Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
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Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
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Re: Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
#2The question of whether time is in fact directional is far from being closed, at least for quantum physicists. In fact, one of the physicists cited in the article is known for proposing a time-symmetric formulation of Quantum Mechanics [1].
[1] http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/people/Popescu_S/papers/sandu_othe...
Re: Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
#3This Google Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEaecUuEqfc uses entanglement and quantum information theory in a clear and understandable way to explain 'spooky' quantum phenomena, like the quantum eraser, de-coherence, the aspect experiment, and the measurement problem. Even if you don't know any QM, just basic algebra and calculus, it's really approachable.
I used to be a fan of the Many Worlds interpretation, but after seeing this, I'm now a big fan of the Quantum Information Theory explanation. Starting about 43 minutes in, he goes into the QM Information Theory explanation, but I'd recommend watching the entire prezo.
Link to my original post on the subject: https://plus.google.com/110412141990454266397/posts/HC49S9ip...
Re: Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
#4The question of whether time is in fact directional is far from being closed, at least for quantum physicists. In fact, one of the physicists cited in the article is known for proposing a time-symmetric formulation of Quantum Mechanics [1]. [1] http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/people/Popescu_S/papers/sandu_othe...
Interesting overview of the Arrow of Time on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_of_time
Re: Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
#5This was surprisingly beautiful. As a geek in programming/computers/information/mathematics, but only a physics admirer from afar, it is very suggestive, even natural, to explain the deepest physical reality in terms of information:
"It was as though particles gradually lost their individual autonomy and became pawns of the collective state. Eventually, the correlations contained all the information, and the individual particles contained none. At that point, Lloyd discovered, particles arrived at a state of equilibrium, and their states stopped changing, like coffee that has cooled to room temperature."
“What’s really going on is things are becoming more correlated with each other,” Lloyd recalls realizing. “The arrow of time is an arrow of increasing correlations.”
“The present can be defined by the process of becoming correlated with our surroundings.”
Re: Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
#6This Google Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEaecUuEqfc uses entanglement and quantum information theory in a clear and understandable way to explain 'spooky' quantum phenomena, like the quantum eraser, de-coherence, the aspect experiment, and the measurement problem. Even if you don't know any QM, just basic algebra and calculus, it's really approachable. I used to be a fan of the Many Worlds interpretation, bu…
And the paper that the talk is based on:
Re: Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
#7Quantum mechanics is where physics became more like mathematics: common sense no longer provides much guidance. It is really cool that it provides the missing explanation for one of the most common sense ideas in classical physics: the arrow of time.
Re: Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
#8The reasoning sounds a bit iffy as in:
“Finally, we can understand why a cup of coffee equilibrates in a room,” said Tony Short, a quantum physicist at Bristol. “Entanglement builds up between the state of the coffee cup and the state of the room.”
I think you can understand coffee cooling quite well without any quantum stuff - the atoms in the coffee are moving faster than those in the room. There will be a tendency when one impacts with an atom of the air in the room for that to speed up and the coffee atom to be slowed.
Actual quantum entanglement is a strange and interesting thing. It's a shame people tag the term on things it is not really relevant to try to sound impressive for the most part.
Re: Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
#9I've always wanted to study quantum mechanics because of this very "entanglement". Can people please post recommendations on good resources/books on the topic for a person like me having no solid experience with physics(except college level courses)?
Re: Quantum Entanglement Drives the Arrow of Time
#10The reasoning sounds a bit iffy as in: “Finally, we can understand why a cup of coffee equilibrates in a room,” said Tony Short, a quantum physicist at Bristol. “Entanglement builds up between the state of the coffee cup and the state of the room.” I think you can understand coffee cooling quite well without any quantum stuff - the atoms in the coffee are moving faster than those in the room. There will be a tendency…
The physical implications of entanglement might be strange but on a mathematical level it's all just vector addition so it's not really that strange.