The Alan Sondheim Mail Archive

(forwarded by Ian Murray)

** Quantum Physics Or Typical Family Dynamics?

Quantum physics just keeps getting weirder. Example: Danish
scientists have been able to link distant atomic particles using
quantum entanglement, a seemingly magical technique involving the
ability of one group of particles to communicate its status to
another group of particles that is in no way connected to the
first group.

The term entanglement describes a relationship between quantum
particles in which the polarity of one particle or group of
particles determines the polarity of another, no matter how
distant. (This part here actually sounds like your average family
politics.) If two particle groups are entangled, the polarity of
one group causes the other to assume the opposite polarity,
maintaining an even balance between the two--and in essence,
communicating information on the properties of matter through
space.

This neat trick has been done before, but physicists at the
University of Aarhus in Denmark recently did it with larger lumps
of atoms and for a longer time. It marks another step,
potentially, toward the day when we can transmit messages
instantaneously or even teleport objects. In theory, one could
instantly send information on the properties of something to a
remote location, where the properties of the matter could be
reproduced. - John Rendleman

Go deeper. Read
Connect The Dots To Quantum Computing
http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eEnV0BdQAx0V20S430AQ