From ExtremeTech:
A team of Chinese physicists have clocked the speed of spooky action at a distance
- the seemingly instantaneous interaction between entangled quantum
particles - at more than four orders of magnitude faster than light.
Their equipment and methodology doesn't allow for an exact speed, but
four orders of magnitude puts the figure at around 3 trillion meters per
second.
Spooky action at a distance was a term coined by Einstein
to describe how entangled quantum particles seem to interact with each
other instantaneously, over any distance, breaking the speed of light
and thus relativity. As of our current understanding of quantum
mechanics, though, it is impossible to send data using quantum
entanglement, preserving the theory of relativity. A lot of work is
being done in this area, though, and some physicists believe that
faster-than-light communication might be possible with some clever
manipulation of entangled particles.
Now, thanks to these Chinese physicists - the same ones who broke the quantum teleportation distance record last year
- we know that spooky action at a distance has a lower bound of four
orders of magnitude faster than light, or around 3 trillion meters per
second. We say "at least," because the physicists do not rule out that
spooky action is actually instantaneous - but their testing equipment
and methodology simply doesn't allow them to get any more accurate.
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