PORTLAND, Ore. — Researchers have been able to stop and start chemical reactions between molecules at temperatures colder than the depths of outer space. And new theoretical descriptions help explain the quantum mechanical details of these ultracold chemical reactions.
The details, presented March 17 at a meeting of the American Physical Society, offer glimpses into the burgeoning field of ultracold physics, which enables the creation of strange new states of matter and has potential applications in quantum computers and precision measurement devices (SN: 12/20/08, p.
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