Entanglement: The Greatest Mystery in Physics - Softcover

Amir D. Aczel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470850477 ISBN 13: 9780470850473

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2002

Synopsis

Could 'Beam me up, Scotty' soon become a reality? The lines between 'science' and 'science fiction' have become increasingly blurred. Now, quantum mechanics promises that some of humanity's wildest dreams may be realized. Serious scientists, working from Einstein's theories, have been investigating the phenomenon known as 'entanglement' one of the strangest aspects of our strange universe. According to Einstein, quantum mechanics required entanglement, the idea that subatomic particles could become linked and that a change to one such particle would instantly be reflected in its counterpart, even if separated by a universe. Einstein felt that if quantum theory could produce such bizarre effects, then it had to be invalid. But new experiments show not only that it does happen, but that it may lead to unbreakable codes and even teleportation, perhaps in our lifetimes. This is a highly accessible yet technically well researched introduction to the bizarre phenomenon of entanglement and the scientists who have helped to discover it. The book provides an excellent introduction to a complex but exciting branch of science that could have significant implications for our understanding of the world and the way we live. â Amir D. Aczel is an internationally known author and speaker who attracts large crowds â We have all seen teleportation in science fiction. This book shows how it could become a reality. â The first book to explain the theory of entanglement and to make recent developments in quantum mechanics widely available. â Gives an insight into the lives and thinking of some of the leading physicists of the past century.

About this title

About the Author:

Amir D. Aczel, PhD, is the author of a number of successful books, including: The Mystery of the Aleph, Fermat's Last Theorem and God's Equation: Einstein, Relativity and the Expanding Universe. He is Professor of Statistics at Bentley College and lives in Boston. His work has been translated into Turkish, Hebrew, French, German, Italian, Chinese and Spanish.

From Publishers Weekly:

In his newest book, Aczel (Fermat's Last Theorem) discusses a great mystery in physics: the concept of entanglement in quantum physics. He begins by explaining that "entanglement" occurs when two subatomic particles are somehow connected or "entangled" with one another, so that when something happens to one particle, the same thing simultaneously happens to the other particle, even if it's miles away. However, this concept violates the theory of special relativity, since communication between two places cannot occur faster than the speed of light. Einstein knew that the mathematics of quantum theory predicted that this could happen, but he didn't believe it. In the last decade, researchers have shown in laboratory experiments that entanglement does indeed happen, and in one case it occurred over a distance of almost 10 miles. Aczel explores how a Star Trek-like teleportation may be possible via entanglement (however, a particle's quantum state, not the entire particle, is teleported to its mate), though perhaps at the expense of demonstrating entanglement's more real-world applications to cryptography. General readers may need to skim over his technical explanations, whereas more advanced readers will be interested in only the last third of the book. While the book won't satisfy dedicated science buffs, it will be an accessible entry into this concept of quantum physics.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0470850477
• ISBN 13: 9780470850473
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288