The usual misleading sensationalistic title. It isn’t the “shape of the electron” at all. A less misleading – but still not quite correct – explanation is that they have determined the statistical distribution of electron quantum states in a material. Very roughly speaking, it tells us where we’re more or less likely to find an electron in the material, and in what kind of state. Somewhat very distantly like a population density graph on a geographical map. Determining such a population density doesn’t mean “revealing the shape of a person”.
The paper can also be found on arXiv. What they determine is the so-called quantum geometric tensor. I find the paper’s abstract also misleading:
The Quantum Geometric Tensor (QGT) is a central physical object…
but it’s a statistical object more than a “physical” one.
It’s a very neat and important study, and I don’t understand the need to be so misleading about it :(
They are a quantised wave in the electromagnet field. The concept of shape or object size breaks down at this level.
Some scientists refer to them as point like, since we can’t measure any diameter on them. It’s more likely tied to their current wavelength. The faster they move, the more energy they have, and the shorter the wavelength. The shorter their wavelength, the smaller they are. Unfortunately this is also a vector (speed and direction) so their shape is different depending on the direction you measure them. Even more confusing, relativity comes to play too. Their velocity is different for different observers, therefore their apparent size is different.
Most experiments don’t bother dealing with this however. They just assume it’s point like, and that seems to align very well with experimental results.
The usual misleading sensationalistic title. It isn’t the “shape of the electron” at all. A less misleading – but still not quite correct – explanation is that they have determined the statistical distribution of electron quantum states in a material. Very roughly speaking, it tells us where we’re more or less likely to find an electron in the material, and in what kind of state. Somewhat very distantly like a population density graph on a geographical map. Determining such a population density doesn’t mean “revealing the shape of a person”.
The paper can also be found on arXiv. What they determine is the so-called quantum geometric tensor. I find the paper’s abstract also misleading:
but it’s a statistical object more than a “physical” one.
It’s a very neat and important study, and I don’t understand the need to be so misleading about it :(
Science journalism doesn’t require science degrees… but it really should.
Thank you!
Uh… So are they like tiny basketballs or what?
More like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/Reddy_Kilowatt_with_wall_outlet_pose.jpg
They are a quantised wave in the electromagnet field. The concept of shape or object size breaks down at this level.
Some scientists refer to them as point like, since we can’t measure any diameter on them. It’s more likely tied to their current wavelength. The faster they move, the more energy they have, and the shorter the wavelength. The shorter their wavelength, the smaller they are. Unfortunately this is also a vector (speed and direction) so their shape is different depending on the direction you measure them. Even more confusing, relativity comes to play too. Their velocity is different for different observers, therefore their apparent size is different.
Most experiments don’t bother dealing with this however. They just assume it’s point like, and that seems to align very well with experimental results.
Bro a whole wall of text, didn’t even answer if they were like basketballs or no. Wow.
Teleporting basketballs