Saturday, September 14, 2013

Wacky Physics: Are Entangled Particles Connected by Wormholes?

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)
References, sources, and further reading can be found here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/wacky-physics-are-entangled-particles-connected-by-wormholes/

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