Categories
IAPS 2022-2023 Interviews jIAPS

An Interview with Gabriel Maynard, IAPS Vice President and Recruitment Officer

The Editor-in-Chief is continuing to make their way around the EC. Read the latest interview below:

What are you currently studying?

Well, today I am not studying – I’m in the transition period between the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs. In the autumn, I’ll start an Erasmus Mundus Master’s in Planetary Geophysics. I would like to emphasize my career towards Environmental Physics, as that was the focus of my four year undergraduate degree course at the University of Costa Rica . It’s nice to have a break – I was overwhelmed with choice at the end of my degree. Plus, I have time for other projects, including IAPS and NC Costa Rica. 

Which committee was it the most rewarding to recruit?

It’s the most rewarding to me working in the NC here in Costa Rica. Recruiting other committees in Central America and working with them to create a community, with the potential to grow is also very rewarding.  

Have you been involved with the recruitment of anyone who has gone on to do anything significant in IAPS?

Well… I helped to recruit most of the current EC! There’s NC Greece. I did the process of upgrade from LCs to the current NC, and Dimitris [current IT Manager] is part of that NC; then LC Singapore – Soe [External Relations Officer]; and LC Santo Domingo – Thara [Secretary, also see jIAPS’ interview with Thara]; and NC Guatemala – Marisol [PR Manager]. Have I missed anyone? [And that’s just the people on this year’s EC! – Editor]  

Which committee is the most difficult to recruit?

There’s one which we’ve devised a solution for, but they are stubborn. They want a national committee, but that would be a political statement… and then there’s the case no one talks about which is extremely difficult or impossible to recruit.

Which other tasks, apart from recruitment, have you been involved in?

I was the Data Protection Officer for half a term. It was only for a short time and it wasn’t much work. I’m also on the AC5 Council, organising meetings and trying to move further with the collaboration with IUPAP. As you know, I am Vice-President which has its set of tasks, including helping with the planning of the Mulhouse meeting and connecting with external relations. I’m helping with trying to organise another IAPS2CERN trip which is providing a challenge. There’s a financial problem with the organisation of that – it’s not one of IAPS’ major events, so it is more difficult to find sponsors who are willing to subsidise the laboratory visit [If you, dear reader, happen to be a millionaire, or know of any potential sponsors, please do get in contact with us –  Editor].

Which IAPS event have you enjoyed the most?

I really enjoyed PLANCKS 2022 in Munich. It was really special to see people from the committees you have recruited participating in the competition and enjoying the event. It was very rewarding, especially seeing countries from outside Europe becoming more involved in IAPS. 

PLANCKS 2022 was also the first time Costa Rica participated in person. They selected a team and entered the competition… and it’s fantastic to see it keep improving. Costa Rica participated this year too.

There were also so many activities at PLANCKS and I saw plenty of friends. 

How do you convince new members to join IAPS?

Depending on the area, I say different things. If they are in Latin America, I tell them about the events we are hosting. Then there’s the grants you can apply to in IAPS. I also promote that it is beneficial to have a greater representation from their continent in IAPS, and how they can use it as a platform for future collaborations and to improve their countries. For everyone, I mention the main events IAPS organises, and then the regional engagement and planning of events too. 

What are some of the skills you have learnt from being part of IAPS?

One of the benefits of IAPS has been learning management skills. I’ve learnt how to propose projects and have gained hands-on experience. Being part of the IAPS EC has changed my worldview completely. I have gained new tools and learnt so much.

On average, how many emails do you send a week relating to IAPS?

It varies a lot… maybe about ten a week. Some weeks it is only about three or five. Probably at least ten a week. This isn’t including messaging – that would go off the chart! [The Editor has just checked their email headcount and it is also at least ten IAPS emails a week]

I heard you recently completed some field work as part of your course. What was it like?

I completely like field work. You never know what is going to happen, whereas, in a lab, you have a very controlled environment. You also get to take nice pictures. 

It was a comprehensive experience. Sometimes we had to wake up at 3am and get on the University transport to go to a far-off place in the country. We had to take our measuring equipment with us which weighed about 20 kg and plant the stations we were setting up. This was done to measure carbon dioxide and methane fluxes from the soil to study the interaction between soil and boundary layer in different environments. The stations were to measure Greenhouse Gases in real time. Usually it was very hot – about 30 °C – and about 97% relative humidity so we were all sweating so much. 

[Here, we lapsed into a tangential discussion about snakes. The conclusion is that if you like snakes, go to Costa Rica. If you don’t, come to PLANCKS next year in Dublin.]

One funny story about the field work… we were setting up a station when we could hear a buzzing noise. We were in a field, with trees around it. The buzzing noise was getting stronger and stronger. “Let’s not panic,” said the professor, “Those are killer bees.”

“We’re going to finish setting up,” he continued, “and then run.”

He then encouraged us to start working faster. The buzzing noise was all around us, coming from all directions – we didn’t know where to run to, but we finished the task and got out of there. 

Can you think of anything unusual you’ve had to deal with in your role?

Well, there’s one thing that was very surreal and bothered me.

One Individual Member who was trying to sign up to join IAPS was very intense, following the procedure. There was lots of emailing and it was quite problematic. Then I received a WhatsApp call at 2am. I woke up in the middle of the night and thought ‘who’s calling? Who is this who has got my number?’ It kept calling, about seven times.

All they needed to do was to pay the ten euro membership fee, by either bank transfer or PayPal. This started a whole month of missed calls. They wanted guiding through each small step to pay by PayPal… at that point, I lost patience. ‘I don’t care! Leave me alone!’ I thought… so I gave up and paid the fee for them. ‘Just go away.’ [Note – don’t expect Gabriel to pay your membership fee for you. You have to annoy him sufficiently to get that result, and next time, he is likely to resort to a different tactic instead.]

The lesson here is to never give your phone number in a situation to do with IAPS. 

What is your favourite thing about your role?

I really enjoy engaging with more physics students and hearing the reality through their perceptions of IAPS. I like knowing the different perspectives and connecting with students. 

Thank you so much Gabriel! 

[Gabriel then left the video call to have a well-deserved lunch break, whilst it was the end of the day for the Editor-in-Chief, who returned home and typed up this interview.]

Categories
IAPS 2022-2023 jIAPS

jIAPS June Article of the Month Part Two: Which of these Trucks are Driving?

Author: Ali Mohammed Redha, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia

Overthinking a Simple Question

Figure 1: Showing a famous post popularized by World of Engineering social media accounts asking: “which of these trucks are driving?” [1]

1 Motivation

You have probably come across this post (Figure 1) somewhere on social media. It is a famous “trick question” that is meant to stir up discussions, of which there are many. I came by this post numerous times, often going to read the comments, be amused by how many incorrect answers to the question, and then moving on. Being a physicist, I knew the answer and it was as clear as it can be. Having such a question answered incorrectly most of the time was not a big deal, as the question is meant for fun. 

Recently, I came across the post again on Instagram, this time as part of a Ramadan daily quiz made by an academy that I am part of. I waited anticipatingly for the results to be announced. The answer was announced, and it was “C”. “Hmm…Surely they are not serious”, I thought. An attempt by multiple participants was made to clarify the correct answer, but the organizers insisted on the answer. In the end, the clarification attempts failed, and the answer remained “C”.

Although it has been a while now since that incident, I still have it roaming around my head. “The question is simple. How could they have gotten it so obviously wrong?” Thus, I decided to dig deeper into the problem, hoping to find an answer.

2 What Exactly Does the Question Want?

When a physicist thinks about a problem, they immediately start thinking about the exact meaning behind the question. Here, we want to know which of these trucks are moving in the indicated direction. 

Based on your background, this is either “very easy” or “impossible”. The obvious answer is “A” is moving backward, “B” is stationary, and “C” is moving forwards. Problem solved right? Not quite. There are more details underneath this problem than what is immediately thought. Let us take into consideration all the different cases instead of talking about the problem abstractly. Consider this thought experiment.

Imagine you are in a car and the car is stationary. Suddenly, the car starts accelerating fast reaching 100 km/h in 5 seconds, what will happen to you? You will feel a strong pushback due to inertia, almost clinging you to your seat. This is similar to the case “C” in the question. Imagine afterward the car stays moving steadily at 100 km/h for a while. Then, all of a sudden, the brakes are hit, and the car decelerates to 20 km/h in 5 seconds, what will happen to you? You will feel a push also caused by your inertia, but this time it will push you forward. Think about it, the car was still moving forward, yet you felt a push forward. This is like case “A”. We have shown that both cases “A” and “C” are possible to be moving in the forward direction. 

Even case “B” is possible to be moving forward. Imagine if the car brakes are not hit, and the car keeps moving at 100 km/h for a long time. What will happen? You will stay still as if you are not even moving. As you can see, all of the cases are possible to be moving in the direction stated in the problem. Except there is more to it than just this.

Consider now that everything is reversed. The stationary car, with you in it, starts moving backward reaching 100 km/h in reverse. What will happen to you now? You will feel a push forward (opposite the direction of motion). If the car then stays moving at that speed for a while, you will feel as if you are stationary. And again, when the car decelerates from 100 km/h to 20 km/h, you will feel a push backward (with the direction of motion). This means that all the cases are possible to be moving in the opposite direction as well!

It can get even more counterintuitive, as one can make an argument that they all can be stationary, and it would be true in certain circumstances. For a physicist, this should not be surprising, as physics tells us everything we need to know about these answers.

3 The Physics Behind It

In physics, motion means the change of position in the direction specified and that has a name. We call it velocity. So, to answer the question, we need to know the direction of the velocity of each truck. However, the three images given do not give any indication whatsoever about the direction of the velocity. Instead, it gives us the direction of the force applied to the liquid, or in other words, the direction of the acceleration.

According to Newton’s first law, a stationary object would stay stationary, and a moving object would stay moving at constant speed unless a net force acts upon it [3]. This in a way, is the case “B”. A moving object with constant speed cannot distinguish (physically) whether it is moving or not. This is known as the principle of relativity (first made famous by Galileo Galilei) [2]. This means that we cannot physically sense speed (by touch at least). Newton’s second law gives us what an applied force does, and that causes acceleration [3]. Acceleration is the change of motion (velocity). A change backward would give us the answer “A” and a change forward would give us the answer “C”, due to the famous phenomena of inertia. See, this does not tell us in any way what is the direction of velocity. The directions of the velocity and acceleration are independent of each other. So, in each of the three cases, the object can be moving in any direction. As a matter of fact, it can even be moving sideways, vertically, or even at an angle! 

If you go back to the post, the answers with the most likes are those saying all choices are possible [1]. In fact, some say that the wording of the question supports this answer (“are” not “is”). However, some other comments come up with a good counterpoint. The question says “driving” and generally, driving is done by hitting the gas pedal, not the brakes! Therefore, the answer is “C”. Maybe this is what the organizers meant in that answer? To that I say, yes you got a point. But I would still argue that the answer is not just “C”, not just from the previous argument (as the car still can decelerate even with pushing the gas pedal), but also for another entirely different one. Let me show you why.

4 Overthinking the Question

For those observant, there is a slight flaw in our theoretical experiment. We used a solid object – you dear reader – as a replacement for the liquid in the problem. And this is a technical issue in the experiment, as liquids behave differently than solids. 

Liquids, unlike solids, do not have a fixed shape. And so, a force acting on a liquid would produce vastly different results than a force acting on a solid. A rigid solid object would remain intact upon a simple touch, and a liquid, like water would start vibrating, with waves rippling on its surface. That is just a simple touch of the hand. A strong force would cause a larger vibration on the water’s surface and would cause its shape to deform significantly. 

Now apply this to the case we have. The truck is stationary with all the liquid on it, then it starts accelerating strongly forward abruptly. The liquid will be pushed backward at first, but upon hitting the back of the container will start waving back and forth. What we will get is chaos, in the logical and physical sense. The motion of liquids in such cases is chaotic, similar to tossing a coin or using random.org [4]. Hence, case “C” would not be replicated precisely during a forward acceleration of the truck. If you take 1000 images of the truck accelerating forward, maybe you will be able to replicate image “C”, except do not hedge your chances of having it stay constantly the same. Fun fact, you might be able to get images of “B” or even “A” if you were lucky enough! Things need to go a specific way, but it is possible! Thus, you might be able to get images “A”, “B” and “C” in the same “photo shoot”. Even with the notion that hitting the brakes is not driving, we still got all the images which means all of the answers are possible. Let us take one more thought experiment to explore another possibility. 

5 Overthinking It to Absurdity 

Imagine the truck with the fluid inside it, and we take that truck and shake it violently. After that, we let it rest in a pure isolating chamber, where it cannot interact with anything at all. During this time, we took our special x-ray camera and took a large number of photos (theoretically an infinitely large number of them). If we then filter out these photos, we will see the three cases among them. The point is that the force applied on the truck does not have to be by the truck (engine) itself. It can be caused by other means. 

The complexity of the problem does not stop there. I mentioned previously that the reaction of liquids to forces is chaotic, meaning it depends on many factors. These factors include, but are not limited to: the type of liquid (determining its density, viscosity, etc.), the volume and temperature of the liquid, the material the container is made of, the type of gas (if any) with the liquid inside the container and its temperature, ambient air temperature, wind currents, amount of sun radiation incident, the surface of the road and the tiers, vibrations caused by the car engine and motors, and the remaining is left for the reader to figure out as an exercise [5]. This adds layers upon layers to the already, too complicated simple problem . 

6 Conclusion

The final answer to this question is: all and none of the above (this is a first!). This problem highlights one trick of mother nature. How our senses fool us and build our intuition on a physically incorrect notion. This is why we have to be careful when dealing with physics, as more often than not, physics can be counterintuitive (which in and of itself is counterintuitive). Ultimately, the answer to this question does not matter. It is for fun. What matters is how people perceive this problem. Everyone is going to understand it in their unique way, which opens the floor for some great discussions. It is astonishing to come across a question occasionally where there can be no winner or loser. Just different perspectives on a fascinating, tricky problem. In such a scenario, the true winner is everyone who got enlightened by a nice, eye-opening discussion. Not everything has to be a competition after all… and yes, I did write this to prove a point.

7 References

[1] World of Engineering. Which of these trucks are driving?: https://twitter.com/engineers_feed/status/1592207414367252480 2022 Nov 14 [cited 2023 April 27] [Tweet]. Available from: @engineers_feed. 

[2] Wikipedia contributors. Principle of relativity [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; 2023 Mar 27, 20:46 UTC [cited 2023 Apr 27]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_relativity.  

[3] Glenn Research Center. Newton’s Laws of Motion [Internet]. Glenn Research Center – NASA. [Cited 2023 May 21]. Available from: https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/newtons-laws-of-motion/ 

[4] Bishop R. Chaos. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; 2017 Mar 21 [cited 2023 May 21]. Available from: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/chaos/ 

[5] Wikipedia contributors. Fluid dynamics [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; 2023 May 4, 18:13 UTC [cited 2023 May 21]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_relativity.  

Categories
Announcements IAPS 2022-2023

Announcement of the IAPS Annual General Meeting, August 5-6th 2023

The 2023 IAPS Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held online on the 5th and 6th of August 2023. It will start at 12pm (midday) UTC on both days. All the up-to-date information about this meeting is in the AGM 2023 Guide. 

Attendance

All member committees and Individual Members must confirm attendance as soon as possible by filling in this formYou will be able to edit the form after submission if anything changes.


Delegate Days

The main discussions will happen in the Delegate Days not in the AGM. We strongly recommend that you attend these, more information about Delegate Days will be emailed to you shortly.

Meeting Officials
We are looking for 1 Chair, 1 Minute Taker and 3 Tellers for each day of this meeting. Any IAPS member is welcome to volunteer. Please email ec@iaps.info if you are interested or have questions.

Agenda

Here is the provisional AGM agenda, to be split across the 2 days.

This agenda will be finalised on July 5th. Any IAPS member has the right to propose additional points to the agenda. If you would like to do this, please send us any agenda proposals before June 24th by emailing ec@iaps.info

The AGM 2023 Guide contains more detail about each of the agenda points, elections and everything else to expect in the AGM.

Categories
IAPS 2022-2023 Interviews jIAPS

An Interview with Thara Caba, IAPS Secretary

For the next in the series of jIAPS interviews. The Editor-in-Chief spoke to Thara Caba, IAPS Secretary:

What are you currently studying?

I graduated from my Bachelor’s course in April. I was studying General Physics for my undergrad in Dominican Republic. I’ll start my Master’s in September, where I’ll be studying Astrophysics and Space Science; so I’m actually in between degree programmes at the moment. I’m doing some extracurricular courses in General Relativity and Cosmology, and some programming courses. 

What have you enjoyed most in IAPS?

I really enjoy the community in IAPS. Here [in the Dominican Republic], we only have a small community of physics students. In IAPS, you get to meet people from all over the world. I enjoy attending events and getting to meet so many physics students. It’s not ordinary for me; so I like the events and the community. 

What’s your IAPS journey been like – what previous roles have you had?

A few years ago, I was the President of my student association and I was contacted by Gabriel [now Vice-President of IAPS], who was part of the recruitment working group of IAPS. Gabriel found the email addresses of all the student physics societies in Latin America and contacted them to tell them about IAPS. I got a message from him and that’s how we started the process to become a LC [Local Committee of IAPS]. That was in 2021 I think. After that, I was a volunteer at the online edition of PLANCKS in 2021. I became more involved with IAPS. I was a staff member of jIAPS 2021 [and Thara is still helping with jIAPS now – Editor]. Then I ran for PR Manager in 2021 and became part of the EC. 

And so, why did you decide to apply to become IAPS Secretary?

As part of the EC [Executive Committee], I saw the importance of having a good secretary. Then I was like, hey, I’m good with time management and organising stuff, why shouldn’t I apply for Secretary of IAPS? I was also finishing my studies, so I knew I’d have more time for IAPS. So that’s what I did in 2022, and here I am now. 

What does your role involve, other than minute taking at meetings?

Taking minutes every two weeks for the EC meeting is the most consistent thing I have to do, but it actually isn’t the biggest thing. I also make sure that everyone’s doing their tasks that they were allocated in the meetings and remind them to do their tasks. 

Organising the EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) and now the AGM (Annual General Meeting) is a lot of work. There are a lot of moving parts and this is the biggest thing I have to do. Whenever there’s a letter of recommendation or a letter for an event to be written, that’s my job. Those are the biggest things I have to do in my role. There are also unallocated jobs in the EC that anyone can do too. 

What’s your most memorable moment from IAPS?

My most memorable moments are from PLANCKS Milan 2023. I really liked meeting and talking with the Nobel Prize Winner, Didier Queloz, who discovered the first giant planet outside the solar system. [You can ask Thara for her other memorable moments – Editor

What are IAPS meetings really like?

They are usually very long and very heavy – there is a lot to discuss. Before doing it, no one is aware how much work being on the EC really is. There are lots of things to do, but it’s really rewarding. 

What’s your top tip for taking minutes?

Don’t write everything anyone says, or you’ll fall behind and start to miss stuff. Just write the general idea and that’s okay. People don’t want to have to read a ten page long document for every meeting. 

Can you think of anything unusual or particularly interesting that you’ve had to include in the minutes of a meeting?

I’ve included lots of unusual things in the minutes! I want people to read them. I don’t want them just to approve the minutes without reading them. Once, I wrote that one of the EC members was in the bathroom in the minutes to see if people were paying attention to what I wrote. 

Have you had to do a lot of travelling in IAPS?

Yes! It is one of the most rewarding things about being on the EC, or just being in IAPS in general. I have two favourite events that I travelled to with IAPS. The first is the Opening Ceremony of the IYBSSD (the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development), which was really fancy and held in Paris. I got to meet ministers and Nobel Prize winners… and afterwards, we went to the Eiffel Tower. It was an amazing day.

The second event is the IUPAP (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics) Centenary Symposium in Trieste, which was near the beach. We got to go to the beach almost every day. It was an event with physicists from all around the world. I got to learn about the diverse jobs a physicist can do – not just becoming a researcher, but there were also journalists, business managers and policy makers.   [You can read more about both of these events in jIAPS 2022 – Editor]

What advice would you give to someone who was thinking of joining IAPS?

Just do it! It is really fun! You get to meet lots of people, make lots of friends! 

I’ve found that physics students all like the same things; we have similar personalities. If you join, you won’t regret it. 

Thank you Thara; is there anything you’d like to add?

Hmm…  just ‘thank you for interviewing me!’ 

Categories
IAPS 2022-2023 Interviews jIAPS

An Interview with the Coordinator of the Music Group Sessions, Aleksandar Stojcheski

Interviewer: Fabiola Cañete Leyva, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico

Music and physics have always been intertwined. That is the main motivation behind the Music Sessions led by Aleksandar Stojcheski at IAPS.

For the next in a series of jIAPS interviews, we feature a conversation with Aleksandar where we discuss the objectives of this initiative.

You can listen to the New Year’s song or the 35th Anniversary’s song produced by the Music Group at IAPS!

Graphic designed by Harvey Sapigao

Hello, Aleksandar. Can you share with us what you are studying and where?
Hello. I’m currently studying for my undergraduate degree. I’m in my third year and my major is physics. I study at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Skopje, North Macedonia. My intentions for future studies are in the field of fusion and nuclear energy. 

How did this initiative begin?

Well, music has always been there. It’s not just something that I started to do recently. Listening to music has always been a huge part of my life. 

I started playing the guitar because my father used to play and he taught me. That’s how I started with the acoustic guitar. Then, you know, with time, after practicing more I decided to get myself an electric guitar. Although, my first wish was to play the drums, you know? And that wish remained. So much that several months ago I finally got my drum set. I have always loved music and instruments are a big part of my life. I have plans for future instruments. I would like to play a little bit of everything. It is a passion I always carry with me, even when I go to physics events. 

Actually, that is how all this initiative began. It was very interesting how it happened.

Last year I went as a delegate to the EPS forum in Paris. It was my first participation as an IAPS member and it was great. I met incredible people: the president, the business committee, everyone. We had a great time and I learned a lot. 

At the end of the event, many of us remained in Paris for one or two days more to enjoy the city. Some of us gathered to walk around and we ended up visiting Montmartre, a place full of culture. There were some theaters, very nice cafes and of course, music.

I remember there was a street musician who played the guitar and he really interacted with the audience. All of us ended up singing together and, at one point I even joined the stage. It was really an amazing experience.

Afterwards, while talking with Ruhi —the IAPS president at that time— I said, why not try to do something like this in IAPS? She was very excited about the idea. And after returning to my country we really talked about it. I gave some proposals, she also gave some ideas and that is how it all happened. It was very spontaneous.

What is the main objective of the Music Group at IAPS?

Well, music always brings people together. So the idea is to recreate, in some way, the experience we all had in Paris. The music sessions give space for people to express themselves, to share some music and also part of their culture. I was really honored when people entered the first couple of sessions and started to play their instruments. 

Slowly, some ideas came up. During sessions I started to think about what more we could do and that is how the idea of making a song for the 35th anniversary of IAPS was born. We thought that it was a great opportunity to come together and produce something. 

The coolest part of being an international community is that you don’t just gather in a room and play. Being all in different parts of the world, we had to, sort of, make it like a puzzle. Everyone played individually and in production all the pieces came together. The collaboration was amazing.

How many participants are there in the Music Group?

On average, about 10 people. There is always a different number of people in each session, it depends on their availability. I usually try to post the date early so that everyone can see it. Anyone can join. We actually had new members the last time.

Being a group formed by physics students, do you think that your approach to music is different from that of the general public?

Maybe. I would say that as a physicist you get inspired in a different way because physics is a science that consists of amazing theories that can influence the way you think about music. For example, there have been people who play the Fibonacci sequence and get inspired by incorporating those mathematical and physical concepts into their music.

Which music genre is addressed by the Music Group?

We don’t approach just one style. There have been sessions where we play traditional songs. Sometimes we play jazzy stuff, like the New Year song we composed. And other times we also go with a classical perspective, like with the anniversary song.

Personally, I love rock music and sometimes I also listen to classical music but I try not to impose my preferences in the music sessions. I am always open to suggestions and I am happy to try new things.

Do you have a role model or an inspiration, like a physics professor with a music background?

Not really, that is not my way of thinking. I don’t have role models. I follow inspiration instead. Music is a great part of my life and I have understood that I need that balance between art and science. When I do music I get inspired by the process. 

Finally, what advice would you give to anyone who is thinking of joining the music group or learning to play music?

Well, the main requirement, in a way, is to have a passion for music. The objective is to have fun, to relax a little bit and if something comes out of it, that is fantastic. If someone has a music project that requires collaboration or if someone just wants to learn about other cultures through music, this is the place to do that.

Aleksandar, thank you so much for this interview and for the wonderful work done leading the Music Group at IAPS.’

Find out more about the Music Group Sessions in the #music channel of the IAPS Discord.

Categories
Article of the Month IAPS 2022-2023 jIAPS

jIAPS June Article of the Month: Can We Feel Speed?

Ali Mohammed Redha and Asif Bin Ayub, University of Bahrain, Bahrain

1 Introduction: The Question

One day, as I was driving my car back to my house after a long day at the university. A question popped up in my mind that caught my attention for the whole drive: “Can we feel speed?” Being a physicist, I am used to thinking of questions like this for hours straight. But this, this was different. I began thinking of the topic from multiple perspectives. How would a physicist answer this question? How would a non-physicist answer this question?

Figure 1: Shows a search result of the word “speed” on Pixabay. Can you feel speed from that? Source: Pixabay

The question was so intriguing to me that I decided to resort to the most scientific method of questionnaires, Instagram polls. I asked in the poll, “Can we feel speed?” and 59% of the respondents said YES, the other 41% of course answered NO. What was most interesting about the poll is that physicists following me took both sides. Some said YES while the remaining said NO. I thought the answer would be obvious to physicists, NO is definitely the answer, right? That made me think deeper about the question, particularly about the word feel.   

Figure 2: The scientific poll conducted. The question is: “Do we feel speed?” 27 participated with 16 answering YES and the remaining 11 answered NO. The participators are all from Bahrain with various backgrounds and specialties. Source: Self-made.

2 What Do We Mean by “Feel”?

To feel is to experience something emotionally or physically [1]. We can feel emotions: happiness and joy, love and passion, sadness and sorrow – which are abstract constructs of our mind. But the type of “feel”-ing we are interested in is rooted in physical experience: such as touch, heat, and texture. In this physical notion of “feel”, which we might call “sensing”, can we truly sense speed?

We sense our physical surroundings using our five senses: vision, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Think about them as detectors. Thus, to see if humans can sense speed, we need to see if these senses can detect motion. Imagine yourself driving a car and applying each of your senses separately. Which ones can detect speed?

Figure 3: Shows the senses of a normal human. Us physicists, we do have 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th senses but we don’t talk about those… Source: Self-made

Identifying speed with vision is no problem. And although speed does not have any sound in and of itself, minuscule collisions, friction, engine sound and other interactions generate sound and can be heard. Combine both visions and hearing together and you get a good motion detection apparatus.

However, take vision and hearing away, and we lose almost all notion of speed. As far as we know, speed cannot be identified by smell or taste – though, it would be interesting to see how an avant-garde chef might imagine the flavor of speed. As for touch, it counterintuitively, cannot sense speed. This is one way that nature tricks us into thinking we are sensing something when we are sensing something else entirely. Our inability to sense speed does not stem from a flaw in the human sensory apparatus, rather, it is a consequence of a fundamental principle of nature. 

3 Finally, Some Physics 

There is no physical way to distinguish between a moving object at a constant speed and a stationary object. This is known as the (special) principle of relativity and was first theorized by Galileo Galilei in his theory of relativity [2]. Formally, an object/observer that is moving at a constant speed or is stationary is known as an inertial frame of reference. Therefore, according to the (special) principle of relativity, there is no fundamentally preferred inertial frame of reference [2].

To put this simply, this means that everyone has the right to claim themselves to be stationary. Me, I see myself as always stationary so I can claim to be always stationary, “I am the center of the universe”. You, dear reader, always see yourself as stationary and so you have the right to claim that you are always stationary and that you are the center of the universe. No one is wrong here; we are both correct. Someone else might also jump in and claim they are stationary, and we are not, and they will still be right. All of these are physically identical, just seen from different perspectives.

This explains why we cannot sense speed physically by touch. After all, I am always stationary according to myself. There is nothing changing about me, whether I was sitting down, having a walk or driving a car. Everything else around me is moving, but me? No, I am always stationary (keyword: according to me). 

What humans physically sense are forces, we feel forces (more accurately, energy transmission). If you hit a wall, then you get hurt by it, because of the force the wall enacts on you. When driving a car, the car vibrates due to friction and minuscule collisions which act as forces on our bodies. Add to that the force exerted by the seat belt and through this nature tricks us into thinking we sense speed when we in fact sense forces. A more in-depth dive regarding our sense of touch is found in [3]. 

It is important to note that Galileo’s relativity does not give the full picture, and one should resort to Einstein’s relativity for a more accurate representation of reality. Einstein’s relativity agrees with Galileo’s principle of relativity in the case of inertial frames. However, when forces are involved the frames of reference become non-inertial. In that case, there would be preferred frames of reference and that has many implications [4]. Still, how does that answer our question? 

4 Conclusion: The Answer

This question goes beyond just science, just answering the question with physics does not feel right. The answer to it is heavily dependent on how we, humans, function. It is always awe-inspiring how complex the human system is. Not just biologically, but socially and psychologically as well. I mentioned how scientifically, we always think of ourselves as being stationary and everything around us to be moving. In the theory of relativity, you are the center of the universe. Go ahead and apply this way of thinking to the social norm and things would be confusing and overly complicated. We sacrifice accuracy for easiness. We pick perceptions and logical systems that would lead us to the simplest, most straightforward path. Everyone is ready to throw away their title of “center of the universe” to live harmonically and in symphony. Ultimately, it does not matter if we believe that we can feel speed or not. What matters is that we can communicate our situation in a way that others would feel. So, is the answer YES, or NO? Well… whatever makes you feel better.

5 Acknowledgement

Many thanks to my friend and colleague Asif Bin Ayub for his help in writing this article. He had a large input and helped me in it throughout. 

6 References 

[1] Cambridge University Press. Meaning of feel in English [Internet]. Cambridge Dictionary; cited 2023 Apr 27. Available from: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/feel

[2] Wikipedia contributors. Principle of relativity [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; 2023 Mar 27, 20:46 UTC [cited 2023 Apr 27]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_relativity.  

[3] Fulkerson M. Touch, Edward. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; 2020 June 21 [cited 2023 May 21]. Available from: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/touch/.[4] Wikipedia contributors. Preferred frames [Internet]. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia; 2022 Feb 16, 21:04 UTC [cited 2023 May 21].  Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_frame.

Categories
Interviews jIAPS

An Interview with the coordinator of the Mental Health and Well-being sessions, Cihad Gözsüz

Interviewer: Fabiola Cañete Leyva, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico

Mental health is a rising concern among students and academics all over the world.

Along with the coronavirus pandemic, many university members have noted in their peers— and in themselves—an increase in mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and burnout syndrome.

In order to mitigate this problem, many academic communities have started to talk openly about the subject, as a way to promote awareness and offer support to their members. That is the main motivation behind the Well-being Sessions initiative led by Cihad Gözsüz at IAPS.

In this interview, the next in a series of jIAPS interviews, we feature a conversation with Cihad where we discuss the objectives of this initiative and the mental health challenges that many physics students face through their academic journeys.

‘Hello Cihad. Can you tell us about what you are studying and where?
I was studying physics in Dortmund, Germany. But, I have recently switched to studying psychology at the University of Braunschweig, also in Germany.


If you don’t mind me asking, why the sudden change?
There were several reasons but everything was triggered by the recent pandemic. During Covid, a lot of things happened. In terms of mental health, I was not feeling very well and neither did a lot of my friends. That is why I became invested in the direction of mental health and started volunteering in that area. Ultimately, that is what led me to want to study psychology full-time.


Why is it important to address mental well-being among physics students?
Mental health is essential for everyone but it is crazy to realize how many science students struggle, especially during their Ph.D., which is an intense and time-consuming period. You often hear students talk about things like burnout and other stress-related issues. By listening to people, you notice that mental health is not often talked about in the physics community. That is why I believe it is important to start addressing this topic.


Is there a personal experience that you may want to share?
Yeah, so, I was actually never in real therapy. My worst days were during the Covid pandemic. At that time it was really difficult to get a place in therapy. And in my case, I didn’t notice that I had anything to worry about. No symptoms from my childhood or anything. But, I had self-esteem problems that do trace back to childhood trauma, I believe. There were some problems with the way my parents raised me. I don’t blame them, of course, because they had their own experiences as well. But I consider that there was a lack of care given, I think. They never really showed that I had value for them or maybe the way that they expressed it was not very obvious.

Then, unfortunately, I also had a bad time in school.

On top of that, another circumstance that has had a big impact on my life also was a romantic relationship of seven years. When it ended, things that I didn’t notice before came rolling back to me. The breakup led me to believe that suddenly I was not important to the people around me. I started to feel like a burden to everyone and to think that it would be better not to have friends at all, in that way I would not be able to hurt them as well.

Then, with the loneliness from the pandemic, those feelings escalated. I started to punish myself, in my head, and eventually, I even had suicidal thoughts.

I am just very grateful that at that point other things happened that helped me. I met people that showed care and with time I got over that phase in my life. All this motivated me to show more care to others. I realized that I did not care much about others or myself before. So, I wanted to change. My main motivation was that I knew how difficult it can be to go through this on your own, so I wanted to help others in the same situation.


Mental health is a relatively new topic, do you think that mental health has worsened over the last few years? If so, what do you think are the reasons?
This is a difficult question! Personally, I don’t know if there are any statistics on this topic. The modern world does not feel like it is made for mental health though. When you consider things like digitalization, for instance. We spend a lot of time on social media, and paradoxically, while it does connect people, it also creates some distancing among us. There is some kind of masking going on when people post online how well they are doing, when maybe, in reality, they are not doing so great. But then again, the digital age has also brought us awareness about mental health and other topics that were not openly discussed before. And social media has also played a part in this. So I can’t really say if things are getting better or worse.


What is the main objective of the Mental well-being chat sessions?
The objective is to create a safe atmosphere for whoever wants to participate and discuss how they are doing so we can be there for each other. For the mental well-being sessions, I start by inviting people to a meeting. And then I ask people how they are feeling right now or if there is anything that they are dealing with at the moment. We also talk about the good things that happen to us, of course. Sometimes there is a funny story to tell, sometimes not. And if you don’t want to share anything that is also ok. The point of all these sessions is to share our thoughts and connect with other people. The more open we are, I feel like the bond between us gets stronger.


In your perspective, what is the principal barrier faced by students with mental health problems? Can it be society, their family, or maybe even themselves?
I think there can’t be just one thing to blame here. It is usually the sum of everything. Maybe the school system can be better. Society also plays an important role but I would say it is hard to pinpoint a single reason here. This is a hard question!


What kind of impact do these setbacks have on the academic performance of physics students?
I think it is different for everyone. Some students can perform well, even in these circumstances, and other students struggle a lot. Physics is usually a topic that is very time-consuming. There’s a lot to study in a really short time. But sometimes, people have said to me that it is precisely this kind of anxiety that helps them push themselves harder. In the long run though, in the majority of cases, you can expect burnout at some point.


I remember a study indicating that people with high neuroticism can perform well. However, on average they perform worse than the people who act as a friend to themselves. In summary, being harsh to yourself works well but being nice to yourself has better results.


One observation I can make is that physics students can mask their feelings very well and they can perform efficiently even in hard circumstances. Unfortunately, this can have an impact on the dynamics of the academic environment. For example, if a teacher perceives that students are doing well, they can expect students to start delivering more and so they may increase the workload.
In one of my internships, people often complained about how little time they had for themselves but they pushed themselves anyways so at the end of the day if you are having a hard time you start thinking, it sucks but if people get through it then I can do it too. What I am trying to say is that because people in physics might be great at masking their emotions and being high performers, the expectations in the field rise even more.


Do you think that physics students are somehow at a higher risk of suffering mental health problems?
Yeah, I think that there are some statistics on this topic. Ph.D. students are more often struggling than the average student. A certain percentage of normal students themselves suffer from some kind of disorder involving anxiety or depression, but this number goes up if we are talking about Ph.D. students. I once read that about fifty percent of Ph.D. students battled with these problems. I was so impressed that I talked about this with some friends and I remember that one person said, I can’t believe it is just fifty percent! The truth is that a Ph.D. is in itself a hard thing to do and these kinds of experiences just discourage people from pursuing it, sadly.


What kind of initiatives do you think are necessary to mitigate this problem?
I wish I had an answer here. There are too many aspects that play a role in this phenomenon. One thing that can help mitigate this problem, I believe, is to encourage people to be open about this topic, to look for help, and also to hold the kind of sessions we do here in IAPS.

What has been your favourite IAPS event or activity so far?
Any in-person event is great for me because I get to meet most of my IAPS friends. The last big event I remember is the PLANCKS event. We organised it in Munich and I got to spend a lot of time with the friends that I made through the Internet. It was quite a surreal experience.

What advice would you give to anyone who is thinking of coming along to a Mental Health and Wellbeing Session?
I would tell them that the sessions are a safe place to share whatever they want and it is also a great place to make friends. For the people that may not be so sure about joining, I would tell them that their participation during the sessions is completely up to them. They can opt to be there and just be willing to listen to people and if at some point they feel uncomfortable, they can leave, of course. I always give a disclaimer. People in the mental health chat session are not professional. So if someone feels that they need some serious mental health help, I always encourage them to seek professional help. The mental health sessions are just like regular conversations where we talk about different things. It is normal to be afraid but usually when you have joined two or three times that feeling goes away. The best part is to connect with people and just be there for each other.

Cihad, thank you so much for your answers and for the wonderful work done leading this mental health initiative.

Find out more about the Mental Health and Wellbeing Sessions on the IAPS Discord.

Categories
IAPS 2022-2023 jIAPS

jIAPS May Article of the Month: Beautiful Birefringence

Author: Jan (Jack) Beda, University of Edinburgh, UK

Let’s begin with polarized sunglasses. You may have them. Why did you get such a fancy pair? Maybe you’ve been told they reduce glare? They do, in fact. All the light that bounces around in our universe has a polarization. A “direction” in which the electromagnetic fields wiggle. Light can wiggle up-down or left-right (and in a few other ways). It turns out that when light is reflected off of water and other substances, it becomes “partially horizontally polarized” (1). That is to say, more of the light wiggles left-right than up-down. Your fancy polarized sunglasses include a polarizer that only lets through the up-down light, and so all of the horizontally polarized light (the glare off the water) gets cut out.

Now, you can probably already figure out what happens if I take two polarizers and put them perpendicularly on top of each other. Let’s say the first one blocks the up-down light, then the second one blocks the left-right light, and so if you put them together, all of the light is blocked, and you see nothing. As you rotate the polarizers with respect to each other, you are able to change how much light gets through. The transmission of light depends whether the polarizers are aligned in parallel (maximum transmission) or perpendicular (minimum transmission) to each other.

Fig. 1: Various pieces of packing tape placed between a computer, and polarized sunglasses. (Image created by the author).

Now, we can take these two perpendicular polarizers and slide a piece of transparent tape  between them. Better yet, we slide a big mash-up of pieces of tape in between. What happens? Suddenly the polarizers fill with colour (Fig. 1 and 2). In fact, I encourage you to do this right now! You might not have polarizing sheets lying nearby, but if you have polarized sunglasses and a computer screen, you can do it. Most computers produce polarized light, and your sunglasses act as the second polarizer. Just zoom your computer screen into some white section of this article, increase the brightness, throw some pieces of tape together, and look at them between your computer and polarized sunglasses (nearly all tape will work, but some work better than others). You should see a stained-glass window-like array of colours which changes as you rotate the tape. 

Fig. 2: A more involved piece of art by physicist Aaron Slepkov [5, p. 619]

What in the world is going on here? The tape demonstrates the phenomena of birefringence. When light passes through the back polarizer (or your computer screen), it has one polarization. Then the tape does something very neat, and rotates this polarization of light by some amount. Importantly, the amount by which the light is rotated depends on both the wavelength of the light, and the thickness of the tape. For example, in the centre of Fig. 2, we see a bright green section. The polarised light is rotated by just the right amount as it passes through the tape so that the resulting polarisation is perfectly aligned with the second polariser to pass through unchanged. Perhaps the red light, on the other hand, was rotated just enough to be completely cut out by the second polarizer. The amount that the light gets rotated depends on the thickness of the tape as well, meaning that places with more layers of tape will display different colors than places with fewer layers. By varying the number of layers, we can get a wide array of colours.

Now, how do birefringent materials rotate light? When light passes from one medium to another, the light refracts, and its direction changes as a result of a difference in index of refraction across the mediums. Some objects, like the tape, are birefringent, and due to their molecular structure, the index of refraction is different depending on the polarization of the light incident (2). When unpolarized light is passed through a birefringent object for a long enough time, the beam can split into two separate beams, each with perpendicular polarization. In many cases, the light does not travel for long enough in a birefringent material to fully split the incident beam. Instead, the different indices of refraction will create a phase shift in the two polarizations of light resulting in a change in the polarization of the exiting light. This often results in partially elliptically polarized light but can be approximated as a net rotation of the polarized light.

The world of birefringence is far and wide. This technique of viewing birefringent objects between two polarizers can be used to analyse stress patterns in plastic ( look at your plastic ruler between two polarizers) (3) and in geology (a number of rocks are birefringent) (4). Most importantly, we can create some beautiful pieces of art: birefringence is a fascinating concept to study..

Works Cited

1. Halliday D, Resnick R, Walker J. Fundamentals of Physics. 10th ed. Wiley; 2014. p. 997–998. ISBN 978-1-118-23061-9

2. Belendez A, Fernandez E, Frances J, Neipp C. Birefringence of cellotape: Jones representation and experimental analysis. European Journal of Physics. 2010;31(3):551-561.

doi:10.1088/0143-0807/31/3/012

3. Redner AS, Hoffman BR. Measuring residual stress in Transparent plastics. mddionline.com. 2017. https://www.mddionline.com/news/measuring-residual-stress-transparent-plastics

4. Alderton D. Other Silicates: The Al2SiO5 Polymorphs, Cordierite, Staurolite, Epidote, Chlorite and Serpentine. Encyclopedia of Geology. 2nd ed. Academic Press; 2021. p. 368-381. ISBN 9780081029091. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102908-4.00186-7 

5. Slepkov AD. Painting in polarization. American Journal of Physics. 2022; 90 (617): 617-624. https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0087800

Categories
IAPS 2022-2023 jIAPS

jIAPS April Article of the Month: What Quantum Mechanics Can Tell Us About Mental Health

Author: 🇵🇭 Harvey Sapigao

In celebration of World Quantum Day 2023, the jIAPS Article of the Month is quantum-themed.

———-

“Oh, so you study physics. What are you going to be? A physician?”

We often get this comment after telling people our degree. The confusion is understandable; ‘physician’ and ‘physicist’ do sound alike, have similar etymologies (both coming from the Latin word ‘physica’), and might as well mean one or the other in a parallel universe. But I once got a remark that I was going to be a psychologist, which I thought was a bit of a stretch. 

We often think concepts in physics are so far removed from psychology, other than the fact that working with the Schrodinger equation can make our brains hurt. But physics, especially in the realm of quantum mechanics, is actually helping explain things about our minds, and these insights might also help us with our own mental well-being.

The obvious connection between quantum mechanics and psychology is that our brains are composed of matter, and matter, on the subatomic level, behaves quantum mechanically. Neurons typically communicate by passing ions to one another (1). The channels through which these ions pass are only fractions of nanometers thick – small enough for quantum effects to occur (2). In fact, the transmission of ions has shown to be compatible with quantum tunneling models (3). This is a stark departure from the classical notion that ions simply pass through channels like balls through tubes.

But the contribution of quantum mechanics goes far beyond neurons and ions. We now know that elementary particles don’t just strictly behave as particles; they also behave as waves. And just as there is a wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics, there is an analogous paradox in psychology: the mind-brain duality (also known as the mind-body duality, or ‘bodymind’) (4).

When classical physics was the only version of reality we knew, the idea of the mind and the brain was that of a dualism, not duality (5). That is, the mind and the brain were thought to be two completely different things. The thoughts, feelings, experiences, and everything that cannot be represented by matter were separated from those that can. ‘Mental’ states were separated from ‘physical’ states much like how waves were separated from particles.

René Descartes popularized this dualism and was named after him (5). Cartesian dualism is a seemingly innocuous – even helpful – dichotomy, but it has actually contributed to the mental health stigma we are facing to this day (6,7). This dualism has contributed to the notion that mental problems are very different from physical ones, and so, in many countries still, psychiatric hospitals are separated from general hospitals (7). Throughout history, treatments for the mentally ill have often been very different from those for the physically ill, and even the phrase ‘mentally ill’ has a negative connotation (7,8). Cartesian dualism has also contributed to the common misconception that mental issues are “all in the mind” and can be treated with having the right mindset (6).

Quantum mechanics brought the idea that reality wasn’t as cut and dry as we thought it was. Atoms can be in a superposition of states: a wave and a particle. And so, duality was born. This helped us understand that mental health might be both a mental and a physical affair; a duality – not dualism – of the mind and the brain.

Needless to say, mental health is not the same as physical health. But the two are not so dissimilar that treatments for the former were once thought of as witchcraft and the latter as medical science, as was the case in the time of Descartes (9). Indeed, research suggests that psychiatric drugs are just as effective in treating mental illnesses as other medical drugs are in treating physical illnesses (10). However, since mental health is also dependent on the mind, other treatments such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), or talk therapy, also work (11). Psychiatric drugs address the problem in a physical sense while talk therapy addresses it in a mental sense, and yet one can be as effective as the other.

***

We know that the physical aspect (the brain) is made of matter (quite literally, the gray and white matter), but what exactly is the mental aspect (the mind)?

Elementary particles – electrons, photons, quarks, etc. – are the smallest units of matter, and in quantum mechanics they come in discrete units called quanta. In psychology, a similar concept arises: the qualia (12). Qualia describes a unit of subjective experience; it is the color yellow as perceived by our eyes; the note A-flat as perceived by our ears; the feeling of tingles as perceived by our skin. That’s qualia. And whether or not we like the look of yellow, or the sound of A-flat, or the sensation of tingles, is also qualia. Put together, these hints of experiences make up our consciousness, and our consciousness, in essence, is what we have been calling the mind. Indeed, qualia make up the mind just as quanta (elementary particles) make up the brain, and that the mind-brain is the quality and quantity of a human.

An important feature of consciousness is that it is personal. It is based on our own subjective experiences; we all see colors, hear notes, feel sensations, differently. Moreover, we experience things in only one way: our own. Therefore, equating one’s own experiences to those of another is not only futile, but also impossible.

But some argue that consciousness is merely the result of matter interacting with one another; they are simply the result of neurons and ions playing around. There are, of course, conscious processes that can be mapped out in the brain; for example, the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain near the forehead – activates whenever we act in a conscious manner, such as speaking, as opposed to, say, snoring while sleeping (13,14). But how consciousness emerges from the ‘lighting up’ of those neurons is still a mystery.

Consider a classic example in philosophy: the ‘chairness’ of a chair. Different materials, such as wood, metal, and plastic, can be used to make a chair. When these materials meet our rudimentary standard of what a chair is — something that can be sat on, have legs, and stand on its own — they become a chair. These properties emerge as special characteristics of a chair, but are not intrinsic to the wood, metal, or plastic from which the chair is made. Only when these materials are arranged in a particular way do they acquire these properties; wood, for example, cannot be sat on, have legs, and stand on its own unless it is assembled as a chair. These properties — the chairness of a chair — seem to appear out of nowhere, beyond the physicality of the materials.

Consciousness seems to appear out of nowhere, too. These networks of neurons are intertwined in a way that makes consciousness emerge. Consciousness is not a property of a bunch of neurons, just as chairness is not a property of a bunch of wood. But arrange them like a live brain, and consciousness emerges.

The idea that we are nothing more than the result of interactions of matter is called ‘materialism’ (15). Materialists think that consciousness is an illusion, as is the chairness of a chair. This view was especially popular before quantum mechanics, when all we knew about the world was in terms of balls revolving around bigger balls (whether that be electrons revolving around the nucleus or planets revolving around the sun).

Now, some find materialism difficult to accept. As we now know, funky stuff happens in the quantum realm, and most, if not all, cannot be expressed in terms of definite, intact balls. If the materialists are right, what would then be the difference between an alive and a dead person, if all there is to them are essentially balls? How did a bunch of mindless, zombie atoms conspire to create a brain-full, alive-and-kicking human being? Philosopher William Luijpen mentioned a contradiction among materialists: they philosophize and classify themselves as the same with chairs and tables, yet philosophizing and classifying are actions chairs and tables cannot do (16).

Still, what consciousness really is (and if it even exists) remains contentious in the fields of psychology, philosophy, and more recently, artificial intelligence. But one of the most commonly accepted views today is that consciousness coexists with matter, and we cannot be human without having one or the other. If we lose consciousness forever, we become corpses (a.k.a dead), and if we lose matter forever, we become, in paranormal terms, a ‘soul’* (a.k.a dead).

***

One of the interpretations of quantum mechanics, the von Neumann-Wigner Interpretation, assumes that consciousness exists. John von Neumann and Eugene Wigner’s interpretation was inspired by the earlier Copenhagen Interpretation.

Naturally, in a quantum mechanics sense, the wave/particle’s state is a cloud of probability; the state is indefinite, having no exact value. Its state can only be described in a probabilistic curve based on its wave function. But upon measurement, the wave/particle instantaneously evolves into a single state; the wave function ‘collapses’ and becomes a single, definite value. According to the Copenhagen Interpretation, the mere act of measuring alters the wave/particle’s state from its probabilistic nature to an exact and determined value (17).

However, the Copenhagen Interpretation did not address what constitutes a measurement, a conundrum known as ‘the measurement problem.’ To solve this problem, von Neumann injects into it the idea of consciousness, where he postulated that a conscious being (i.e. humans) must be doing the measuring (18). According to him, every state exists indefinitely in a soup of superposition and quantum probabilities until they encounter a human, which collapses them into single states. The states then cascade like dominoes, eventually creating a definite reality which we call the universe.

Von Neumann determined three processes at play. The first, called ‘process 1’ or ‘the Heisenberg choice,’ is the conscious choice, or more familiarly called the free will, of the observer on how to act or go about acting. It is the process that collapses probability into certainty. But before states collapse (i.e. undergo process 1), they first exist in states of clouds of probability, a process von Neumann called ‘process 2.’ Process 2 generates and superposes virtually all possible outcomes of the universe. The third process, called ‘process 3’ or ‘Dirac choice,’ is the outcome that arises from processes 1 and 2. Process 3 is the reality as a result of the clouds of probability (process 2) being collapsed by humans (process 1).

It is worth noting that a measurement is not limited to looking or observing or using a microscope. Measurement, as in the context of process 1, occurs at a more fundamental level, affecting a bunch of neurons and ions first before affecting bigger devices, such as the eyes, then the microscope, and so on (it cascades like dominoes).

What’s interesting about the von Neumann-Wigner interpretation is that it assumes reality arises as a result of consciousness. It puts us as the agents of the universe; one that makes things happen as opposed to one that happens as a result of. It’s not that we are the consequence of the universe, but that our conscious decisions create consequences in the universe. If the von Neumann-Wigner interpretation is true, it can have profound implications on the way we view life.

***

Wave-particle and mind-brain. Qualia and quanta. Consciousness and matter. All convenient parallelisms in the world of psychology and physics. But how do these apply to our own mental well-being? The paper “Quantum Physics in Neuroscience and Psychology: A Neurophysical Model of Mind–Brain Interaction” by Jeffrey Schwartz, Henry Stapp, and Mario Beauregard attempts to explain how mental effort manifests into the world around us, borrowing concepts from quantum mechanics in describing the mind-brain interaction (19).

The paper first points out the problem that arises when we only look at psychology through the classical (deterministic) lens, which assumes that our consciousness is merely a by-product of the neurons from which our brains are made, and therefore has no ability to affect the physical world. Consciousness can be thought of as a hologram, where it is there but cannot move objects around it, and is thus an illusion.

Yet multiple studies have shown that consciousness does affect the physical world. For example, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been highly effective in treating mental illnesses such as unipolar depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder (20). Neuroimaging has revealed that significant changes in the brain occur after CBT sessions of patients with phobic disorders (21). People with obsessive-compulsive disorders have even been able to reduce their habits through willful action (22). This phenomenon has become an active area of research since the 1990s and has been termed ‘self-directed neuroplasticity’ (22).

Self-directed neuroplasticity is the ability to alter the neuronal circuitry of our brains through willful effort, allowing us to rewire our brains to match the way we want to think. Because our brains are plastic and malleable, and because consciousness can affect the physical world, controlling our consciousness has a direct consequence in the universe – a phenomenon that couldn’t be explained by the classical model of physics.

The paper then goes on to argue that the mind-brain interaction is explained by the processes mentioned in the von Neumann-Wigner interpretation. Process 1, according to them, “describes an interaction between a person’s stream of consciousness, described in mentalistic terms, and an activity in their brain, described in physical terms.” That is, process 1 bridges the gap between the mental mind and the physical brain; it facilitates the interaction between the mind and the brain.

Process 1 is further divided into two: the passive and active process 1. The passive version, as the name suggests, does not require much conscious thought, while the active version requires conscious effort. It is akin to voluntary and involuntary actions of muscles; heart contraction is involuntary (and thus is passive), whereas weight-lifting is voluntary (and thus is active).

The active and passive processes also differ in a variable called ‘attention density’ – the amount of attention exerted in a period of time. The authors described attention density as “the rapidity of process 1 events.” In other words, it is the number of measurements done per time interval (recall that process 1 is the act of measuring by a conscious being). The active process requires a higher attention density compared to the passive process; the active process measures a quantum system much more frequently than the passive process.

A quantum system, if left unchecked for a period of time, will evolve into a superposition. For example, if the wave function of the quantum system, at t = 0 ns, gives a 100% probability to ‘yes’ and 0% to ‘no’, after some time, say 1 ns, the quantum system will evolve into 90% ‘yes’ and 10% ‘no’. After 2 ns, the system becomes 80% ‘yes’ and 20% ‘no’, and so on. This is how quantum systems evolve through time, only that it has no pattern; the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ probabilities oscillate unpredictably, albeit gradually, over time.

Now, if we measure a quantum system, it will collapse into a single state; the system collapses into 100% ‘yes’ and 0% ‘no.’ If we do this multiple times, the system will collapse every time. If we do this rapidly and much more frequently, the quantum system will not have enough time to evolve into a superposition; the system will ‘freeze’ into a 100% ‘yes’ and 0% ‘no’ so long as we keep measuring it rapidly. This effect is called the quantum Zeno effect (23).

The active process, according to the authors, produces the quantum Zeno effect. Since the active process has high attention density (high measurement frequency), it produces the quantum Zeno effect in a quantum system. Therefore, if we exert mental effort (which increases attention density and thus invokes the active process), we can essentially control a quantum system, and consequently whatever is connected to that system.

The implication of this is that we are, indeed, agents of the universe rather than mere products of it. We have control over our actions and we have the freedom to choose. This realization can be immediately beneficial to the nihilistic, but those who are struggling with other mental issues can also learn from the paper. If we are willing to do something (such as wanting to get better, or, at least, believing that we can), it has a chance of materializing, which is much less bleak than not having control at all.

The authors explicitly state this implication, saying that the importance of a patient’s willingness and commitment to get treated is essential. They said that “it takes effort for people to achieve therapeutic results. That is because it requires a redirection of the brain’s resources away from lower level limbic responses and toward higher level prefrontal functions—and this does not happen passively.” Moreover, “clinical success is jeopardized by a belief on the part of either therapists or patients that their mental effort is an illusion or a misconception.”

Of course, the paper hinges on the fact that the Von Neumann-Wigner interpretation must be true for their conclusions to be true. But, if I may be philosophical for a bit (being careful not to mistake ‘physicists’ for ‘philosophers’), I find it comforting to think there is an inkling of a chance that we live in a universe where we have authority over our choices; where we have free will; where our lives are not set in stone.

If consciousness is an illusion and the universe is deterministic, what then separates us from algorithms and Twitter bots and Dall-E? What laws of physics enabled us to contemplate and ruminate and have existential crises? What is stopping us from becoming just cogs in a machine?

If that really is the case, I’m glad we don’t know. It leaves room for imagination, for thoughts, for feelings, for opinions, and for beliefs. And even if some think opinions and beliefs disparage humans more than enhance them, that in itself is an opinion or belief which they hold. In a way, we are living in a superposition, and we can only guess our states. But not knowing is what comforts me. It is the bliss of ignorance. And this is what I choose.

* This is only for representational purposes, as the idea of a soul contradicts the mind-brain duality. According to the theory, consciousness cannot exist by itself, so a soul should not exist on its own (and caught-on-camera “ghost” videos are only pareidolias). The belief that they do exist is called “spiritualism,” which Luijpen thought was as flawed as materialism.

References

  1. Lall S. How do neurons communicate (so quickly)? [Online] MIT McGovern Institute. MIT; Available from: https://mcgovern.mit.edu/2019/02/28/ask-the-brain-how-do-neurons-communicate/ [Accessed: 8thDecember2022] 
  2. Cataldi M, Perez-Reyes E, Tsien RW. Differences in apparent pore sizes of low and high voltage-activated ca2+ channels. Journal of Biological Chemistry. [Online] 2002;277(48): 45969–45976. Available from: doi:10.1074/jbc.m203922200 
  3. Nawafleh S, Qaswal AB, Alali O, Zayed FM, Al-Azzam AM, Al-Kharouf K, et al. Quantum mechanical aspects in the pathophysiology of neuropathic pain. Brain Sciences. [Online] 2022;12(5): 658. Available from: doi:10.3390/brainsci12050658 
  4. Eastman T. Duality without dualism – California State University, Sacramento. [Online] Available from: https://www.csus.edu/cpns/library/te_dwd.pdf [Accessed: 8thDecember2022] 
  5. Robinson H. Dualism. [Online] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University; Available from: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/#MinBodHisDua [Accessed: 8thDecember2022] 
  6. Mehta N. Mind-body dualism: A critique from a health perspectivefnx08. Mens Sana Monographs. [Online] 2011;9(1): 202. Available from: doi:10.4103/0973-1229.77436 
  7. Latoo J, Mistry M, Alabdulla M, Wadoo O, Jan F, Munshi T, et al. Mental health stigma: The role of dualism, uncertainty, causation and treatability. General Psychiatry. [Online] 2021;34(4). Available from: doi:10.1136/gpsych-2021-100498 
  8. Talking about mental health. [Online] Mental Health Foundation. Available from: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/a-z-topics/talking-about-mental-health [Accessed: 8thDecember2022] 
  9. Mental illness in the 16th and 17th centuries. [Online] Historic England. Available from: https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/1485-1660/mental-illness-in-the-16th-and-17th-centuries/ [Accessed: 8thDecember2022]
  10. Leucht S, Hierl S, Kissling W, Dold M, Davis JM. Putting the efficacy of psychiatric and general medicine medication into perspective: Review of Meta-Analyses. British Journal of Psychiatry. [Online] 2012;200(2): 97–106. Available from: doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.111.096594 
  11. Hofmann SG, Asnaani A, Vonk IJ, Sawyer AT, Fang A. The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research. [Online] 2012;36(5): 427–440. Available from: doi:10.1007/s10608-012-9476-1 
  12. Tye M. Qualia. [Online] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University; Available from: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia/#Uses [Accessed: 8thDecember2022] 
  13. Raccah O, Block N, Fox KCR. Does the prefrontal cortex play an essential role in consciousness? insights from intracranial electrical stimulation of the human brain. The Journal of Neuroscience. [Online] 2021;41(10): 2076–2087. Available from: doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1141-20.2020 
  14. Bartels A. Consciousness: What is the role of prefrontal cortex? Current Biology. [Online] 2021;31(13). Available from: doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.05.012 
  15. Materialism. [Online] Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.; Available from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/materialism-philosophy [Accessed: 8thDecember2022] 
  16. Luijpen W. Man, The Metaphysical Being. Existential phenomenology. Pittsburgh, Duquesne University; 1960. p. 17.  
  17. Faye J. Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. [Online] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University; Available from: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-copenhagen/ [Accessed: 8thDecember2022] 
  18. Neumann JV, Beyer RT, Neumann JV. The Measuring Process. Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 1955. p. 418.  
  19. Schwartz JM, Stapp HP, Beauregard M. Quantum Physics in Neuroscience and Psychology: A neurophysical model of mind–brain interaction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. [Online] 2005;360(1458): 1309–1327. Available from: doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1598 
  20. Butler A, Chapman J, Forman E, Beck A. The empirical status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Clinical Psychology Review. [Online] 2006;26(1): 17–31. Available from: doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2005.07.003 
  21. Klumpp H, Fitzgerald DA, Angstadt M, Post D, Phan KL. Neural response during attentional control and emotion processing predicts improvement after cognitive behavioral therapy in generalized social anxiety disorder. Psychological Medicine. [Online] 2014;44(14): 3109–3121. Available from: doi:10.1017/s0033291714000567 
  22. Schwartz JM. Neuroanatomical aspects of cognitive-behavioural therapy response in obsessive-compulsive disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry. [Online] 1998;173(S35): 38–44. Available from: doi:10.1192/s0007125000297882 
  23. Misra B, Sudarshan EC. The zeno’s paradox in quantum theory. Journal of Mathematical Physics. [Online] 1977;18(4): 756–763. Available from: doi:10.1063/1.523304 
Categories
IAPS 2022-2023 jIAPS

The Quantum Now: Let’s Celebrate World Quantum Day!

Author: Zlatan Vasović

Have you ever thought that physics is missing its international day? A new initiative by quantum scientists around the world could just change that— an initiative to celebrate April 14 as World Quantum Day. Its main goal is to promote quantum science and technology around the world.

The importance of quantum has been growing, and so has the need to promote the understanding and achievements of quantum science. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2022 confirms this—it was awarded to Anton Zeilinger, Alain Aspect, and John F. Clauser for their work on tackling fundamental questions of quantum mechanics. This gives us a special occasion to celebrate the fundamentals of quantum science, its applications, and its possible impact on our society.

World Quantum Day originally started as a decentralized initiative by scientists around the world. It was launched on April 14, 2021, as the countdown towards the first celebration on April 14, 2022. The date was chosen as a reference to 4.14, the rounded first digits of Planck’s constant: 4.13567×10-15 eV·s.

The first World Quantum Day was celebrated in 2022 through 200+ events in 40+ countries. The events promoted all domains of quantum science, as well as its history, foundations, applications, and philosophical and societal implications. There are both online and in-person events, meaning that you can take part wherever you are in the world. 

Now the second celebration is just around the corner. It’s set for April 14, 2023, but the events don’t have to be on that exact date. You can find more information on how to engage at https://worldquantumday.org/

Let’s celebrate World Quantum Day!

Editor’s Note – jIAPS is celebrating World Quantum Day too: the April photo competition is Quantum themed and is listed on the World Quantum Day website. Enter your quantum or physics-themed photos by emailing them to us at jiaps@iaps.info.