Equation 7 · Part 1 · Decoherence: The Quiet Selection That Makes the World Look Solid
superscript
superscript
What this part means
A raised number can be a power. When it is a label or bound, it selects a case or the upper limit of a sum; the formula’s structure distinguishes these uses.
Its job in the formula
A raised mark can be a power or an index. Its position and the surrounding notation determine which.
Full expression→superscript→Article meaning
The passage around this formula
Here is what Joos and Zeh call the localization rate: a single number, with units of inverse length squared per unit time, built from the scattering cross-section of the object, the flux and momentum of whatever is doing the scattering, and nothing else [ 7 ] . Everything about how fast a given superposition dies is contained in , and is a number you can actually compute for a real object in a real environment — which is exactly what Joos and Zeh went on to do, in the paper’s Table 2, for three sizes of hypothetical “dust particle”: a large grain of radius 10^{-3} centimetres, a small grain of 10^{-5} centimetres, and a body of 10^{-6} centimetres that the paper…
Learn the underlying idea
An exponent tells how a base is used in multiplication. In x³, x is the base and 3 is the exponent: x³ = x × x × x.
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Sources cited in the surrounding passage
These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.