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What came first: the chicken or the egg?
This question was asked for the first time by philosophers of ancient Greece to describe the problem of determining causes and effects and a dilemma that we are not yet able to answer definitively several years later.
Well, all of this could change, according to a team of physicists from the University of Queensland and the NEL Institute.
The researchers say that they can use quantum physics to prove that chicken and egg can be the first.
Yes really.
Dr. Jacqui Romero of ARC's Center of Excellence for Quantum Engineering Systems has attempted to describe the theory and explained that, in quantum physics, the causes and effects are not always as simple as they are. an event causing another.
"The strangeness of quantum mechanics means that events can happen in no particular order," she said.
"Take the example of your daily trip to work, where you travel partly by bus and partly by train." Normally, you take the bus then the train, or vice versa, but in our experience, these two events can happen first. "
Romero added that this is called "undefined causal order" and that it is not something we can observe in our daily lives. "
To observe this effect in the laboratory, researchers used a configuration called photonic quantum switch.
Dr. Fabio Costa, of the University, added that with this device, the order of events – known as transformations on the shape of light – depends on what's happening. we call the "polarization".
"By measuring the polarization of the photons at the output of the quantum switch, we were able to show that the order of the transformations on the shape of the light was not regulated," he added.
"This is just a first proof of principle, but on a larger scale, an indefinite causal order can have real practical applications, such as making computers more efficient or improving communication."
The researcher's theory was published in full by the American Physical Society in the Letters of physical examination newspaper.
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