Khaleid Posted May 15, 2012 #26 Share Posted May 15, 2012 The trick is that we are sort of ``swapping entanglement''. I start with a delicate quantum state at position A. Moving this object may not be possible; any physical perturbation could destroy it. But if I can entangle this quantum state with a carrier wave, then I can send the carrier wave where-ever I want it to go (position . Then at position B I entangle the carrier wave with a ``blank'' object. This is where the ``spooky action at a distance'' comes in to play; the original quantum state at position A is erased (randomized) and the ``blank'' object at position B now contains the quantum state. I guess you can think of the carrier wave as a method of transferring entanglement over a long distance. This is why quantum teleportation is useful for secure communication, as mentioned above. If I have some secure data that I want to send somewhere I could (in principle, anyway), entangle a ``quantum flash drive'' with my computer, then send that drive by courier to where-ever. But it would be a lot easier to entangle an optical signal with my computer and send the signal over a fiber-optic network to the destination. ------------ Actually quantum teleportation is not, strictly speaking, ``secure'' because anyone could tap into the signal. It is, however, impossible to tap into the signal without alerting the sender to your presence - since they will know as soon as you disentangle the package. Ah ok, I was missing the fact that physical manipulation had such a high risk of destroying one of the pair... Thanks for the explanation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyche101 Posted May 16, 2012 #27 Share Posted May 16, 2012 That is your definition of ``clone''. If you want to call it ``quantum cloning'' then that is fine. If you have an object at location A that disintegrates and an identical object (in every way, right down to the quantum level) is constituted at location B I would say that the object was ``teleported''. To me, ``cloning'' is the same as ``copying'', and does not imply a translation in space. Ultimately, I think, the name comes from the fact that the information is transmitted, and I think there is the philosophical viewpoint that the information is the important thing. After all, we are all made of various configurations of protons, neutrons, and electrons. These particles are all identical, it is the specific arrangement of them that defines an object. Moving this information one from pile of building blocks to another could be called ``teleporting''. But like I said, it is all semantics. The popular term for this is ``teleportation'', so even if you think the name unfortunate I am not sure you can change it now... Would this also teleport the data held within the object i.e. memories? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sepulchrave Posted May 16, 2012 #28 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Would this also teleport the data held within the object i.e. memories? If you were teleporting a person? I don't know. In principle it should work, but in practice can you cool a person to 0 K without destroying the subtleties of their brain that define their memories and personalities? I kind of doubt it. Whatever data exists in the object at 0 K in a complete vacuum would get teleported perfectly. Whether or not that data is the same as the data in the object under normal operating conditions is a different story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingAngel Posted May 21, 2012 #29 Share Posted May 21, 2012 What if the one at the destination is not the one at the origin? You know when a person A is disintegrated, he's dead for a fraction of second. But once dead it's dead, there is no such thing as revival. The person B could have all the memories and genes inherited from A, but it's just a clone reconstructed and think that he is teleported because he has the memory that 1s ago, he's A. But in fact, he's not A and there is no way to verify it even if he claims he's A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questionmark Posted May 21, 2012 #30 Share Posted May 21, 2012 If you were teleporting a person? I don't know. In principle it should work, but in practice can you cool a person to 0 K without destroying the subtleties of their brain that define their memories and personalities? I kind of doubt it. Whatever data exists in the object at 0 K in a complete vacuum would get teleported perfectly. Whether or not that data is the same as the data in the object under normal operating conditions is a different story. I can tell you this much: at 0K there is no more biological activity (in fact very little atomic activity) so there will be no more memory unless the cooling and getting back to normal temperatures happens in a fraction of a second (where the fraction probably must be pretty fast to not cause any permanent injuries.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now