We all know “things fall apart” in the universe due to entropy, but quantum mechanics has turned a lot of what we’ve believed on its head in the last 100—and even 10—years. At the same time, it doesn’t make intuitive sense that a quantum entanglement could last forever, because nothing seems to in our universe. In new research, scientists suggest that quantum entanglement is at least somewhat reversible, by identifying and defining a version of entropy that applies to quantum entanglement. And they made it work using probabilities.
Bartosz Regula from the RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing and Ludovico Lami from the University of Amsterdam collaborated on new, peer-reviewed research published in the journal Nature Communications. In their paper, they summarize one of the thornier questions of quantum mechanics: Can everything in a quantum entanglement be meaningfully reversed, pointing “time’s arrow” in the opposite direction? This would mean a concept or system that had no entropy, or tendency towards disorder. Instead of a spilled glass of water or squeezed tube of toothpaste, a quantum system would be more like a neat seesaw you can move back to starting position.
To read more, click here.