Abstract Chapter 0 is a parable where Alice and Bob discover the mystery of entanglement per the superposition of the imaginary properties of handedness and color for entangled “quantum gloves” in an experimental challenge given to them by Albert. Alice and Bob show how Albert’s quantum gloves experiment leads to the ‘average-only’ conservation of the entangled properties that characterizes the mystery of entanglement. They solve this mystery by using the relativity principle to justify the fact that they both measured the same value of Planck’s constant h, regardless of the relative spatial orientations of their measurement devices. They propose this solution because it is totally analogous to how Albert solved the mystery of length contraction, i.e., he used the relativity principle to justify the fact that everyone measures the same value of the speed of light c, regardless of the relative velocities of their measurement devices.
Abstract Chapter 0 is a parable where Alice and Bob discover the mystery of entanglement per the superposition of the imaginary properties of handedness and color for entangled “quantum gloves” in an experimental challenge given to them by Albert. Alice and Bob show how Albert’s quantum gloves experiment leads to the ‘average-only’ conservation of the entangled properties that characterizes the mystery of entanglement. They solve this mystery by using the relativity principle to justify the fact that they both measured the same value of Planck’s constant h, regardless of the relative spatial orientations of their measurement devices. They propose this solution because it is totally analogous to how Albert solved the mystery of length contraction, i.e., he used the relativity principle to justify the fact that everyone measures the same value of the speed of light c, regardless of the relative velocities of their measurement devices.
Abstract Chapter 1 points out that the mystery of entanglement has led Physics Nobel Laureates to claim “nobody understands quantum mechanics.” The Chapter goes on to introduce: the EPR and EPR–Bell paradoxes, various attempts to resolve them, our proposed resolution whereby the relativity principle (no preferred reference frame, NPRF) justifies the Planck postulate (NPRF + h) exactly like the relativity principle justifies the light postulate (NPRF + c), the Planck postulate as a result of Information Invariance & Continuity from quantum information theory, the importance of the relativity principle, subjective versus objective spacetime models of reality, spacelike and timelike relations in spacetime, and four experiments leading to our Poincaré symmetric ontology.
While quantum mechanics (QM) is covered at length in introductory physics textbooks, the concept of quantum entanglement is typically not covered at all, despite its importance in the rapidly growing area of quantum information science and its extensive experimental confirmation. Thus, physics educators are left to their own devices as to how to introduce this important concept. Regardless of how a physics educator chooses to introduce quantum entanglement, they face a trilemma involving its mysterious Bell-inequality-violating correlations. They can compromise on the the completeness of their introduction and simply choose not to share that fact, totally ignoring the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics. They can frustrate their more curious students by introducing the mystery and simply telling them that the QM formalism with its associated (equally mysterious) conservation law maps beautifully to the experiments, so there is nothing else that needs to be said. Or, they can compromise the rigor of their presentation and attempt to resolve the mystery by venturing into the metaphysical quagmire of competing QM interpretations. Herein, we resolve this trilemma in precisely the same way that Einstein resolved the mysteries of time dilation and length contraction that existed in the late nineteenth century. That is, we resort to "principle" explanation based on the mathematical consequences of "empirically discovered" facts. Indeed, our principle account of quantum entanglement is even based on the same principle Einstein used, i.e., the relativity principle or "no preferred reference frame." Thus, this principle resolution of the trilemma is as complete, satisfying, analytically rigorous, and accessible as the standard introduction of special relativity for first-year physics students.
Abstract Chapter 7 uses the ‘average-only’ projection for a qubit found in Chapter 6 to derive ‘average-only’ conservation for qubits entangled in Bell states. This is then used to derive the joint probabilities for particles entangled in Bell states, which map immediately to the mysterious facts of the Mermin device. Therefore, Mermin’s challenge is answered via ‘average-only’ conservation per NPRF. The symmetry of ‘average-only’ conservation in Bell states (highlighted in Chapter 0) is compared to the symmetry of length contraction and time dilation in the relativity of simultaneity for SR. So, contrary to popular opinion, QM and SR are more than compatible, they are both derived from NPRF such that their mysteries display the same kind of reference frame symmetry. The third experiment for the Poincaré symmetric ontology (photon polarization) is explained.
Quantum mechanics discovers fascinating concepts like entanglement, in which subatomic particles stay correlated regardless of distance. Measurements on one particle instantaneously influence the other, defying classical expectations. While the principles of quantum mechanics suggest the possibility of faster-than-light information transfer, experiments such as quantum teleportation and entanglement exchange indicate this more explicitly. However, it’s crucial to distinguish this from the speed limit of light established by special relativity. This chapter argues that the superluminal aspect observed in these processes pertains to ontological information, and not the actual physical movement of micro-particles; in contrast, epistemological information, derived from measurements, remains bound by the speed of light. Microscopic particles possess both intrinsic properties (their own nature) and extrinsic properties (how they interact with the environment). This duality extends to their identity and distinguishability. Quantum teleportation experiments demonstrate that quantum reality unites quantum information within these micro-particles; in addition, quantum information can be transferred through specific quantum processes.
Abstract This chapter introduces the central mysteries of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is an enormously successful theory that lies at the heart of modern physics, but there is no agreement on how to understand it. Simple experiments with light demonstrate why: in understanding those experiments, we have to shift inconsistently back and forth between thinking of the theory as assigning indefinite, delocalized, but known properties to a system, and assigning definite, localized, but unknown properties (this is called the ‘problem of measurement’). Furthermore, when we break a system into subsystems, the state of the system is not determined by the states of the subsystem (this is called ‘entanglement’), and simple arguments seem to tell us that the physical properties of entangled subsystems can influence one another non-locally—faster than light. These three mysteries—measurement, entanglement, non-locality—need to be addressed by any attempt to make sense of quantum theory.