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Spooky Action at a Distance: The Phenomenon That Reimagines Space and Time--and What It Means for Black Holes, the Big Bang, and Theories of Everything

George S. Musser

Published Nov 3, 2015• 38 citations

Abstract

What is space? It isn't a question that most of us normally stop to ask. Space is the venue of physics; it's where things exist, where they move and take shape. Yet over the past few decades, physicists have discovered a phenomenon that operates outside the confines of space and time. The phenomenon, the ability of one particle to affect another instantly across the vastness of space appears to be almost magical. Einstein grappled with this oddity and couldn't quite resolve it, describing it as "spooky action at a distance." But this strange occurrence has direct connections to black holes, particle collisions, and even the workings of gravity. If space isn't what we thought it was, then what is it? In Spooky Action at a Distance, George Musser sets out to answer that question, offering a provocative exploration of non locality and a celebration of the scientists who are trying to understand it. Musser guides us on an epic journey of scientific discovery into the lives of experimental physicists observing particles acting in tandem, astronomers discovering galaxies that look statistically identical, and cosmologists hoping to unravel the paradoxes surrounding the big bang. Their conclusions challenge our understanding not only of space and time but of the origins of the universe and their insights are spurring profound technological innovation and suggesting a new grand unified theory of physics.

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What is space? It isn't a question that most of us normally stop to ask. Space is the venue of physics; it's where things exist, where they move and take shape. Yet over the past few decades, physicists have discovered a phenomenon that operates outside the confines of space and time. The phenomenon, the ability of one particle to affect another instantly across the vastness of space appears to be almost magical. Einstein grappled with this oddity and couldn't quite resolve it, describing it as "spooky action at a distance." But this strange occurrence has direct connections to black holes, particle collisions, and even the workings of gravity. If space isn't what we thought it was, then what is it? In Spooky Action at a Distance, George Musser sets out to answer that question, offering a provocative exploration of non locality and a celebration of the scientists who are trying to understand it. Musser guides us on an epic journey of scientific discovery into the lives of experimental physicists observing particles acting in tandem, astronomers discovering galaxies that look statistically identical, and cosmologists hoping to unravel the paradoxes surrounding the big bang. Their conclusions challenge our understanding not only of space and time but of the origins of the universe and their insights are spurring profound technological innovation and suggesting a new grand unified theory of physics.

In Into the depths of Quantum Entanglement, Jonah Hainin brings to life one of the pivotal debates in twentieth century physics. In 1935, Albert Einstein famously showed that, according to the quantum theory, separated particles could act as if intimately connected–a phenomenon which he derisively described as “spooky action at a distance.” In that same year, Erwin Schrodinger christened this correlation “entanglement.” Yet its existence was mostly ignored until 1964, when the Irish physicist John Bell demonstrated just how strange this entanglement really was. Drawing on the papers, letters, and memoirs of the twentieth century’s greatest physicists, Gilder both humanizes and dramatizes the story by employing the scientists’ own words in imagined face-to-face dialogues. The result is a richly illuminating exploration of one of the most exciting concepts of quantum physics.

This chapter explores intuition in the context of phenomena that involve action at-a-distance – the transmission of a force or effect by no known physical means. Because they contradict the laws of physics, they defy reason and commonsense. Nowadays, though, action-at-a-distance is known as nonlocality. And, following experiments confirming quantum entanglement in the 1980s, nonlocality is accepted as a scientific fact. Moreover, because the individual particles in particle pairings appear to act is if they instantly ‘know’ what is happening to each other and display an unconditional, unbreakable union, some physicists characterize this bond as ‘passion at-a-distance’. In short, quantum entanglement is not only seen as fundamental to understanding the physical universe but is also thought integral to the question of consciousness – and may provide a new explanation for group intuitions.

The study of nature at the smallest scales, known as quantum physics, has uncovered occurrences that defy conventional wisdom. Among them, one of the most enigmatic and exciting discoveries is quantum entanglement. When two or more particles become correlated to the point that, regardless of the distance between them, the state of one particle is instantly connected to the state of the other, this is known as entanglement. Once referred to by Einstein as "spooky action at a distance," this phenomenon has developed from a theoretical curiosity to a fundamental component of contemporary quantum technologies. Next-generation communication technologies are among its most revolutionary uses. The power of computational devices using silicon-based integrated circuits has advanced dramatically during the last few decades. Since the gadgets' size will soon approach atomic scales, this remarkable technological advancement based on the principles of classical physics cannot continue eternally. Quantum mechanics would control how these devices operate at these extreme natural regimes. In order to demonstrate drastically new kinds of computing and communication with quantum mechanical states of physical systems, physicists and computer scientists have developed concepts that take advantage of the quantum mechanical behavior of these devices. A basic and fascinating phenomenon in quantum mechanics, quantum entanglement occurs when two or more particles become correlated to the point where the state of one instantly affects the state of the other, regardless of the distance between them. This study explores the theoretical underpinnings of quantum entanglement, including its mathematical formulation, important experimental validations, and implications for new technologies. We will talk about this in this paper. Quantum communication via quantum entanglement.

This theory postulates an inverse way to look at what is large and what is small. When we talk about quantum mechanics we automatically presume that things are smaller at this level. What this theory proposes is that as we drill down into the quantum level we are actually moving towards the infinitely large. As we get down to the atomic and sub-atomic levels things begin to get very strange. Particles pop in and out of existence. They seem to be in more than one place at the same time. They seem to interact by means of entanglement, more famously known as “spooky interaction at a distance”, so named by Albert Einstein. My theory explains why things are so strange “down there”. As we zoom into the sub-atomic levels and beyond we begin to approach the Inverse, a realm where space and time does not exist, and more importantly where the laws of nature or physics do not apply. This Inverse connects everything as we know it; atoms, molecules, matter, stars, galaxies, etc. The Inverse has no physical properties, no energy, nothing we can measure. It is however the originating point of all Universes. It has no beginning or end. It has always been and always will be. Time is of no consequence.