Bob Schwartz

Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon where two or more particles become correlated such that measuring one instantly determines the state of the other, regardless of the distance between them.

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy [science]”
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5

Pairs of atoms observed existing in two places at once for the first time
by Australian National University

Quantum physicists at ANU have observed atoms entangled in motion. “It’s really weird for us to think that this is how the universe works,” says Dr. Sean Hodgman from the ANU Research School of Physics. “You can read about it in a textbook, but it’s really weird to think that a particle can be in two places at once.”

Their experiment using helium atoms represents a major advancement over similar experiments using photons, which are particles of light. Unlike photons, helium atoms are massive particles that can be held, cooled, and manipulated in gravitational fields. The research is published in Nature Communications.

“Experimentally, it’s extremely hard to demonstrate this,” says lead author and Ph.D. researcher, Yogesh Sridhar Arthreya. “Several people have tried in the past to show these effects, and they have always come short.”

The development enables new ways to examine one of the biggest unanswered questions about the universe: How does the small-scale physics of quantum mechanics interact with gravity and general relativity at the universal scale?

“This result confirms the predictions of over a century ago that matter can be in two locations at once, and it can interfere with itself even in those locations,” says Dr. Sean Hodgman.

By observing quantum entanglement in atoms for the first time, are we one small step closer to finding out whether the “theory of everything” is not just hot air?

You may be familiar with the concept of interdependence represented by Indra’s Net:

“In the heaven of the great god Indra is said to be a vast and shimmering net, finer than a spider’s web, stretching to the outermost reaches of space. Strung at each intersection of its diaphanous threads is a reflecting pearl. Since the net is infinite in extent, the pearls are infinite in number. In the glistening surface of each pearl are reflected all the other pearls, even those in the furthest corners of the heavens. In each reflection, again are reflected all the infinitely many other pearls, so that by this process, reflections of reflections continue without end.”

Is everything possible, such that the answer to every claim can be yes or no or possibly? Is a Buddhist claim that everything is empty of existence and is also existent unreasonable? Can we be open to everything without endorsing everything?

The claim “that matter can be in two locations at once, and it can interfere with itself even in those locations” would for most of history have been categorized as metaphysics, not physics, yet here we are.