Quantum mechanics, aka quantum theory, is a really strange world. It is absolutely nothing like anything anybody experiences in day-to-day life and can even defy logic and common sense. For example, quantum theory states that it is possible for an object to disappear in one location and reappear in another location. Another weird example that is as weird as its name is the Quantum Zeno Effect.
The Quantum Zeno Effect was named for Zeno of Elea, a Greek philosopher who created paradoxes trying to prove that nothing is true. He set up paradoxes that suggested that time and space are neither continuous nor discrete and that nothing ever moves, among many other paradoxes (Inglis-Arkell).
One paradox developed by Zeno, which the Zeno effect is based upon, is the Arrow Paradox. The Arrow Paradox assumes that time is made up of instants. Consider a short video of an arrow flying through the air. At any and all frames in that video, the arrow appears motionless. According to the Arrow Paradox, the arrow cannot move (The Arrow Paradox).
The Quantum Zeno Effect, proposed in 1977 by two scientists at the University of Texas in Austin, is a phenomenon in which particles do not change when being observed. Consider an atom which is likely to decay after three seconds, but is not likely to decay after one second. If the atom is observed once after three seconds, it will most likely have decayed. If the atom is observed once after one second, it will most likely not have decayed. Now here comes the weird part. If the atom is observed three times over three seconds, once per second, it will most likely not have decayed (Inglis-Arkell).
The Quantum Zeno Effect is not just a hypothesis. It has been proven recently by Cornell researchers. Graduate students Yogesh Patil and Srivatsan K. Chakram cooled a gas of rubidium atoms inside a vacuum chamber and suspended it with lasers. That way, the atoms will form a lattice structure, but some atoms will tunnel through the structure. They found that they could dramatically slow the rate of tunneling by observing the atoms with an imaging laser (Steele).
"This gives us an unprecedented tool to control a quantum system, perhaps even atom by atom," said Patil, lead author of the paper. “Atoms in this state are extremely sensitive to outside forces,” he noted, “so this work could lead to the development of new kinds of sensors” (Steele).
Works Cited
Inglis-Arkell, Esther. "The Quantum Zeno Effect Actually Does Stop the World." Io9. 1 Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Steele, Bill. "'Zeno Effect' Verified-atoms Won't Move While You Watch." Phys.org. 23 Oct. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
"The Arrow Paradox." Logical Paradoxes The Arrow Paradox Comments. 2009. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
"Zeno's Paradoxes." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
