Scientists stop a quantum particle using a magnetic field it never crossed

What happened

Physicists at the University of Oxford have recreated this counterintuitive behavior using a hybrid quantum computer, demonstrating the Aharonov–Bohm effect in a simulated quantum system. Quantum particles can move between two locations through a process called tunneling.

The Aharonov–Bohm effect occurs when a particle traveling around a region containing magnetic flux experiences a change in its quantum phase, even though it never passes through the magnetic field itself. In the Oxford University experiment, this effect caused the particle’s possible paths to cancel each other out, completely suppressing its tunneling between two locations.

These findings could help scientists simulate fundamental interactions that are increasingly difficult to model using conventional computers. Building a quantum loop from trapped ions In everyday physics, a charged particle responds to the electric and magnetic fields it encounters.