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Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory that describes the behavior of nature at and below the scale of atoms. [2]: 1.1 It is the foundation of all quantum physics, which includes quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science. Quantum mechanics can describe many systems that classical physics cannot.
The idea of quantum field theory began in the late 1920s with British physicist Paul Dirac, when he attempted to quantize the energy of the electromagnetic field; just as in quantum mechanics the energy of an electron in the hydrogen atom was quantized. Quantization is a procedure for constructing a quantum theory starting from a classical theory.
Different sized quantum dots emit different colour light due to quantum confinement. Quantum engineering is the development of technology that capitalizes on the laws of quantum mechanics. This type of engineering uses quantum mechanics to develop technologies such as quantum sensors and quantum computers.
Applications of quantum mechanics include explaining phenomena found in nature as well as developing technologies that rely upon quantum effects, like integrated circuits and lasers. [ note 1 ] Quantum mechanics is also critically important for understanding how individual atoms are joined by covalent bonds to form molecules .
Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon of a group of particles being generated, interacting, or sharing spatial proximity in such a way that the quantum state of each particle of the group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, including when the particles are separated by a large distance.
As physicists applied quantum mechanical models to computational problems and swapped digital bits for qubits, the fields of quantum mechanics and computer science began to converge. In 1980, Paul Benioff introduced the quantum Turing machine, which uses quantum theory to describe a simplified computer. [7]
where = is the reduced Planck constant.. The quintessentially quantum mechanical uncertainty principle comes in many forms other than position–momentum. The energy–time relationship is widely used to relate quantum state lifetime to measured energy widths but its formal derivation is fraught with confusing issues about the nature of time.
Quantum mechanics, a major field of physics; Old quantum theory, predating modern quantum mechanics; Quantum field theory, an area of quantum mechanics that includes: Quantum electrodynamics; Quantum chromodynamics; Electroweak interaction; Quantum gravity, a field of theoretical physics; Quantum optics; Quantum chemistry; Quantum information