Entangled

Full Title or Meme

When two or more subatomic particles have a shared set of future attributes, they are consider to be Entangled.

Context

This characteristic of Quantum Mechanics was first noted by Schrödinger and Einstein in the early days of the development of Quantum theory. Very few physicists worried about this until John Bell published a paper defining Local Realism in a way that could be tested. Many scientists (and philosophers) have tested the concept of Local Realism, since it appears to be required by relativity, but is is quite clear now that it is a theory that has been conclusively falsified. This does, if fact, prove that quantum mechanics, as understood in the early years, is incomplete. Which is what Einstein claimed in the EPR paper.

EPR Paradox

Quantum entanglement, a phenomenon where two or more particles become correlated in such a way that the state of one particle is dependent on the state of another, regardless of the distance between them, has been a subject Of intense study since the early 20th century. Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen famously challenged the completeness of quantum mechanics with their EPR paradox, suggesting that quantum entanglement could imply "spooky action at a distance". Subsequent experimental work, such as the Bell test experiments conducted by Alain Aspect and colleagues in the 1 980s, confirmed the predictions of quantum mechanics, ruling out local hidden variable theories and cementing the reality of quantum entanglement.

Problems

Entangled states are very fragile and can be easily destroyed by interactions with their environment, a process known as decoherence. When entangled particles are exposed to heat, the thermal energy can cause random interactions with surrounding particles, leading to the loss of the delicate quantum correlations that constitute entanglement. Maintaining entanglement typically requires extremely low temperatures and highly controlled environments. This is why many quantum experiments and technologies are conducted at cryogenic temperatures to minimize thermal disturbances.

A team of four researchers has proved that entanglement doesn’t just weaken as temperature increases. Rather, in mathematical models of quantum systems such as the arrays of atoms in physical materials, there’s always a specific temperature above which it vanishes completely. “It’s not just that it’s exponentially small,” said Ankur Moitra of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the authors of the new result. “It’s zero.” Researchers had previously observed hints of this behavior and dubbed it the “sudden death(opens a new tab)” of entanglement. But their evidence has always been indirect. The new finding, by contrast, has the force of a mathematical proof. It establishes the absence of entanglement in a much more comprehensive and rigorous way. The team made their discovery while exploring the theoretical capabilities of future quantum computers — machines that will exploit quantum behavior, including entanglement and superposition, to perform certain calculations far faster than the conventional computers we know today.. The team made their discovery while exploring the theoretical capabilities of future quantum computers — machines that will exploit quantum behavior, including entanglement and superposition, to perform certain calculations far faster than the conventional computers we know today.

Mathematical View

Hilbert and his minions, including John von Neumann, all held the view that any basic truth must be based on elegant mathematics. Hilbert would reiterate this theme often. in response to Frege's objection to his idea of implicitly defining the primitive terms of geometry by providing a system of axioms for them, Hilbert wrote:

...it is surely obvious that every theory is only a scaffolding or schema of concepts together with their necessary relations to one another, and that the basic elements can be thought of in any way one likes. If in speaking of my points I think of some system of things. e.g. the system: love, law, chimney sweep and then assume all my axioms as relations between these things, then my propositions, e.g. Pythagoras' theorem, are also valid for these things. In other words: any theory can always be applied to infinitely many systems of basic elements. One only needs to apply a reversible one-one transformation and lay it down that the axioms shall be correspondingly the same for the transformed things- This circumstance is in fact frequently made use of. e.g. in the principle of duality, etc. All the statements of the theory of electricity are of course also valid for any other system of things which is substituted for the concepts magnetism, electricity ...provided only that the requisite axioms are satisfied.

Alternate Views

De Broglie-Bohm Theory

AKA thePilot-Wave Theory This interpretation suggests that particles have definite positions and velocities, guided by a "pilot wave." In this view, entanglement arises from the non-local connections between particles and their guiding waves. This theory provides a deterministic explanation of quantum phenomena, contrasting with the probabilistic nature of standard quantum mechanics.

Many-Worlds Interpretation

Proposed by Hugh Everett, this interpretation posits that all possible outcomes of a quantum measurement actually occur, each in a separate, branching universe. In this view, entanglement is a result of the branching of the universe into multiple, non-communicating realities. Each measurement outcome corresponds to a different branch, and the entangled particles exist in a superposition across these branches.

Relational Quantum Mechanics

This interpretation, proposed by Carlo Rovelli, suggests that the properties of quantum systems are relative to the observer. In this view, entanglement is a manifestation of the relational nature of quantum states, where the properties of particles are defined by their interactions with other systems, including observers.

Quantum Bayesianism (QBism)

This interpretation, developed by Christopher Fuchs and Rüdiger Schack, views quantum states as representing an observer's subjective knowledge or beliefs about a system, rather than objective reality. In this view, entanglement reflects the correlations in the observer's knowledge about the outcomes of measurements on entangled particles.

Add a 5th dimensions

Quantum entanglement is where two particles become linked in such a way that the state of one particle is instantly connected to the state of another, no matter how far apart they are. If we imagine a fifth dimension, it could serve as a theoretical framework to explain this mysterious connection.

In this scenario, the fifth dimension could act as a "bridge" or higher-dimensional space where entangled particles interact. While they appear to be separated in our familiar three-dimensional space (plus time as the fourth dimension), their connection could exist seamlessly in the fifth dimension. This higher-dimensional space might allow information to travel instantly between entangled particles without being constrained by the speed of light or the distances separating them in our 4D perspective.

The idea aligns with certain interpretations in theoretical physics and string theory, which propose additional dimensions beyond the observable ones. These extra dimensions may hold the key to understanding quantum phenomena and resolving paradoxes like entanglement and non-locality.

Where do We go from Here?

While the future attributes of Entangled particles is shared, that does not at all mean that the values of these attributes can be known in advance. In fact, QM actually states that only the probability of the outcome of any measurement can be known in advance.

"Observing the violation of Bell’s inequality tells us something about all possible future theories: they must all predict nonlocal correlations. Hence Nature is nonlocal. These quantum correlations seem to appear somehow from outside space-time, in the sense that there is no story in space and time that explains them,” says Nicolas Gisin at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. So we seem to be left with the obvious question, which came first: Space-Time or Entanglement?

Non-Locality and Outside Space-Time

• Quantum correlations defy our classical understanding of causality and locality.
• When Alice and Bob’s entangled particles communicate instantaneously, it’s as if information travels outside the usual bounds of space and time.
• However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that information is violating the cosmic speed limit—it’s more about our perception of space and time.

Quantum Information and Spacetime Emergence

Some theories propose that spacetime itself emerges from underlying quantum information.

• In this view, entanglement and quantum correlations are fundamental, and spacetime arises as a consequence.
• Think of spacetime as a cosmic dance floor where particles tango, and entanglement is their intricate choreography.

Hirosi Ooguri reported

It was known that quantum entanglement is related to deep issues in the unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics, such as the black hole information paradox and the firewall paradox. Our paper sheds new light on the relation between quantum entanglement and the microscopic structure of spacetime by explicit calculations. The interface between quantum gravity and information science is becoming increasingly important for both fields. I myself am collaborating with information scientists to pursue this line of research further.