Anti-Matter and Quantum Relativity

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Book recommendations:
The Quantum Divide, by Christopher Gerry & Kimberley Bruno
The Character of Physical Law, by Richard Feynman

Previous Episode:
Supervoids vs Colliding Universes

It’s 1928. Over the past quarter century, the greatest geniuses of the modern era discovered the two keys to the fundamental nature of reality. Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity had changed forever the way we think of motion, space, and time. And the emerging field of quantum mechanics had radically altered our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of the universe. Yet this year one brilliant insight would bring these theories together and unveil the quantum fabric of reality. It would also predict the existence of antimatter.

Written and Hosted by Matt O’Dowd
Produced by Rusty Ward
Graphics by Kurt Ross

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[atimholt]

Before channels like PBS Space Time, I was getting pretty tired of popular-science videos that only ever repeated the same tired analogies, pausing explanatory narration in order to stretch out the analogy with low-budget CG animations.

[lubbnetobb]

"it opened more questions then it answered". I feel like this is pretty much quantum mechanics in a nutshell.

[Ja-csft]

(5:38) "But the resulting equation was so simple and elegant..." - *shows ancient alien runes*

[vacuumdiagrams]

I think it's worth pointing out that Schrödinger himself was no dummy, and wrote a fully relativistic equation before the one that bears his name. However, he didn't know what to do with the negative energy solutions, so he gave up (the Dirac sea picture wouldn't work for his equation because it described bosons and not fermions). This equation is now known as the "Klein-Gordon equation".

Good video as usual.

[EatingCtrlV]

Very excited for Quantum Field Theory.
I never want to stop learning.

[davizitopa]

As soon as Dirac wrote his equation which worked perfectly but only if something else existed, programmers began to hurriedly patch the simulation to match it. 2 years later the anti-matter patch was released.

[FrozenEspada]

Just remembered why I'm subbed to this channel. I love this stuff.

[Holobrine]

This channel is becoming PBS Quantum. Not complaining, I think it's actually cool!

[BurakBagdatli]

To everyone who question this arbitrary addition of states to problems, this method isn't at all weird, convenient, or arbitrary. It's a conceptual hypothesis. The thought goes like this:
"What if there was 1 more degree of freedom that we haven't found yet? Well, let's see what the necessary consequences of such an extra DoF by working out the math. Oh look the consequences in the math world matches the observed universe very well. Until someone can explain this 'better' or find an experimental result that conflicts the necessary consequences worked out in math, the extra DoF will be taken as truth."

There's nothing weird or mystical about this process. Newton went through the same process. He invented this "force" that pulls "mass"es towards each other. It's a conceptual invention that doesn't require any other reason to exist other than the fact that if it were to exist, we'd be observing exactly what we're observing.

[NINJSTK]

This is the first time anyone has explained how artistic the Dirac equation truly is.

It's beautiful.

[apot]

Matt. I'm a huge fan of this series. It's really one of my favorite things to watch. I'm a 31 year old psychologist and I probably would have gone into physics had I a greater propensity for difficult math. What I love about your series is that you make complicated topics digestible for laypeople without dumbing them down at all (i.e., you do not insult our intelligence at all). I can also tell you are heartfelt and passionate about what you do. I must say, however, that in this episode I was a bit lost. I miss some of the earlier episodes when you really laid the groundwork for fundamental topics with rich graphics and detailed descriptions. Regardless, I remain an avid viewer. Thanks, and I look forward to future episodes!!

[mrpedrobraga]

6:58

Nagative energy... First typo I have even seen :O

Must mean I'm paying attention

[JustinDeFouw]

I love how Space Time keeps it real and is not afraid to speak science.

[nrdkraft]

I like how he says “unpronounceable username” but that doesn’t stop him from trying anyway🤣

[maxtaylor]

This is why I love this channel. Most Physics channels explain things in basic ways. This is more friendly to those of use who like the more advanced explanations.

[MobiusCoin]

This is the FIRST TIME despite asking many knowledgeable people, someone has successfully explained to me in detail the inherent incompatibility of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. THANK YOU!

[minh-tuanp]

Just as I suspected... fidget spinners are everywhere, even at the quantum level.

[tanvach]

Thank you for explaining the Dirac's equation in just the right amount of detail. So rare to watch a popular science video that's not completely dumbed down!

[dexterrity]

What could make me more excited than finishing my exams for the semester? Oh yeah, a new Space Time video.

[jpendersen]

Came here after watching a flat earther video.... Needed to get my head back in order.