Entangled Boxes as a Quantum Physics Teaching Tool

Matej Peranić, Martin Lončarić, Anton Radman +1 more

Jean-Baptiste Lamy

Quantum computing has emerged recently as a new computational paradigm. It considers quantum bits (qubits) instead of classical bits. However, quantum algorithms are often very difficult to understand. In this paper, we propose a tool for quantum software visualization. It presents visually the state of multiple-qubits and its evolution at runtime during the execution of a quantum program. This tool allows a unique representation of a quantum state, contrary to the usual vector notation. We show how the problem of visualizing a quantum state can be reduced to a set visualization problem, and our tool uses rainbow boxes to visualize the resulting sets. We also present the application of the proposed tool to quantum teleportation, an algorithm of high importance in cryptography. Finally, we discuss the limit of this approach and its perspectives, in particular for teaching quantum computing.

Dick J. Hoekzema, Ed van den Berg, Gert Schooten +1 more

The combination of mathematical and conceptual difficulties makes teaching quantum physics at secondary schools a precarious undertaking. With many of the conceptual difficulties being unavoidable, simplifying the mathematics becomes top priority. The particle/wave-in-a-box provides a teaching model which includes many aspects of serious quantum physics, while avoiding most of the mathematics. In a Dutch quantum physics project for secondary schools, this model was adopted to play a key role. Much to our surprise, we ran into many more applications than we originally expected. In many instances the model yields order of magnitude estimates, for instance of atomic and nuclear size, or qualitative insights, for instance about energy levels, molecular bonding and electron pressure. Moreover, either directly or with minor modifications, the particle-in-a-box model provides reasonable approximations of a range of phenomena, including the absorption spectra of organic pigments, the mass of the proton and the spectra of quantum dots.

Kater W. Murch

Gesche Pospiech

Stefan Aehle, Philipp Scheiger, Holger Cartarius

With quantum physics being a particularly difficult subject to teach because of its contextual distance from everyday life, the need for multiperspective teaching material arises. Quantum physics education aims at exploring these methods but often lacks physical models and haptic components. In this paper, we provide two analog models and corresponding teaching concepts that present analogies to quantum phenomena for implementation in secondary school and university classrooms: While the first model focuses on the polarization of single photons and the deduction of reasoning tools for elementary comprehension of quantum theory, the second model investigates analog Hardy experiments as an alternative to Bell’s theorem. We show how working with physical models to compare classical and quantum perspectives has proven helpful for novice learners to grasp the abstract nature of quantum experiments and discuss our findings as an addition to existing quantum physics teaching concepts.