It’s now proven that you can 'freeze' light or sound waves in place if you put them in a chaotic enough material.
March 19, 2026
Original Paper
Localization for non-stationary Anderson models in three dimensions
arXiv · 2603.17810
The Takeaway
While we expect energy to scatter or dissipate in messy environments, this proof shows that in our 3D world, pure randomness can act as a perfect trap. This phenomenon, known as Anderson Localization, confirms that total disorder can force waves into a permanent standstill, effectively turning a material into an inescapable cage for energy.
From the abstract
We prove localization (near the bottom of the spectrum) for certain non-stationary variants of the Anderson model in three dimensions. More specifically, we prove a Wegner estimate, which implies localization by existing work. Two key inputs are a deterministic quantitative unique continuation theorem by Li and Zhang [Duke Math. J. 171(2): 327-415, 2022] and some combinatorial decompositions/bounds for non-stationary random potentials proved by the author [Commun. Math. Phys. 407:64, 2026].