Limits of Macroscopic Entanglement

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the concept of macroscopic entanglement, particularly in the context of biological processes such as photosynthesis and the Electron Transport Chain. Participants explore the implications of quantum entanglement in larger systems and its potential relevance to living organisms, while also questioning the boundaries of classical and quantum phenomena.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express confusion about how quantum entanglement can occur in complex biological systems like photosynthesis, questioning what creates the necessary isolation for entanglement to manifest.
  • There is a suggestion that the Electron Transport Chain in human biology may also exhibit similar quantum effects, with participants debating whether electron movement is purely classical or if it could involve entanglement.
  • A participant references a 2003 experiment involving lithium fluoride salt that purportedly demonstrated entanglement in a large system, prompting questions about the interpretation of the results and whether the phenomenon was misunderstood.
  • Some participants speculate about the possibility of entanglement in human consciousness and social interactions, drawing parallels between quantum concepts and personal experiences.
  • Concerns are raised about the implications of entanglement in living organisms and whether it could be a common phenomenon, with references to de Broglie's hypothesis that matter behaves similarly to light.
  • Links to external papers are shared, discussing the relationship between classical and quantum descriptions of energy transfer, emphasizing that classical characteristics can mimic quantum entanglement without necessarily implying its presence.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the nature of entanglement in biological systems or the implications of the discussed experiments. Multiple competing views remain regarding the interpretation of quantum effects in living organisms and the boundaries between classical and quantum phenomena.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty about the definitions and implications of entanglement in both biological and physical contexts, highlighting the complexity of the topic and the need for further clarification on experimental results and theoretical interpretations.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to those exploring the intersections of quantum mechanics and biology, as well as individuals curious about the philosophical implications of entanglement in consciousness and social interactions.

Varon
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I thought quantum entanglement only occur in very isolated environment and laboratory setup. How come photosynthesis use it? Do you know of a website that illustrates how this work in very clear manner? All those paper about the photosynthesis effect are difficult as they are mainly for biophysicists. Can you state the gist of why something as complex as photosynthesis can exhibit quantum entanglement.. like what created the isolation effect? What else in biology can pull this stunt?
 
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Isn't the Electron Transport Chain in human biology similarly affected?

In Photosynthesis. Photons from the sun are taken by light-absorbing chromophores in chlorophyll before they charge up the electrons to higher energy levels in the Reaction Centers. The entanglement is between the chromophores and supposedly worked for photons only. But aren't the electrons after the Reacter Center similarly affected? In living cells, there is also a counterpart in the Electron Transport Chain where hydrogens are pumped in the inner space after the electrons jump from one site to another. But is
the electron movement a classical phenomenon like brownian motion or do it act like entangled photons? Are you sure with 100% certainty that it's just classical? Any proof where they actually see the electrons jump classically without pulling any entanglement stunts?

Anyway. How do the photons in the chromophores pull the entanglement trick? What would happen if they don't use entanglement? How many percentage less efficient?And what is all this equavalent in laboratory experimental setup?
 
Something else bothers me a lot since getting the Scientific American June issue a few hours ago. I have never heard of the following and goggle doesn't return useful links. Is this true?

A neat experiment in 2003 proved that larger systems, too, can remain entangled when the leakage is reduced or somehow counteracted. Gabriel Aeppli of University College London and his colleagues took a piece of lithium fluoride salt and put it in an external magnetic field. You can think of the atoms in the salt as little spinning magnets that try to align themselves with the external field, a response known as magnetic susceptibility. Forces that the atoms exert on one another act as a kind of peer pressure to bring them into line more quickly. As the researchers varied the strength of the magnetic field, they measured how quickly the atoms became aligned. They found that the atoms responded much faster than the strength of their mutual interactions would suggest. Evidently some additional effect was helping the atoms to act in unison, and the researchers argued that entanglement was the culprit. If so, the 10^20 atoms of the salt formed a hugely entangled state.

Comment? Could this be just simple misunderstood phenomenon? Or is the whole salt really entangled?
 
Varon said:
Isn't the Electron Transport Chain in human biology similarly affected?

In Photosynthesis. Photons from the sun are taken by light-absorbing chromophores in chlorophyll before they charge up the electrons to higher energy levels in the Reaction Centers. The entanglement is between the chromophores and supposedly worked for photons only. But aren't the electrons after the Reacter Center similarly affected? In living cells, there is also a counterpart in the Electron Transport Chain where hydrogens are pumped in the inner space after the electrons jump from one site to another. But is
the electron movement a classical phenomenon like brownian motion or do it act like entangled photons? Are you sure with 100% certainty that it's just classical? Any proof where they actually see the electrons jump classically without pulling any entanglement stunts?

Anyway. How do the photons in the chromophores pull the entanglement trick? What would happen if they don't use entanglement? How many percentage less efficient?And what is all this equavalent in laboratory experimental setup?

Here's the concern. If such lowly plants can pull photon entanglement trick in photosynthesis. Why can't living things? Remember de Broglie. Matter is like light. So electrons can be like photons. Hence. Maybe the brain can also pull the same entanglement stunt that photosynthesis can amidst noisy environment. Why not? Why impossible?
 
Varon, I think you're turning into me, on Quantum Mechanics. Not a healthy state~
 
StevieTNZ said:
Varon, I think you're turning into me, on Quantum Mechanics. Not a healthy state~

Why, what happened to you?
 
StevieTNZ said:
Varon, I think you're turning into me, on Quantum Mechanics. Not a healthy state~

Say. Are you a quantum junkie? I wonder what is a definition of a quantum junkie.

Do you know the time and efforts a quantum junkie spend for years on the dozens of interpretations can instead make one expert on baking, cooking and other hobbies more worthwhile if he channels those energy.
 
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Varon said:
Here's the concern. If such lowly plants can pull photon entanglement trick in photosynthesis. Why can't living things? Remember de Broglie. Matter is like light. So electrons can be like photons. Hence. Maybe the brain can also pull the same entanglement stunt that photosynthesis can amidst noisy environment. Why not? Why impossible?

I too have been having delusional visions of this idea. The idea that we can be "entangled" in a sense. there's been numerous times where I would subconsciously look at my phone to see the time and a second later, id receive a text... weird correlation but I have thoughts about entanglements of consciousness. And the internet and how social networking sites like facebook essentially creates a global consciousness through continually creating neuron pathways via photos of whichever individual you want to observe.

heres an interesting paper that actually started me on this schizophrenia type mentality :p

http://arxiv.org/pdf/0706.0286

I think I am going insane... I need to get my mind out of this quantum world mentality. Ignorance is bliss...

ill leave you with a quote from aristotle

"Friendship(or Love) is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."

edit: btw if anyone watches fringe, episode 6B delves into the idea of human entanglement
 
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http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevE.83.051911
http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.2191

"What is important here is not to infer that, since the quantum result agrees with the classical, there is no quantum entanglement. Rather it is the classical amplitudes and phases which mimic this entanglement. ... One can conclude that the entanglement in the quantum case leads to no essential change from the coherence characteristics of classical electronic energy transfer."
 
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  • #10
Amalan said:
I too have been having delusional visions of this idea. The idea that we can be "entangled" in a sense. there's been numerous times where I would subconsciously look at my phone to see the time and a second later, id receive a text... weird correlation but I have thoughts about entanglements of consciousness. And the internet and how social networking sites like facebook essentially creates a global consciousness through continually creating neuron pathways via photos of whichever individual you want to observe.

heres an interesting paper that actually started me on this schizophrenia type mentality :p

http://arxiv.org/pdf/0706.0286

I think I am going insane... I need to get my mind out of this quantum world mentality. Ignorance is bliss...

ill leave you with a quote from aristotle

"Friendship(or Love) is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."

edit: btw if anyone watches fringe, episode 6B delves into the idea of human entanglement

For me not figuring this out is insanity. Because I live in a world where non-locality is normal. I've been practicing voodoo for the past 20 years. This is the reason I'm interested in things physics and the quantum. Now I need to nail the right quantum interpretation so I can understand how it works. For normal physicists, they may not care what is the right interpretation because they all make the same prediction as QM. But in my case, I can distinguish what is the right interpretation (or even create additional ones) with additional data that I wielded.
 
  • #11
Varon said:
For me not figuring this out is insanity.

So I was somewhat right in saying you're entering/are in an unhealthy state worrying about all this?
 
  • #12
Varon said:
I thought quantum entanglement only occur in very isolated environment and laboratory setup. How come photosynthesis use it? Do you know of a website that illustrates how this work in very clear manner? All those paper about the photosynthesis effect are difficult as they are mainly for biophysicists. Can you state the gist of why something as complex as photosynthesis can exhibit quantum entanglement.. like what created the isolation effect? What else in biology can pull this stunt?

Why would entanglement only occur in a laboratory? I don't know too terribly much about QM, but I thought that any interaction or production of particles which required them to be different quantum states resulted in entanglement. IE if you create two photons from something at the same time, they are always entangled, no matter where or how they were created.

In Photosynthesis. Photons from the sun are taken by light-absorbing chromophores in chlorophyll before they charge up the electrons to higher energy levels in the Reaction Centers. The entanglement is between the chromophores and supposedly worked for photons only. But aren't the electrons after the Reacter Center similarly affected?

I found this article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100510151356.htm
But nothing else really that might explain any details on how entanglement is used. Pretty interesting.


Here's the concern. If such lowly plants can pull photon entanglement trick in photosynthesis. Why can't living things? Remember de Broglie. Matter is like light. So electrons can be like photons. Hence. Maybe the brain can also pull the same entanglement stunt that photosynthesis can amidst noisy environment. Why not? Why impossible?

Who says we can't or don't? Certain processes in cells in our body might make use of it. There are still plenty of unknowns.
 
  • #13
QM seems to be involved in all sorts of places at macroscale we just didn't know how to recognize it.

Even a vacuum isn't idle and still for QM which was long suspected but only recently shown
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-researchers-create-light-from-almost.html

You may also wonder how many times can you entagle an item ... a lot seems to be the answer
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-chinese-team-entangles-photons.html
Thats 8 generations of entaglements ... the hole keeps getting deeper.

The best ever expalination I ever saw for us poor layman was by the "standup physicist" on his blog http://www.science20.com/standup_physicist/why_quantum_mechanics_weird-79513 ... I sort of had to skip the maths it was a bit out of my league but the story was good.
 
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  • #14
I don't think this applies to magic (I HOPE it doesn't...), but there is the apparent role of non-locality in the operation of photosynthesis, which is at least part of a very macroscopic system. As for Voodoun, I'm not sure that you're every going to rectify the practice of a religion with science, especially if you really believe you're a houngan or bokor.
 

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