Feb 16, 2017Mathematically, entanglement in time is identical to entanglement in space, and we have no qualms with information traveling in all directions across space.
↩︎ Quanta
How to grasp the insane dance that is quantum entanglement.
Researchers used ancient starlight to randomize an experiment, but still found quantum entanglement.
For decades, physicists contended that demonstrations of quantum entanglement were biased by observation. In an ingenious twist on an old experiment, researchers turned to ancient starlight from distant quasars to randomize the polarity of the particles used in the experiment. The results, however, stayed the same:
The colors of these photons were decided hundreds of years ago, when they left their stars, increasing the chance that they (and therefore the measurement settings) were independent of the states of the photons being measured. And yet, the scientists found that the measurement outcomes still violated Bell’s upper limit, boosting their confidence that the polarized photons in the experiment exhibit spooky action at a distance after all.
The experiment doesn't rule out an alternative entirely, but the primary exception would be a little bit spooky itself: determinism. If the state of the universe now is dependent on the state of the universe when the quasar emitted the photon used to randomize the experiment, that would also explain the results.
So we may have to pick between believing in a) a concept Einstein found so reprehensible he basically disowned it; b) a totally deterministic universe depends on the one before it; c) time travel.
Feb 16, 2017In order to account for the results of our new experiment, the unknown mechanism would need to have been set in place before the emission of the starlight that Handsteiner’s group observed, back when Joan of Arc’s friends still called her Joanie.
↩︎ The New Yorker
Quantum entanglement vexes us now. It might save us soon.
After all, with it we could...
—Build a better time capsule. You can use it to encrypt information that is impossible to decrypt until a specific moment in the future.
—Sort large amounts of information quickly. And not just information, but atoms. Which means Star Trek replicators are on the horizon.
—Model chemical reactions as never before. Because molecules are highly entangled, understanding entanglement was the key to the first perfect simulation of a molecule.
The Editors' Longreads Picks
- An excellent essay on poverty and writing by Starr Davis. Updated May 31, 2022
- Novelist Héctor Tobar tries to understand the 1992 Los Angeles riots through the experiences of a single high school.
- Steven Johnson with a long assessment of the current state of A.I. and language. (The illusion has gotten very good.)
Welcome to The Morning News Tournament of Books, 2017 edition.
- Our championship match is decided in the Tournament of Books, with news of a Rooster surprise debuting this summer. Updated Mar 31, 2017
- In Thursday's action, Reyhan Harmanci sets up a colossal final.
- The Zombie round opens with Buzzfeed's Isaac Fitzgerald reading The Nix and The Underground Railroad.
Все ваши Белый дом принадлежит нам.
- "Will Putin expose the failings of American democracy or will he inadvertently expose the strength of American democracy?" Updated Mar 3, 2017
- Wilbur Ross just wanted to make some money in ethically gray areas (that should've prevented him from taking office).
- Jeff Sessions's spokeswoman can't help but continue to lie.
The oceans are under assault, and not just from the White House and friends.
- Trump's assault on the environment begins with American headwaters. Updated Mar 1, 2017
- Don't just blame the oil companies for destroying the oceans—blame sushi restaurants.
- Nothing escapes the deepest trenches of the ocean floor. Not light, not nutrients, not pollutants.