What part of physics teleportation involves

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    Physics Teleportation
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of teleportation in physics, exploring its theoretical underpinnings, practical implications, and philosophical questions. Participants touch on both quantum teleportation and the broader implications of teleporting information versus physical objects.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express uncertainty about what aspects of physics teleportation involves, particularly in relation to recent experiments and the meaning of "information" in this context.
  • One viewpoint suggests that teleportation would require a machine to record and recreate all particles and their states, raising questions about whether this constitutes true teleportation or merely replication.
  • Another participant argues that current methods of transmitting information, such as sending technical drawings, could be seen as a form of teleportation, albeit not of physical objects.
  • Concerns are raised about the feasibility of recreating unique objects, such as living beings or sentimental items, through teleportation.
  • Some mention quantum teleportation, specifically the entanglement of photons, as a potential avenue for data transfer, though it is noted that this does not equate to teleporting physical matter.
  • Disagreement exists regarding the definition of teleportation, with some insisting it must involve the transportation of matter rather than mere information transfer.
  • Participants also discuss the implications of digitizing humans and whether this could diminish the need for traditional teleportation methods.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach consensus on the definition of teleportation, with multiple competing views on whether it involves the transportation of physical objects or merely the transfer of information. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the practical and philosophical implications of teleportation.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying assumptions about the nature of teleportation, including the necessity of recreating exact replicas of objects and the implications of digitizing matter. Limitations in current understanding of quantum mechanics and teleportation technology are acknowledged but not resolved.

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I'm not sure what part of physics teleportation involves so I ask my question here.
I want to know about the last successful teleportation experiment and a little about its scientific details.I've read some things about information teleport.what do they mean by information?
thanks
 
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Teleportation would involve a machine that can identify and record all the particles and their energy states in an object, destroy it, and recreate that object exactly as recorded in another location. Obviously that isn't possible, the amount of data that would be required to teleport a grain of sand would far exceed the largest hard drive available since there are so many molecules that make it up, not to mention that the data may have to include sub atomic particle information too.

Then comes the question - if you destroy and object and recreate it elsewhere, is that truly "teleportation"? Or are you just creating a replica of that object? That is more of a philosophical question, but important nonetheless.

When I say "destroy", I mean that the object would have to be converted into some kind of energy where it would lose all form recognition.

However, you may have heard of quantum teleportation or the teleporation of a photon.

What is possible is a scenario where 2 entangled photons are split from 1 source. Simply put, the 2 photons can be a couple meters apart or many light years apart. Since the two photons are entangled, if you change the "spin" of one photon, it will instantly (not the speed of light, this is actually faster) effect the spin of the other photon particle. In theory, this system could be used to instantly transfer data from one location to another.

This system is far from perfect for many, many reasons. I'm not going to get in any more depth on quantum entanglement, but if you are interested in teleportation, I recommend reading on some basics of it because it is as close to teleportation as were going to get for a long time, maybe forever.
 


As far as I'm concerned, I'm teleporting information right now, as it's moving at the speed of light a certain distance, and eventually to your computer.

That said, if I "teleported" to you a technical drawing along with the instructions of how to make something, as far as I am concerned that's coming close to actually teleporting the thing.

While it's not exactly an exact replica of the original part, for all intents and purposes, it's just as good.

While on the Earth it still makes economic sense to move stuff the hard way, I'm sure if we successfully colonize other planets or stars, we won't actually be transporting anything between them other than information. Perhaps people...although we'll probably figure out how to convert a human into information and vice versa way before we colonize other worlds.

So while I doubt we'll be able to recreate an EXACT replica of an object, I can't think of any application where that would really be even necessary to pursue. While we'll still be limited by the speed of light, for all intents and purposes not only we WILL teleport things, but we have already done so.
 


Lsos said:
As far as I'm concerned, I'm teleporting information right now, as it's moving at the speed of light a certain distance, and eventually to your computer.

That said, if I "teleported" to you a technical drawing along with the instructions of how to make something, as far as I am concerned that's coming close to actually teleporting the thing.

While it's not exactly an exact replica of the original part, for all intents and purposes, it's just as good.

While on the Earth it still makes economic sense to move stuff the hard way, I'm sure if we successfully colonize other planets or stars, we won't actually be transporting anything between them other than information. Perhaps people...although we'll probably figure out how to convert a human into information and vice versa way before we colonize other worlds.

So while I doubt we'll be able to recreate an EXACT replica of an object, I can't think of any application where that would really be even necessary to pursue. While we'll still be limited by the speed of light, for all intents and purposes not only we WILL teleport things, but we have already done so.

I was assuming the OP was asking about teleporting objects on a macro level, actually teleporting things, not just data. Teleporting, say, fuel from Earth to a space vessel 200,000 miles away or even an apple from one side of the room to another is obviously a lot different than sending schematics across the internet. However, you do bring up an excellent point that in a sense we do teleport "something" every day, something that would have thought to be impossible even 50 years ago is possible today.
 


Lsos I can tell that you're wrong.Imagine you've made a device.I ask you for the instructions to make it.you send it via internet.I make a new one with the help of instructions.But is it teleportation?no because one device is created not transported!
what about the things we can't create?a human,rabbit or...!what about unique things?one sepcial ring or so on.
By teleportation we mean transportationin less time.transportation and nothing else.And as long as the transported thing is a matter,I don't care how big it is.In fact I wanted to know how big was the last thing which was teleported and how much was the distance?
 


I read somewhere that some physicist (forgot from where, sorry) managed to teleport some atoms (rubidium I think) using entanglement and Bose-Einstein condensates.
 


Hmm well if you entangle particles to can teleport information, but you wouldn't know what you are teleporting. Also most people consider the entanglement as a single system so you are not really teleporting anything.
 


Shyan said:
Lsos I can tell that you're wrong.Imagine you've made a device.I ask you for the instructions to make it.you send it via internet.I make a new one with the help of instructions.But is it teleportation?no because one device is created not transported!
what about the things we can't create?a human,rabbit or...!what about unique things?one sepcial ring or so on.
By teleportation we mean transportationin less time.transportation and nothing else.And as long as the transported thing is a matter,I don't care how big it is.In fact I wanted to know how big was the last thing which was teleported and how much was the distance?

How am I wrong, when I clearly stated that you won't have an exact replica?

My point was that while not pure "teleportation", we'll be able to do something that has the same effect. Therefore, the whole concept of teleportation won't be so cool anymore because it will be essentially useless.

I even brought up the example of a human. We can already digitize a human and put him onto a hard disk. It's not long from now that we'll be able to do the opposite. The only thing "unique" about a human is what's in his mind, and depending on what your religious views are, digitizing even that is not too far off.

Once that is accomplished, what do you really need teleportation for? Give me an example (other than the basic ingredients: matter and energy).

I suppose sentimental things. Watch them figure out a way to digitize that, too :)
 


Shyan said:
I'm not sure what part of physics teleportation involves so I ask my question here.
Quantum mechanics.


Lsos said:
As far as I'm concerned, I'm teleporting information right now, as it's moving at the speed of light a certain distance, and eventually to your computer.
Well, even our currently primitive ability to teleport exceeds that. We are teleporting instantly, not at the speed of light. That's kind of the point of teleportation as opposed to simply "beaming" something digitally from one place to another via EM waves through air, vacuum or pipe.

So, while you sort of have a point, you are dragging the poster's thread off-toic to a different concept of teleportation.

Lsos said:
We can already digitize a human and put him onto a hard disk.
No we can't. Don't be silly.
 
  • #10


I don't think OP specified what he means by teleportation. If he means instantaneous across the galaxy, then I apologize. I brought up something that's actually theoretically possible, if not as exciting (perhaps indeed BECAUSE it's possible).

DaveC426913 said:
No we can't. Don't be silly.

I'm not being silly. Why can't you put a person's DNA sequence onto a disk? That's all the information you need to rebuild the hardware. As I already mentioned, I'm aware that we're still a bit away from figuring out the software part. It can't be impossible though...
 
  • #11


Lsos said:
I don't think OP specified what he means by teleportation. If he means instantaneous across the galaxy, then I apologize. I brought up something that's actually theoretically possible, if not as exciting (perhaps indeed BECAUSE it's possible).



I'm not being silly. Why can't you put a person's DNA sequence onto a disk? That's all the information you need to rebuild the hardware. As I already mentioned, I'm aware that we're still a bit away from figuring out the software part. It can't be impossible though...

I thought we have sequenced all of our DNA, and it's just a matter of figuring out what each part individually does? I.E. a layperson might be able to build a car from blueprints but wouldn't know what the individual parts do...
 
  • #12


Yeah, the human genome project was not specific to you or I, rather some other person, maybe many.
In any event, you can't just go the a hospital or research center and say, "Here's $10,000 map my entire genome and put on a hard drive"
First of all it would be FAR more expensive... millions.
Secondly it would take years.
Thirdly, there would be no benefit on this level, as it is currently impossible to duplicate a human with that info.
What you can benefit from this(with MUCH lower levels of genome sequencing and far less expensive) is to know your propensity for disease and disorder.
 
  • #13


Lsos said:
I don't think OP specified what he means by teleportation.
If he means instantaneous across the galaxy, then I apologize. I brought up something that's actually theoretically possible, if not as exciting (perhaps indeed BECAUSE it's possible).
What you are describing isn't teleporation by any definition. Theoretically possible or not, it has nothing to do with the topic at-hand, and is therefore simply dragging it off-topic.


Lsos said:
I'm not being silly. Why can't you put a person's DNA sequence onto a disk? That's all the information you need to rebuild the hardware.
Putting the instructions for building an ocean liner on a disk is not quite the same thing as putting an ocean liner on a disk.

Just as sending instructions to build an ocean liner across the continent is not the same as sending an ocean liner across the continent.


The whole point of teleportation is sending the actual object; merely sending instructions is trivial.
 
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  • #14


The quantum field theories incorporate the ideas of annihilation and the creation of particles.A particle gets annihilated at one point and another one gets created at some other and there is indeed flow of energy between the aforesaid points.It may also be created at one point and get annihilated at some other point.There are specific mathematical terms to take care of such propagation

Could this provide the basic theoretical framework necessary for teleportaion?
I have tried to use the information given in thread #2
 
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  • #15


DaveC426913 said:
What you are describing isn't teleporation by any definition. Theoretically possible or not, it has nothing to do with the topic at-hand, and is therefore simply dragging it off-topic.
Let's look at the word: tele-portation. Just the very makeup of it implies transporting something by telephone, telegraph, whatever. I'm asking to do it wireless.

I'm sorry you don't agree, but I just don't see how condensing something into data, beaming it to a planet 20 light years away, and having it come out there practically identical is NOT teleportation. Obviously you'll need some sort of machine/ factory/ printer at the other end to reconstruct the item, but there's nothing impossible about that.

I realize this method seems crude, and perhaps won't drop as many panties as having something disappear into a swirling glitter and reappear the same way. But, we can always add the swirling glitter at the beginning and end of the reconstruction for dramatic effect. We can destroy the original object also if this completes the cycle.

Just because it doesn't satisfy what you think teleportation ought to be doesn't mean everyone else has to dismiss it. If it's the fact that it's not instantaneous...well, for one it can't be. Again, I'm trying to stick with what's possible. For two, it IS instantaneous for the object being teleported: time stops for light.
Putting the instructions for building an ocean liner on a disk is not quite the same thing as putting an ocean liner on a disk.

Just as sending instructions to build an ocean liner across the continent is not the same as sending an ocean liner across the continent.

The whole point of teleportation is sending the actual object; merely sending instructions is trivial.

I like how people in this thread are talking about transporting photons and quantum bits...but to dismiss the concept I'm talking about, we're all of a sudden transporting ocean liners.

Well, it will take you more time and more resources, and perhaps require a bigger "factory" but you can reconstruct an ocean liner, too. This will obviously be far from instantaneous with our primitive reconstruction methods (for now), but still the theoretical limit is the speed of light, as opposed to how much fuel you can shoehorn into a rocket.

It even takes the Star Trek swirling glitter a few seconds to materialize into an object.
 
  • #16


All of the QM teleportation schemes I've seen discussed involve nothing more than the transfer of information.

Classical teleportation is taken to mean the complete analysis of an object into information, transmission of the information and subsequent recreation of the object. (It is unclear whether the original is to be destroyed in the process - it's presumably irrelevant and therefore unnecessary)

The difficulty centres around the fact that it wasn't thought possible to measure all of the observables of a system simultaneously so that the information can be transmitted (Heisenberg). However, under certain specific circumstances, it has recently been shown to be possible.

Physical 'magic-ing' of an object from A to B, which is what a lot of contributors seem to mean by teleportation, would require violation of a lot more than just the uncertainty principle. It would mean altering the quantum wave function of the object externally in such a way as to simulate the result of a physical translation without the translation. I think that would require a discontinuity.
 
  • #17


Hey lsos teleportation is supposed to be a substitute for current transportation system.so it must be better.but if we do this as you say,the operator at the sender side should know every part of science and how to build everything or we should have a large group of scientists as operators.
And I should mention that teleportation is sth completely new so its wrong to tell that we have only one way to do it.know one knows maybe there are several ways!
and I still want to know about the last successful teleportation experiment.
thanks
 
  • #18


Lsos said:
...having something disappear into a swirling glitter and reappear the same way. But, we can always add the swirling glitter at the beginning and end of the reconstruction for dramatic effect...

Just because it doesn't satisfy what you think teleportation ought to be...
Bzzt. Straw man.

You are now arguing with yourself. If you had a valid point, you'd be able to argue the words I've typed, not the words you've put under my fingers.
 
  • #19


Point of order:
The OP has specified what definition of teleportation he is interested in discussing:
I want to know about the last successful teleportation experiment and a little about its scientific details.

Speculative or alternate discussions of teleporation are, by definition, off-topic.
 
  • #20


Shyan said:
Hey lsos teleportation is supposed to be a substitute for current transportation system.so it must be better.but if we do this as you say,the operator at the sender side should know every part of science and how to build everything or we should have a large group of scientists as operators.
And I should mention that teleportation is sth completely new so its wrong to tell that we have only one way to do it.know one knows maybe there are several ways!
and I still want to know about the last successful teleportation experiment.
thanks

Whatever form of teleportation takes hold, don't think that it is necessarily supposed to be "better" than traditional transportation methods. Think of the bike, the car, and the airplane...we have all these methods, but yet people still walk.

As you get more sophisticated, you get more expensive, so depending on the distance it might not make economic sense to use exotic transportation methods.
 
  • #21


Lsos.teleportation is still under study and there is no stable technology for it so how can we know in which way its expensive and in which way its not.I should mention something that I think is forgotten here.teleportation is a general word like transportaion.
we define transportation as taking humans and things from a place to another.we don't mention the method or tool.so we can't tell its expensive or not.its fast or not.we should have a machine which teleports things in a way.then we can talk about its properties.But teleportation is a Genral word.
I think we can continue this discussion for ever so just tell me about the Last successful teleportation experiment.OK?
 

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