Quantum Entanglement - very interesting stuff

[Theorist]

Quantum physicist Antoine Suarez of the Center for Quantum Philosophy in Zurich argues that the God seekers are better off pursuing another quantum effect, entangle*ment. In entanglement, two particles become twinned in such a way that the measurement of one always determines the properties of the other, no matter how far apart they may be. Imagine setting up a pair of entangled quantum “coins” (such as photons with a specific orientation), then giving one to Alice in Oxford and another to Bob in Zurich. When you ask Alice and Bob to flip their coins, they would both get heads or both get tails, even though the results of the tosses should be random and independent. Most physicists accept entanglement as just one more counterintuitive reality of quantum physics. But Suarez claims entanglement tests conducted with real photons in the lab suggest that quantum effects must be caused by “influences that originate from outside of space-time.”

In an oft-repeated version of the photon experiment, a pair of entangled photons, A and B, are created by a laser beam. Each photon follows a different path around a table until it hits a “beam splitter,” a half-silvered mirror that acts as a crossroads. From this point each photon continues its journey down one of two paths, either short or long—another type of quantum coin toss. In every case A and B will follow the same route, both traveling the long path or both traveling the short one. But why?
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Seeking an explanation, Suarez and his colleague Valerio Scarani (now at the National University of Singapore) proposed a way to modify the basic experiment, which had been carried out by physicists in Geneva. Their intent was not to address theological questions but to challenge quantum theory by testing one of its fundamental predictions: that the timing of quantum events has nothing to do with their outcomes. They proposed instead that the outcome might be influenced by the course of events as the experiment takes place. For instance, if particle A hits the beam splitter even a tiny fraction of a second before particle B, its trajectory and outcome might influence what happens to B in its wake, somehow communicating across time. To test the idea, Suarez and Scarani needed to design an experiment that disrupted the 
cause-and-effect relationship between 
the photons by making sure that neither one arrived before the other.

Would discovering God's quantum powers give us godlike control ourselves?

Their cunning scheme was based on another famous theory of physics that gives quantum mechanics a run for its money in terms of odd predictions: Einstein’s theory of relativity. Early in the 20th century, Einstein realized that time is not absolute; it runs at a slower or faster rate depending on how quickly you are moving. 
(Your watch falls about 177 nanoseconds behind on a cross-country flight.) Because relativity monkeys around with the rate at which time flows, there is no universal clock ticking away at a set rate that everyone will agree on. Two people moving relative to each other can even disagree on the order in which two events take place. If Alice and Bob are seated on two space shuttles moving in different directions, it is possible to set up a scenario in which they both flip quantum coins, but Alice says she flipped her coin before Bob, while Bob swears he tossed his coin first. According to Einstein, they would both be right, depending on whether you looked at the situation from Alice’s or Bob’s point of view.

In an analogous “before-before” experiment, Suarez’s colleagues in Geneva deployed entangled photons A and B through beam splitters, after which each particle would follow either a short or a long path. The physicists used acoustic waves that had the effect of altering time for the photons—the equivalent of putting Alice and Bob in those opposite-moving space shuttles. In this setup, a miniature observer running alongside photon A would swear it had been set on its course first, while an observer next to photon B would say with equal certainty that events had happened in the reverse order.

Suarez was sure that by messing up the time-ordering in this way, it would be impossible for the photons to coordinate their paths. He was proved wrong. On every run, the photons still met the same fate. Whatever causes the twin photons to behave in the same way, it must work independently of time. “There is no story that can be told within the framework of space-time that can explain how these quantum correlations keep occurring,” Suarez says.

These results have intriguing philosophical implications, he notes, especially for the spiritually inclined. “You could say the experiment shows that space-time does not contain all the intelligent entities acting in the world because something outside of time is coordinating the photons’ results,” Suarez says. “Physics experiments cannot demonstrate the existence of God, but this test shows that today’s physics is compatible with all major religious traditions. There is strong experimental evidence for accepting that nonmaterial beings act in the world.”



What do you guys think about this experiment? I find it rather fascinating.

While it does not prove a G/god (capital and lower case "g" inserted for politically correctness) exists, it does prove that there is something outside of our space-time affecting outcomes in our world. This could be a number of things, such as the higher dimensions theorized by string theory.


the full article can be found here: The Priest-Physicist Who Would Marry Science to Religion | Subatomic Particles | DISCOVER Magazine