← All parts of this equation

Equation 125 · Part 3 · The Clock That Comes Back Wrong by Exactly Its Mass

=

T=1 sT=1\,\mathrm s
=

What this part means

The expressions on both sides represent the same quantity under the stated assumptions.

Its job in the formula

The equals sign connects the complete expression on the left with the complete expression on the right. Both sides must have compatible units.

The passage around this formula

The scale of what needs to be canceled is worth stating plainly, using the same illustrative parameters as the previous section. The laser/center-of-mass term for a single-photon transition near 698\,nm\mathrm{nm} ( keffk_{\rm eff}≈\approx9.00×\times10^6\,m−1\mathrm{m^{-1}} ) scales as keffk_{\rm eff}gT2T^2≈\approx8.8×\times10^{7}\,rad\mathrm{rad} for T=1\,s\mathrm s . The recoil term for a strontium-mass atom ( m≈\approx1.443×\times10^{-25}\,kg\mathrm{kg} ) scales as ℏ\hbar keff2k_{\rm eff}^2T/m≈\approx5.9×\times10^{4}\,rad\mathrm{rad} . The clock term computed above is ≈\approx0.29\,rad\mathrm{rad} . Both confound terms are, respectively, roughly eight and five orders of magnitude larger than the signal, which is exactly why…

Read this part in the article →

Learn the underlying idea

An equals sign says that the expression on its left and the expression on its right have the same value under the stated definitions and assumptions.

Open the illustrated equality: what the equals sign claims guide →

Sources cited in the article section

These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.