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Article #2794

Entangled Boxes

#2794
From: Eraser
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:48
32 lines
2870 bytes
Something like this was used to explain quantum entanglement 
in a book by Julian Brown called, Quest for the Quantum Computer:

A single black box has:
   an on-off switch, 
   a dial with six positions, 
   one red and one green light, 
   a counter which counts how many times the box was turned on. 
To operate the box, randomly select any dial position 
and then switch the box "on". Note which light turns on, 
red or green. Then switch the box "off". The color of 
the light that gets turned on is guarranteed to always be 
completely random. There is a 50:50 chance for either 
the red or green light coming on, regardless of 
whether the dial's position was changed or not.

Now whenever two such black boxes have been switched "on" 
the same number of times, they will have the same counter number.
Then, they will both show the same color light if their dial 
positions are the same. But whenever the dial on one of the 
two boxes is in a position opposite to the position of the 
dial of  the other box, the color of the two box's lights 
will be different (one will be red and the other will be green).
And whenever the dial on one of the two boxes is in 
a position adjacent to the dial position of the other box, 
the color of the two box's lights will be the same on average
3/4ths of the time.

Two such black boxes can be said to be 'entangled'.

Can they be physically manufactured without the 
ability to send information between them?  
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From: Eraser <Eraser@Pencil.Box>
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles,geometry.puzzles
Subject: Entangled Boxes
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:48:21 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: Fermat's Margin
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