Computer Scientists Accidentally Found the Temperature that Causes Sudden Death to Quantum Entanglement

The team didn't intend to solve this long-held mystery, or even realize what they accomplished at first

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While physicists have learned an incredible amount over the last few centuries, many mysteries remain. A particular challenge, and a common one, is when scientists observe a phenomenon but can’t explain it.

For instance, physicists first proposed the existence of quantum entanglement in 1935. Decades later, scientists discovered that the “spooky connection,” as Einstein called it, can break down — an event referred to as the “sudden death” of quantum entanglement. However, scientists couldn’t determine the details or cause of entanglement’s sudden death; they only knew it could happen.

Now, finally, scientists have an answer. But here’s the kicker: physicists weren’t the ones to crack this enduring mystery. It was a handful of computer scientists — and they didn’t even know what they accomplished initially.

A Little Review

But first, reviewing the bizarre quantum physics phenomenon known as quantum entanglement will help us better understand the computer scientists' unintentional discovery.

Quantum entanglement occurs when quantum particles like atoms, photons, or electrons interact to form a collective state in which they behave as a single unit that can remain connected across incomprehensible distances.

I’m not just talking about one-on-one entanglement or entanglement between like particles. Researchers a decade ago found that thousands of atoms can entangle with a single photon.

What’s even stranger, though, is that the connection between entangled particles appears dependent on temperature. What I said before about the long-distance connection between entangled particles can only happen when temperatures are extremely low. Rising temperatures cause the particles to jitter around, which unsettles and ultimately breaks their connection. Scientists call this break the “sudden death” of entanglement.

While physicists have known about and observed sudden death between entangled particles, they struggled to understand the event’s details, including determining the precise conditions that caused the break.

Yet, incredibly, a team of four researchers has proven not only that rising temperatures weaken entanglement but identified a specific temperature above which the “spooky” connection dissolves completely.

Even more remarkable is that the three researchers are from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and have backgrounds in learning theory, a subfield of computer science that focuses on algorithms for statistical analysis.

In other words, they had never worked on quantum algorithms before, aren’t physicists, and weren’t trying to prove anything about entanglement. In fact, they didn’t even realize what they accomplished until a physicist pointed it out to them.

How it Started