Quantum entanglement is the name given to quantum mechanical assumption that all particles remain connected so that actions performed on one affect the other, even when separated by great distances.
The rules of quantum physics state that an unobserved photon exists in all possible states simultaneously but, when observed or measured, exhibits only one state. Â
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Entanglement occurs when a pair of particles, such as photons, interacts physically. For example a laser beam fired through a certain type of crystal can cause individual photons to be split into pairs of entangled photons even when they are separated by a large distance, hundreds of miles or even more.
In other words when observed, Photon A takes on an up-spin state. Entangled Photon B, though now far away, takes up a state relative to that of Photon A (in this case, a down-spin state). The transfer of state between Photon A and Photon B takes place at a speed of at least 10,000 times the speed of light, possibly even instantaneously, regardless of distance.
The phenomenon so riled Albert Einstein he called it "spooky action at a distance." and in 1935 he along with Podolsky Rosen proposed the following thought experiment which came to be called the EPR Paradox.
Its intent was to show that Quantum Mechanics could not be a complete theory of nature. The first thing to notice is that Einstein was not trying to disprove Quantum Mechanics in any way. In fact, he was well aware of its power to predict the outcomes of various experiments. What he was trying to show was that there must be a "hidden variable" that would allow Quantum Mechanics to become a complete theory of nature
The argument begins by assuming that there are two systems, A and B (which might be two free particles), whose wave functions are known. Then, if A and B interact for a short period of time, one can determine the wave function which results after this interaction via the Schrödinger equation or some other Quantum Mechanical equation of state. Now, let us assume that A and B move far apart, so far apart that they can no longer interact in any fashion. In other words, A and B have moved outside of each other’s light cones and therefore are spacelike separated.
With this situation in mind, Einstein asked the question: what happens if one makes a measurement on system A? Say, for example, one measures the momentum value for it. Then, using the conservation of momentum and our knowledge of the system before the interaction, one can infer the momentum of system B. Thus, by making a momentum measurement of A, one can also measure the momentum of B. Recall now that A and B are spacelike separated, and thus they cannot communicate in any way. This separation means that B must have had the inferred value of momentum not only in the instant after one makes a measurement at A, but also in the few moments before the measurement was made. If, on the other hand, it were the case that the measurement at A had somehow caused B to enter into a particular momentum state, then there would need to be a way for A to signal B and tell it that a measurement took place. However, the two systems cannot communicate in any way!
If one examines the wave function at the moment just before the measurement at A is made, one finds that there is no certainty as to the momentum of B because the combined system is in a superposition of multiple momentum eigenstates of A and B. So, even though system B must be in a definite state before the measurement at A takes place, the wave function description of this system cannot tell us what that momentum is! Therefore, since system B has a definite momentum and since Quantum Mechanics cannot predict this momentum, Quantum Mechanics must be incomplete.
In response to Einstein’s argument about incompleteness of Quantum Mechanics, John Bell derived a mathematical formula that quantified what you would get if you made measurements of the superposition of the multiple momentum of two particles. If local realism was correct, the correlation between measurements made on one of the pair and those made on its partner could not exceed a certain amount, because of each particle’s limited influence.
In other words he showed there must exist inequities in the measurements made on pairs of particles that cannot be violated in any world that included both their physical reality and their separability because of the limited influence they can have on each other when they are "spacelike" separated.
When Bell published his theorem in1964 the technology to verify or reject it did not exist. However in the early 1980s, Allen Aspect performed an experiment with polarized photons that showed that the inequities it contained were violated.
In other words the measurements made by Allen Aspect made on the polarized photon verified that Bells inequity was violated by finding a correlation between the probabilities of each particle being in a given configuration based on the concepts of quantum mechanics. When this correlation was found many assumed that somehow photons must be entangled or physical connected even though they were in different local realities
Many took this as verification of quantum mechanics assumption that all particles are entangle no matter how far apart they are.
However Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen specified in the description of their experiment "two systems, A and B (which might be two free particles)†not just a photons because they knew that Special Relativity gives a reason why they would entangled which were different from those give by quantum mechanics.
As was mentioned earlier according to quantum mechanics act of measuring the state of a pair of entangled photons instantly affects the other no matter how far they are apart. However Einstein Special Theory of Relativity tell us that because photons must always be moving at the speed of light they can never be separated with respect to an external observer no matter how far apart he or she perceives them to be.
That theory tells that that there is no preferred reference frames by which one can measure distance. Therefore one can not only view the distance covered by a photon with respect to an observer who was external to them but must also look at that distance from a photon’s perspective.
However Einstein tells us that a photon traveling at the speed of light does not experience the passage of distance relative to an observer because as is shown by putting its velocity in his equation for length contraction along its velocity vector the physical distance between them becomes zero.
Therefore one cannot use photons to verify that Bell’s inequity is violated because even though they appear to be at different points when measured by an observer who is not moving at the speed of light they are not because according to Einstein the distance between those points from the perspective of all photons is always zero and therefore they must always be entangled.
This suggests the reason Bells inequity is and MUST be violated for all photons is because Einstein tells us the length contraction associated with the fact that they are they are moving at the speed of light means they are physically entangled or connected at the time of measurement no matter how far apart they appear to be to an observer. However this is not the reason defined by quantum mechanics.
In other words the "hidden variable" that Einstein was so sure existed that would allow Quantum Mechanics to be complete theory of nature at least for photon is his Special Theory of Relativity. However Quantum Entanglement may exist for particles other than photon but as we have just seen it cannot be verified by using them as test subjects.
Later Jeff
Copyright 2019 Jeffrey O’Callaghan
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