"The greatest mystery of physics" (Amir D. Aczel).
"Phantom action at a distance" (Einstein)
"Experimental Metaphysics" (Abner Shimony)
"Bell's theorem is the most profound discovery in science" (Henry Stapp).
Quantum Entanglement
The term "entanglement" was coined by Schrödinger in 1935, in the same paper in which he presented his famous cat experiment, the most famous theoretical (or mental) experiment in physics.
Entanglement consists in the fact that two particles (electrons, neutrons, photons, etc.) that share when they are together the same quantum property (e.g., spin) remain interconnected when they are separated, no matter how far apart they are from each other, so that a change in the property −e.g., when observed or measured− in one of them instantly produces a change in the other, in its opposite or complementary property. In the example of spin, the opposite spin, so that the total spin is zero. A mysterious and profound connection links the two particles.
For two particles to be initially entangled, they must be produced in a special way. For example, with the "atomic cascade" method: an atom is excited, which emits two photons when the same electron decays two levels down. These two photons become entangled. Another example is the encounter between an electron and a positron, which are destroyed and two photons are created, from opposite directions, which remain entangled.
Entanglement is really a consequence of the superposition phenomenon for the case of a system with two particles. Indeed, if the system is in the state AB (particle 1 in the state A and particle 2 in the state B) or in the state CD (particle 1 in the state C and particle 2 in the state D), the superposition principle gives us the state AB+CD (in classical notation). This state is interleaved, because if a measurement is performed the result is AB or CD. If it is AB, it means that the state A of particle 1 implies the state B of particle 2. And if it is CD, it means that the state C of particle 1 implies the state D of particle 2.
For Schrödinger, the phenomenon of entanglement is the main distinguishing feature between classical physics and quantum physics in the description of nature.
One way to conceptualize and formalize the phenomenon of entanglement is through the notions of "locality" and "nonlocality."
At the local level, one particle influences another by direct contact or through an intermediate element. This influence cannot travel faster than the speed of light.
At the non-local level, a particle can influence another particle instantaneously, with nothing in between. In this case, what propagates is the cause-effect relationship.
The phenomenon of entanglement has some surprising characteristics:
It transcends physical space. It is as if the entangled particles act through a physical meta-space, a deep or tracendental space that connects them.
Classical causality is challenged. Cause and effect are confused.
Particles behave as a single entity. They cannot be considered separate entities even though they are physically separate.
The EPR experiment
Physicists have proposed alternatives to free themselves from the indeterminism of quantum theory. The most famous is that of David Bohm, who was the first to postulate the existence of "hidden variables" governing the behavior of subatomic particles that cannot be observed. Bohm later referred to this theory as "ontological theory". Bohm thus distanced himself from the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics by offering a causal, deterministic and explanatory model of quantum phenomena.
Bohm's hidden variables theory was taken up by Einstein. Einstein did not believe that anything could travel faster than the speed of light, as it was a challenge to his theory of relativity. Entanglement was for Einstein "a ghostly action at a distance".
In 1935, Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen, in a famous paper − "Can the description of quantum mechanics be considered complete?"− stated that quantum theory was incomplete, for there must be hidden local variables to explain the phenomenon of entanglement. And that the theory had to be deterministic and not probabilistic. According to Einstein, "God does not play dice with the universe".
Einstein and his collaborators proposed an ideal theoretical experiment (known as EPR, after the initials of its promoters) that would elucidate whether the phenomenon occurred only locally (within the limits of the speed of light, and Einstein was right) or non-locally (and the theory of quantum physics was correct, with its mysterious, ghostly and metaphysical phenomenon of entanglement). The experiment consisted of demonstrating that two particles that had interacted in the past and remained in an entangled state could only interact locally, i.e., within the radius of the sphere traversed by light during the time of the experiment.
Bell's Theorem
In 1964, John S. Bell published a paper in which he stated a theorem that no local hidden-variable physical theory can reproduce all the predictions of quantum mechanics, so the quantum physical world is nonlocal. It also allowed to verify experimentally whether the entanglement phenomenon was local or not. He did this by establishing a mathematical formula (an inequality). If the inequality was experimentally satisfied, then the phenomenon was local. If it did not, then the phenomenon was non-local.
Bell's theorem deals with the nature of reality and transcends all quantum theory, i.e. it does not depend on the details of quantum theory, since it is based on a simple reasoning based on a few experimental facts, and which can also be verified experimentally. If in the future there were another quantum theory, Bell's theorem would still be valid.
The conclusions that follow from this theorem are:
At the microphysical (deep) level everything is non-local, there is no space and time, everything happens instantaneously. At the macrophysical (superficial) level everything is local. Quantum theory, at this local level, deals with patterns and predicts patterns. But the "bricks" from which the patterns are made know nothing of space and time, so they are all connected to each other in a deep dimension of reality. The patterns are also connected to each other, but not directly at the surface level, but indirectly, at the deep level. At the local level, no pattern is connected (or interacts) with another at a speed faster than the speed of light, but they can do so via a deep, non-local level.
Information is a pattern; it is at a surface level. Therefore, information at the local level cannot be transferred faster than the speed of light. Entanglement can never serve to transmit information from one particle to another.
Since the superficial world is sustained on the deep level, the local world is sustained on the non-local world. Any theory that grounds the local must be nonlocal. No model of the world that used only local connections could work. If everything were local, there would be no deep level and the world would be a shell, without foundations. Paradoxically, the foundations are flexible, they have freedom, they are not conditioned.
Non-locality is hidden in the deep. Non-local phenomena cannot emerge directly to the surface, to our direct perception. The only way to detect them is indirectly, with arguments like Bell's or with experimentation where we can infer that their results can only be explained by the nonlocality hypothesis.
Beneath the superficial level underlies a magical, golden, freedom, sacred, superluminal, mythical and unitive world that explains and grounds everything: the micro and the macro. It is the operating system of reality, the operating system that makes the world work.
Based on Bell's theorem, several physicists tried to perform an experiment that would clarify the issue of whether reality is local or non-local. The result that is considered historically definitive was made in 1983 by Alain Aspect, who demonstrated experimentally that the quantum theory was correct, that the phenomenon of quantum entanglement was nonlocal and that there were no local hidden variables. In short, Aspect proved experimentally that there is a transcendent domain of reality and that Einstein was wrong: quantum reality is nonlocal.
Bell's theorem is considered the most profound theorem in physics. It is a mathematical formalization, not a conjecture or speculation. It really belongs to metaphysics or transcendental physics −or the connection between the physical and metaphysical world −, since it provides a paradigm that transcends classical physics (the superficial physics, of space, time and matter) and goes into the deep nature, into the true reality.
Bell's theorem has had a great impact, because it has led to a new paradigm, a new way of seeing the world: the world is local at the surface level, but not local at the deep level. Behind the apparent and superficial nature of phenomena lies a deep nature, whose laws are more of a mental or consciousness type.
Bell's theorem has led to quantum information theory, an area of research that combines physics, mathematics and information science. Among its fields are quantum computing, quantum cryptography and quantum teleportation.
The phenomenon of entanglement is not unique to the quantum world, but is universal: it occurs, not only in matter, but also in the domains of mind and life. Mathematics is also fundamentally nonlocal.
"Interconnectedness is not a property of the quantum world; it is the property" (Erwin Schrödinger).
At the mental level, in the human thought process, every piece of information seems to correlate instantaneously with every other piece of information. This is precisely a characteristic of the hologram, where all its parts are interconnected with each other and with the whole.
Fields vs. non-local interactions
Local interactions were vehemently advocated by Newton. But his theory of gravity is based on an "action at a distance," an action for which he found no hypothesis to explain it. His successors explained the action at a distance by the concept of "field", an intermediary element. In the case of gravity, a "gravitational field" exerts a force on any body immersed in it. Today, physics considers 4 fundamental forces: electromagnetic, gravitational, weak nuclear and strong nuclear. All these forces are mediated by fields.
Non-local interactions are not mediated by fields:
Fields vary with distance. In the case of gravity, they vary with the inverse of the square of the distance. Non-local interactions are independent of distance.
Fields require a transmission time and are limited by the speed of light. Non-local interactions act immediately and are therefore not limited by the speed of light.
Fields act in space. Non-local interactions act in a non-physical, metaphysical or transphysical dimension, in deep space or metaspace. It links two positions in space without crossing the intermediate space and without energy consumption.
Specification in MENTAL
Current mathematics does not have the resources to specify this phenomenon. But in MENTAL, its specification is very simple, thanks to generic expressions.
Example of entanglement
When a particle A has property p1, the other particle (B) takes property p2. And vice versa, if the particle A has property p2, the other particle (B) takes property p1. The notation would be:
This notation highlights the nature of the phenomenon:
The generic expression indicates that the phenomenon occurs always, at all times. It also indicates that the communication takes place at the target level.
The symbol "↔" specifies the entanglement, that is, the double sense of the cause-effect relationship. It is a conditional equivalence.
Addenda
Bernard d'Espagnat's proof of Bell's theorem
Bernard d'Espagnat was a French theoretical physicist interested in the philosophical implications of quantum theory, especially Bell's theorem. His main ideas are:
Deep reality is non-local. It is beyond space, time, matter and energy. It is indescribable, it is not conceptualizable, it is not accessible through discursive knowledge. It is beyond the Platonic realm of ideas and archetypes, which are conceptualizable. It is a mystery, but it is not something negative; it is one of the constitutive elements of being.
Quantum entanglement is real and not a mere theoretical formalism. The entangled particles, although physically separated, are still in contact in the deep dimension of reality.
Since deep reality cannot be represented in terms of space and time, it is a "veiled reality." We only know that it is nonlocal.
Although science aims to understand empirical reality, it must take into account other methods of knowledge of an intuitive, deep or transcendental kind.
Deep reality is an independent and highly structured reality. It is the "Self" or the "hypercosmic God."
Human consciousness and the quantum world cannot be considered separate entities. The existence of quantum entities is dependent on the human mind and consciousness. "The doctrine that the world is made of objects whose existence is independent of human consciousness is in conflict with quantum mechanics and with the facts established by experiment" [d'Espagnat, 1979].
Bernard d'Espagnat published in November 1979 a paper entitled "The Quantum Theory and Reality", in which he presented the clearest, simplest and most aesthetic demonstration of Bell's inequality.
Bernard d'Espagnat was awarded the Templeton Prize in 2009. This prize is awarded each year to the person who has made a major contribution to the knowledge of the spiritual dimension of life, both on a theoretical and practical level.
Nick Herbert's demonstration of Bell's theorem
Nick Herbert [2007] has developed a simple mathematical proof of Bell's theorem, the test of locality or nonlocality. According to Herbert, quantum reality is nonlocal because in an optical experiment, of polarized light, it is mathematically inferred that 1+1=3. In this sense, quantum seems to be related to imaginary expressions (imaginary arithmetic in this case). Herbert claims that his proof of Bell's theorem is easier than the proof of the Pythagorean theorem, so it is accessible to everyone.
Herbert gives a holistic interpretation of quantum physics. He argues for "quantum animism," in which mind or consciousness permeates the world at all levels. According to animism, every natural system has an "inner life," a center of consciousness from which it controls its actions. Consciousness is present in the physical world. It is not an emergent property of biological systems. This position differs from the dualist one. According to traditional dualism, there is a "spirit" that inhabits a body and animates it. It is what is called "the ghost in the machine".
Kant, the 3 kinds of knowledge, and Bell's theorem
According to Kant, there are 3 kinds of human knowledge: 1) The knowledge of appearances, of the phenomena of the superficial reality observed by the senses; 2) The knowledge of the theories that explain these phenomena; 3) The knowledge of reality itself, the deep reality, the true reality, the noúmeno.
Kant believed that the first two kinds of knowledge are accessible to the human mind, while knowledge of deep reality is inaccessible. Indeed, science tries to describe phenomena, but it cannot explain the deep causes that give rise to the phenomena. Those deep causes are left to the speculation of philosophers. Wittgenstein said: "We must describe rather than explain. Every explanation is, after all, a hypothesis."
This Kantian conception has been challenged with Bell's theorem, by bringing to light a property of deep reality: its non-local characteristic.
Quantum physics vs. neorealism
According to neorealism, the world is made of ordinary objects, with dynamic attributes of their own. This view is usually shortened by saying that "Atoms are things." Heisenberg considered this way of thinking to be obsolete, like the idea of the flat Earth: "The ontology of materialism rests on the illusion that the kind of existence, the direct reality of the world around us, can be extrapolated to the atomic realm. Such an extrapolation, however, is impossible.... Atoms are not things" (Heisenberg, in [Herbert, 1987]).
According to John von Neumann, if quantum theory is correct, then neorealism is impossible. Quantum theory represents attributes by waves and allows predictions that ordinary objects cannot make. The model of fields and particles is not valid.
The Big Bang. The primordial entanglement
With the Big Bang, matter, energy, space and time were born simultaneously. It was a primordial vibration that created all levels of reality, with the material level being the most superficial. The deeper the level, the greater the vibration, consciousness and energy. The Big Bang was the beginning of the universe, the one with the highest vibration, consciousness and energy, where everything was united, where everything was the same thing.
At the initial instant of the Big Bang there was only one entity that was differentiating. Consequently, all the particles of the universe are still entangled with each other through that deep level. It is the cosmic or universal entanglement.
Since the initial Big Bang, everything is vibration to a greater or lesser degree. Different worlds exist at different levels of vibration. The reality we perceive is a function of the level of vibration of our mind-brain. As we perceive higher vibrations, consciousness rises, time expands, our intuition increases and we access more refined levels of reality.
Thought is a type of vibration. Perhaps this explains why it has influence over quantum entities.
Quantum entanglement with large objects
Quantum entanglement has been achieved with diamonds using phonons [Walmsley, 2011]. A phonon is a minimum mechanical vibrational energy applied to structures of atoms. Atoms in solids vibrate as a result of waves moving through the solid. Phonons are very important for the study of solid state physics. Phonons are actually bosons, i.e., force-carrying particles of zero spin. There is a certain analogy between photon and phonon. A phonon is a vibrational mechanical energy. A photon is a light energy.
Anton Zeilinger (University of Vienna) has proved (in experiments performed in 1999) that molecules as large as C60 exhibit wave-corpuscle duality and are able to pass through two holes simultaneously. This molecule is a structure formed by 60 carbon atoms, the famous buckyball, one of the structures called Fullerenes (after Richard Buckminster Fuller, famous for building geodesic domes reminiscent of this chemical compound). It is shaped like a soccer, with 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons (32 faces in total). It was discovered in 1985.
Fullerene C60
This shows that quantum reality extends to the macroscopic world. Quantum physics imposes no limits.
Zeilinger's experiment is now routinely repeated in laboratories around the world, even with even larger particles, large enough that they can be observed with the human eye and have even been photographed. Physicists have started a competition to see who can observe the largest object with quantum effects. The reality of bilocation, i.e., that "something" can be in two places at the same time, is something already assumed in the scientific field.
The Max Plank Institute is experimenting to achieve the first organism (a virus) that is in two quantum states simultaneously: moving and motionless.
Morphic fields
According to Rupert Sheldrake [2007], there are non-local and immaterial morphic (or morphogenetic) fields that connect living beings. The morphic field is a manifestation of consciousness at the biological level. Each member of a biological group contributes to the collective morphic field and the morphic field connects all members of the group.
Morphic fields are fields of form, of patterns or structures that provide order and coherence to nature. They mold or shape plants and animals and have an organizing effect. They contain information gathered from the entire history of a biological group and its intrinsic collective memory of behavior. It is like a group unconscious, something similar to Jung's collective unconscious but restricted to a biological group.
The morphic field provides a program for embryos to evolve into living beings. This process cannot be explained by genes alone, which contain only instructions for building proteins.
The morphic field would explain simultaneous (non-local) behavior and evolution in non-contiguous biological populations. Members of a group, when separated, retain the connection.
A significant example of a morphic field is a flock of starlings. The starlings change direction all at once without colliding with each other, as if the flock were a single organized entity, with instantaneous nonlocal communication between all elements of the group.
Sheldrake calls "morphic resonance" the nonlocal system by which knowledge is transmitted instantaneously among members of a species. This concept allows a better understanding of human learning, especially the issue of language acquisition. According to Chomsky, it is impossible to explain the speed and creativity of language acquisition in terms of imitation alone.
Quantum theory is related to morphic field theory because both are theories about nonlocal phenomena.
Non-locality mental or cerebral
The mind (or mental plane) is non-local and where there is coherence (or correlations). It has numerous evidences: parapsychological phenomena (telepathy, remote viewing, telekinesis, etc.).
Non-locality at the cerebral level was experimentally demonstrated by Jacobo Grinberg-Zylberbaum researcher of the brain, mind and consciousness in 1993, by correlating the brains of two people in meditation. The choice of a response in one subject led to the same response in the other subject.
The Hado effect
Dr. Masaru Emoto [2003] has shown that our thoughts and feelings affect water, which is reflected in the ice crystals obtained by freezing it. Positive messages produce harmonious ice structures. Negative messages produce chaotic structures. This effect on water is called "Hado" and, according to Emoto, is an intrinsic vibrational pattern at the atomic level of all matter, the smallest unit of energy based on the energy of human consciousness.
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