Pesky quantum behaviors are getting us closer to figuring out quantum gravity:
If you thought entangling qubits using the Fibonacci sequence was confusing, you'd better hold onto something. A team of physicists recently found that quantum systems can imitate wormholes, theorized shortcuts in spacetime, in that the systems allow the instantaneous transit of information between remote locations.
[...] Let's slow down momentarily. To be clear, the researchers did not literally send quantum information through a rupture in spacetime, which in theory could connect two separate regions of spacetime. (Imagine folding a piece of paper and stabbing a pencil through the two layers. The paper is spacetime, and you now have a portal between two very distant areas.)
An idea floating around in theoretical physics is that wormholes are equivalent to quantum entanglement, which Einstein famously referred to as "spooky action at a distance." That means that, even at great distances, entangled quantum particles are defined by the spin of each other. Because quantum particles have this unique connection, they're a great test-bed for teleportation.
In 2017, a different team demonstrated that the way theorized wormholes in spacetime are described gravitationally is equivalent to the transmission of quantum information. The recent team has been looking at the issue themselves for a few years. [...]
The team put a qubit (a quantum bit) into a special quantum system and observed information exiting from another system. The information they had put to one quantum system had traveled through the quantum equivalent of a wormhole to exit from the other system, according to their paper.
The teleportation of the quantum information was simultaneously what was expected from a quantum physical perspective and from the gravitational understanding of how an object would travel through a wormhole, the researchers said.
Journal Reference:
Jafferis, D., Zlokapa, A., Lykken, J.D. et al. Traversable wormhole dynamics on a quantum processor. Nature 612, 51–55 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05424-3
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 05 2022, @05:21PM
Been there, saved The Avengers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by istartedi on Monday December 05 2022, @05:40PM (2 children)
My eyes always glaze over on quantum stuff; but if there's one thing I know it's that "quantum information" is not useful in the way that traditional good ol' 1s and 0s are. In other words, this isn't going to eliminate latency on our networks. The "quantum information" phrase is their way of saying, "No, you still can't transmit data faster than light".
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday December 05 2022, @07:48PM (1 child)
In theory, the speed of light doesn't limit quantum transfer of data. In entangled systems, there is no delay in transfer.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 06 2022, @02:09AM
But there is no transfer either. Seriously, if you look at these experiments, they don't actually transfer any information.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 05 2022, @08:22PM
AHA! So that's where the front page journal listings went!
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Monday December 05 2022, @11:26PM (5 children)
Wake me up when they can send 1000 ton ships and their crews through the wormholes to explore distant solar systems. And, I'll get really excited when they can send 100,000 ton ships through them. Until ships and crews can fly through them, and return, they haven't found anything really useful, IMHO.
Of course, I'd be happy if someone surprised me, and explained how our lives will benefit from these little mini-wormholes. Not holding my breath.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Tuesday December 06 2022, @12:12AM (2 children)
Hmm I dunno, they haven't been able to send ships through these electrical cables and nowadays the radio waves either but we are all here sat using this useful thing called the internet - you included. Timeliness of communication/information is a pretty useful thing I'd say.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday December 06 2022, @01:11AM (1 child)
Practical fictional applications available here [technovelgy.com].
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 06 2022, @03:47AM
Allow me to emphasize the key word fictional. Then, I'll also emphasize the fact that to have a working ansible at some distant location, we must first put an ansible at that location. Faster than light communication would be good, but first, we need faster than light travel to put an ansible in another solar system. That, or wait hundreds, or thousands of years for our ansible to reach the star system.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2022, @03:57AM (1 child)
Philadelphia Experiment
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 06 2022, @06:42AM
Philadelphia Experiment used a destroyer, I don't remember just how big it was, probably displaced ~3000 tons. Ooops, Wikipedia says the Eldridge was a DE, or Destroyer Escort, that displaced 1240 tons.
I only point that out, because that would be a very small vessel for cruises taking months or years to complete. Something that size could carry provisions for two years for a crew of maybe 10. Yeah, hydroponics will extend the food and oxygen, but still, there aren't any grocery stores orbiting any of the suns we're likely to visit. Fresh fruits, veggies, eggs, and dairy will be used up very quickly.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday December 09 2022, @12:46AM
They used a mathematical relationship between the general relativistic equations for a wormhole and the equations for certain quantum-mechanical entangled systems.
So they solved the general relativistic equations by solving their quantum-mechanical correlates.
That could be called making a wormhole in the computer they used to solve the equations. Lots of things get done in computers this way.
Now because the computer they used happened to be a quantum computer, they hype escalates.
No, they didn't really build a wormhole any more than a warcraft player kills orcs.