Physicists have witnessed the strange quantum phenomenon of entanglement in quark pairs that form when hydrogen nuclei collide at tremendous speed in the LHC particle accelerator.
It is possible for two quantum particles to have a special bond, such that the state of one particle cannot be seen separately from the state of the other. So far, this so-called entanglement has been observed mainly in careful experiments conducted in a well-controlled — usually cold — environment.
Now, physicists have observed quantum entanglement with the LHC particle accelerator at the CERN Physics Institute in Geneva, where things are getting even more complicated. Hydrogen nuclei collide with each other at almost the speed of light, exploding in an explosion of new particles. Physicists have now shown that in this particle repulsion, quantum entanglement can occur between pairs of subatomic particles: quarks. they results Featured in a trade magazine nature.
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Severe entanglement
In quantum entanglement, particles are connected to each other in a special and intrinsic way, meaning they share properties. For example, if you measure the clockwise rotation of one particle, you will immediately know that the other particle is counterclockwise. This connection continues no matter how far apart they are.
This quantum entanglement has been observed in various particles, from particles of light and electrons to tiny mechanical drums. But proving this using quarks is much more difficult. These particles form the building blocks of protons and neutrons, which make up atomic nuclei. Quarks are always bound together. You’ll never come across a loose quark. This makes it difficult to prove entanglement.
That’s why physicists turned to the LHC in their research. In particle collisions at the LHC, pairs of quarks are sometimes created, very briefly, which move independently through space.
Debris particles
Researchers looked for quantum entanglement between the top quark and its antimatter counterpart, the top antiquark. Top quarks are the heaviest indivisible subatomic particles. This means that they decay into other particles very quickly, often before they have a chance to fuse with other quarks.
The fact that top quarks decay so quickly seems inconvenient, but it actually saves this measurement. Once quarks merge, you can no longer tell whether they are entangled with another particle or not. They then lose the quantum information that linked them to their entanglement partner.
But when a quark decays into other particles, it gives those particles the quantum properties they had before. By measuring the properties of these top quark and anti-top quark fragments, researchers can calculate the properties of the quarks. From this they can infer whether the two properties were previously shared and therefore intertwined.
The researchers used two different LHC detectors (ATLAS and CMS) to analyze nearly a million observations of debris that appears to come from top quark pairs. They thus confirmed that entanglement also occurs with top quarks, even at the extremely high energies and chaos resulting from particle collisions at the LHC.
expected
Everyone assumed that entanglement would occur with quarks. “The observation is not unexpected. In fact, it would have been a great surprise to discover that the pair were not intertwined. Martin Henczynski From the American University of Puebla in Mexico accompanied by News and opinionscondition In nature. “But observing entanglement at such high energies is an amazing achievement – especially because it was discovered in a pair of quarks, the fundamental particles that make up all atomic nuclei.”
“This analysis not only confirms our expectations, but also opens new horizons for studying quantum entanglement in high-energy particle physics.” He says physical Clara Nelstfrom Nykhev in Amsterdam, who participated in the research as sub-coordinator.
