Entanglement

by Amir D. Aczel

Paper Book, 2004

Status

Available

Call number

530.12

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Milano, Raffaello Cortina

Description

Since cyberspace--a word coined by a science fiction writer--became reality, the lines between "science" and "science fiction" have become increasingly blurred. Now, the young field of quantum mechanics holds out the promise that some of humanity's wildest dreams may be realized. Serious scientists, working off of theories first developed by Einstein and his colleagues seventy years ago, have been investigating the phenomenon known as "entanglement," one of the strangest aspects of the strange universe of quantum mechanics. According to Einstein, quantum mechanics required entanglement--the idea that subatomic particles could become inextricably linked, and that a change to one such particle would instantly be reflected in its counterpart, even if a universe separated them. Einstein felt that if the quantum theory could produce such incredibly bizarre effects, then it had to be invalid. But new experiments both in the United States and Europe show not only that it does happen, but that it may lead to unbreakable codes, and even teleportation.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member rnarvaez

"Entanglement" is one of the more remarkable aspects of quantum mechanics, a field that has produced a number of counterintuitive phenomena. Entangled particles are created in the same process and retain a connection even if they become far separated physically. If a change is later imposed on one

of these particles, then there instantaneously occurs a change with its entangled partner, even if that partner is very far away in another part of the universe. Thus, the news of the change is transmitted with infinite velocity by an unknown means. Einstein aptly referred to this phenomenon as "spooky." In recent decades, researchers have shown entanglement to be a physical fact, thereby vindicating quantum mechanics, spooky though it may be.

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LibraryThing member fpagan

All about an aspect of quantum weirdness, what Einstein called spooky action at a distance. Rather basic but enjoyable.

LibraryThing member dvf1976

This is a subject that I've spent some time reading up on.

Unfortunately, I'm not enough of an expert to be able to follow the logic of this book without some diagrams.

And for some reason, diagrams aren't available for audiobooks :)

LibraryThing member lwobbe

Accessible overview of the debate between Einstein and Bohr as to the nature of light, electrons, atoms, etc, and many of the recent experiments that reveal the mysterious world of the very small. Is it a wave? Is it a particle? Is it both? How does a particle go through two slits at a time? How do

entangled particles "know" what has been measured with its partner so it can "change" accordingly? Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance". Can we never know "where" a particle is except as a probability? Einstein said "God doesn't play dice." The work of John Bell, Abner Shimony, Greenberger, Horne, Zelinger, Gisin and more are summarized along with fascinating biographical details. Amir Aczel is obviously given much respect because of his own physics credentials, and his interviews reveal a world of research being conducted as a hobby, outside normal work, by individuals who have atypically broad backgrounds. An entertaining glimpse, but for the gory mathematical details you will need to look/read/struggle further. I'm left feeling that all the experiments reveal is that we don't really understand the nature of light, and if we don't honor Einstein's plea for true understanding, all we are left with is a way to calculate. The story is still unfolding...

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LibraryThing member craigim

My fourth Aczel book and so far the best. Entanglement is one of the better popular accounts of quantum mechanics I've read. As the title suggests, it focuses on the topic of quantum entanglement, one of the central concepts of quantum mechanics.

Aczel traces the history of quantum mechanics through

the lives and careers of its early players, and then introduces the concept of entanglement -- the idea that two quantum mechanical particle created during the same process, separated by even thousands of light years in distance, are inextricably linked through their probability wave function and that the measurement of one instantaneously determines the state of the other. This "spooky action at a distance" bugged Einstein and kept him from embracing the quantum theories that he was instrumental in helping to create. Over the past century, there has been active and lively research and debate over the nature of quantum mechanics and the properties and parameters of entanglement, and Aczel does a very good job of bringing such an esoteric topic down to the level of the advanced layperson and highlighting the personalities involved.

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LibraryThing member tuckerresearch

Definitely not as good as the first Aczel book I read, on the Aleph. The idea of quantum entanglement is interesting and intriguing because it goes against all we know about reality. This I have learned from Nova. I was hoping for more on the implications of what quantum entanglement means, namely,

it seems as if there can either be (a) one thing in two places at once, or (b) messages between two things that travel at speeds faster than that of light. Unfortunately, what Aczel gives the reader here is the birth of the notion of quantum entanglement, the EPR paradox, and the various experiments that prove the phenomenon actually exists. Unfortunately, unlike The Mystery of the Aleph, as the book progressed I found it harder and harder, as a layman, to actually understand what was going on physics-wise and math-wise. The book started intriguingly and ended flat for this reason, and others. I found the debates between Einstein and Bohr intriguing (from a historians point of view), but got bogged down in the chapter by chapter biographies and introductions of new characters that I've never heard of. The final chapter, "Quantum Magic," was a complete let down. Still, a generally good book that could have been much more interesting. I'm wavering now on if I should purchase Fermat's Last Theorem. I mean, I find mathematics completely boring and befuddling.

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LibraryThing member mcandre

This was my introduction to quantum physics. It's always the first book I think of rereading and suggesting to friends for learning about the topic.

LibraryThing member jasonlf

A decent book on Entanglement. Suffers from my pet peeve in popular science books -- which is repeating lots of material you have read over and over again. You would think that someone coming to a book on Entanglement would have read a few other accounts of quantum mechanics before and doesn't need

to re-read the familiar history starting from the Greeks through Planck and Bohr, Heisenberg and the rest of the early pioneers. Or that someone who wants an introduction to quantum mechanics would not want to start with a book that focuses on one aspect. The book also suffers from too much biography, which would be fine if it were not for the fact that it features 20+ scientists -- so that mini-biographies of each weigh down the explication.

The second half is interesting, including both theoretical work like Bell's theorem and the experimental tests of it. You can never really understand this material without going through the actual physics (and even then you can't actually understand it), but the shortness of the explication made one suffer a little more than normal in a book of this sort. Plus there was a lot less on applications of entanglement, like encryption, than I might have liked.

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LibraryThing member MarkBeronte

Can two particles become inextricably linked, so that a change in one is instantly reflected in its counterpart, even if a universe separates them? Albert Einstein's work suggested it was possible, but it was too bizarre, and too contrary to how we then understood space and time, for him to prove.

No one could. Until now.

Entanglement tells the astounding story of the scientists who set out to complete Einstein's work. With accesible language and a highly entertaining tone, Amir Aczel shows us a world where the improbable—from unbreakable codes to teleportation—becomes possible.

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LibraryThing member nosajeel

to re-read the familiar history starting from the Greeks through Planck and Bohr, Heisenberg and the rest of the early pioneers. Or that someone who wants an introduction to quantum mechanics would not want to start with a book that focuses on one aspect. The book also suffers from too much biography, which would be fine if it were not for the fact that it features 20 scientists -- so that mini-biographies of each weigh down the explication.

The second half is interesting, including both theoretical work like Bell's theorem and the experimental tests of it. You can never really understand this material without going through the actual physics (and even then you can't actually understand it), but the shortness of the explication made one suffer a little more than normal in a book of this sort. Plus there was a lot less on applications of entanglement, like encryption, than I might have liked.

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