time machine for sale

[John Sandel]

The April 2000 issue of Scientific American ran a report by Anton Zeilinger, at the Institute for Experimental Physics (Innsbruck), on his success in "teleporting" the entanglement information of photons. Here's a description, from Physics News 350, December 10, 1997

"QUANTUM TELEPORTATION has been experimentally demonstrated by physicists at the University of Innsbruck (Anton Zeilinger, anton.zeilinger @ uibk.ac.at; Dik Bouwmeester, Dik.Bouwmeester@uibk.ac.at).

"First proposed in 1993 by Charles Bennett of IBM, quantum teleportation allow physicists to take a photon (or any other quantum-scale particle, such as an atom), and transfer its properties (such as its polarization) to another photon---even if the two photons are on opposite sides of the galaxy.

"Note that this scheme transports the particle's properties to the remote location and not the particle itself. And as with Star Trek's Captain Kirk, whose body is destroyed at the teleporter and reconstructed at his destination, the state of the original photon must be destroyed to create an exact reconstruction at the other end.

"In the Innsbruck experiment, the researchers create a pair of photons A and B that are quantum mechanically 'entangled': the polarization of each photon is in a fuzzy, undetermined state, yet the two photons have a precisely defined interrelationship. If one photon is later measured to have, say, a horizontal polarization, then the other photon must "collapse" into the complementary state of vertical polarization. In the experiment, one of the entangled photons A arrives at an optical device at the exact time as a "message" photon M whose polarization state is to be teleported. These two photons enter a device where they become indistinguishable, thus effacing our knowledge of M's polarization (the equivalent of destroying Kirk).

"What the researchers have verified is that by ensuring that M's polarization is complementary to A's, then B's polarization would now have to assume the same value as M's. In other words, although M and B have never been in contact, B has been imprinted with M's polarization value, across the whole galaxy, instantaneously.

"This does not mean that faster-than-light information transfer has occurred. The people at the sending station must still convey the fact that teleportation had been successful by making a phone call or using some other light-speed or sub-light speed means of communication.

"While physicists don't foresee the possibility of teleporting large-scale objects like humans, this scheme will have uses in quantum computing and cryptography.---D. Bouwmeester et al., Nature, 11 Dec 1997; see also www.aip.org/physnews/graphics."

(Got all that? me neither)

Maybe if we can figure out teleportation (i.e., transmission of states of matter from A to B without crossing points in between), we can shock those particles out of their local time-frame. Einstein's predictions of frame-dragging have been largely borne out by recent experiments---maybe time's relative flow is sufficiently local/subjective that other timelines can be accessed.

[Jimmy McKenzie]

...and so go on the mysteries ... and only at area 51.

[Rob Lohman]

John: the "problem" with that approach is that you need to
transport photons from A to B. These photons are "linked"
(through entanglement) together. They can then be transported
however far away and when the state of photon A changes
it will change the state of photon B as well.

I'm not sure if this can be repeated (I don't think so). Otherwise
you could have an instant communication device aboard a space
ship as long as you entangled the two sides before lift off.

[John Sandel]

Rob, I have to admit you're right. The proof is in all these photons I've got tangled up in everything. They're under the couch, floating in the corners of the ceiling ...

I went to the hardware store yesterday and the cashiers were giggling because my underwear was glowing.

Now I know why Einstein stayed home!

[Ralf Strandell]

I know a few people that I would like to send on a time travel. Are these time machines available gift wrapped? Do you offer any discount if I buy more than one time machine? I only need the value version that goes backwards in time only.

[Laurence Maher]

Please man,

You're way behind the times. In 3048 they only cost $29.95 and weigh about the same as today's current mountain bikes. Where did you get this thing? You must have bought it used. Otherwise you would have already known what I just said. I'm assuming it's an older model, like year 2490 or something. It can probably only travel ahead say 50 years, yes? Seriously, dude, you got ripped off. My advice is take it back and wait until "Behind the Times" shops open up with the initial selections in the year 2013. By then they'll also have the age-eraser and you won't have to worry about making up lost years. Just my 2 cents.

[John Sandel]

Laurence, thank you for your advice. Unfortunately, I'm writing this in your future, where your two cents harve devalued to ... well, I don't wanna say.

Maybe you should print out your post and mail it to your great-grandfather. If Ralf traveled far enough back in time, your two cents would have gained so much value you'd be considered a genius.

[Doug Boze]

Time travel is an idea whose time has not yet come, but when it does, it'll be old news. Or as Yogi Berra said, "It's deja vu all over again!"