- #1
edguy99
Gold Member
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In an effort clarify confusion in my own mind on the definition of entanglement, I looked at wiki and found this:
Which I completely agree with, followed by this:
Which I feel is not correct. As I understand it, if the spin axis of the original particle was the same as the measurement axis, this would be true (ie, prepare vertical and measure vertical), but if you measure on a different axis, you only have probabilities of seeing this based on cos^2 of the difference between the measurement axis and the original particle axis. Many of the particles prepared in this manner, will not be anti-correlated if measured off of the original particles spin axis.
As an example of entanglement: a subatomic particle decays into an entangled pair of other particles. The decay events obey the various conservation laws, and as a result, the measurement outcomes of one daughter particle must be highly correlated with the measurement outcomes of the other daughter particle (so that the total momenta, angular momenta, energy, and so forth remains roughly the same before and after this process).
Which I completely agree with, followed by this:
For instance, a spin-zero particle could decay into a pair of spin-½ particles. Since the total spin before and after this decay must be zero (conservation of angular momentum), whenever the first particle is measured to be spin up on some axis, the other, when measured on the same axis, is always found to be spin down. (This is called the spin anti-correlated case; and if the prior probabilities for measuring each spin are equal, the pair is said to be in the singlet state.)
Which I feel is not correct. As I understand it, if the spin axis of the original particle was the same as the measurement axis, this would be true (ie, prepare vertical and measure vertical), but if you measure on a different axis, you only have probabilities of seeing this based on cos^2 of the difference between the measurement axis and the original particle axis. Many of the particles prepared in this manner, will not be anti-correlated if measured off of the original particles spin axis.