Dance of the photons From Einstein to quantum teleportation

Review by Choice Review

In "Quantum Teleportation" in the April 2000 (updated 2003) issue of Scientific American, Zeilinger (physics, Univ. of Vienna, Austria) reviewed the progress being made in teleportation of photons and its importance in the construction of quantum computers. Now, the author updates the predictions made in that article. The first half of Dance is a pedantic proof, inspired by David Bohm (1917-92) of the famous Bell's inequality. It is similar to Nick Herbert's proof in Quantum Reality (CH, Oct'85) and Tony Hey and Patrick Walters's The New Quantum Universe (CH, May'04, 41-5350) in that it focuses on Bell's prediction for one angle, as opposed to Alastair Rae's proof in Quantum Physics (2nd ed., 2004) in which a graph gives Bell's inequality for any angle. Zeilinger's proof, however, develops so carefully that the typical general reader should be able to understand it. The balance of the book focuses on cryptography, quantum computing, and experimental evidence for long-range photon teleportation. Zeilinger is one of the premier researchers in these areas; it would be difficult to find another book matching Dance in its insight and coverage of these topics. Summing Up; Highly recommended. Students of all levels and general readers. J. F. Burkhart University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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Review by Booklist Review

Light is the research focus of Zeilinger, a physicist in Austria who studies photons' ghostly quantum behavior. Here Zeilinger introduces the fictional Dr. Quantinger, who assigns two students to experiment on an apparatus that sends photons to separate detectors that they observe. Alice and Bob periodically report their findings, proffer theories to account for the results, listen raptly to Dr. Quantinger's hints about quantum states of light, such as entanglement and polarity, then repair to their detectors to watch more photons. Sometimes Zeilinger suspends this fictional device to address readers directly about the quality of entanglement--the property of pairs of particles, no matter how far separated, whether by the Danube in Alice and Bob's case or by light-years of space, to know the quantum state of its partner. This faster-than-light talent of quantum particles bothered Einstein but excites Zeilinger, who describes the technologies that entanglement could in principle permit, such as quantum computers or quantum teleportation. An innovative presenter of a complicated topic, Zeilinger will appeal to the futurists of the science set.--Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Zeilinger, the head of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information in Austria who takes part in ground-breaking experiments in quantum technology, provides a thorough history and explanation of quantum entanglement geared toward the a general readership. Entanglement, a concept which Einstein tried to overturn throughout his life, is the idea that two particles continue to affect each other even after they have physically separated; they are "connected in a much stronger way...than in classical physics." Zeilinger creates a simple narrative in order to lead the reader through actual quantum mechanics experiments. Using data from his own experiments, which include photons that he successfully teleported from one side of the Danube to the other, Zeilinger explains the theoretical, philosophical, and technical problems involved in Einstein's rebuttal of entanglement. Although the first-time author does an admirable job simplifying quantum physics and explaining experiments point-by-point, this is still a challenging subject that requires time and effort on the part of the non-scientist reader. Illus. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A complex but ultimately rewarding exploration of the weird world of quantum physics, which describes the behavior of atomic and subatomic particles.For example, light moves in both waves and particles, depending on the experiment. Quantum measurements can't precisely locate a particle such as an electron, and a researcher can only give statistical odds that it's in a particular spot (anywhere in the universe!). Einstein detested this idea, insisting that the description of light is wrong and that every electron is someplace. In his first book in English, Austrian physicist Zeilinger (Physics/Univ. of Vienna) defends the majority view: Quantum descriptions seem bizarre, but that's the reality. Treading carefully, the author introduces two college freshmen, Bob and Alice, eager for a taste of quantum physics. Obligingly, their professor places each in distant rooms with a detector connected to a central source that emits light particles that trigger both detectors. Their assignment is to explain what's happeningnot a simple goal because each pair of photons is "entangled," a quantum concept that means they are linked no matter how far they are separated. A change in one is instantly reflected in the other. Einstein dreamed up entanglement in 1935, explaining that it's consistent with quantum laws but so absurd that it shows the theory's defects. Amazingly, experiments proved that entanglement not only exists but has practical applications in computing, cryptography and even teleportationof subatomic particles. Zeilinger uses simple diagrams and cheerful dialogues between Bob and Alice to make a difficult concept somewhat less difficult.Not for the scientifically disinclined, but readers who pay close attention will grasp a strange but fascinating scientific principle.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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DANCE OF THE PHOTONS SPACE TRAVEL When we hear of teleportation, we often think it would be an ideal means of traveling. We would simply disappear from wherever we happened to be and reappear immediately at our destination. The tantalizing part is that this would be the fastest possible way of traveling. Yet, a warning might be in order here: teleportation as a means of travel is still science fiction rather than science. Thus far, people have only been able to travel to the Moon, which on a cosmic scale is extremely close, the equivalent of our backyard. Within our solar system, the closest planets, Venus and Mars, are already roughly a thousand times more distant than the Moon, to say nothing of the planets farther out in the solar system. It is interesting to consider how long it would take to go to other stars. As we all remember from the Apollo program, which put the first men on the Moon, it takes about four days to go from Earth to the Moon. Traveling by spaceship from Earth to the planet Mars would take on the order of 260 days, one way. It is evident that our space travelers would get quite bored during that time, so they might make good use of their time by performing experiments involving quantum teleportation. In order to get even farther out, we might use the accelerating force of other planets or even of Earth itself, as has been done with some of the unmanned spacecraft exploring outer planets. The idea is simply to have the spaceship pass close by a planet so that, by means of a sort of slingshot action, it can be accelerated into a new orbit that carries it much farther outward. For example, using these methods, the spacecraft Pioneer 10 took about eleven years to travel past the outermost planets of the solar system on its probably unending journey into thespace between the stars. We can thus estimate that it will, for example, take Pioneer 10 about 100,000 years to get to Proxima Centauri, the closest star except for the Sun, at its current speed. Perhaps, therefore, it would be good to have some other way to get around, to cover large distances. What we want is to travel anywhere instantly, without any limitation on how far we can go. Is that possible, at least in principle? This is why science-fiction writers invented teleportation. Magically, you disappear from one place, and, magically, you reappear at another place, just an instant later. Copyright (c) 2010 by Anton Zeilinger Excerpted from Dance of the Photons: From Einstein to Quantum Teleportation by Anton Zeilinger All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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