The Semi-Science of Pym Particles : How to Access the Quantum Realm

Ant-Man and the Wasp are quite unconventional heroes in the MCU. They do have skills as regular humans; but their main ability is to shrink and expand in size. In fights they skillfully use this size-changing ability to stay on top of the game.

This size-changing ability is the credit of the Pym particle technology by Dr. Hank Pym, the first Ant-Man. As explained in the movie Ant-Man, the Pym particles can increase or reduce the atomic distances in a target object, thus increasing or decreasing the object’s size. However, this explanation immediately leads to contradictions with the incidents shown in the movies. I am listing them here.

1.        Here is the most basic problem we see. Even if the atomic separations are changed, the atoms themselves are unchanged. This means, the mass of a 70kg-person is totally unchanged. So, there is no way that an ant can carry around Ant-Man on its back, and the Wasp can fly with such small wings. There is no way a person can carry cars, tanks and entire buildings, even if their sizes are shrunk. On the other hand, in giant size, the atomic separations will be so large that the heroes’ bodies will become as soft as thin air — not useful in battles at all!

2.        Now here is the serious problem. If the atoms themselves are unchanged, their total size can never be less than that of a single atom. So, the heroes can never become subatomic, they can never go into the quantum realm, and climactic events like the entire End Game movie cannot happen.

However, these problems can be resolved by fixing a few things. I shall talk about them from two perspectives — a story perspective and a physics perspective.

From the story perspective, the MCU has tried to establish that Dr. Pym invented the Pym particle formula. But this fact is to be modified. The story can be as if the Pym particles already existed in nature, and Dr. Pym discovered them — just like the discovery of electron, nucleons and other subatomic particles. When J. J. Thomson discovered electron, I am sure he could not imagine what crazy quantum stuff scientists would do in the 21st century using electrons. Similarly, when Dr. Pym discovered Pym particles, he did not know what could be done using them. Let us say he worked out a basic (semi-classical) theory, which explained that Pym particles could alter atomic distances; but the subatomic scales could not be explained by his theory. This is like Newton’s law of gravitation, which can explain basic phenomena, but cannot explain deeper facts for which Einstein’s relativity is required.

So, in my version of the story, this is what happened. Dr. Pym eventually developed technologies to use Pym particles to manipulate atomic distances. During his research he realized that there was more to these particles. They showed some serious quantum phenomena at subatomic level. He did some work on that in the initial years, but not full-time. Because of his commitment to the Government, he invested most of his work hours to develop his technologies, while also operating as the first Ant-Man.

But he realized the importance of seriously working out the quantum theory the hard way, when his wife Janet, the first Wasp, made the ultimate sacrifice. If he would have developed the quantum theory and technology earlier, his wife could have come back from the quantum realm. So he started spending his years to work on the quantum theory. Eventually, during the events of the movie Ant-Man and the Wasp, he successfully cracked the problem.

What does his quantum theory explain? This is where the physics perspective comes. Pym particles must have properties so that they can give subatomic sizes to objects and also alter their mass. A possible way of changing the size is to modify the nuclear size and electronic orbitals. In my version of the theory, the Pym particles can modify the probability of where the electrons, protons and neutrons of an atom can exist, thus modifying the nucleus and orbitals. To achieve giant size, the nuclear and orbital sizes can be increased, thus expanding the atoms themselves. So no air-like gap is required to be formed between the atoms; instead, the original atomic configuration itself can acquire an expanded size.

A process similar to this one can be done in reverse to achieve the regular small size. However, achieving the subatomic size is the real tricky problem. In my theory, at first the size of each atom reduces in the above process. And then, all atoms as quantum wavefunctions overlap on top of one another to make a complicated subatomic-sized wavefunction. Thus, the heroes go subatomic and enter the quantum realm. But even in the complicated superposition state, the atoms are capable of keeping their regular interactions unchanged, thanks to the Pym particles. Because of this, the heroes’ minds are able to function in a regular way, and they are able to perceive their own bodies and all objects around them in usual forms. This is the most important part of all. If this does not happen, then all people and objects will be destroyed in the shrinking process — the way the Yellow Jacket technology kept failing in the beginning.

As the size-change is explained, we now have to find an explanation for the mass-change. Particle physics describes processes by which subatomic particles acquire their mass. These processes are in turn fundamentally related to Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence. So, in my theory, Pym particles can alter these quantum processes and redistribute the energy. They can absorb energy from nature and increase the mass of the atoms to achieve giant size; and also can disperse the mass-energy of the atoms and decrease their mass to achieve small size. In this way they can always keep a balance between the size and mass of the objects.

Punching dragons while being in giant size is surely a practical advantage of having a huge mass. But the real significance of the change in mass lies somewhere else. If the heroes become subatomic without any change in mass, they will practically become subatomic black holes, threatening the existence of the entire planet. So it is really important for the mass to change with size.

This summarizes my theory on Pym particles. Let me know what you think about it. Also you can share your own ideas in the comments below.

P.S.  Some More ‘Semi-Physics’

Since you have read the whole article by now, I am sure you are very much interested in physics, and also in exploring scientific explanations of story-concepts. So here is a bonus thought for you.

As I have said, the Pym particles can absorb energy from nature and also can disperse energy to nature. But how much amount of energy is that? We are talking about entire buildings here. If this much amount of mass-energy is released within a fraction of a second during the shrinking process, the effect will be as severe as a really powerful nuclear explosion. On the other hand, the same amount of energy is nowhere available in the surroundings to be absorbed during the expanding process. How does the energy redistribution happen then?

The answer lies once again in the nature of the Pym particles. They operate in the quantum scale. And as we know, the quantum realm is totally different from our everyday environment. Through the quantum realm, the Pym particles can access all of space in the universe, and even other dimensions in the multiverse. So, the energy redistribution does not need to happen in the human-perceived neighborhood, but it can happen over the whole universe and other dimensions. This process is similar to the way the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj draw energy from other dimensions of the multiverse. After all, magic is science that we don’t understand!

On top of this, the particles do not need to redistribute the energy in the human-perceived time. Through the quantum realm, the particles can access all of past, present and future. So the particles have actually got a practically infinite amount of time and an infinite sized multiverse to redistribute a finite amount of energy. The effect will be barely noticeable to our regular human senses.