«Quàntica» at CCCB

On 9th April at 19:00 the exhibition «Quantum» will open at Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) until  24th September 2019.  The exhibition counts on the scientific advice of José Ignacio Latorre, researcher at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) and full professor of the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics of the same university, as well as the intervention of different members and projects of this Institute.

«Quantum»  wants to provide the keys to understand the principles of this discipline through the creative work of scientists and artists. The exhibition is a coproduction which is Europe-wide in scope curated by Mónica Bello (curator and head of Arts at CERN) and José Carlos Mariátegui (curator), along with the physicist José Ignacio Latorre (ICCUB) as the scientific advisor.

The exhibition has its origins in the Arts programme at CERN, which aims to approach the research of its particle accelerator to the general public, by means of artistic creation. «Quantum» also presents a scientific route so that the public can explore the elemental reality described by quantum physics—a reality that is present in the world but hidden from human senses—and the technology deriving from it.

The scientific display consists of both digital panels, as well as laboratory instruments, and is complemented by debates and talks or even classes for both physics students and the general public. The Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB) and the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics of the University of Barcelona participate in this part of the exhibition with different activities and facilities.  Among these, there displays of «Simulations of quantum physics»  carried out in a collaboration project between undergraduates, professors and researchers of the ICCUB, a talk «What do we mean when we speak of quantum physics?» with researchers David Mateos (ICREA-ICCUB) and Maciej Lewenstein (ICREA), a video featuring the PhD student Alba Cervera (ICCUB), researcher in quantum computing, or a guided visit to the exhibition by its scientific advisor, José Ignacio Latorre(ICCUB).  The exhibit also includes the classic experiment of Helium spectrum, an experiment that allow to quantiphy the energy levels of the atom, or the experiment of the double slit with laser designed by the Applied Physics department.