Abstract
The author, a sculptor with a background in physics, describes sculptures he creates inspired by quantum physics. He argues that art such as the presented sculptures can indicate aspects of reality that science cannot and therefore has the potential to help liberate us from the deep impact the paradigm of classical physics continues to have on our every perception of reality.
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Notes
- 1.
“Classical physics” refers to the physics before the twentieth century advent of quantum physics.
- 2.
These models often contain an additional imprecision in that they illustrate only the angular dependence of the wave-function without including the radial one. I am sure many if not most scientists would draw these spherical harmonics if asked to depict ‘what a hydrogen atom looks like’.
- 3.
The double-slit experiment is a beautifully simple experimental setup that consists of a beam of particles or light that is sent through two neighboring openings, the slits. The detected pattern behind the slits (“interference pattern”) reveals whether or not the beam has traveled as a wave and passed through both openings at once.
- 4.
Our experiment was technically not a double-slit experiment since we used a grating with more than two slits. But the difference is not significant because the wave-function of one buckyball extends coherently only over about two slits in width.
- 5.
A very small distance (1.6 × 10−35 m) that is thought to be of fundamental meaning in physics.
- 6.
Richard Feynman’s path integral formalism is a tool for calculating quantum mechanical probabilities by adding up all possible paths (“sum over histories”). This is done by “slicing up time” to parameterize arbitrary paths. The slabs suggest the time slices and the irregularly placed rods the random path points. See also the description of Night Path (2009) in the last section.
- 7.
For footage of the sculpture displaying this effect see V. Patton, “Quantum Sculptures with Julian Voss-Andreae,” Oregon Art Beat (Oregon Public Broadcasting TV) Episode 1012 (2008); URL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqsQYVFAgPo (link checked September 2011).
- 8.
“Quantum Objects” was part of the three-person exhibition “Worlds Within Worlds” (Fall 2009–Spring 2010).
- 9.
URL http://www.julianvossandreae.com/under “Work” and “Archive” (link checked September 2011).
- 10.
What is imaged in this experiment is essentially the square of the surface state electrons’ wave-function.
- 11.
The same had been done to prepare all the published images of the quantum corral including the images in the original publication by Crommie et al. (1993, 218–220).
- 12.
“Cannot be observed” in this context does not mean “when nobody looks”, but rather that an observation is in principle impossible because there is no physical carrier of information (e.g. a photon that could get detected by an observer’s eye).
- 13.
For a more detailed discussion about the relationship between Night Path and the physics that inspired it, see Ball (2009, 416) and the Q&A section in Philip Ball’s blog “homunculus”, URL http://www.philipball.blogspot.com/2009/11/quantum-objects.html (link checked September 2011).
- 14.
For quantum mechanical wave-functions the situation is actually similar since the kinetic energy operator in the Schrödinger equation involves a second derivative, i.e. the curvature, of the wave-function.
- 15.
Einstein famously called this fascinating phenomenon “spukhafte Fernwirkung” (spooky action at a distance).
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Ball, P. (2009). Quantum objects on show. Nature, 462, 416. Accessed September 2011, from http://www.JulianVossAndreae.com/Artist/resume/articles/2009_11_26_Nature.pdf
Bohr, N. (1935). Can quantum-mechanical description of physical reality be considered complete? Physics Review, 48, 696–702.
Crommie, M. F., Lutz, C., & Eigler, D. (1993). Confinement of electrons to quantum corrals on a metal surface. Science, 262, 218–220.
Einstein, A., Podolsky, B., & Rosen, N. (1935). Can quantum-mechanical description of physical reality be considered complete? Physics Review, 47, 777–780.
Pacioli, L. (1509). De Divina Proportione. Venice.
Service, R. (2006). Dual nature. Science, 313, 913 Accessed September 2011, from http://www.JulianVossAndreae.com/Artist/resume/images/2006_08_18_Science.pdf
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Acknowledgments
I would like to express my thanks to the following people: Sarah Tanguy invited me to show new sculptural works at the American Center for Physics which resulted in the “Quantum Objects” exhibition; Philip Ball asked me tough questions for his review in “Nature” which forced me to think more deeply about the topic; I had many discussions with George Weissmann about quantum physics and the implications it has on our world view and I am especially indebted to him for his central contributions to this manuscript. I am also very thankful to all the people who read the manuscript and gave me valuable feedback: Leo Gross, Jack R. Leibowitz, Michael May, Arthur I. Miller, and Kenneth Snelson as well as the six anonymous reviewers from Leonardo and the Bridges 2010 conference. They all provided excellent comments which benefitted the paper greatly. And last, but by no means least, I would like to thank my wife Adriana for always inspiring me, carefully reading and editing this manuscript and, most importantly, her love.
A version of this chapter has been published as a paper in Bridges Pécs, Conference Proceedings of Bridges: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science held 24–28 July 2010 in Pécs, Hungary, edited by George W. Hart and Reza Sarhangi, 3–10. Phoenix: Tessellations Publishing, 2010.
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Voss-Andreae, J. (2017). Quantum Sculpture: Art Inspired by the Deeper Nature of Reality. In: Fenyvesi, K., Lähdesmäki, T. (eds) Aesthetics of Interdisciplinarity: Art and Mathematics. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57259-8_15
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