Quantum physicists in Oriol Romero-Isart's research group in Innsbruck show in two current publications that, despite Earnshaw's theorem, nanomagnets can be stably levitated in an external static magnetic field owing to quantum mechanical principles. The quantum angular momentum of electrons, which also causes magnetism, is accountable for this mechanism. Already in 1842, British mathematician Samuel Earnshaw proved that there is no stable c...

Physicists have developed a new protocol to detect entanglement of many-particle quantum states using a much easier approach. The new protocol, now published in Nature Physics, is particularly interesting for characterising entanglement in systems involving many particles. These systems could help us not only to improve our understanding of matter but to develop measurement techniques beyond current existing technologies.