Quantum Entanglement Leaps Beyond Einstein --"New States of Light"

 

                   

 

In 1935, Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen, commonly referred to as EPR, published a thought experiment designed to show that quantum mechanics, by itself, is not sufficient to describe reality. Using two entangled particles EPR tried to demonstrate that there must be some hidden parameters that quantum mechanics does not account for.

Later John Bell and others showed that the kind of hidden parameters EPR had in mind are incompatible with our observations. The mystery at the heart of quantum mechanics thus remains intact. But the entanglement first proposed by EPR is now a valuable resource in emerging quantum technologies like quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and quantum precision measurements.

Quantum entanglement is one of the central principles of quantum physics, which is the science of sub-atomic particles. Multiple particles, such as photons, are connected with each other even when they are very far apart and what happens to one particle can have an effect on the other one at the same moment, even though these effects can not be used to send information faster than light. 

Now, physicists at the University of Calgary and at the Institute for Quantum Computing in Waterloo have published new research in Nature Physics which builds on the original ideas of Einstein and adds a new ingredient: a third entangled particle.

The new form of three-particle entanglement demonstrated in this experiment, which is based on the position and momentum properties of photons, may prove to be a valuable part of future communications networks that operate on the rules of quantum mechanics, and could lead to new fundamental tests of quantum theory that deepen our understanding of the world around us.

"This work opens up a rich area of exploration that combines fundamental questions in quantum mechanics and quantum technologies," says Christoph Simon, paper co-author and researcher at the University of Calgary. This research extends the theories of Einstein, seventy-seven years later.

"It is exciting, after all this time, to be able to finally create, control, and entangle, quantum particles in this new way. Using these new states of light it may be possible to interact with and entangle distant quantum computer memories based on exotic atomic gases, " says Thomas Jennewein, whose group at the University of Waterloo carried out the experiment.

The next step for the researchers is to try to combine the position and momentum entanglement between their three photons with more traditional types of entanglement based on angular momentum. This will allow the creation of hybrid quantum systems that combine multiple unique properties of light at the same time.

For more information: Three-photon energy–time entanglement: www.nature.com/nphys/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nphys2492.html Journal reference: Nature Physics *

The Daily Galaxy via University of Calgary

Image credit: With thanks to Jon Heras, Equinox Graphics Ltd.

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Comments

[Allan W Janssen]

I just read this entire article and didn't understand a damn thing!

[dr burke]

Ah, gravity. As to bodies approach each other, their quantum entanglement increases,
exponentially, as the mass remains the same..Hence, more entanglement, more gravity.

G=Qe*m

[john]

yeah its got my brain entangled at the moment......

[Luis D Rey]

Does this article take in consideration the existence of more dimensions that we are aware of too?

[Entangled Brain]

I just read this entire article and didn't understand a damn thing!

LOL! I was about to say the same thing.

[tej]

even though these effects can not be used to send information faster than light. - why so ?

[Bob Greenwade]

tej - the (probably over-)simplified answer is that, while the state of one entangled particle can reveal the state of the other, there's no way to affect the state of either in such a way as to convey information. On the other hand, this new proposal (apparently) suggests a way that it could be done.

I've been saying for a while now that we'll probably find a way to do it at some point (I even have a device based on the concept in my second novel). I never expected it to be this soon, though.

[SB]

Use an entangled photon splitter midway between two points with a constant streaming, if there turns out to be a way to modulate information on the stream with this, and ta-da, instantaneous communication between two points. When the user on one end initiates the quantum modulation, the other would receive the modulation instantly - how cool would that be?

[John]

This does seem to indirectly show that information may be able to travel faster than light. Couldn't this bring about the parradox of receiving information before it was sent?

[Artuzan]

No. Instant transmission does not have time dilation.

[thomas n]

The following youtube video will provide you guys that are confused more insight into nonlocality and its implications in quantum physics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tyIKYhSwdw

[sartrenic]

It's like quantum particles creating space of their own. Information doesnt really have to travel faster than light to create their own reality when you add more variables.
There is a problem in adding variables for sure but it does a "dimension" to our perception of the realityt in guestion never the less.

[sartrenic]

It's like quantum particles creating space of their own. Information doesnt really have to travel faster than light to create their own reality when you add more variables.
There is a problem in adding variables for sure but it does add a "dimension" to our perception of the reality in guestion never the less.

[Bob A]

As I've gotten older, I've given up the struggle to learn, to understand, to really "know it". I recommend Robert Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land. You cannot be taught to "Grok", but you can get grokking! The whole theory and the possibilities attached to it. Never ask what reality is, only grok that the number of realities approaches infinity! And, so on...*grin*

[Maritime Jack]

The only explanation for "quantum entanglement" I have ever understood is in Reg Mundy's "The Situation of Gravity", but the rest of it just gave me a headache.

[Flood]

All,

Consider the following:

We entangle 2 particles. You stay on earth with one particle while I go to the sun with the other. I'm going to warn you when an earth-bound solar flare has just occurred by deentangling our particles. You will detect this deentanglement instantly while the solar flare itself, bound by the speed of light, takes 8 minutes to get to you.

How is my "instantaneous warning" not information that traveled faster than c?

- Flood

[Paul Winslow]

The concept of quantum entanglement is intriguing to say the least.

To me it opens up the door to understanding the concept of synchronicity.

One question comes to mind is "how many times can a photon become entangled?" A photon becomes entangled can it one of the two entangled photons become entangled? Do we then end up with four entangled photons? How many times can the entanglement take place?