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Dec 2, 2024

‘Spooky action’ at a very short distance: Scientists map out quantum entanglement in protons

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators have a new way to use data from high-energy particle smashups to peer inside protons. Their approach uses quantum information science to map out how particle tracks streaming from electron-proton collisions are influenced by quantum entanglement inside the proton.

The results reveal that and gluons, the fundamental building blocks that make up a proton’s structure, are subject to so-called . This quirky phenomenon, famously described by Albert Einstein as “spooky action at a distance,” holds that particles can know one another’s state—for example, their spin direction—even when they are separated by a great distance.

In this case, entanglement occurs over incredibly short distances—less than one quadrillionth of a meter inside individual —and the sharing of information extends over the entire group of quarks and gluons in that proton.

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