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Re:Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material by alexfromapex on Sunday October 27, 2019 @12:34AM (#21367901)
My favorite thought experiment: if you think you’ve found the smallest thing in the universe, then what is it made out of?
Re:Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material by kromem on Sunday October 27, 2019 @03:42AM (#21368365)
Considering the whole difference between classical and quantum is continuous vs discrete numbers, it's kind of like saying "how many whole pies are in a half of a pie"?
Re:Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material by krastanov on Sunday October 27, 2019 @09:08AM (#21369470)
You would have to be more careful with that statement. It is a bit of a misnomer that quantum mechanics is inherently discrete and classical is not. There are plenty of examples of continuous descriptions in quantum mechanics (e.g. an oscillator in the coherent state basis, which is an extremely commonly used model). And plenty of examples of discrete behavior in classical mechanics (modes of oscillation, standing waves, etc).

In the case of light, most of the "discreteness" of the quantum description is already present in the classical case. More importantly, there is plenty of the continuous description left in the quantum model.

Re:Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material by sideshowb on Sunday October 27, 2019 @05:01AM (#21368582)
Size itself is an emergent phenomenon, if you can reduce it to entanglement the question goes away
Re:Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material by caconym_ on Sunday October 27, 2019 @02:36AM (#21368193)
Itself
Re:Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material by kragen on Sunday October 27, 2019 @01:13AM (#21367986)
The demiurge.
Re:Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material by mindcrime on Sunday October 27, 2019 @05:51AM (#21368745)
Æther
Re:Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material by mikekchar on Sunday October 27, 2019 @03:26AM (#21368317)
Turtles
Re:Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material by nobrains on Sunday October 27, 2019 @01:23AM (#21368008)
Waves