On Wednesday, March 21, 2018, a lecture by Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. Duncan Haldane from Princeton University, USA, was held at the Jožef Stefan Institute. The lecture was part of Jožef Stefan Days, an event organized by the Institute to commemorate the birth of the renowned physicist and promote science to the public.
Prof. Haldane presented one of the most astonishing properties of quantum mechanics – quantum entanglement. Einstein once described it as “spooky action at a distance,” as he found it counterintuitive and incompatible with gravitational theory. He believed that experimental evidence would eventually disprove quantum theory. However, later experiments demonstrated the opposite – quantum theory holds, and entanglement is one of its fundamental features.
In his lecture, Prof. Haldane explained that entanglement is now crucial in the study of topological quantum matter, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics. Furthermore, entanglement is one of the most promising resources for future quantum computers, which will surpass classical computing capabilities. He concluded by drawing a parallel with Einstein’s introduction of the cosmological constant, which he once called his “biggest blunder,” only for it to become integral to our understanding of dark energy. Similarly, Einstein viewed entanglement as another major mistake, yet it has proven to be one of the most important and fruitful discoveries of modern physics.
Watch the lecture recording at this link.