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Macroscopic Entanglement

  
 
LVX23
17:40 / 11.09.03
PhysicsWeb has posted an article outlining the first evidence of quantum entanglement on a macroscopic level, here. I personally like to consider this evidence towards a physical theory of telepathic non-local communication.

Entanglement goes macroscopic
3 September 2003

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon usually associated with the microscopic world. Now, however, physicists from the Universities of Chicago and Wisconsin in the US and University College London have seen its effects in the bulk properties of a magnetic material for the first time. The researchers believe that their work has implications both for understanding quantum magnetism and in building quantum computers - where entanglement is the key to the increased power of such devices (S Ghosh et al. 2003 2003 Nature 425 48).

Entanglement is a feature of quantum mechanics that allows particles with two distinct quantum states to share a much closer relationship than classical physics allows. If two particles are entangled, then we can know the state of one particle by measuring the state of the other. For example, if one particle has a spin 'up' then the other automatically has a spin 'down'. Entanglement is crucial for quantum computing and teleportation but its effects are not generally seen beyond the scale of subatomic particles.

Thomas Rosenbaum at the University of Chicago and colleagues performed their experiment on a single crystal of a simple magnetic salt that contains lithium, holmium, yttrium and fluorine (figure 1). The holmium atoms in this salt all behave like tiny magnets and, in the absence of a magnetic field, their magnetic moments point in random directions. When a field is applied, however, the moments align up with the direction of the field (figure 2).

The researchers measured the ease with which the magnetic moments aligned with the field at different temperatures. They then compared this 'susceptibility' to the material's ability to absorb heat and found that the two properties were very different.

The susceptibility increases smoothly as the sample cooled while the heat absorption varies in a more irregular way. This is in contrast to ordinary materials and, according to the researchers, can only be explained if there is quantum mechanical mixing - or entanglement - of the different magnetic states in the system. This is because entanglement effects contribute much more strongly to the susceptibility than to the heat absorption.

To confirm their findings the researchers combined their experimental results with computer simulations and theory. The salt's susceptibility was found to match theoretical values that had been predicted to take quantum entanglement into account.

The researchers say that their work shows that entanglement can occur in a disordered solid that is far from perfect. "We see these dense, solid state magnets as promising systems for both fundamental quantum mechanics and potential quantum computing applications," Rosenbaum told PhysicsWeb. "The challenge remains to manipulate the entanglement to perform actual quantum logic operations."

Author
Belle Dumé is Science Writer at PhysicsWeb
 
 
—| x |—
09:22 / 12.09.03
Personally, I find nothing what-so-ever surprising about this. For several years I have been a supporter of quantum effects occurring on the macroscopic level, and I predict that as we advance in the holy trinity of theory, practice, and resources, we will discover this to be a universal phenomena.
 
 
We're The Great Old Ones Now
14:52 / 12.09.03
we will discover this to be a universal phenomena

I can almost guarantee that we won't. We may find that it's a universal phenomenon, however.

Sorry - I'm not being persnickety for the sake of it; it's just a little hard to accept your assessment of a scientific situation as having predictive weight if you goof up on the language.
 
 
—| x |—
19:06 / 12.09.03
Oh Sam, to quote Alien Sex Fiend, I'm goin' ta drive my rocket up Uranus, baby.



(or differently, you pedant!—at six in the morning I was lucky to be able to type! But yes, yer correct Mr. Vega, I ought to have used the singular ‘phenomenon’ and not the plural, since we are, after all, talking about a single kind of event…)
 
 
We're The Great Old Ones Now
13:05 / 13.09.03
You know, you could just explain why you've been so durned sure this would happen. It's not as if it's a no-brainer. It's impossible to tell from what you say whether your understanding of the science comes from the Reader's Digest Guide to Reality For Children or your post-doc work at NASA.
 
 
grant
18:08 / 14.09.03
What the hell is holmium?

And how long before we can have a holmium salt radio?
 
 
Salamander
22:45 / 14.09.03
Holmium: Ho element 67, Yttrium: Y element 39, Very exotic material Holmium, part of the lanthinide series. Quantum radios coumin grant, just a few more years.
 
 
—| x |—
02:13 / 15.09.03
"You know, you could just explain why you've been so durned sure this would happen. It's not as if it's a no-brainer. It's impossible to tell from what you say whether your understanding of the science comes from the Reader's Digest Guide to Reality For Children or your post-doc work at NASA."

Actually it comes from neither extreme. I do some math, but not really physics related math (except basic matrix algebra). I do lots of logic, and that is a key element in any theory (the relations amongst propositions and their examination & analysis), and I have spent over ten years now reading what I can on the subject. I have read much of Einstein’s works (which is not so much QM, but...) and I have read many articles from periodicals—both layperson and professional, books for laypeople (by the likes of J. Gribbin, P. Davies, F. Capra, G. Zuckav, and etc.), books on the philosophy of QM by such "heavyweights" as Reichenbach, books by physicists (such as Schrodinger, Heisenberg, Feynmann, and etc.), and on occasion engaged in discourse with a few Ph.D. in Physics type folks. That's my background. Related, but not directly, I have spent much time getting to know fractals, 4d geometry, and other "strange" mathematical phenomena.

As for explanation on why I feel QM effects occur at macroscopic level, well, that is—done properly & with some acceptable degree of academic rigour—likely a 372 page book! I can give you a quick sketch: 1) there aren't levels to reality, but such things are a function of our interpretations of sense-data; thus, any effects produced on any "level" are occurring in the same space, 2) the universe is holographic (to use a buzzword)--this is less a fact, 'natch, and more an assumption, but seems to me the most workable assumption we currently have; thus, effects perceived on a "level" are actually inherent to any discernible differentiated structure; & 3) because I have experienced certain events that seem only explainable if QM effects opperate according to 1) & 2). There are other reasons, to be sure, but those seem the most immediate.

It is also one of those gut feeling things, and from my extended research into the area I have found over time that the “gut feelings” I have about such-and-such typically turn out to be “provable” or “argued for” in some book or periodical that I make my way towards later in time. Thus, I have reasonable—but not definite—evidence to think that my gut feelings about physics are based on some reasonable understanding of the subject. I couldn’t build you an actual experiment to save my life, but I can certainly carry out and verify (or refute!) the thought-experiments that many writers and professionals in the area propose.
 
 
cusm
18:07 / 15.09.03
And of course, Quantum Entanglement is an example of the Law of Contaegon(sp?). So its another case of magickal theory waiting for science to catch up on the applications in reality.
 
 
Wombat
21:11 / 15.09.03
It`s my gut feeling that entanglement can happen at above room temparature.
It`s a personnal hope that some species have evolved a quantum computer in their brain structure and use it as a part of their decision making. Allowing non-computational factors to be taken into consideration. (This is where I see a cross over into magick...I`m just approaching from the other end of the spectrum)

Before I`m ripped to pieces. I come from a physics background. I`m not claiming for a second to understand QM. I can do a little of the maths. Sometimes I intuit the result before the computation.

Brain structure theory comes from the work of Hameroff, Watt and Penrose. It`s very rare for humans to build something that hasn`t been utilised by evolution for a few million years. ( OK there are some things... but in general). If entanglement can be used for computation then it`s likely it allready exists.

There is very little evidence for either of the the theories...as I said a gut feeling and a hope. But still interesting to discuss.

Or maybe I`m just pissed off because I`ve been beaten by a go computer.
 
 
grant
16:07 / 06.10.03
Nature has a related article:

Now a team of physicists has published the recipe for making a large object - not cat-sized, but certainly bacterium-sized - in such a quantum quandary1. A tiny mirror, they propose, can be in two places at once.

Scientists are resigned to atom-sized entities being capable of such feats. But they generally assume that at larger scales a phenomenon called decoherence intervenes, stamping out quantum weirdness and fixing everyday objects to a single, definite location.

William Marshall of the University of Oxford and his coworkers outline a scheme for evading decoherence to achieve a quantum superposition of states in an object with around a hundred trillion atoms. This is about a billion times larger than anything demonstrated previously.

It's not the first proposal for achieving quantum effects in a big system. But unlike others, it is feasible with current technology.
 
 
cusm
16:53 / 06.10.03
Ok, so if fireing a superpositioned photon at an object can cause that object to become in a superpositioned state (where it exists in two places at once), the next logical step would be to break the superposition so that the object is again in only one position: the one at the end of the other photon beam. Results being that an atom is teleported. Add computer aided regulation and a lot more power, and you have the theoretical basis of a teleportation machine where you step into (or are hit by) a beam of light, and step out of another beam of light somewhere else, with your atoms being stripped off and teleported one at a time but fast enough that you don't notice. Given, that's an extrapolation into fiction, but still a fair theoretical basis of how this technique might be applied if it works.
 
 
grant
19:27 / 07.10.03
Is that what these guys are doing?
 
  
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