completely frozen at absolute zero, would never be totally at rest. The atoms that compose it perform a silent and endless dance, driven by the so -called zero point energy.

For a long time, these standardized zero movements were considered impossible to measure directly.

However, scientists at the Goethe University of Frankfurt and partner institutions have now been able to do so in the largest X-ray laser in the world, the European XFELin Hamburg, Germany.

In the course of their study, they managed “capture atoms dance“Illuminating individual molecules and registering instantaneous of their atoms – revealing the choreography needs each of them.

The results of the were presented in an article published last week in the magazine Science.

“The most exciting in our work is to have been able to observe that atoms Do not only vibrate individuallybut in an attached way, following defined patterns, ”explains Professor To Jahnkefrom the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Goethe University of Frankfurt and the Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, and the main author of the study.

“We measure this behavior directly for the first time in individual intermediate molecules, which were also in its lower energy state. This zero point movement is a purely quantum phenomenon, impossible to explain in a classic way,” adds the researcher, quoted by.

Instead of choreography, physicists speak of vibrational modes.

While moving patterns of two or three atom molecules are relatively simple to follow, in intermediate dimension molecules, they become quickly complex-as in the case of iodopiridinaobject of study, composed of eleven atoms.

Iodopiridine has a true 27 modes repertoire vibrationaiS Different – From Ballet to Tango, going through popular dance.

“This experience has a long history”Adds Jahnke.“ We collected the data in 2019 during a measurement campaign led by Rebecca Boll at the European Xfel, with a totally different goal. Only two years later did we realize that we were actually observing signs of zero point movement. ”

“Looking back, Many Pieces of Puzzle had to fit Perfectly, ”concludes the investigator.

The results of the study offer a fully new perspective on quantum phenomena. For the first time, the researchers were able to directly observe the zero point motion standards complex in more elaborate molecules.

“We are constantly improving our method and we have already planned the next experiences,” says Jahnke. “Our goal is to go beyond the dance of atoms and also observe the electrons dance – Something that once seemed unimaginable. ”