Einstein famously called it “spooky action at a distance”; the notion that
obtaining information about one particle in an entangled pair provides
information about the other, no matter how far they are apart. Often called
one of the trickiest ideas in science, quantum entanglement has given rise
to a host of arguments and experiments — from possibly dead cats to
many-worlds concepts and
quantum time tweaks
— that further complicate the issue, making it even harder to unpack and
understand.
Let’s simplify the spooky and help settle the score with a quick look at the
quantum condition.
State of the Union
Understanding quantum entanglement starts with the quantum state. All
photons — the ideal particle for quantum questions since they can be
reliably split into entangled pairs — exist simultaneously in multiple
states. It’s called
quantum superposition: The idea that all states are potentially possible until a photon is
observed or measured.
Simple, right? Not so fast. When it comes to entangled pairs, measuring one
tells you something about the other: For example, if the first one you
measure spins up, its pair must spin down — no matter where it’s located —
giving rise to Einstein’s spooky action statement. But here’s the thing:
We’re already familiar with this framework.
Science Alert
likens it to finding one glove of a set. If it’s a right-handed glove you
know the other has to be left-handed, even if you can’t see it to confirm
the observation. If you’ve misplaced the pair and you’re searching the
house, the gloves are in superpositional state; they could be either left-
or right-handed. Once you find one, however, you collapse this condition and
confirm the configuration of both.
Quantum entanglement isn’t quite this easy; while knowing some states
provides 100% certainty about the action of the paired particle,
most offer only a probability, making another state only more or less likely for the entangled entity.
Still, this means the more scientists learn about one particle, the greater
their body of knowledge about the other — instantaneously — no matter where
it’s located in the universe. But this also poses a problem, since it
seemingly violates the notion that nothing — not even information — can
travel faster than the speed of light.
What You See — And What You Get
The action of observation is fundamental for science. Measurement allows for
greater accuracy and understanding, but in a quantum entanglement scenario,
measurement seemingly has an impact on the properties of particles
themselves. This doesn’t dovetail with classic conceptualizations of the
world, or what
physicist John Bell called “realism” — that the properties of objects remain consistent regardless of
observation.
But even before the deep dive into quantum mechanics, issues were cropping
up around the edges of classical construction:
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle
states that as the position of a particle is more precisely determined,
momentum predictions suffer a precision loss — and vice versa. At first
glance, this makes it seem like the act of observation changes the behavior
of the particle itself; instead, it simply precludes our ability to obtain
all knowledge simultaneously.
Quantum entanglement poses the same problem. If particles exist in “real”
states, their properties shouldn’t be affected by measurement or
observation; knowing something about one of a pair shouldn’t tell you
anything about the other. To test this theory, scientists sent pairs of
photons toward detectors located a significant distance apart. If both had
the same polarization, they should reach the detectors. If not, at least one
would be blocked. Under a quantum view of the universe, entangled pairs
should show higher polarization correlations than if they’re governed by
classical conditions — and that’s exactly what happens.
Some criticism has suggested that scientists’ decision about the angle of
approach to each detector wasn’t entirely random, in effect imposing
outside, unknown constraints on the experiment. To solve this issue, one
team used a random measurement setting based on the
wavelength of light detected from high-redshift quasars, effectively removing any human hubris. The results? Higher state
correlation than would be expected under classical models.
Spooky Security
As noted by
Scientific American, the idea of entanglement offers potential benefits for information
security. Scientists at the University of Bristol have now created and
deployed an eight node quantum network that spans 17 kilometers and empowers
secure communication using what’s called quantum key distribution (QKD).
Consider those most classic of communicators: Alice and Bob. In a QKD model,
Alice and Bob use a pair of entangled photons to create a private key. Both
randomly perform a set of measurements, compare the results and select the
measurement subset that gives them the same results as the basis for their
quantum key.
Scaling this up has proven problematic, however, since adding “Charlie” to
the mix without having him go through Bob to get to Alice required separate
links to both. While this only requires three links for three end nodes, the
volume increases rapidly — eight-node networks need 28 links and 100-node
networks require 4,950. The Bristol team solved this problem by creating a
central source model that allows direct connection between any two nodes
without the need to pass through other users, in turn making spooky security
both possible and potentially profitable.
Closing the Quantum Loophole
Ultimately, the quantum conundrum comes down to free will. The idea that
measuring one particle property seemingly influences the probability of its
paired partners’ state isn’t an easy thing for humans to handle, since it
seems to violate the core concepts of our universe: Information can’t travel
faster than light, and measurement shouldn’t preclude specific properties
for either particle pair. But just like the case of the missing glove,
there’s no compulsion in collapsing the quantum state — instead, more
information about preexisting conditions has simply been confirmed.
Spooky? Undoubtedly. Solid science? Absolutely.
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