Once again, misunderstood physics makes its rounds

Getting back from SC25, Quantum Computing was one of many topics discussed in depth. It is nice to see it getting attention, though there are some fictional elements running about that betray a lack of understanding of the core underlying physics. In this case, its the so called instantaneous information transmission via EPR entangled pairs.

In the linked article, the authors opined that entangled pairs of particles could enable information transmission with zero latency across any distance. Specifically removing the painful latency of New York to Chicago one way. The idea they used is quantum teleportation.

Unfortunately for the author(s), they seem not to have a grounding in physics, not relativity (directly applicable), nor in quantum mechanics, or quantum teleportation. Maybe they have a pedestrian understanding of the terms, and drew (unfortunately for them) incorrect inferences.

Mark Twain is reported to have once stated

A lie can go halfway around the world before the truth can get its pants on.

I am not saying that the author(s) lied, rather they were misinformed. I appeal specifically to what has been called Hanlon's razor (though I believe it to be Heinlein's razor for various reasons)

Never attribute to malice that which may be explained by incompetence

Relativity, which does seem to be the law of the universe indicates that information cannot propagate faster than the speed of light between two points.

Moreover, a cursory reading of the Wikipedia (I know, I know) article on Quantum Teleportation includes a specific non-technical narrative that goes against what those author(s) had written. Quoting here

Thus, an observation resulting from a measurement choice made at one point in spacetime seems to instantaneously affect outcomes in another region, even though light hasn't yet had time to travel the distance, a conclusion seemingly at odds with special relativity. This is known as the EPR paradox. However, such correlations can never be used to transmit any information faster than the speed of light, a statement encapsulated in the no-communication theorem. Thus, teleportation as a whole can never be superluminal, as a qubit cannot be reconstructed until the accompanying classical information arrives.

This is quite important, as the gist of the article is about transmitting information instantaneously, e.g. faster than the time required for light to reach the receiver. The short version is you need a classical channel (governed by relativity) to reconstruct the remote quantum state.

A far better approach would be looking to modulate and detect modulated neutrinos, as they could be aimed directly at the remote trading site, and would travel in a straight line. That is, rather than following a 2D surface geodesic great circle and its path length, follow a "shortcut" through a 3D direct path between points in a Euclidean space.

I should also point out that in higher dimensions it could be (pure speculation on my part) possible to follow other curves in those higher dimensional spaces that lessen travel time. So if someone comes up with a path in 10 dimensional GR, or SO(8) (28 dimensional) that reduces transmission path length, hey, I'm all for that!

Does this mean that we will never get "instantaneous" information transport? I'd bet against theories that postulate this possibility. The best way to see if it is possible is to develop your model, make some testable predictions, and see if some experimental physicists are willing to give it a try. If you are right, I'll be one of the first to congratulate you.

Ok, now that that is out of the way ...

Way back in the late 1990s, lots of computer scientists were excited about 1 atom width wires and structures on chips. I recall grand predictions about performance, density, etc. There was even a graph of how the power density of these chips (Power per unit area) would exceed that of the Sun.

The problem (again) was one of physics. Single atom wires, or structures are not generally thermodynamically stable. A single atom wandering off driven by heat mediated diffusion would ruin a circuit. Ok, 2 atom wires. Same type of problem, different temperatures where you have to maintain the circuit at to prevent it. Both quite near 0 K. Hmmm. Maybe not such a good idea.

Then there is the problem of many smaller structures close to each other. In introductory Quantum Mechanics students are introduced to the Kronig-Penney model. In this, as we build these meta structures atop the core semiconductor ... the underlying semiconductor itself has a "band structure" which is engineered to the device needs. The structures atop the substrate may, themselves, create another band structure, and it could interact with the substrate structure. I'm not sure where this would occur. The issue is that coupling between these two electronic structures could give rise to interesting Wannier-Mott excitons, with an electron in either the semiconductor or meta structures, and a hole in the other. There could be some cool physics there.

Not having a .edu email account, nor library privileges at my alma mater (I've asked for both as an alumnus), I don't have access to journals to search. This would be a fun research project to examine though.

I've monologued and gotten off topic. Ok, back on topic.

Chances are, if you hear of something that sounds like it is too good to be true, it likely is. Be more skeptical. Do at least de-minimus research prior to writing articles. This applies to me as well. I'm happy to be wrong, as that means I've learned something. I hope the authors of this article are also happy to have learned.