I read a bit on quantum entanglement and from the little I read it seems that quantum particles are not limited to the speed of light constant. Will this propery of quantum physics someday allow us to communicate with other ships, planets, solar systems or galaxies without limiting our communication attempts to light speed?
2006-09-13 08:53:38 · 8 answers · asked by T F 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
No. That's no no. Entanglement may appear you might have instant transmission, but in order to decode the message you need extra information sent to receiver at speed of light to decode it. So you might say you received it instantly, but understanding it will take you at least speed of light. They've (Anton Zelinger) actually done bank wire transfer using quantum cryptography.
So far no one ever observed things exceeding speed of light. Not even transmission of information using entanglement.
Things like tacyon is still hypothetical object that have not been observed and may well be some mathematical oddity or anomally in some theories.
2006-09-15 23:02:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Current theory prohibits INFORMATION from travelling faster than light. There may be ways of getting around this, though.
Faster than light communication has already occurred by tunnelling energy through a solid barrier. When tunnelling it appears on the other side without travelling though the intervening space, so in on experiment a signal was decoded on the other side, having travelled four times the speed of light to get there. This could work be re-defining 'space' a bit... the information skips a section of space, so it's not -really- travelling faster than light, even though it -appears- to.
But as far as quantum entanglement goes, communication in that way MAY be possible but not quite as you think. Because the entangled particles cannot be disturbed beforehand, and once they're disturbed they become disentangled, you couldn't use them to send messages directly - any attempt to change the information ruins it (and would break the faster-than-light rule). Entanglement COULD be of great utility for sending coded messages, however... with a number of entangled particles, one person could break the entanglement and read the key while the other would recieve the exact same key. Then you could code a message using that key that nobody else could possibly decode (well, at least not without a lot of computing).
2006-09-13 09:32:38 · answer #2 · answered by Doctor Why 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Quantum phenomena are non-local. That means two entangled particles don't pass information back and forth conventionally to decide what to do, so the speed of light is not being broken.
When the state of one particle is read, the reader knows what the other particle's state will be but cannot affect or adjust it in anyway. So, the distant observer will continue to see a random signal. Does not appear to be any way to set up a communication circuit.
Tunneling phenomena can give the appearance of super luminal speeds, but the objective wave function defining the photon cannot exceed c so this appears to be a reach too.
2006-09-13 11:53:58 · answer #3 · answered by SAN 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've read about entanglement and I suppose you could communicate provided you both have particles created at the same time from the same thing. I am not sure what you mean about quantum particles not limited to the speed of light because they are to my knowledge, but if you find proof that they do i would like to know:]
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gravity goes at the same speed as light so count that out
2006-09-13 09:20:47 · answer #4 · answered by cosmologist dude 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is a theoretical class of quantum particles called tachyons, which always travel faster than the speed of light. You'll notice the same equation from Einstein that limits us from accelerating to the speed of light prevents those particles from decelerating down to the speed of light. There is no common frame of reference for interaction between our normal particles and tachyons. Therefore I don't believe we can interact with tachyons in a controlled way for use as a communication medium, so the answer is no.
2006-09-13 16:59:56 · answer #5 · answered by Tekguy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As we have just scratched the surface of quantum physics, no one can state things definitively, but it seems unlikely.
What I like to imagine is that one day we will transfer our very intelligence into some sort of quantum constructs, in a sense becoming one with the fabric of the universe, thus making the universe itself intelligent, which I suspect is the goal of all "this." An intelligent universe will communicate instantly with all parts of itself, most certainly faster than the speed of light.
2006-09-13 19:08:01 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Gravity is faster than the speed of light. If we can learn to communicate through gravity, we will be able to communicate almost instantaneously over great distances. We may also be able to do this by making use of the vacuum.
2006-09-13 09:17:31 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
yes i think so and even be able to go back in the future.but that is still a few million years from us that technology!!!!!!
2006-09-13 09:18:00 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋