- #1
EskWIRED
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- 0
I've been wondering and asking questions about entanglement lately.
I am very dissatisfied with the answers I've been getting - not necessarily because any of the answers were incorrect, but more likely, because the answers were of the sort which reminded me that i was asking about interpretations, while quantum physics really, or strictly, or maybe only, supplies answers to questions about the probable outcome of measurements.
So here i go again, with a very basic, conceptual question that may help me to understand my dissatisfaction and confusion.
My understanding is that prior to measurement, two entangled particles are in a state of superposition. Neither is, for example, spin-up or spin-down. Instead, their state is that they are BOTH spin-up AND spin-down. ONLY after a measurement are they in a coherent state.
Is that an accepted truth? Or is it a "mere" interpretation of probabilities?If that is an accepted truth, that "really" the particles are not (yet) in a coherent state, then it seems that measurement of one "really" affects the state of the other.
But the answers I get seem to indicate that prior to measurement of the nearby particle, the distant particle is in a definite state, which is revealed by the local measurement. Is that true? Or were both in a state of superposition prior to the first measurement?
Or is "superposition" an interpretation? Are there any theories which deny that unmeasured particles are in a state of superposition?
I am very dissatisfied with the answers I've been getting - not necessarily because any of the answers were incorrect, but more likely, because the answers were of the sort which reminded me that i was asking about interpretations, while quantum physics really, or strictly, or maybe only, supplies answers to questions about the probable outcome of measurements.
So here i go again, with a very basic, conceptual question that may help me to understand my dissatisfaction and confusion.
My understanding is that prior to measurement, two entangled particles are in a state of superposition. Neither is, for example, spin-up or spin-down. Instead, their state is that they are BOTH spin-up AND spin-down. ONLY after a measurement are they in a coherent state.
Is that an accepted truth? Or is it a "mere" interpretation of probabilities?If that is an accepted truth, that "really" the particles are not (yet) in a coherent state, then it seems that measurement of one "really" affects the state of the other.
But the answers I get seem to indicate that prior to measurement of the nearby particle, the distant particle is in a definite state, which is revealed by the local measurement. Is that true? Or were both in a state of superposition prior to the first measurement?
Or is "superposition" an interpretation? Are there any theories which deny that unmeasured particles are in a state of superposition?