Quantum Entanglement?

Perhaps you have heard of the term “quantum superposition” and Schrödinger’s cat: A cat in a blackbox, a flask of poison inside the box, and a 50% percent chance of breaking the flask. Schrödinger asked the question, “do we know whether the cat is alive or not?” Schrödinger believed that when the box is not opened, whether the cat has passed or not is a “blur of probability”. From this thought experiment, he framed an understanding of physics that distinguishes from Einstein’s “if, without in any way disturbing a system, we can predict with certainty (i.e. with probability equal to unity) the value of a physical quantity, then there exists an element of reality corresponding to that quantity.” Quantum entanglement, the interdependent state of two particles in close proximity, resolves these conflicting conjectures on how physics operates at a fundamental level. 

On October 4, 2022, the Nobel Prize committee announced the 2022 Nobel Physics Award to Alain Aspect, John Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger. They were awarded for their empirical effort in measuring quantum entanglement. They each took a step further from physicist John Steward Bell’s experiment proposal to realize the measurement of quantum entanglement. 

Compared to other branches of physics, quantum mechanics is relatively modern. Moving forward into the future, it is perhaps going to impact our lives at a significant level with the development of quantum computing and cryptography specifically for the upcoming age of quantum computing.