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Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll learn when you read this story:<\/p>\n
The Greenberger\u2013Horne\u2013Zeilinger (GHZ) paradox describes how quantum theory cannot be described by local realistic descriptions.<\/p>\n
A study takes this GHZ paradox to new heights to see just how non-classical the quantum world can get.<\/p>\n
In the process, their experiment included photons in 37 dimensions, taking science even further down this strange quantum rabbit hole with the hopes of finding applications in these high-dimensional systems.<\/p>\n
Classical and quantum mechanics don\u2019t really get along as the science of the subatomic can get, well, weird. Take, for instance, quantum entanglement<\/a>, which says that the state of one particle can be determined by examining the state of its entangled pair regardless of distance. This strange fact flies in the face of classical physics, and even led Albert Einstein<\/a> to famously describe this quantum quirk as \u201cspooky action at a distance.\u201d<\/p>\n This is what is known as \u201cquantum nonlocality,\u201d where objects are influenced across distances (seeming beyond the speed of light) whereas classical physics follows local theory, the idea that objects are influenced by their immediate surroundings. This is a pretty sharp divide as explained by the famous no-go theorem known as the Greenberger\u2013Horne\u2013Zeilinger (GHZ) paradox, which essentially details how quantum theory cannot be described by local realistic description.<\/p>\n Named for the physicists who described the paradox in 1989, GHZ-type paradoxes show that when particles can only be influenced by proximity they produce mathematical impossibilities. As New Scientist reports<\/a>, the paradox can even be expressed through a calculation where 1 equals -1. This paradox is useful in showing how quantum properties can not be described using classical means, but a new paper published in the journal Science Advances<\/a>, decided to see just how strange these paradoxes could get.<\/p>\n Essentially, an international team of scientists wanted to see how un-classical particles of light could get\u2014and the results were maybe stranger than the authors originally anticipated. This extremely technical experiment produced photons<\/a>, or particles of light, that existed in 37 dimensions. Just as you and I exist in three dimension\u2014plus an additional temporal dimension\u2014these photons required 37 similar reference points.<\/p>\n \u201cThis experiment shows that quantum physics is more nonclassical than many of us thought,\u201d Technical University of Denmark\u2019s Zhenghao Liu, a co-author of the study, told New Scientist. \u201cIt could be [that] 100 years after its discovery, we are still only seeing the tip of the iceberg.\u201d<\/p>\n