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Entanglement (physics)

There are three interrelated meanings of the word "entanglement" in physics. They are listed below and then discussed, both separately and in relation to each other.

• A hypothetical combination of empirical facts incompatible with local causality and counterfactual definiteness (below called "empirical entanglement").
• A prediction of the quantum theory stating that the empirical entanglement must occur in appropriate physical experiments (below called "quantum entanglement").
• In quantum theory there is a technical notion of "entangled state".

Empirical entanglement

Some people understand it easily, others find it difficult and confusing.

It is easy, since no physical or mathematical prerequisites are needed. Nothing like Newton laws, Schrodinger equation, conservation laws, nor even particles or waves. Nothing like differentiation or integration, nor even linear equations.

It is difficult and confusing for the very same reason! It is highly abstract. Many people feel uncomfortable in such a vacuum of concepts and rush to return to the particles and waves.

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Quantum entanglement is probably the most mysterious of all the phenomena discovered by physics.

Some striking features of quantum physics, explained below, are prerequisites.

Classical physics considers first of all closed (autonomous) physical systems. For quantum physics, systems open to external influence are of great importance.

Measurement and influence

In classical physics an ideal measurement exerts no influence on the object. It only reveals some properties of the object to the experimenter. The experimenter is able to choose an observable (a variable to be measured), or to measure all possible observables at once, and still, the object may be treated as a closed system.

Quantum physics is strikingly different. The influence of a measurement on the object is almost inevitable. If a macroscopic measuring device together with some environment is treated as a part of the quantum system (the object), and the experimenter only observes the reading of the device, then in some sense the experimenter does not influence the object. This is a subtle point related to quantum decoherence. Typically, macroscopic devices are not included into the quantum system, which implies that every measurement inevitably exerts a substantial influence on the object.

In general, two measuring devices cannot be applied simultaneously to the same object. Thus, in general, two observables are incompatible. For example, the coordinate q_x and the momentum p_x of a particle are incompatible (but q_x and p_y are compatible). The experimenter may choose one of the two observables, coordinate or momentum, and measure it, thus exerting a substantial influence on the other observable.

Local causality and influence

Local causality negates action on a distance. Basically it states that if two objects A, B are far apart in space then any external influence on A has no direct influence on B.

A strict relativistic interpretation states that a signal cannot propagate faster than light. More exactly, let A, B be two domains in space-time. (For example, A may be a given space ship during a given one-second time interval, according to its local clock, and B another space ship, 1,000,000 km apart, during its time interval.) Assume that a light ray emitted from A cannot reach B. (For example, because it can travel only 300,000 km during the given second.) Then any external influence exerted within A is of no consequence within B. (For example, a sudden explosion on the first space ship during its time interval cannot cause anxiety on the second space ship before the end of its time interval.)

Local causality does not contradict the evident existence of objects extended in space (solid bodies, sea waves and many others). For example, the hull of a space ship being a single solid body, it may seem that its parts move in ideal, non-delayed coordination; but this is an illusion. If one part was hit by a meteorite 30 nanoseconds before, this fact cannot have yet any consequence for another part 20 m apart.

An extended object is a manifestation of correlations (rather than nonlocality). Slowly propagating signals (for example, newspapers delivered by surface mail) routinely create strong correlations between remote objects, possibly not interacting with each other.