Entanglement: passion at a distance.1 Mr Schrödinger (another pioneer of quantum mechanics, and Nobel Prize winner: he promoted the cat example) coined the term “entanglement” (entrelazamiento) in 1935 to describe a peculiar connection between quantum systems: “When two systems enter into temporary physical interaction due to known forces between them, and when after a time of mutual influence the systems separate again, then they can no longer be described in the same way as before. I would not call that one but rather the characteristic trait of quantum mechanics, the one that enforces its entire departure from classical lines of thought. By the interaction the two systems have become entangled.” Entanglement thus manifests as a somehow puzzling correlation (Einstein blamed it as a “spooky action at a distance”) between parties who once came into contact, and mantain their contact even miles away. This has been experimentally demonstrated with individual atoms or light beams: but how can it fit in our everyday experience of life? The closest feeling which comes into my mind is 1 This expression was coined by R. D. Gill. love. Think of a mother and a child, or two lovers who shared an intense emotion, and are now living at the opposite sides of the world. They feel each other, perceive the happiness or the sadness of the distant partner, and are influenced by this. Schrödinger added: “Another way of expressing the peculiar situation is: the best possible knowledge of a whole does not necessarily include the best possible knowledge of all its parts. The lack of knowledge is due to the interaction itself.” In our metaphor, nobody of the two lovers is complete on its own. Only when taken together, they complement each other. They are nonseparable halves of the same entangled entity. No proper and complete understanding, on both physical and psychological grounds, is available for this phenomenon. But the language of art, probably, can make it clearer: entanglement is admirably depicted by Pamela Ott, who has almost zero knowledge of quantum mechanics (I asked her!) and paints “from her subconscious”. The waveness of the lines, the choice of complimentary colors, the faded entwining of bodies and souls is what in my opinion most closely resembles a true image of entanglement, and of loving passion
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 22:38:58 +0000
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