A simulation of entangled particles (Credit: John Jost and Jason Amini – via Livescience)
Quantum entanglement (also known as
“spooky action at a distance”)
is one of the most bizarre things we see happening with particle
interactions on a microscale. Instead of acting as one solitary
particle, certain pairs act as one – always knowing what the other is
doing (and changing based on the characteristics of its partner) –
despite being located vast distances apart. Obviously, this is
problematic. Relativity says that nothing can travel faster than the
speed of light. Yet, that’s exactly what entangled particles are doing –
passing along information at speeds far exceeding light-speed travel –
the universal speed limit. We shouldn’t rush to
make adjustments to
general relativity though, as one hypothesis has been put forth that
combines quantum entanglement with a darling (yet highly theoretical)
concept –
Einstein-Rosen bridges (commonly known as wormholes).
According to a paper,
published by Juan Maldacena and Leonard Susskind: entangled particles may be connected to one another
by infinitesimally small wormholes
– tunnel-like portals that connect two distant regions of space. This
is how they are able to exchange signals almost instantaneously – even
when they are located on opposite ends of the universe. The whole thing
centers on a concept called an eternal black hole – another highly
theoretical concept that postulates an entirely different universe can
be found
on the “other side” of
a black hole (to get to it, one must delve into the black hole’s event
horizon – the point of no return – before traveling into the
singularity. Assuming you survive the spaghettification process – you
would hypothetically pop back out into a different universe than the one
you originated from). In layman terms, this indicates black holes are
actually bridges that connect separate universes. (Or to put it another
way, one single black hole exists in two universes)
Assuming you are still following me: in this scenario – with
entangled black holes – any change to one of them would automatically
effect the other as well. Hence the correlation between the two
phenomena. As stated: these ideas, which are not new, are
highly theoretical
(perhaps even a little bit speculative). They will remain as such until
we find definitive evidence of the existence of the so-called
wormholes, but they are a mathematical prediction of general relativity.
Therefore, one should expect this evidence to manifest eventually. In
any case – the entanglement/wormhole hypothesis offers an explanation
for noted instances of entangled particles becoming spontaneously
disentangled – the wormholes connecting them collapse.
It also provides insight into several other perplexing concepts,
dealing with a disconnect between general relativity and quantum
mechanics. One deals with black holes and virtual particles.
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Typically, they cancel one another out (
and annihilate one another),
but on some occasions, a black hole will consume one member of a pair
of virtual particles – causing the other to physically manifest – before
it drifts off into the abyss of space. We call this hawking radiation.
In order for information about the objects the black hole consumed to
remain intact – we believe that these particles
must all be entangled with one another
– meaning that the state of each individual particles depend of the
state of similarly entangled particles of hawking radiation.
This presents us with a sticky paradox, called the
black hole firewall paradox.
It clearly indicates that each particle is entangled with not one, but
multiple other particles at the same time – something the laws of
physics frown upon. So, to avoid this – physicists developed a concept
that says that after a particle crosses the event horizon – into the
singularity – the quantum bond breaks. Subsequently producing a huge
burst of energy that acts like a wall of fire.
Credit: Newscientist
This is where the wormhole/entanglement idea comes in to play. According to Susskind and Maldacena (who built
on a paper published
a few years prior to theirs) the wormholes connecting the particles
from the interior and exterior of the event horizon act as a buffer to
smooth out the entanglement issues –
avoiding the need for a firewall.
Going a bit further with that, we can say that even when a virtual
particle “pops” into existence – before going on its merry way – it is
still intimately connected not only to the interior of the black hole it
came from, but it also has a palatable connection to its fellow
brethren. They quite literally become
interconnected by a slew of
tiny, spaghetti-like strings. They may even remain as such after
leaking hawking radiation causes the black hole to dry up, before
evaporating – after the bulk of its mass is lost to space.
Of course – these quantum constructs are much to small for humans to
traverse. That, paired with questions about their overall stability –
mean that there is no need to get excited about the possibility of
teleportation. Or anything else, for that matter. However, this could
have a profound effect on how we view the overall structure of
spacetime. One physicist – working separate from Susskind and Maldacena –
even suggested that
spacetime is a manifestation of quantum entanglement. Interesting, indeed.
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