But transmitting single particles or, to be accurate, copying the quantum state of one particle on to another, perhaps of a different kind could one day have less science-fictional uses.
Taking a fee for every trade fired at an exchange would remove some of the haze that surrounds our market structures that have grown so esoteric that big trading firms must woo particle and quantum physicists to its fold.
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In particle physics, sound-bite explanations are much harder: wave-particle duality, quantum mechanics, general relativity and string theory make good mathematical sense, or so I am told, but they generally defy translation into English.
And we might be provided with clues that reveal the trail to unraveling the ultimate holy grail of fundamental particle physics -- a quantum theory of gravity.
According to quantum theory, all particles are wave-like (and all waves particle-like).
Composed of light-absorbing, colloidal quantum dots linked to carbon-based fullerene nanoparticles, these tiny two-particle systems can convert light to electricity in a precisely controlled way.
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In the wacky world of quantum physics, however, it is not always impossible to work out what a particle once was but no longer is.
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, one of the central tenets of quantum mechanics, maintains that you cannot pin down all the physical properties of a particle at the same time.
The polarised photons were able to take the place of the particle and the antiparticle in Dr Hardy's thought experiment because they obey the same quantum-mechanical rules.
Working on a theory to combine quantum mechanics with Einstein's special relativity, he realised his equations predicted a corresponding anti-particle for every particle in existence - identical in every respect, but with an opposite electrical charge.
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