Portraits of John Clauser, Anton Zeilinger and Alain Aspect

The three winners of the physics prize for their research on quantumentanglement are John Clauser. The Royal Society and J. Clauser are both credited with CC BY-SA 3.0.

The three quantum physicists won the prize for their experiments in which particles of light become intertwined. Experiments like this have laid the groundwork for a lot of quantum technologies.

The 10 million-kronor (US$915,000) prize will be shared by three men.

At the press conference announcing the award, the physicist said that he was surprised to be called. More than 100 young people have worked on this prize over the years.

It is the toughest test yet for quantum'spookiness'.

Aspect is a physicist at the University of Paris-Saclay. Serge Haroche, an experimental physicist at the Collge de France in Paris, was sitting near Aspect when he got the call.

The trio proved that connections between quantum particles were not dependent on local variables. The phenomenon is caused by a genuine association in which a quantum object is manipulated. Einstein called the phenomenon'spooky action at a distance'.

Pan Jianwei, a physicist at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei who was a graduate student in the 1990s, said that all three of the winners are pioneers in the field of quantum information and quantum communications. Pan says that the recognition was long-awaited. We have been waiting for this for a while.

A theoretical physicist at the University of Oxford agrees that the win is beautiful. One of the great open questions of physics is how to reconcile quantum mechanics with Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.

Particle pairs

The property of one particle in an entangled pair affects the property of the other particle. It is what allows quantum computers to function because they seek to harness quantum particles' ability to exist in more than one state at the same time. Physicists are working on a quantum internet that would allow for ultra-secure communications and new types of sensors and telescopes.

Since physicists laid the foundations of quantum mechanics in the 1920s, the question of whether particles could be linked in this way has been debated.

The first quantum computer has entered a crowded race.

Bell's inequalities were proposed to distinguish between the two ideas. Experiments that appeared to be correlated beyond a particular value would only be possible with the help of quantumentanglement. A higher degree of correlation is predicted by quantum mechanics.

John Clauser is a physicist at J.F. Clauser & ASSOCIATES inWalnut Creek, California.

David Kaiser, a quantum physicist and historian of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, said that Clauser came across Bell's work while browsing in the library at the University of California at Berkeley. Clauser wanted to know if anyone had tried testing his inequalities. He was encouraged to do so by Bell. The rest of the community was not as supportive. In writing, people would say that the topic isn't worthy.

Loopholes and teleportation

Aspect set out to close in the 1980s despite Clauser's success because of the experimental loopholes that left room for hidden variables. Experiments used a changing set up that meant they couldn't be pre-determined.

In 1997, a group of physicists at the University of Vienna used the phenomenon ofentanglement to show how a quantum state can be transferred from one location to another. As measurement destroys their quantum properties, quantum systems can't be detected or reconstituted elsewhere. A state can be transferred between particles if they are entangled with each other.

It is the toughest test yet for quantum'spookiness'.

Super-secure communications are possible because particles lose their quantum states when eavesdropped. Future quantum computers could transfer information. Physicists have been able to manipulate electrons, as well as atoms and circuits.

The properties of starlight emitted centuries ago were used to define experimental settings in recent experiments.

Although the physics is the basis of a budding industry, these kinds of experiments could still provide insight into fundamental physics. The hope is to see if two particles can become entangled through a relationship of gravity. Experiments that show how to develop a quantum theory of gravity could give clues on how to replace general relativity. The elephant in the room isGravity.

Kaiser says that the three recipients of the award had the persistence and ingenuity to ask if the world really works like this.

It was just blue-sky research with no applications in view. He says it is a great example of the connection between basic science and applications. There is a demonstration of useless knowledge.

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