Mathematics, Physics. to restrict (a variable quantity) to discrete values rather than to a continuous set of values.
2.
Physics. to change the description of (a physical system) from classical to quantum-mechanical, usually resulting in discrete values for observable quantities, as energy or angular momentum.
In quantum mechanics, you don't really quantize objects, you quantize their dynamics.
We don't know how to quantize gravity, or what the dark matter is, or what breaks electroweak symmetry.
They quantize nuclear dynamics by acting as fulcrum particles.
There are serious attempts to quantize gravitation in such a framework, eg.
In air monitoring work these costs are significant but are difficult to systematically quantize.
British Dictionary definitions for quantize
quantize
/ˈkwɒntaɪz/
verb (transitive)
1.
(physics) to restrict (a physical quantity) to one of a set of values characterized by quantum numbers
2.
(maths) to limit (a variable) to values that are integral multiples of a basic unit
Derived Forms
quantization, quantisation, noun
quantize in Science
quantize
(kwŏn'tīz') To limit a variable or variables describing a physical system to discrete, distinct values. For example, the energy of electromagnetic radiation such as light at a given frequency must be an integer multiple of hν, where ν is the frequency and h is a Planck's constant; electromagnetic energy is thus inherently quantized (in this case, photons are the quanta of energy). The distinct orbitals of electrons in an atom are also a case of quantized energy. Many apparently continuous phenomena turn out to be quantized at a very fine level or very small scale; quantum mechanics was developed in large part to explain many unexpected cases of quantization in the natural world.