Quantum Entanglement Is Not Rare

I get into plenty of arguments with other quantum thinkers. It is not a big deal. We do not completely understand many things about quantum yet, so there are bound to be disagreements. Although I am constantly amazed by how strong my opinions are considering that I am not a quantum scientist. But as the years go by, I think I understand what quantum is more and more.

Certainly, one of the biggest topics of interest and disagreement is over quantum entanglement.

The concept of quantum entanglement is the idea that whenever two quantum particles (e.g., photon, electron, quark, etc.) meet, they become forever related to each other and whatever happens to one impacts the other and vice-versa. What was previously two individual objects that never impacted each other (that we know of), now impact each other forevermore. Before two systems. Now one system forever. It is one of the most interesting and hardest concepts to understand in quantum physics. It bothers everyone.

We know that entanglement happens beyond an insane degree of confirmation. We know that it happens and exists better than many other things you have been told to believe as “science”. We know that it happens, but not how or why. Those are two of the biggest mysteries left in the world of physics. Many Nobel prizes will be won solving them.

The disagreement I and other quantum physicists have is exactly how often or rare entanglement is. Many to most quantum scientists I know and speak to think quantum entanglement is an incredibly rare event. Tough to make, tough to keep, and ready to fly apart willy nilly upon any very minor disturbance. Simply look at it and it is gone!

As for me, I think it is happening a trillion times a microsecond in every millimeter of space and we could not stop it if we tried. I have had respected quantum scientists laugh, scoff, and treat me like a little child for believing such “nonsense”.

Although it seems just as silly to me that quantum entanglement, a proven natural law of physics, would be the only law so rarified, rarely seen, and so easily torn about in nature. That seems to be the far more unlikely scenario to me.

Let me be clear, my opinion was not formed inherently, nor is it a belief held by myself alone. Many distinguished, thoughtful, quantum scientists and philosophers agree with me.

Author, Philip Ball, in his wonderful book on quantum physics, Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different (https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Weird-Everything-Thought-Different/dp/022675510X), was the first person to introduce the concept of entanglement being ubiquitous and unstoppable to me.

Among many things on the subject, Ball said, “Quantum superpositions of states aren’t fragile. On the contrary, they are highly contagious and apt to spread out rapidly…Quantum mechanics is powerless to stop it, because it contains no prescription for shutting down the spread of entanglement as particles interact.”

I recommend to anyone interested in understanding how quantum mechanics really works to read Ball’s book. I do not know a person who has read it and did not say it changed the fundamental way they think about entanglement and quantum physics for the better . Ball, himself, is not a trained quantum physicist, but he seems to understand how it works in all its grandeur better than any other quantum scientist I have talked to. When you read the way Ball describes the supposedly strange, quirkiness of quantum physics, it does not seem nearly so mysterious anymore. Hence his book’s title, Beyond Weird. Sure, he has his critics, but they do not seem nearly as convincing and seem stuck in defending old ideas without any new proof showing how Ball’s ideas are contradicted by the math (hint: it is not).

Now I am not sure how many quantum physicists believe in what Ball is stating in the way that quantum entanglement works, but there are far more, percentage-wise, who believe the opposite, that quantum entanglement is a rare thing and hard to create. Let me just guess that 90% - 95% of quantum scientists think quantum entanglement is rare and hard to do.

I think this is mostly because many of them have spent their college and post-doctorate years struggling to make MEASURABLE quantum entanglement. Most quantum experiments and devices require measurable, controlled entanglement, where the physicist intentionally creates, an entangled quantum pair(s) of particles at just the right time, and then is able to watch and control it over the course of the experiment or device’s need. Now, I agree with that making useful, measurable quantum entanglement is hard to do. Making quantum entanglement happen only when you need it and to make it so that no other unintended particles touch it is very hard. It is supposed to be…because further quantum entanglement of everything at all times is the natural order of things.

This is not to say there are not any great minded quantum scientists who believe entanglement is ubiquitous.

There are, including in this YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sn63t3BeMc), by world-renowned quantum physicist, Dr. Wojciech Zurek. He says between the 14:30 - 15:00 mark in his lecture that “…any interaction – between the quantum system S and its environment "generally leads to entanglement." He does not stop to explain it further. He obviously thinks everyone believes this or should believe this.

However, it is said so rarely and clearly, and so few quantum physicists seem to believe it, that I always keep my ears open for any respected quantum scientist who declares quantum entanglement ubiquitous and unstoppable.

It was recently said again by one of the foremost respected quantum physicists of this generation, Sean Carroll. My study is full of his books. He is a very smart and thoughtful guy on the subject, and like Dr. Wojciech, says it so casually that if you were not listening for it, you might miss it.

In this interview transcript (https://www.quantamagazine.org/where-do-space-time-and-gravity-come-from-20220504/), right at the 20:26 mark, Sean Carroll says, “And this is completely generic and everywhere in quantum mechanics. It’s not a rare, special thing. Many things are entangled with many other things.”

So, I think the next time a quantum physicist laughs at me for saying that quantum entanglement is everywhere, all the time, and cannot be stopped, I am going to send the link to this article, showing that my beliefs are in good company of scientists much smarter and respected than I am. But I keep good company.

Funny thing is that as I was researching a few things for this posting, I suddenly remembered I had made an even more passionate and detailed defense of the exact same belief and argument about 15 months ago (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/quantum-entanglement-delicate-thing-roger-grimes). Well, I still feel just as passionate about the subject and defense, so I am just going to strike this up as either a bad memory or the other side of two quantum entangled articles. <grin>