Mayank Shreshtha
@shreshthamayank.bsky.social
810 followers 2.6K following 78 posts
Scientific writer @ Cambridge | Science illustrator | I write about quiet corners of physics | Substack: https://substack.com/@appreciatingtheordinary Portfolio: https://mayankshreshthai.myportfolio.com/ "Illustrating the unseen. Writing the overlooked."
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Reposted by Mayank Shreshtha
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
4/ In some quantum processes, the order isn’t fixed. Operations can be in a superposition of “A then B” and “B then A.” That’s indefinite causal order—the essence of a quantum switch.

#QuantumPhysics #Physics #SciArt #IYQ2025 #Quantum
@ioppublishing.bsky.social @iopp-quantum.bsky.social
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
1/ Kitchen thought experiment (v1): Alice drops a glass → the crash startles Bob → he knocks bowls onto his toe → yelp.

2/
Kitchen thought experiment (v2): Bob knocks bowls onto his toe → the yelp startles Alice → she drops a glass. Which happened first?
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
New @physicsworld.bsky.social illustration: what if quantum superposition applies to time and causality (cause and effect? Indefinite causal order asks whether A causes B, B causes A…or both at once. I made a simplified take for quantum switches.

#QuantumPhysics #Physics #SciArt #IYQ2025 #Quantum
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
... sometimes obscure work quietly laying the groundwork for revolutions that will infiltrate some of the most essential aspects of our lives 50 years from now."
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
"If you're reading this on a phone or laptop, you’re holding the result of a gamble someone once made on curiosity. That same curiosity is still alive in university and research labs today—in often unglamorous, ...
www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/08/1...
Why basic science deserves our boldest investment
The humble inventions that power our modern world wouldn’t have been possible without decades of support for early-stage research.
www.technologyreview.com
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
Note: Article's online version currently has some resolution issues.

#sciart #quantum #physics #IYQ2025 #scicomm
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
My main job was to model Chaplin's (fast-and-slow) gait based on the given brief. The other two subfigures contain technical details; subfigure (C) has some artwork (pink wave packets) given by Dr Arnab Chakrabarti. This work was done more than two years ago, and finally it's here!
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
Apparently, a similar strategy was adopted by Arnab Chakrabarti, Biswarup Ash, Igor Mazets, Xi Chen and Gershon Kurizki to model how to transport fragile quantum matter before it leaks out of its shallow trap. This study was published last week in @natcomms.nature.com @natureportfolio.nature.com
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
Unknowingly, especially when we are in a hurry, a general strategy that we all generally follow is to vary our pace: fast, slow, fast, slow . . . destination. This peculiar choreography, quick steps, then slowing down, then quick again, cancels the impending slosh.
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
Modern life is very difficult these days, especially while walking with a hot drink (filled to the brim). Some of us tiptoe; some walk fast enough to prevent the spilling; others proceed carefully and slowly towards the ultimate destination.
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
The study reveals the secrets of a mysterious state of matter, the pseudogap, where electrons blur into a diffuse, entangled soup before the material locks into a Mott insulator.

arXiv link: arxiv.org/pdf/2507.17201

#CondMatt #QuantumMaterials #MetalInsulatorTransition #MottInsulator #ArXiv
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
Electrons usually flow freely in metals and stall in insulators, but some “quantum materials” can flip between the two. The schematic was made for a preprint that visualises this transition.
#Science #Physics #MaterialsScience #ResearchHighlight #quantum #entanglement #SciArt
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
It was nice to stumble upon my @physicsworld.bsky.social PW's 'Cheshire cat' coverart in the office today :)

#sciart #physics #Quantum
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
An excellent and nuanced piece of science journalism with fresh analogies, role of entanglement, and strangeness of 'Strange Metals' by @zacksavitsky.bsky.social @science.org

#quantum #quantummatter #condmat #scicomm #physics
zacksavitsky.bsky.social
in a copper-clad laboratory in Vienna, the textbook understanding of electricity is starting to crack. what’s emerging is a new vision of electronics without the electron.

my latest feature for @science.org

www.science.org/content/arti...
‘Strange metals’ point to a whole new way to understand electricity
Exotic materials with bizarre electron behavior could pave the road to revolutionary technologies
www.science.org
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
Physics World Helgoland post link: [3/3]

bsky.app/profile/phys...
physicsworld.bsky.social
The free-to-read Physics World Quantum Briefing on display on the island of Helgoland, just metres from where Werner Heisenberg did his seminal work on quantum mechanics 100 years ago. It includes a great article on quantum Cheshire cats from Iulia Georgescu.
🧪⚛️🔭
physicsworld.com/p/magazine/a...
Photo of Physics World Quantum Briefing on the island of Helgoland.
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
This issue features all three of my illustration projects compiled in 'Quantum Mystery' section.

Quantum Briefing Link: [2/3]

shorturl.at/bDPLq
Physics World Quantum Briefing 2025 – Physics World
shorturl.at
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
Recently, a few pictures made me happy:

1. My 'Quantum Cheshire Cat' illustration is on the June 2025 @physicsworld.bsky.social cover.

2. A century after Heisenberg’s Helgoland breakthrough, my work appears near that very spot in Quantum Briefing 2025. Source: Physics World [1/3]
Reposted by Mayank Shreshtha
physicsworld.bsky.social
The free-to-read Physics World Quantum Briefing on display on the island of Helgoland, just metres from where Werner Heisenberg did his seminal work on quantum mechanics 100 years ago. It includes a great article on quantum Cheshire cats from Iulia Georgescu.
🧪⚛️🔭
physicsworld.com/p/magazine/a...
Photo of Physics World Quantum Briefing on the island of Helgoland.
shreshthamayank.bsky.social
Happy (more than happy!) to see my illustrations at this special spot 😊

bsky.app/profile/shre...
matindurrani.bsky.social
Physics World Quantum Briefing as seen at the very spot in Helgoland where Werner Heisenberg had his pioneering insights into quantum mechanics 100 years ago in June 1925. Check the issue out here.

physicsworld.com/p/magazine/a...