» Giant page of links to all sorts of quantum experiments

» Author's review paper on macroscopic entanglement

» The classic buckyball quantum experiment:

» Latest record-breaking experiment on quantum interference of large molecules

» Michael Moyer's news story on quantum effects in photosynthesis

» George Musser's news story on entanglement in out-of-equilibrium systems

» John Matson's news story on record-breaking numbers of entangled trapped ions

» High-temperature experiments with magnetic salts

» Entanglement in birds' innate compass

5 Comments

1. 1. galenives 04:01 PM 6/8/11

   I loved the article by Vlatko Vedral. As a psychologist I often wonder where consciousness fits into the picture - physicists don't often consider it, presumably because it defies pyhsical description despite being an obvious feature of our lives. Unless one wants to go down the various supernatural/metaphysical routes which abound, psyche/mind/consciousness, call it what you will, is an irreducible feature or property of the universe we live in. It is difficult to explain or even describe, as is well illustrated by the next article in the June SA. This is interesting and well argued, but unfortunately is largely hokum - even if a machine were able to demonstrate the kind of highly distributed processing described as a feature of consciousness, it would show only that it could do that kind of processing, and would say nothing about whether the machine enjoyed conscious awareness. I struggle to see why this isn't obvious.
   
   Eugene Herrigel was a German academic who taught philosophy in Japan betwen the wars. His well-known book "Zen and the art of archery" describes his studies with a Zen master. At one point, the Zen master asserts that in the (highly abnormal!) state of mind achieved by practitioners of Zen, the distinction between subject and object disappears. Herrigel does not understand and later his teacher arranges a demonstration, shooting two arrows at a distant target in the dark without looking at it. As he approaches the target, Herrigel is astonished to see that the first arrow hit the centre of the target and the second landed on the end of the first, splitting it in two.
   
   Assuming that we accept Herrigel's account, this is difficult to explain on the basis of classical physics - there are too many subtle forces acting on the arrow to make the feat possible, how ever accomplished the archer. I may be romancing here, but some kind of entanglement might make it possible, just as photosynthesis is impossibly efficient but still happens. If so, it implies that the psyche is capable, perhaps only in certain extreme states, of interacting with the physical world in a quantum way, the merging of subject and object described in the Zen context being a kind of entanglement.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. verdai 06:52 PM 6/19/11

   Yes, it is.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. marsa 02:48 PM 6/30/11

   I wonder if "harmony" would be a more proper term for the quantum entanglement phenomenon
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. tacitus5 07:41 AM 7/11/11

   Question to the author:
   
   In the printed version of Vlatko Vedrals article "Living in a Quantum World" there is an inset "Quantum salt" on page 23, where a graph is shown depicting responsiveness to magnetic field versus temperature in Kelvins. On the logarithmic scale for temperature the observed resuts (black dot) and the quantum prediction (blue circles) are almost perfect lines, while the classical prediction (orange circles) traces out an irregular and wavy shape. I wonder how this can be, because to my understanding both "prediction" values should be derived from mathematical relations, either according to classical physics or according to quantum physics, and should be either lines or simple curves but not irregular shapes.
   
   So is the classical prediction dependent on such a complicated formula to give the seemingly irregular wavy appearance or is the legend for the graph incorrectly reproduced in the printed version?
   
   Dr. Reinhold Stoermann
   University of Bremen
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

5. 5. Dean10e in reply to marsa 03:55 PM 11/19/11

   Marsa wrote: "I wonder if "harmony" would be a more proper term for the quantum entanglement phenomenon?"
   ******************************************************
   
   I think you are closer to the bullseye than many...consider terms that describe more familiar phenomena and I think you may see crossover connections to or alternative descriptionf of entanglement, such as:
   
   "Synchronized pairs", "Resonant frequencies", "Sympathetic vibration". We know why one plucked string on guitar A causes sympathetic vibration in the string(s) of guitar B, or the snare drum. While there is not always a conventional atmosphere to transmit the sound waves, or a physical connection to transduce the vibration, even in deep space there is a medium known as the electromagnetic spectrum as well as other media with characteristics as yet undefined.
   
   I think that once more is known about the properties of space-time, the poorly named dark energy/dark matter concepts and perhaps even other adjacent dimensions, the current mystery surrounding entanglement will embarass some who looked right past the mechanisms.
   
   It wasn't very long ago that the sharpest scientific minds were adamantly positive that the "ether" surrounded everything pertinent.
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this