Continuing my TL:NR post from yesterday, where I evaluated what questions are worth asking about Quantum Decoherence. I stated that I was less interested in the question of how can quantum decoherence be non-causal, and much more interested in the apparently infinite range of quantum coherence. Experiments have shown no limit yet for the separation distance of entangled particles, verifying that the coherent state is maintained for kilometers.
I’m not that interested in non-causality because to me that is the default way the universe works–the appearance of a speed limit (the speed of light) is emergent. We are so used to the speed of light for everything–everything we observe obeys that limit–that we don’t think how oddball that is. In previous posts, I have hypothesized and proven that particles will always observe a speed limit if they are constructed solely of wave components, see this paper:
Non-causality is not as interesting to me because I see that only the motion of a subset of possible universe components (particles, fields based on boson exchanges) have to observe causality. Thorough experimental testing of quantum decoherence timing has made it abundantly clear that some element of particle interaction is non-causal. Jon Bell showed that there cannot be a causal explanation for particle interactions, at least in a local neighborhood of the interaction–he thus showed that no hidden (causal) structure can explain what we observe.
The real mystery to me isn’t non-causality–it’s that coherence can be maintained over an arbitrary distance. I am not seeing any possible default mode (like infinite speed) that can explain this. It is here that I spend a lot of time thinking how this could work. This is a question that is very valuable, very interesting, because the only answers I see require substantial rethinking of how spacetime works.
As I mentioned in the previous post, maintaining coherence requires some type of connection between two entangled states over distance. Trying to enumerate the list of possibilities requires careful semantic evaluation of this statement: we cannot assume, for example, that there are two particles, because entangled particles mathematically compute as a single entity. However, that doesn’t destroy the terminology of the question–whether one system or two particles, or two group waves, or any other entity definition we choose–entangled particles have a connection spread over a significant distance. There is no default mode that allows such a thing to occur, so I attempt to form a complete enumeration of possible elaborations of what the connection is:
a: some type of field between the two entangled particles in our current dimension
b: a sideband path in another dimension
c: default mode of spacetime has space (distance) as an emergent, non-default property. This idea is similar to the emergent property of the speed of light
d: decoherence actually occurs at the emitter for both particles, but appears as if decoherence happens at detection–in other words, contrary to experimental conclusions, the experiment outcome is pre-determined.
e: tachyons–for example, a wave going backwards in time from a future detector to a current-time source
Is this really complete? Probably not, I continue to try to think out of the box for other possibilities. Nevertheless, I have pretty carefully evaluated each of the above, and I think everyone interested in quantum decoherence has spent time investigating one or more of these possibilities.
I rejected option e: tachyons almost immediately–it violates Huygen’s principle since the light cones involved are spherical shells, not laser like rays, and cannot (third law of thermodynamics) arbitrarily focus back on the source emitter. It’s a misunderstanding of Minkowski space geometry to try this as a solution.
Many, many people have tried to come up with a predetermined solution (option d:), I don’t think I need to convince anyone reading this that that doesn’t work. Timed gates used in the Aspect experiment have shown that resolution of the two entangled states doesn’t happen until at the point of detection.
Declaring that the connection is maintained via a field (option a:), or component particles/virtual particles, has been extensively researched. Many experiments have been performed where the connection spatial interval has been blocked during time of flight have failed to destroy coherence. In addition, the connection is maintained over significant distance and even in the presence of many pairs of entangled particles, each of which would have to have its own connection field that doesn’t interfere with other overlapping fields. This field cannot, in theory, ever drop in magnitude to the point where coherence fails. As a result of these thoughts, I have reached the conclusion that there is no field representing the quantum entangled particle connection.
Assuming I have enumerated all possible scenarios (not necessarily a good assumption), that leaves the b: option, the sideband dimension solution or the c: option, the emergent space property. If there is a rolled up or otherwise compactified dimension (option b), this means that all of space, at least as far as the entangled particles are concerned, are locally connected. I realized this is actually another way of saying that space (and potentially spacetime) emerges in this universe–it is an emergent property of our existence, just like the speed of light is emergent from an infinite speed universe. Options b and c are the same, and in my opinion it is this option that describes the quantum entanglement connection.
What results from this conclusion? Is it testable?
More to come.
Agemoz
Agemoz's Physics Blog 
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