[The Epoch Times, 24 ottobre 2022](Epoch Times reporter Linda compiled and reported) What the physicist Einstein called “spectral action at a distance” – that is, two distant particles can produce instantaneous interaction effects – is what makes quantum physics so strange and counterintuitive.
On the morning of October 4, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics to three quantum physicists – Alain Aspect and John F. Crowe, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger – whose research confirms this bizarre phenomenon and they place it at the center of the technological revolution.
The Nobel Committee on its websitea declarationZhong said the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics was jointly awarded to these three people in recognition of their outstanding work, “The lightQuantum entanglementThe experiment established theBell’s inequalityviolations and paved the way for quantum information science. “
Ulf Danielsson, secretary of the Nobel Committee in Physics, told Popular Mechanics: “One of the most fascinating predictions of quantum mechanics is thatQuantum entanglement, which can create more particles that are far away in space, but behave as a whole. “The pioneering experiments of the three winners show that this incredible phenomenon persists over macroscopic distances, demonstrating the flaws of human intuition.”
Danielsson, a professor of theoretical physics at Uppsala University in Sweden, points out that this phenomenon of instantaneous quantum connections between particles across distances is not explained in classical physics.
He added that the research results of the three winners are not only important for understanding the world, but point to future applications, such as using quantum cryptography for secure communications and building powerfulquantum computer。
Prove that Einstein was wrong
In quantum physics, quantum entanglement describes a state in which when an experimenter measures a physical variable in one of the two particles, the other particle responds instantaneously. This sounds plausible at first glance, but it becomes incomprehensible as even if these two tangled particles are at opposite ends of the universe, this momentary change can occur.
Quantum entanglement, as first proposed in the 1930s, violates the “locality principleThe concept of “local realism” can be summed up in two terms: first, all particles have properties defined for various experimental measurements; second, it is impossible for particles to communicate faster than the speed of light.
The instantaneous effects of entanglement challenge at least one, or even both, of the two premises. For Einstein, in challenging locality, this instantaneous variable challenged one of the key principles of his theory of special relativity (ie: nothing travels faster than the speed of light).
Einstein argued that quantum entanglement and its “distant spectral effects” did not violate the principle of locality; rather, they showed that quantum physics itself is incomplete. He believed that eventually the “factor” would be found that instantly linked a measurable variable of one particle to another. What he and other physicists thought were “factors” not yet discovered became known as “hidden local variables”.
The three winners were awarded for having definitively proved that “local hidden variables” do not exist. Why non-locality does not violate relativity, however, is unclear and has been hotly debated ever since. One suggestion is that the tangled particles are still part of the same system, so the distance between them doesn’t matter. However, this sounds more like a philosophical discussion.
Confirm that quantum physics is complete
In 1964, Northern Irish physicist John Stewart Bell devised Bell’s theorem, showing that locality is a testable hypothesis.locality principleknown as “violationBell’s inequality“。
American theoretical and experimental physicist Clause and UC graduate student Stuart Freedman designed the first experiment in 1972 to look for such irregularities. The pair did an experiment that sent two entangled photons in opposite directions to two fixed polarizing filters.
These filters block the photon or, depending on the angle and polarization of the photon, let it pass and reach the detector, making it reflect the state of the particle intertwined with its pair. The result obtained shows that there are no hidden variables, and is therefore consistent with quantum theory. In other words, the experiment violated Bell’s inequality.
From then on, researchers were free to speculate on what applications could be made with the non-local nature of quantum mechanics. This led to the development of quantum cryptography and more generally of quantum technologies.
Nicolas Brunner is an associate professor at the University of Geneva whose research areas are fundamental quantum theory and quantum information processing. This means that his research relies heavily on the concepts of quantum entanglement and nonlocality.
“You can use photon entanglement to create an encrypted system where distant parties can exchange secret messages in complete privacy,” he said. “The laws of quantum mechanics guarantee privacy and security.”
As for the significance of this award in the field of quantum physics and quantum information, Bruner thinks it is very important. “I have been working on quantum nonlocality for 20 years since I started my PhD. It is truly extraordinary that it is now so recognized by the premier physics award. It is truly a great introduction to the field of quantum information in general. Acknowledgment. of importance. ” ◇
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