iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Matt Strassler

@mattstrassler.bsky.social

1.5K followers 121 following 222 posts

Theoretical physicist (particle physics, string theory, black holes), semi-retired professor, writer (author of the popular science book "Waves in an Impossible Sea"), amateur musician, and activist for founding public policy on facts and logic

Posts Replies Media

Reposted by Matt Strassler

Daniel Whiteson @danielwhiteson.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Are you in Boston next week and want to hear two serious physicists have a conversation about aliens? I will discuss whether aliens speak physics with @mattstrassler.bsky.social on Nov 17 at the Harvard Bookstore. @harvardbookstore.bsky.social

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

At the Harvard Bookstore (the independent bookshop in Harvard Square) at 7pm on Monday November 17th: Professor Whiteson will be talking about his whimsical-yet-serious book and answering tough questions from me and from you. profmattstrassler.com/2025/11/14/e...

profmattstrassler.com

Event with Prof. Daniel Whiteson on Monday November 17 at 7pm

Monday, November 17th at 7pm, I'll be at Harvard Bookstore with particle physicist and author Daniel Whiteson, co-author of "Do Aliens Speak Physics?"

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

⚛️🧪Is Superposition Really an "OR"? If a quantum system is in a superposition state "A+B", does it mean that "A AND B" are true, or that "A OR B " is true, or something else? An example of why ordinary language is not easily applied to #quantum physics. profmattstrassler.com/2025/04/14/i...

profmattstrassler.com

Is Superposition Really an "OR"?

If a quantum system is in a superposition state "A+B", does it mean that "A AND B" are true, or that "A OR B " is true, or something else?

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

⚛️🧪In the #quantum double slit experiment, the famous #interference pattern disappears if we measure which slit the particle went through. Why does it disappear? It's often described in vague, mystical terms, but in fact it's conceptually straightforward: profmattstrassler.com/2025/04/03/d...

profmattstrassler.com

Double Slit: Why Measurement Destroys the Interference Pattern

Measurement eliminates the interference pattern in the quantum double slit experiment. This fact, despite its reputation, is conceptually straightforward.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

⚛️The interference of water waves happens somewhere -- wherever the waves are, obviously. But #quantum interference happens... nowhere. If you try to say exactly where two #entangled particles interfere, you will find yourself lost in space. profmattstrassler.com/2025/03/31/q...

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

⚛️🧪If particles are #entangled, observing #quantum interference effects can be subtle, often requiring measuring multiple particles. As a result, quantum interference cannot generally be located in a specific place, unlike interference of e.g. water waves. profmattstrassler.com/2025/03/31/q...

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

⚛️🧪In the #quantum double-slit experiment, it's natural to ask, "where does the interference occur?" But it's a dicey question: an answer is only possible in special situations, as when the particles are independent (i.e. their behavior is "uncorrelated".) profmattstrassler.com/2025/03/28/q...

profmattstrassler.com

Quantum Interference 4: Independence and Correlation

It's a natural question: "where does quantum interference occur?" But it rarely has an answer, unless e.g. 2 particles are truly independent (uncorrelated.)

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

⚛️🧪The #quantum double-slit experiment shows an interference pattern; but what is interfering with what? Today I explore examples that show how seemingly minor changes can eliminate interference, and why locating the interference in space is ... problematic. profmattstrassler.com/2025/03/26/q...

profmattstrassler.com

Quantum Interference 3: What Is Interfering?

What interferes with what in the quantum double-slit experiment? Minor changes can eliminate interference, & locating the interference in space is misguided

Reposted by Matt Strassler

Brian Cook @2ndadminstate.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

"Nobody really knows what the elementary laws of nature are like yet; there are still too many unknowns." Still, @mattstrassler.bsky.social's astounding book Waves in an Impossible Sea is for me a refuge from the constant barrage of chaos and danger surrounding us right now.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

⚛️🧪Here are 10 examples of simple one- or two-particle systems in #quantum superpositions. Some show quantum interference (like double-slit), others don't. Do you see the pattern that distinguishes the two groups? Why & when does interference happen (...or not)? profmattstrassler.com/2025/03/20/q...

profmattstrassler.com

Quantum Interference 2: When Does It Happen?

Here are 9 examples of simple 2-particle systems in quantum superpositions, some with interference, some without. What pattern distinguishes the 2 sets?

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

⚛️🧪In yesterday's post, I showed a simple example where one particle can give the same #quantum interference as in the double-slit experiment. Then I posed a puzzle about two particles, which has generated a debate in the comments. Can you solve the riddle? profmattstrassler.com/blog/

profmattstrassler.com

Of Particular Significance

Conversations About Science with Theoretical Physicist Matt Strassler

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

⚛️🧪A super-simple example of #quantum #interference, in which an interference pattern emerges #particle by particle (as in the double slit expt). It frames a question clearly: is the particle interfering with itself, or is it not? Answer to follow. profmattstrassler.com/2025/03/18/q...

profmattstrassler.com

Quantum Interference 1: A Simple Example

An example of quantum interference so simple that important questions about the origin of the interference can be investigated explicitly.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

⚛️🧪I've been interviewed on the Blackbird #Physics YouTube channel by UMich. grad student & LHC physicist Ibrahim Chahrour. The interview, aimed largely at physics undergrad & grad students, covers mass, fields, #particles & the #Higgs boson. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly15...

How the Higgs ACTUALLY gives particles Mass - Matt Strassler | Blackbirdphys #3

YouTube video by blackbirdphys

Reposted by Matt Strassler

Drew Olbrich @drewolbrich.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

I was curious about this so I corrected the scale.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

🔭 The eclipsed Moon from Earth, and the eclipsing Earth from the Moon spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload...

spaceweathergallery2.com

Blue Ghost And Earth Comparison Of The Total Solar Eclipse

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

⚛️🧪To make sense of the #quantum double slit experiment, one must first learn this strange lesson: in 1920s quantum physics, the interference arises *neither* from particles moving through both slits *nor* from a wave function moving through both slits. profmattstrassler.com/2025/03/13/d...

profmattstrassler.com

Did the Particle Go Through the Two Slits, or Did the Wave Function?

In the quantum double-slit experiment, did the particle go through the slits or did the wave function? 1920's quantum physics has a simple answer: "NO".

Reposted by Matt Strassler

Manu 🌊🐋 @manelcamacho.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

This is another one that is a "must read" to entertain myself this gloomy/cloudy afternoon... ❤️

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

⚛️🧪Do wave functions describing #quantum objects actually "collapse" (i.e., suddenly change shape and lose pieces) when those objects are measured? Here's how to think about the issue clearly, without getting mired in illogical conundrums and bad arguments profmattstrassler.com/2025/03/10/d...

profmattstrassler.com

Do Quantum Wave Functions Collapse?

Do wave functions "collapse" when the objects they describe are measured? Here's how to think about the issue clearly while avoiding illogical arguments

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

⚛️🧪A #quantum superposition, in which a wave function contains 2 possibilities simultaneously, does not mean that both possibilities occur. It means that one *or* the other may occur; e.g. a quantum particle cannot be observed to go in 2 directions at once. profmattstrassler.com/2025/03/06/c...

profmattstrassler.com

Can a Quantum Particle Move in Two Directions at Once?

A wave function superposition shows a quantum particle moving in either direction, but the particle itself can only be moving in one direction OR the other.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

#quantum #physics: In measurements of ultra-microscopic objects, the resulting measurement evidence is fragile & easily lost. How do experimental physicists preserve the evidence quickly, before it's too late? profmattstrassler.com/2025/03/03/m...

profmattstrassler.com

Making a Measurement Permanent

Evidence in measurements of microscopic particles is fragile & easily lost. Experimental physicists must preserve it quickly, using amplification.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

⚛️🧪What is a measurement? A tricky question, especially in our #quantum world. As a first step, here's a way to think about it: a sketch of a simple measurement device in a simple quantum setting, one that we can use in future in more complex situations. profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/27/w...

profmattstrassler.com

What Is a Measurement?

A measurement requires a device with some important properties that I describe. I then focus on a simple intuitive quantum measurement device

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

⚛️🧪A grasp of the "space of possibilities" [a.k.a. "configuration space"], and how to convert from it to the physical space we live in, is crucial in #physics, especially #quantum physics. I've added an article to help readers develop more intuition for it. profmattstrassler.com/articles-and...

profmattstrassler.com

Understanding the Space of Possibilities: An Example

To understand quantum physics, one must first understand the space of possibilities. Simple illustrative examples are covered here.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

⚛️🧪#Wave functions in #quantum field theory are hard to visualize, & thus hard to understand. Today I address that problem, partially depicting the wave function for a field's vacuum state (no "particles") & comparing it to that of a state with 1 "particle". profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/25/t...

profmattstrassler.com

The Particle and the "Particle" (Part 2)

I depict and explain the wave function for quantum field theory, for both the vacuum state (with zero particles) and for a state with one particle in it.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

⚛️🧪A #particle in 1920s #quantum #physics is a different beast from a "particle" in modern quantum field theory. This important distinction is inherently confusing. My aim this week is to bring a new level of pedagogical clarity to this tricky issue. profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/24/t...

profmattstrassler.com

The Particle and the "Particle" (Part 1)

A particle in 1920s quantum physics is a different beast from a "particle" in modern quantum field theory. I use novel methods to explain this tricky issue

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

⚛️🧪From this example one can see (even more so in the 2-dimensional versions) that in 1920s quantum physics the double-slit interference pattern arises from interfering *possibilities*. [But caution: quantum field theory changes the perspective!] profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/20/c...

profmattstrassler.com

Can You Interpret This Quantum Wave Function?

A challenge for readers: here's a wave function evolving over time, as I described in a post earlier this week. Can you interpret what is happening here?

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

⚛️🧪Yesterday I posted an animation of a #quantum wave function & asked readers to try to interpret it. Most people thought it shows 2 particles passing/colliding. In fact it shows just one particle in the midst of a disguised double-slit experiment! profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/21/i...

profmattstrassler.com

It was the Double Slit Experiment All Along!

The animation of a quantum wave function that I posted yesterday shows one particle, not two, and is closely related to the double slit experiment.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

⚛️Most people -- even #physics students -- mistakenly think this #quantum wave function shows two #particles approaching each other and interfering with one another. But no. What, in fact, is it?

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

⚛️🧪A brain teaser for blog readers: here's an interesting #quantum #wave function evolving over time, shown 3 ways. Can you interpret what this wave function describes? Note the interference effects... what do they represent? Answers tomorrow. profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/20/c...

profmattstrassler.com

Can You Interpret This Quantum Wave Function?

A challenge for readers: here's a wave function evolving over time, as I described in a post earlier this week. Can you interpret what is happening here?

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

⚛️🧪What is a wave function in #quantum #physics? It's not a thing; it sits outside the physical system it describes. Its origin dates to the 1830s, not the 1920s; the word "#wave" in its name often isn't appropriate; and one needn't even use it. profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/19/s...

profmattstrassler.com

More On Wave Functions: Simple and Complex

What is Schroedinger's quantum wave function for, in what sense does it wave, and what's the wider context for it across physics?

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

⚛️🧪Actor & science communication expert Alan Alda has a #podcast "Clear & Vivid" which often covers topics in #science and science communication. I was delighted to be on the podcast; our conversation about waves of the cosmos & my recent book is now posted clear-vivid-with-alan-alda.simplecast.com

clear-vivid-with-alan-alda.simplecast.com

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Learn to connect better with others in every area of your life. Immerse yourself in spirited conversations with people who know how hard it is, and yet how good it feels, to really connect with other ...

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Tomorrow is PODCAST DAY! Alan Alda speaks with with @mattstrassler.bsky.social . What Are You Made Of? The answer, regrettably, is unbelievable... Available tomorrow 👉 bit.ly/3Q0rUMV After production costs, all proceeds of #ClearAndVivid go to @AldaCenter . 🗣️💙

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Learn to connect better with others in every area of your life. Immerse yourself in spirited conversations with people who know how hard it is, and yet how good it feels, to really connect with other ...

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

⚛️🧪How should you visualize a Schroedinger wavefunction in #quantum #physics? Here are a few methods that are useful in simple cases. In more complicated situations, one or another of these methods may still work, so it's good to be familiar with them all. profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/17/h...

profmattstrassler.com

How to Visualize a Wave Function

Here are a few methods that are useful for visualizing a quantum wavefunction in simple cases; they sometimes work in complicated cases too.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

More BlueSky in Europe, which needs as much as it can get

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

⚛️🧪Spikes in images from the Large Hadron Collider are reminiscent of those seen in recording studios; indeed, the universe resembles a #musical instrument. But it's out of tune, and we don't know how it got its specific "notes". #ParticlePhysics #HiggsField profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/13/a...

profmattstrassler.com

Article for Pioneer Works, On the Musical Nature of Particle Physics

Spikes seen in graphs from the Large Hadron Collider resemble spikes seen in musical recording studios, reflecting cosmic resonance and a musical universe

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

⚛️🧪From Pioneer Works, my new article on their "Picture This" series. "Our universe is out of tune. For PW Broadcast, theoretical physicist Matt Strassler reveals how cosmic frequencies arise from the Higgs field." pioneerworks.org/broadcast/pi...

pioneerworks.org

Picture This: Our Universe Is Out of Tune | Broadcast

On how cosmic frequencies arise from the Higgs Field.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

⚛️🧪Today I'll show you why #particles of infinitesimal size are incompatible with #quantum #physics of the 1920s: defining such objects requires the inclusion of #Einstein's #relativity, but doing so breaks apart the whole conceptual/mathematical structure. profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/11/e...

profmattstrassler.com

Elementary Particles Do Not Exist (Part 2)

Because states of definite position have arbitrarily high energy, 1920s quantum physics is incompatible with the existence of elementary particles

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

⚛️Do elementary #particles, in the sense of infinitesimally small objects, actually exist? Arguably no. And certainly not in "quantum mechanics", the #quantum #physics of the 1920s. (1st of 2 posts: on the quantum symmetry between position and motion) profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/10/e...

profmattstrassler.com

In 1920s Quantum Physics, True Particles Do Not Exist

True elementary particles, meaning objects of infinitestimal size, do not exist -- and certainly not in quantum mechanics of the '20s. First post of two.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Just so you're keeping score: the judicial branch no longer has a role to play, according to the executive branch.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Bluesky, out across the great ocean to a special port

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

From Robert Reich: "According to the best source I’ve found on this (Nathan Tankus’s Crises Notes), Musk and his rats have now gained unrestricted access to your Social Security number, your confidential bank information, your confidential medical information, and much more."

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

🧪As expected, the Musk/Trump govt has attacked the US #university system. As of Monday, apparently, overhead on National Institute of Health grants is capped at 15%, with massive impact on every #research university. Other govt agencies will surely follow. profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/09/a...

profmattstrassler.com

An Attack on US Universities

Musk/Trump have decided that research institutions that get NIH grants will immediately have their "overhead" capped at 15%, crushing their budgets.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

⚛️🧪What's an electron? The answer changed dramatically from 1900 to 1925 to 1950. The 1920s view, that of Heisenberg and Schrodinger, is best known, but is out of date and rather misleading. The modern view comes from #quantum field theory of the 1950s. profmattstrassler.com/2025/02/06/w...

profmattstrassler.com

What is an Electron? How Times Have Changed

Ideas on the nature of an electron changed dramatically from 1900 to 1925 to 1950. The 1920s view is best known, but misleading; one needs the 1950s view.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

The sky may be blue. But these are bad, bad lands, with no obvious safe passage, and the heat is insufferable. The only good news is that these mountains are much smaller than they appear.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

🔭⚛️🧪I had a great conversation about #physics, #humans & the #universe with @dylan_curious (YouTube channel with a focus on #AI) covering everything from electrons to aliens to the universe-as-a-simulation (complete with glitches[?!]) I'm sure you'll enjoy it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=L46t...

Time Is a Lie (Blame Gravity) - Matt Strassler

YouTube video by Dylan Curious

Reposted by Matt Strassler

James Wells @jwellsx.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

100 years of Quantum Mechanics: George Uhlenbeck and Samuel Goudsmit postulated in 1925 the idea of intrinsic angular moment of the electron, which we now call spin. Three years later it would be incorporated into Dirac’s relativistically covariant theory of fermions (the “Dirac equation”).

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

At the #LHC, ordinary jets (sprays of particles) are common, and not easy to distinguish from "jets-of-jets" caused by new particles subject to a new strong force. Recently, using a simple, elegant method, the ATLAS experiment searched for jets-of-jets. profmattstrassler.com/2025/01/29/a...

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

⚛️ #Quantum #Physics; so strange, subtle, & hard to make sense of. In 2025, a quantum centenary, I'll take on some of its difficult questions on my blog. To start: the (in)famous double-slit experiment, examined with the extreme care that it requires: profmattstrassler.com/2025/01/16/d...

profmattstrassler.com

Double Trouble: The Quantum Two-Slit Experiment (1)

In 2025, a quantum centenary, I'll tackle quantum questions. To start: the (in)famous double-slit experiment, examined with very great care.

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

The sky is still blue somewhere. In Japan, for instance. Autumn is a time for wistful melancholy, savoring the last days of warmth before a brutal winter..

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Somewhere, far from here, the sky is still blue

Matt Strassler @mattstrassler.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

The best thing about the inauguration being indoors is that the size of the attending crowd can't so easily be overestimated.