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Imagine that – Chinese scientists show how unreal numbers get real-world results

  • Chinese researchers find the strongest evidence yet that imaginary numbers are fundamental to foundations of quantum physics
  • Experiments show controversial fictional numbers can play a key role in describing reality

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Research by Chinese scientists builds on evidence that controversial imaginary numbers are fundamental to foundations of quantum physics. Photo: Quanta Magazine
Ling Xinin Beijing
In the mystic world of quantum physics, a team of Chinese scientists is proving that one of the field’s favourite imaginary tools might not be fanciful after all.

Through a series of intricate experiments, researchers have revealed the strongest evidence yet that imaginary numbers – invented centuries ago for the sake of pure mathematics and seemingly irrelevant to the real world – play an essential role in describing reality.

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The team, led by quantum physicist Pan Jianwei from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, confirmed that such numbers are a fundamental building block of quantum theory.

The work is “significant progress for testing the foundations of quantum mechanics”, the team said in an article in the journal Physical Review Letters published last month.

Imaginary numbers result from taking the square root of a negative number. Abstract as they may seem, they are a helpful tool used by mathematicians to solve complicated equations.

In quantum mechanics, scientists rely on the concept of complex numbers – the sums of real and imaginary numbers – to predict the uncertainty of the quantum world.
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