15

In quantum entanglement when something acts on one particle the other one reacts also, just in reverse (more or less). From what I've read though, anything acting on either particle will collapse the entanglement, right? So how do we know they were ever linked? Or is it just measurements that collapse it?

The reason I ask is because given the public impression of the topic it would suggest on of two things. That the information causing the reaction is superluminal or that the particles are occupying the same space since they are in different states. If the second were true then distance must be a human construct and somehow they must still be in the same place regardless of the virtual distance between them.

To clarify, I don't mean information in regards to communication such as QC. Just particle information.

DanielSank
  • 24,439
  • Do you know much about quantum mechanics or linear algebra? – ChrisM Mar 21 '15 at 22:36
  • 2
    If you want a layman's answer without reference to the maths of quantum mechanics, perhaps look at Brian Greene's book, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality. This gives an excellent and detailed account of entanglement without recourse to the math. –  Mar 21 '15 at 22:49
  • "In quantum entanglement when something acts on one particle the other one reacts also, just in reverse (more or less)." I can't think of a way to interpret that sentence that would make it correct. "From what I've read though, anything acting on either particle will collapse the entanglement, right?" I can think of a way to interpret that sentence which would make it correct, but I'm not sure if it's what you have in mind. Please specify. – DanielSank Sep 26 '16 at 06:00
  • 3
    "...given the public impression of the topic..." citation needed. What is the public impression? How are you formulating on opinion on "public impression"? – DanielSank Sep 26 '16 at 06:00
  • 6
    This post asks at least three different questions in the first paragraph, and none of them match the question posed in the title, which is itself a someone vacuous question since there's no distinction between "real" and "just math" in any way that I can think of. That being the case, I'm voting to close as unclear what you're asking. I hope the post will be edited and improved. – DanielSank Sep 26 '16 at 06:04
  • http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/281262/ – alanf Sep 26 '16 at 10:21
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is nonsensical. – WillO Oct 04 '16 at 22:45
  • 1

6 Answers6

21

Entanglement is a real property that can be shown by the violation of the Bell inequalities. How this is commonly done is that a pair of particles are created with entangled spin states in a configuration called Bell states. If entanglement is real, then measuring the state of one particle will give me definite knowledge of the state of the other particle. If there is no entanglement, then the measurement of one particle should not correlate so strongly with the measurement of the other.

What is found experimentally is that the Bell inequalities are violated and thus entanglement is real. The most popular view is that this means quantum mechanics is an accurate representation of reality and is not a statistical representation of an underlying deterministic mechanics. In this view, it does not permit superluminal transfer of information as you can't control which state you get and thus can't control what the other person sees.

An alternative view is that quantum mechanics is a description of a non-local hidden variable. I am not particularly well read on this particular viewpoint, but if you are interested in the implications, I would suggest looking into De Broglie-Bohm theory.

ajctt
  • 251
  • 4
    A loophole free violation of a Bell's inequality remains a daunting task as discussed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loopholes_in_Bell_test_experiments – Mikhail Mar 21 '15 at 22:57
  • 2
    +1 for the answer, I FERMLY don't believe QM is non-local. You cannot transmit any information non-locally, and non-local hidden variable theories are just monstrous imo. – vsoftco Mar 21 '15 at 23:23
  • 1
    If you have ever read the original paper of Bell deriving the inequalities you wouldn't be too sure about the fact that violation shows the impossibility of a classical local hidden-variable theory. (@letmethink, @ajctt). In short: There is premise that simply does not hold for classical, statistical systems. Therefore the inequalities are violated by classical systems as well. Hence, experimental violation shows nothing. I'll post an answer to this in the next days but this will take time. The first part is below. – image357 Mar 22 '15 at 01:15
  • Also there is the possibility of non-local hidden variables. In other words think about parasites that swim up the pee stream of an animal and infect the urethra. What if the observation made by Alice disturbs the entire wave function across all its area? This is what we're arguing it does. But that doesn't have to mean it's not an effect that can be modeled physically with classical techniques like pilot-wave hydrodynamics – CommaToast Apr 03 '15 at 00:34
  • People like to spray vitriol on non-local hidden variables, but I don't think they truly understand what that implies. After all if one both presumes quantum theory is correct and forbids any underlying non-locality, then the only option is solipsism: indeed, you can't even argue the wavefunction is real, because that would also be non-local. One can't even argue experiments themselves are real, as they can also be described purely in terms of wavefunctions. Hence the only thing that can be 'real' is you observing it. (And being driven to that, does it even make sense to require 'locality'?) – Ruben Verresen Oct 04 '16 at 19:59
11

Entanglement isn't about interaction or information transfer betweeen entangled particles.

Consider spin-entaglement of two spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ particles: Let them be in singulet-state relative to an arbitrary axis (say z-axis):

$$ |\Psi \rangle = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} (\ |\uparrow_z, \downarrow_z \rangle - |\downarrow_z,\uparrow_z\rangle \ ) $$

The propability $P$ to measure both particles in state $|i,j \rangle$ with $i,j \in \{ \uparrow, \downarrow \}$ where the axis of both measurments enclose the angle $\theta$ is given by: $$ P_{i,j} = \| \langle i,j | \Psi \rangle \|^2 = \frac{1}{4} (1 - i \cdot j \cdot \cos \theta )$$ if we take $i,j$ to be 1 and -1 for $\uparrow$ and $\downarrow$, respectively.

The reduced propability $p_i$ of measuring only one particle (e.g. if we don't care about the other) is given by: $$ p_i = \sum_{j \in \{1,-1\}} P_{i,j} = \frac{1}{2} $$

The conditional propability of measuring the other particle (after we already know about the measurment of the first particle) is given by: $$ \tilde{p}_{j|i} = \frac{P_{i,j}}{p_i} = \frac{1}{2} (1 - i \cdot j \cdot \cos \theta ) $$

This does involve the angle $\theta$ and usually one starts here to argue about non-locality and instantanious actions changing the outcome of experiment when we change the angle $\theta$ at the first measurment apparatus.

This is however not true. If we are talking about conditional propabilities we have already performed a measurment and set the measurment axis of the first measurment. Changing this axis afterwards will not affect the propability as the angle $\theta$ is relative to the measured axis. Changing the axis of the second measurment only changes the propability predicting the outcome of the later measurment for the first observer because he has that extra knowledge.

The propability for the second observer stays the same, as this is the reduced propability (he doesn't know about the first measurment): $$ p_j = \sum_{i \in \{1,-1\}} P_{i,j} = \frac{1}{2} $$

In short: Without the extra knowledge of the first measurment, entanglement is not important for the second observer. To gain that extra knowledge there must be an additional information transfer to the second observer and this is restricted by means of relativity-causality ($v\le c$ etc.). So entanglement neither breaks causality nor can it transfer any information.

$$$$

Sometimes one comes about the argument that the violation of Bell inequalities shows, that entanglement is still something more than classical perception would allow. So let's have a look at a certain expectation value. The axis for spin measurment shall be labeled by normalized vectors $\vec{a}$ and $\vec{b}$ such that $\vec{a}\cdot\vec{b} = \cos\theta$. Consider \begin{equation} \langle \Psi|\vec{a}\cdot\vec{S_1} \ \ \vec{b} \cdot \vec{S}_2 | \Psi \rangle = -\frac{\hbar^2}{4}\vec{a}\cdot\vec{b} = -\frac{\hbar^2}{4} \cos\theta \tag{1} \end{equation} , which is the expectation value of the product of both measurments results. Here we have $\vec{S} = \frac{\hbar}{2}(\sigma_x, \sigma_y, \sigma_z)^T$ with $\sigma_x, \sigma_y, \sigma_z$ the Pauli matrices. We now follow the reasoning of John Bell in his original work since other, similar inequalities are based on the same problem.

The argument goes like this: Assume a classical, statistical system with non-hidden and hidden variables all labeled by $\vec{\lambda} = (\lambda_1, \dots, \lambda_n)$ for some $n\in\mathbb N$. Furthermore there exists two functions $A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda})$ and $B(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda})$ that give the results of spin measurment on particle 1 and 2, respectively. They can only yield $\pm\frac{\hbar}{2}$, since that is the only outcome of experiment. Those functions depend on one measurment axis only, because there shall be no action between measurment apparatus 1 and 2 (this is the assumed locality).

$$$$

Because the system is studied on a statistical basis, there exists a propability density $ \varrho(\vec{\lambda}) $ that is a function of the system parameters $\vec{\lambda}$ and allows calculation of the expectation value $$ E(\vec{a},\vec{b}) = \int \varrho(\vec{\lambda}) \cdot A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) B(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) \ d^n\lambda $$, which should equal the one from above (1) if it is to be interpreted on a classical, local basis (Note: one can incorporate discrete statistical variables by terms like $\sum_j \alpha_j \cdot \delta(c_j-\lambda_m)$). The malicious assumption here is that $\varrho$ is no function of the axis-vectors $\vec{a}$ and $\vec{b}$. This is, however, quite natural for classical systems with correlation. The point is: Allowing $\varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a}, \vec{b})$ or even just $\varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a} \cdot \vec{b})$, the Bell inequalities cannot be derived! Such propability densities can cause violation of the inequality. To understand that, I will now derive them and point out which step is not possible with the modified density:

$$$$

Assume $$ E(\vec{a},\vec{b}) = -\frac{\hbar^2}{4} \vec{a} \cdot \vec{b} \tag2 $$, so that quantum mechanical description is in agreement with the classical one. For $\vec{a} = \vec{b}$: \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} -\frac{\hbar^2}{4} & = \int \underbrace{\varrho(\vec{\lambda})}_{\ge 0} \cdot \underbrace{A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) B(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda})}_{\ge -\frac{\hbar^2}{4}} \, d^n\lambda \\ & \Leftrightarrow \\ 0 & = \int \underbrace{\varrho(\vec{\lambda})}_{\ge 0} \cdot \left( \underbrace{A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) B(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) + \frac{\hbar^2}{4}}_{\ge 0} \right) \, d^n\lambda \end{aligned} \end{equation} because $\varrho$ is a normalized propability density. It follows that \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) B(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) = -\frac{\hbar^2}{4} \end{aligned} \end{equation} is a valid equation under the integral with $\varrho$. This can only hold if \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} B(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) = - A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) \end{aligned} \tag3 \end{equation}. Note that this holds for any vector $\vec{a}$. Now take another normalized vector $\vec{c}$ and do the following calculations: \begin{align} \frac{\hbar^2}{4}|(-\vec{a}\cdot\vec{b}) - (-\vec{a}\cdot\vec{c})| & = |E(\vec{a},\vec{b}) - E(\vec{a},\vec{c}) | \\ & = \left| - \int \varrho(\vec{\lambda}) \cdot (A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) - A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{c},\vec{\lambda})) \, d^n\lambda \right| \\ & = \left| \int \varrho(\vec{\lambda}) \cdot A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) \cdot (1 - \frac{4}{\hbar^2}A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{c},\vec{\lambda})) \, d^n\lambda \right| \\ & \le \int | \varrho(\vec{\lambda}) | \cdot | A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) | \cdot |1 - \frac{4}{\hbar^2}A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{c},\vec{\lambda})| \, d^n\lambda \\ & = \int \varrho(\vec{\lambda}) \cdot (\frac{\hbar^2}{4} - A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{c},\vec{\lambda})) \, d^n\lambda \\ & = \frac{\hbar^2}{4} + E(\vec{b},\vec{c}) = \frac{\hbar^2}{4} - \frac{\hbar^2}{4}\vec{b}\cdot\vec{c} \tag4 \end{align}

In the first equality we used (2). In the second we used (3). In the third we used $A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda})^2 = \frac{\hbar^2}{4}$. The fourth step is the triangle inequality for integrals. In the fifth step we used $A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) = \pm \frac{\hbar^2}{4}$ and $\varrho(\vec{\lambda}) \ge 0$. In the last step we used (2) and the fact that $\varrho$ is normalized.

So we finaly have Bell's inequality \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} |\vec{a}\cdot\vec{b} - \vec{a}\cdot\vec{c}| + \vec{b}\cdot \vec{c} \le 1 \, , \end{aligned} \tag5 \end{equation}, which can be violated for some choise of $\vec{a},\vec{b},\vec{c}$. This usually shows that our first assumption (2) is false. Therefore, no classical, local system should be able to describe the expectation value (1).

$$$$

With the modified probability density the steps in (4) look like this: \begin{align} \frac{\hbar^2}{4}|(-\vec{a}\cdot\vec{b}) - (-\vec{a}\cdot\vec{c})| & = |E(\vec{a},\vec{b}) - E(\vec{a},\vec{c}) | \notag \\ & = \left| - \int \varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a}, \vec{b}) \cdot A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) - \varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a}, \vec{c}) \cdot A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{c},\vec{\lambda}) \, d^n\lambda \right| \notag \\ & = \left| \int A(\vec{a},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) (\varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a}, \vec{b}) - \varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a}, \vec{c}) \frac{4}{\hbar^2}A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{c},\vec{\lambda})) \, d^n\lambda \right| \notag \\ & \le \int \frac{\hbar^2}{4} \cdot \left| \varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a}, \vec{b}) - \varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a}, \vec{c}) \frac{4}{\hbar^2}A(\vec{b},\vec{\lambda}) A(\vec{c},\vec{\lambda}) \right| \, d^n\lambda \end{align} Note that one cannot proceed from here since in general $\varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a},\vec{b}) \ne \varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a},\vec{c})$. Also the second equality shouldn't work here anyway since (3) is only vaild when multiplied by $\varrho(\vec{\lambda},\vec{a},\vec{a})$. For instance, when $\varrho(\vec{\lambda},\vec{a},\vec{a}) = 0$ equation (3) can be violated in general. Nevertheless, one could only try to use another triangle equation on the term $|\dots|$, leaving us finally with the inequality \begin{equation} \begin{aligned} |\vec{a}\cdot\vec{b} - \vec{a}\cdot\vec{c}| \le 2 \, , \end{aligned} \end{equation}, which is not to be violated by any choise of $\vec{a},\vec{b},\vec{c}$.

$$$$

In summary: If one allows propability densities $\varrho(\vec{\lambda}, \vec{a}, \vec{b})$, that depend on some parameters of the measurment, the derivation of an inequality which is violated by quantum mechanical expectation values is not possible in the usual way. Above, I already argued that the dependence on $\vec{a}, \vec{b}$ is in general no cause for non-local behaviour as long as the reduced propability of a subsystem is only depended on its own parameters. This problem is inherent to inequalities that are derived on the same arguments like Bell's inequality: see for example the CHSH-inequality on page 527 equation 2, which is frequently used in experiments!

$$$$

So if we would find some functions $A$ and $B$ that satisfy our locality-conditions from above there is no reason to think of the expectation value (1) as a non-local one. Take \begin{align} p_{i,j}(\vec{a},\vec{b}) & = \frac{1}{4} (1 - i j \ \vec{a}\cdot\vec{b}) \\ A(i,\vec{a}) & = \frac{\hbar}{2} \ i \\ B(j,\vec{b}) & = \frac{\hbar}{2} \ j \end{align} Then we have $$ E(\vec{a}, \vec{b}) = \sum_{i,j \in \{1,-1 \}} p_{i,j}(\vec{a},\vec{b}) \cdot A(i,\vec{a}) B(j,\vec{b}) = - \frac{\hbar^2}{4} \ \vec{a}\cdot\vec{b} = - \frac{\hbar^2}{4} \ \cos\theta$$, which equals (1) on a pure, local and classical basis.

image357
  • 3,109
  • note: this answer will be extended to an argument against Bell inequalities in the next few days. – image357 Mar 22 '15 at 01:20
  • 5
    From your comment on ajctt's answer above I understand that one of your main points is that Bell's inequalities could be violated even by classical (local, real) systems. While you are extending your answer it would be great if you could illustrate this point further, ideally with a concrete example. That would be very interesting. – Emil Mar 22 '15 at 09:51
  • 2
    FYI only - I imagine that this answer is useful but it is too "dense" to be readily useful to someone not used to the field, terminology and symbology. (eg I have a Masters degree in an unrelated technical area and a 'moderately high' IQ but I'd be included in those categories). That is fine enough if you are aiming at a very limited audience but if you want it to be accessible to intelligent competent scientists (and engineers (to include me :-))) who do not 'tick all the above boxes' then it needs additional explanatory material.Whether this is considered worth your doing is up to you. – Russell McMahon Mar 23 '15 at 01:49
  • @RussellMcMahon: I understand what you mean, but vague and unclear language without proper definitions in this field (and general in physics) led to a situation for which some theories have been abandoned by the public community quite too quickly. This is why my answers seem to be a bit "out of scope" for people not directly involved in this topic, as I try to be as accurate as possible. The only way to do this is through symbols and terminology. But still symbols are never devoid of meaning. If you have a certain question about them, I will try to answer it. – image357 Mar 23 '15 at 16:50
  • @Emil: the main part is finished. the thought experiment is still to come – image357 Mar 24 '15 at 22:33
  • 5
    Nice answer, I am looking forward to the thought experiment, because, right now, $\rho(\lambda, \vec a , \vec b)$ looks very unclassical to me - a probability distribution that depends on what we want to measure?! – ACuriousMind Mar 24 '15 at 22:54
  • Thanks for the additions. Very interesting. I think you have a point there. To my (quite limited) knowledge this is effectively the Bell loophole of "no freedom of choice". That is, you can preserve local realism if you don't require the possibility of absolutely independent measurement devices. Note that this would also deny the possibility things like true random number generators. Some people find this undesirable and still would rather abandon realism. But violations of the Bell inequalities only show that we can't have all three of locality, realism and freedom. Any two of them are fine. – Emil Mar 25 '15 at 16:15
  • @Emil: No, this is not what I'm trying to show. One really needs no loopholes, since the Bell inequalities simply don't hold for classical, local, real systems, too. The point is about the misconceptions in the premise for $\varrho$ – image357 Mar 25 '15 at 16:47
  • 2
    @ACuriousMind: The propability distribution does not depend on what we want to measure, since $\vec{a}$ is not part of the measurment result. It only accords to the fact that the setting of the measurment apparatus can (not must!) influence the propability. take for instance a particle that is always directed to the x axis. If we measure along the y-axis we wont find it, thus $\varrho(\lambda,x-axis) \ne \varrho(\lambda,y-axis) = 0$ – image357 Mar 28 '15 at 13:31
  • 1
    @Marcel If you look into the last paragraph in section III, "Illustration", of Bell's original work (http://philoscience.unibe.ch/documents/TexteHS10/bell1964epr.pdf), you will find that he excluded the case that you proposed, as the non-local case. In his words, "there is no difficulty in reproducing the quantum mechanical correlation (3) if the results A and B in (2) are allowed to depend on $\vec{b}$ and $\vec{a}$ respectively as well as $\vec{a}$ and $\vec{b}$." – user36125 Apr 10 '15 at 20:42
  • 1
    @user36125: no, I didn't tackle the restriction of $A$ and $B$. I did tackle the "restriction" of $\varrho$, which he actually wasn't aware of. – image357 Apr 10 '15 at 21:04
  • @Marcel I am not criticizing your idea, yet just reminding you the fact that, he and many published papers DID refer to the case that you pointed out as non-local, by definition. I had exactly the same thought as you pointed out. However, the Bell "non-locality" has already been an accepted definition (or: badly named concept) for almost a half century. It's too late to change the old definition ;) – user36125 Apr 10 '15 at 21:16
  • 1
    @user36125: But the restriction for $\varrho$ does in no sense correspond to any locality argument. It is not a valid restriction for a local, classical system. I'd say it's just a flaw of history which we kept sticking to. – image357 Apr 10 '15 at 21:20
  • 1
    I agree totally it's a flaw of history. The worse part is that it had been confusing many professional physicists for long time. It is likely just a nonintuitive probability issue, maybe clarified someday. – user36125 Apr 10 '15 at 21:34
  • @Marcel : did you publish this analyze ? –  Jul 27 '16 at 13:42
  • @Marcel : please come here to announce it. TY –  Jul 27 '16 at 15:58
  • @igael: I'd really like to do so. I started a chat room here. – image357 Jul 28 '16 at 21:04
  • @Marcel : not able to chat, sorry, I write so slowly ; still working on it. Fresh synthesis without any pre-built conclusion or passion : it's exactly the answer this subject needs... –  Jul 28 '16 at 21:58
10

This problem has been pointed out historically in what is now universally abbreviated as the EPR paper, for which I'll simply refer you to an answer to a very similar question. This seemingly paradoxical effect has been observed experimentally.

Some people insist the question of whether it is "real" is still unresolved. The main difficulty, however, is simply that the question what is "real" is a matter of philosophy, not of (natural) science. Stifflers for detail among physicists hence call the different ways of thinking that are not strictly speaking at odds with our mathematical description of quantum mechanics interpretations. In choosing an interpretation, you cannot simultaneously have locality (the idea that particles' states somehow reside in them, which implies superluminal effects, or a "spooky action at a distance" as Einstein allegedly called it), and realism (your question if it is "real"). CAVEAT: The wikipedia authors for the interpretation link appear to disagree, or at least the summary table suggests they do. I am basing my statement on Nielsen and Chuang's argument in their textbook Quantum Computation and Quantum Information.

If all you want is one interpretation to make sense of it all, I would recommend an informational approach: Do not think of states as being (local) properties of particles. Instead, they describe your information about the system: If you prepared an appropriate superposition between two particles, then you know that whatever state one particle is in, the other will be in the opposite state. That is global information created when the particles interacted, which does not require any superluminal effects. Instead of one particle suddenly changing its state, the effect lies in the (global) knowledge about the system.

The other aspect of your questions regards the issue of wave function collapse. Again, this is one interpretation, and as you apparently already realize, not a very consistent (or at least not comprehensive) one. The paradox disappears if you model your interaction not as some sort of measurement (whatever that is), but as a quantum-mechanical interaction with another particle. That creates additional entanglement (with that new particle, or else with the environment), which means that the wavefunctions describing only your particles without that one do not interfere the way they did before if you exclude the environment from your analysis. If this interference is completely destroyed, then you have, in the system excluding the environment, the same observable effects as if you were collapsing wavefunctions.

2

It is real, and experimentally verified. If you measure the spin of entangled particle A, particle B when measured will always have the opposite spin. Some physicists believe it has to do with superluminal communication, but there are many other theories.

Jimmy360
  • 3,942
0

So how do we know they were ever linked?

Because the results violate Bell's inequalities.

Or is it just measurements that collapse it?

Measuring an entangled system destroys the entanglement.

The results from experiments on entangled particles are only possible with:

A) information travelling FTL (i put "space isn't what we think it is" theories in the same category because there's a lot of grey area between the two). I'll also mention that i don't feel like theories that try to get around this (ie. pilot wave theory) actually do. As far as i'm concerned non-locality is encompassed within the broader category of FTL.

or B) superdeterminism, "particle A knows how we will decide to measure particle B before we measure it, and yes i know it's far fetched but it has to be mentioned as the only other alternative.

Entanglement is definitely real, and not just math. Reading through that wiki link might provide some more insight.

Yogi DMT
  • 1,677
  • 14
  • 21
-6

OP wrote "In quantum entanglement when something acts on one particle the other one reacts also, just in reverse (more or less)."

This observation may be hinting at "perfect anti-correlation". i.e. when spin of two "entangled" particles are measured in same angle, they are guaranteed to be opposite. There are some specific state(s), when entangled pairs created/prepared in that state, the particles of the pair exhibit perfect anti correlation. (If there is no such state(s), knowledgeable QM folks, please do comment). The state may be one of the Bell states - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_state#The_Bell_states

Anti correlation is very different from statistical correlation and mixing of the two causes all the confusion.

QM assigns averages/probabilities. There is nothing like 0 or 1 probability, meaning there is no guaranteed outcome in probability. That means perfect anti correlation (of spin) is enforced by a law rather than by probability.

That law is conservation of angular momentum. When the particles are prepared, at that time, they are prepared in such a way, that to conserve angular momentum in each and every direction, they are coded (hidden variables) with opposite spin in each and every direction. Whenever and wherever they are measured. So, distance is not even a factor here.

Therefore, they do not need to occupy same space, and they do not need to communication at all, let alone at FTL speeds. So anti correlation is a direct consequence of conservation laws. Anti correlation is a relation between outcomes of two particles of same pair.

The problem arises when people use anti correlation phenomena to explain statistical correlations. They enumerate hidden variables based upon anti correlation and compute Bell's inequality based upon these enumerations and apply the inequality to statistical correlations. At this point, they forget to consider that statistical correlation is between outcomes of VARIOUS PAIRS, while anti correlation is between outcomes of the SAME PAIR. Therefore applying Bell's inequality to statistical correlations is a gross misuse of a mathematical theorem.

Anti correlation is explained by conservation laws.

Statistical correlation should be scrutinized and explained independent of anti correlations. Mixing of anti correlation with statistical correlation, is the root of whole mystery that surrounds entanglement.

Statistical correlation is a game of averages and it must be scrutinized, and explained in terms of factors local to the experiment. Factors which are termed loopholes These factors have to shape up statistical correlations over duration of the experiment. If that is found to be the case, then there is no such thing like entanglement.

As a first step, I analyzed data from a recent entanglement experiment and that analysis gives an indication that statistical correlations are not necessarily guided by probabilities. It can be read at http://vixra.org/abs/1609.0237.

kpv
  • 4,509
  • there are infinite examples of "entanglement" which is as you say a logical conclusion dependent on laws, in every day classical life. " If John and Harry Smith are brothers and you hear that one of them has gone abroad, if you meet John on the street you know that Harry is abroad, instantly". – anna v Sep 26 '16 at 06:05
  • 3
    "when spin of two "entangled" particles are measured in same angle, they are guaranteed to be opposite." That is certainly false. – DanielSank Sep 26 '16 at 06:05
  • @Anna: That is true in nrmal life sense too. The anti correlation applies to each and every direction in the plane, so, it must be much more functionally rich but still based upon the law. – kpv Sep 26 '16 at 06:18
  • @DanielSank:Fully entangled spin 1/2 state.... I do not know how to describe that but hope you know what is being referred to here. – kpv Sep 26 '16 at 06:20
  • 4
    What about $|\uparrow \uparrow \rangle + |\downarrow \downarrow \rangle $. – DanielSank Sep 26 '16 at 15:43
  • @DanielSank: To be honest, I am totally handicapped in knowing the states and the formalism, so I do not understand what you wrote. But what is being referred to is perfectly anti correlated state, for example the one referred in http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/31141/why-are-there-only-perfectly-anti-correlated-quantum-states-not-perfectly-corre – kpv Sep 26 '16 at 16:13
  • 3
    @kpv If the point that Daniel just raised isn't clear to you, then you should seriously consider the possibility that you just don't understand enough about the topic to answer this question. (In case you missed it, Daniel just gave you a clear example of a maximally entangled state that is not perfectly anticorrelated.) As this stands, this is an appallingly poor answer to the question and little more than an advertising (spam?) for the paper you keep pushing on this site. – Emilio Pisanty Oct 01 '16 at 19:18
  • @EmilioPisanty: I have no issues with down voting my answer. Just let me know is there any state/scenario where the particles of entangled pair are perfectly anticorrelated? Any scenario, irrespective of state or how you write it, what is highest probability of anti correlation in an entangled pair ever? If there is no such thing as perfect anti correlation in entanglement, I will delete this answer. But please do let me know highest possible anticorrelation percent. If there is a scenario of perfect anti correlation, then let me know how it is written. – kpv Oct 01 '16 at 22:21
  • @EmilioPisanty: Top of page 8 of http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/preskill/ph229/notes/chap4.pdf says "where θ is the angle between the axes ˆn and ˆm. Thus we find that the measurement outcomes are always perfectly anticorrelated when we measure both spins along the same axis ˆn,". Seems like there is a scenario of perfect anti correlation per this. Please let me know if this is not correct. – kpv Oct 01 '16 at 22:35
  • @EmilioPisanty: Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_theorem talks about perfect anti correlation though I am not sure if it states it as a real scenario, or hypothetical, you can judge better. "Suppose the two particles are perfectly anti-correlated—in the sense that whenever both measured in the same direction, one gets identically opposite outcomes, when both measured in opposite directions they always give the same outcome. The only way to imagine how this works is that both particles leave their common source with, somehow, the outcomes they will deliver when measured in any po.." – kpv Oct 01 '16 at 22:41
  • 1
    @EmilioPisanty: page 100 of https://books.google.com/books?id=x_oODQAAQBAJ&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=perfect+anti+correlation&source=bl&ots=tZahsXNtUG&sig=6ZsKtoPXtD4J89wLEvXx6589-Vs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2nvG42brPAhVI6mMKHYMnAakQ6AEISzAG#v=onepage&q=perfect%20anti%20correlation&f=false talks about it too. – kpv Oct 01 '16 at 23:01
  • @EmilioPisanty: another one - http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/14/5/053030/meta "Inequality (1) can be violated by a large class of entangled states. For example, if Alice and Bob share a singlet state Ψ− = ((|10〉 − |01〉)/√2), and Alice has perfect detectors, she can achieve the maximal violation of S = 3, because identical measurements on the singlet state always lead to perfectly anti-correlated outcomes" – kpv Oct 02 '16 at 02:47
  • 4
    @kpv What are you on about? Are you incapable of seeing the difference between the claims "all entangled states represent anti-correlated spins" and "some entangled states represent anti-correlated spins"? Why do you feel entitled to me devoting my time to explaining entanglement to you when you refuse to pick up a textbook? – Emilio Pisanty Oct 02 '16 at 09:44
  • @EmilioPisanty: Looks like then there is some state(s) that exhibit perfect anti correlation. If so, then I realized what the confusion is. If we prepare 1 million pairs in that state, then all 1 million pairs will show opposite spin when measured in same angle. Again, I do not mean in each state, I mean there are some state(s). "If we prepare 1 million pairs in that state, then all 1 million pairs will show opposite spin when measured in same angle". This is what I mean by "always anti correlated". Some people get it right away, and some get into discussion about states. – kpv Oct 02 '16 at 16:08
  • @EmilioPisanty: Given that state of perfect anti correlation, anti correlation is not statistical, it has to be enforced by a law, not probability. – kpv Oct 02 '16 at 16:18
  • @EmilioPisanty: I do not have a good reason to answer why I am not getting to a textbook. But I will try "to explain, not to justify at all". I would have picked up a textbook if I doubted the accuracy of mathematics even by an iota. I do not doubt the accuracy of the mathematics at all and I assume it is all perfect without even looking at it. The issue I am probing is "reality" of that mathematics. "All reality is described by accurate mathematics but all accurate mathematics dose not necessarily describe reality". – kpv Oct 02 '16 at 18:24