Quantum Ansible

Nikolai Nikitin and Konstantin Toms

QUANTUM ANSIBLE

A few days ago a paper appeared in the physics arXiv that described a clever new faster-than-light signaling scheme. The authors are a pair of Russians from the Lomonosov State University in Moscow, Nikolai Nikitin and Konstantin Toms, who is currently a postdoc at the University of New Mexico after spending time at the ATLAS experiment at CERN. N&T called their paper "Quantum Ansible" after a fictional FTL signaling device in the novels of Ursula LeGuin.

N&T's Quantum Ansible is a more sophisticated realization of my early (1982) FLASH FTL signaling scheme which imagined a universal quantum copying device that could exactly duplicate any unknown quantum state. My FLASH proposal was quickly refuted by Wootters, Zurek and others and led to the discovery/invention of the quantum no-cloning rule which plays an important part in the field of quantum computing.

Any classical datum can be easily copied, as simple as pushing the "Duplicate" command in your computer menu. But Nature outlaws such a duplicate command for quantum data. The best you can do, given an unknown quantum state, as was shown by Leonard Mandel, is to duplicate that state with 5/6 (= 83.3%) accuracy. As noise-free as this might seem, this small degree of copying imperfection was precisely sufficient to render my FLASH FTL communication scheme kaput.

The field of quantum computing has developed immensely since the discovery of the no-cloning rule. We know, for instance, that it is possible to perfectly clone any known quantum state. And thanks to the field of quantum computing, there is an easy way to do so: the so-called CNOT gate (or Feynman gate, as it is sometimes called).

The four possible operations of the CNOT gate.

The CNOT gate has two inputs and two outputs. The top input traverses the gate unchanged; the bottom input flips its sign if the top input is |1>. If the top input is |0>, the bottom output remains the same. CNOT stands for "Controlled NOT": the top input controls whether the bottom input will remain the same or will be subjected to the NOT operation, which changes a one to a zero.

As simple as this gate seems to be, the CNOT gate plays an important role in quantum computing. It can, for instance, be used to clone a known quantum state, without the use of lasers.

In a classical computer the inputs and outputs of the CNOT gate are simple binary bits, symbolized by zeros and ones. In a quantum computer, the inputs and outputs are quantum states, symbolized (in Dirac notation) by |0>s and |1>s. In the case of the quantum ansible, |0> represents the spin-down state of Alice's electron in the z-direction, a quantum state which could also be symbolized as:

|0> ----> | minus z--Alice>

|1> ----> |plus z -- Alice>

With this re-interpretation of the operation of the CNOT gate, it is easy to see how this simple gate can be used as a cloning tool for an orthogonal pair of quantum states.

We consider only the gate operations labeled A and B. In these two cases the bottom input is always |0> which in the physical situation represents Alice's electron having spin down in the z direction). In these two special cases, we note that the CNOT gate will clone either the |0> or the |1> state if it is presented to the upper input. Simply put in a |0> and two |0>s come out. Put in a |1> and two |1>s come out. In this special situation the CNOT gate can be used as a simple cloning tool for one particular known quantum state.

The importance of cloning in faster-than-light signaling schemes cannot be overestimated. In the usual measurement situation you get just one chance to measure the spin state of a single photon or electron. With a cloning device you can get two or more chances to measure different physical properties of a single quantum entity.

The designers of the quantum ansible imagine Bob located 4 light-years away on Alpha Centauri sending a spin-entangled sequence of electrons to Alice on Earth. Bob measures one electron spin and sends the other partner of the pair to Alice. If Bob measures spin along the z axis, Alice's distant electron will immediately (!) acquire a z-direction spin (either up or down); if Bob measures along the x axis Alice's distant electron will instantly acquire an x-axis spin.

If Alice can detect the difference between a random sequence of z-polarized electrons and a random sequence of x-polarized photons at her detector on Earth, then she can decode Bob's message (sent faster than light) which is encoded by his conscious decision at Alpha Centauri to switch his electron spin detector between the z-direction and the x-direction.

Given this situation, Nikitin & Toms make a clever move: they actually attempt to exploit the no-cloning rule in their favor. You can clone one known state (says Nature). So N&T choose to clone Alice's electron spin in the z-direction. But you are forbidden, says Nature, to clone any other spin direction.

That's fine, say Nikitin and Toms: we'll get great results measuring z-spin, because we can use a z-cloner. And we'll get terrible results when Bob sends x-polarized electrons. And from the difference between our good results and our terrible results, we'll be able to decode Bob's signal.

Ha. Ha, Nature. We Russians have finally fooled you.

Good results means an accurately measured z-spin of every electron. Terrible results mean a completely unpolarized beam of electrons with no directional preference whatsoever.

CRITIQUE

So far I have sketched the alleged operation of N&T's quantum ansible as it appears in their eight-page paper. Now I add my own comments.

This ansible scheme would actually work if everything behaved as they described it. But the weak point is N&T's assumption of a completely depolarized beam at Alice's site when Bob chooses to measure x-polarization. In a truly unpolarized beam, at the very least, Alice's cloner would refuse to work (because it's operating on an unknown state) and would not only produce two electrons of the same polarization all of the time but two electrons of different polarizations some of the time. The math (correct in my estimation) shows that this never happens. In fact, Alice's cloner continues to produce pairs of z-polarized photons, despite the alleged total polarization scrambling expected to occur due to Bob's choice to measure another polarization orthogonal to the direction that Alice's cloner is tuned to. In fact, from N&T's math alone, one can see that the physical situation at Alice's site seems to change when Bob decides to measure one spin direction rather than another, but the statistical outcome at Alice's site remains exactly the same.

Here's an analogy to what seems to be happening in the quantum ansible expeiment.

In my right-hand pocket I have a bunch of fake coins: either heads on both sides or tails on both sides. I pull one out and flip it. The result is known for sure. But I pick the coins at random from my pocket. The result is a random sequence of heads and tails. This physical situation (I claim) is analogous to Bob choosing to measure his electrons in the z-direction, the direction in which Alice happens to possess a perfect cloner.

In my left-hand pocket I have a bunch of fair coins: heads on one side, tails on the other. I pick a coin at random and flip it on the table. The result is a random sequence of heads and tails. This physical situation (I claim) is analogous to Bob choosing to measure his electrons in the x-directions, at a right angle to the direction in which Alice possesses a perfect cloner.

In both the coin analogy and the ansible experiment the actual physical situation seems to change depending on which pocket I select and which spin direction Bob selects (the math describing Alice's situation is certainly different for Bob's two choices). But although the physical situation seems to be different in both cases, the statistical predictions for the outcomes is exactly the same both for the coins and for Alice's measurements.

The quantum ansible is a gallant and clever attempt to exploit quantum entanglement to overcome Einstein's famous light-speed barrier to human information transfer. But despite its ingenuity, I do not believe it will work. Thank you, Nikitin and Toms, for an amusing physics puzzle.

At the conclusion of their quantum ansible paper, Nikolai Nikitin and Konstantin Toms thank a certain C. Aleister (Saint Genis-Pouilly, France) for creating a warm and friendly working atmosphere for discussion between the authors. With a bit of searching, I was able, on Facebook, to find a picture of these two Russian scientists' mysterious benefactor.

Aleister the cat illustrates the SO(3) rotation group

TEN YEARS OLD: QUANTUM TANTRA BLOG

Ten Years Old

Quantum Tantra Blog is now 10 years old. Happy Birthday, old friend!

During its life QTB has published 495 posts which have received more than 500,000 views. The blog is mainly a kind of diary of the major concerns and accomplishments of Nick Herbert and his alter ego Doctor Jabir 'abd al-Khaliq.

Nick's primary goal is to father a brand new physics (Quantum Tantra) which will connect us all with Nature in a more direct and intimate way. This quest has generated dozens of pages of quirky quantum tantric poetry but no concrete physical results as yet. But I continue to pursue this "impossible dream".

The quest begins with quantum mechanics, the most successful theory of the physical world ever devised, which comes at the price of physicists not knowing what this theory actually means: the "quantum reality problem" -- about which I wrote my first book Quantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics.

One of the important milestones in quantum reality research is Bell's Theorem in which Irish physicist John Stewart Bell proved that although the quantum facts are everywhere "local", the quantum reality underlying these fact must be "non-local". The term "non-local" essentially means "faster-than-light", which Albert Einstein declared verboten in physics.

John Stewart Bell: Reality is Non-local

But, in a truly peculiar twist of logic, Bell's faster-than-light proof applies only to REALITY not to the FACTS. Einstein's prohibition still holds for the world we can see; only the invisible reality behind these facts must be faster-than-light.

Bell's Theorem has led to many clever attempts to move FTL REALITY into FTL FACT. One of my hobbies is superluminal signaling schemes, many of which are described in my book Faster-Than-Light: Superluminal Loophole in Physics and in quite a few of my QTB blog posts.

In fact, exactly ten years ago, as I was just beginning this blog, I had just published, in the physics arXiv, a FTL communication scheme called ETCALLHOME which was refuted within 24 hours by Israeli physicist Lev Vaidman.

Demetrios Kalamidas: inventor of KISS

The most exciting FTL scheme reported in QTB was the KISS proposal of Demetrios Kalamidas which uses a kind of "fake news" effect to exploit quantum path entanglement to send superluminal signals. Six prominent physicists, including one of Kalamidas's former optics professors, were involved in KISS's eventual refutation.

KISS: A New Superluminal Commication Scheme
Demetrios: the Opera
The Kalamidas Experiment
FTL Signaling Made Easy
Kalamidas Refuted
The Kalamidas Experiment: Easy Pickings

The refutation by Wootters and Zurek of one of my own FTL schemes, called FLASH, led directly to the quantum no-cloning rule, a result important in the field of quantum computing since it proves that, unlike classical information, such as a jpg of your cat, which can be exactly copied, perfect cloning of quantum information violates the laws of Nature. The story of the discovery of the no-cloning rule is the centerpiece of David Kaiser's recent book How the Hippies Saved Physics which also recounts the adventures of some of my disreputable physics friends.

David Kaiser and some hippies who "saved physics"

Kaiser describes the Esalen Seminars on the Nature of Reality, hosted by myself and eccentric mathematician Saul-Paul Sirag, where for eight years prominent physicists were invited to discuss Bell's Theorem along the Big Sur cliffs and in the Esalen sulfur baths. Through the good graces of Fed Ex philanthropist Charles Brandon we were able to award, in Esalen's Big House, the Reality Prize to John Bell (theory) and John Clauser (experiment) for their decisive demonstration of quantum reality's necessary non-locality, possibly the first time these guys's important achievements were publicly recognized.

Esalen Reality Prize Day. Left to Right: Charles Brandon, Nick Herbert, Adriana Chernovska, John Clauser, Saul-Paul Sirag, Bernard D'Espagnat (John Bell's proxy), Henry Stapp. Nick's son Khola in front holding wine glass

Also in QTB, I describe my collaboration with Saul-Paul Sirag in elucidating the nature of the Sirag Numbers, a sequence of integers indirectly related to the quantum theory of angular momentum. Later, I give a brief biography of Saul-Paul (who was born in a concentration camp) as preface to a review of his new math book ADEX Theory: How the ADE Coxeter Graphs Unify Mathematics and Physics.

Saul-Paul Sirag, eccentric mathematician

In 2014, the city of Belfast celebrated the 50th anniversary of Bell's Theorem by naming a street in its Titanic district after his theorem and by hosting a museum exhibit of works of art inspired by Belfast-born John Bell. My song Bell's Theorem Blues was chosen as one of the exhibits and was performed by local (Boulder Creek) vocalist Joy Rush, pianist Jack Bowers with George Galt on harmonica. The festival could not afford to pay our fares to Ireland but you can listen to the recording we sent and read the lyrics here.

BC Blues Trio: George Galt, Jack Bowers, Joy Rush

In this blog I also recall my two meetings with John Stewart Bell at the home of Stanford physics professor Pierre Noyes.

In the spirit of our old quantum physics seminars, Esalen has been hosting invitational meetings on the more general topic of human Superpowers, initiated by one of its founders Michael Murphy and expanded by extraordinary religious scholar Jeffrey Kripal. Most of these superpowers are considered IMPOSSIBLE so they thought it might be fun to have a few physicists on board. I was invited to two of these seminars including one devoted to the extraordinary levitations of St Joseph of Copertino, chronicled in the recent book by Michael Grosso The Man Who Could Fly. This seminar inspired my own levitation project, a subset of my quantum tantra urge to learn to relate to Nature in radical new ways.

Jeff Kripal & Nick Herbert: Old Esalen Lodge

As part of my project to relate to Nature in brand new ways, I invented the Metaphase Typewriter, a quantum-random putative mechanical spirit medium. In common with all of Nick's efforts so far, this project seemed to utterly fail. But recently the Metaphase Typewriter was revived as an art project by Lynden Stone in Queensland, Australia and by Dmitry Morosov in Moscow.

Lynden Stone's Erwin's Puss

While Nick was waiting for the Messiah to come (a play on the name of the wonderful picture book about Esalen by Bernie Gunther : What to Do Till the Messiah Comes), he fell in with a bunch of rowdy Irish musicians in Santa Cruz, learned to play the Irish whistle, and became part of a band called Blarney which plays at private parties and (a few times) on stage. My biggest achievement as member of the wonderful Blarney band was the composition of a patter song, 32 Irish County Jig, that recites each of Ireland's 32 counties. I am really surprised that no one else had ever done this before.

Blarney Band: Matt Johnson, August O'Connor, Kim Fulton-Bennett, Nick Herbert

Then there is my poetry ("the kiss of death" according to my literary agent John Brockman). In Boulder Creek, for a dozen or so years, there arose a remarkably fertile poetry movement, which I call the Bistroscene after Conrad Santos's Boulder Creek Bistro where a majority of the action took place and where I premiered my quantum tantric poems and many others. Many of these performances were videoed by Alan and Sun Lundell (aka Dr and Mrs Future) and are still being rediscovered as Al and Sun transfer their ancient video formats to archival hard drive.

Kiss My Bare Art
The New Sex Robot
He Did Not Die
Harlot Nature
ZAM
2000-year-old Pickup Line
The Aphrodite Award
Los Gatos Apple Store
Maya

Celebrating the Irises
Mayday Play

Regarding weird literary output, it would be impossible to ignore my friend Rudy Rucker, the Lawrence Ferlinghetti of cyberspace. Rudy conceived and published Flurb, an online magazine of radically trippy inventions, including some of my own stuff and the most imaginative alien psychedelic I have even encountered -- James Worrad's Eye-High.

Since quantum tantra (the search for new doorways into Nature) is still in its embryonic stage, there is very little concrete accomplishments to which I can point. Here however are a few teasers:

Abu Asks About Quantum Tantra
No More Safe Science
Opening Night
Happy Doomsday
Greatest Pleasure
Elements of Tantra

Urge: A Short Opera about Reality
Tantric Jihad: the Video
Quantum Tantra Stripped Bare

In this short post, I cannot cover completely all ten years of my blog: I have decided to exclude the numerous book reviews and friends' obituaries (except for my two younger brothers Tom and Duke and my cat Onyx). Please click the tags for topics and people that interest you. My apologies to everyone I have left out. Although concrete quantum tantric research seems at an absolute standstill, I can at least briefly brag about six minor accomplishments:

Nick Herbert aka Dr. Jabir

I self-published two books of verse: Physics on All Fours and Harlot Nature;
I invented 99 new chakras: 99 Nick Chakras;
I invented a new (Ukrainian) holiday: YIDD;
I invented a new (imaginary) element: Khaliqium;
I invented a new (psychic) currency: Khlit Coin;
I devised a new proof that classical and quantum ESP powers must be precisely equal: Nick's Proof.

The quantum tantra posts with the most views ares:
1. Schrödinger's Proof for the Existence of God
2: Does Consciousness Create Reality?
3. Jailbait

Many thanks to all my viewers.

Happy 10th Birthday, dear Quantum Tantra Blog!

It's Wrong But It Feels So Right

Sketch of FLASH device in Scientific American

If you live long enough, some of your old deeds may come back to haunt you.

In this month's Scientific American (June 2012), science historians David Kaiser (How the Hippies Saved Physics) and Angela Creager (The Life of a Virus) describe two scientific proposals that were totally wrong but led to new and unexpected discoveries. In "The Right Way to Get It Wrong", AC describes biologist Max Delbrück's failed attempt to develop techniques for deciphering the genetic mechanism of viruses--techniques that were successfully applied by other biologists to understand the reproduction not of viruses but bacteria. DK describes my own failed attempt to develop a superluminal communication device I called FLASH (First Laser-Amplified Superluminal Hookup).

Irish physicist John Bell had proved a famous theorem in the 60s about reality--that reality must be "non-local."--that is, connected together faster-than-light--in order to explain the results of a simple quantum optical experiment of the EPR (Einstein-Poldolsky-Rosen) type. But despite Bell's discovery that Quantum Reality must be FTL, other theorems existed (e. g. Eberhard's Proof) that Quantum Facts must always be local. In other words, Nature must use FTL connections to accomplish her quantum miracles but these underground FTL channels were off limits to human beings.

But certain physicists with time on their hands could not resist the temptation to attempt to design devices that used Nature's forbidden FTL channels for human superluminal signaling. I and a few others devised such devices but all of them were easily refuted. Except one--the FLASH device.

The key to superluminal signaling rests in the ability to distinguish a beam of random plane-polarized photons (Horizontal and Vertical) from a random beam of circularly-polarized photons (Right- and Left- circular). Simply put, any device that can determine the polarization of a single photon is all you need to signal FTL.

FLASH attempts to measure the polarization of a single photon by sending that photon thru a Laser Gain Tube which (presumably) operates like a xerox machine. Having many copies of the same polarization, it is easy to determine whether a photon is H, V, R or L. If you can xerox photons you can signal FTL--and also build a time machine.

To prevent chronological disaster, the FLASH device had to be wrong. But where was the error? After some debate behind the scenes, a number of theoreticians discovered the flaw which was first revealed in a paper in Nature by Wooters & Zurek entitled "A Single Quantum Cannot Be Cloned". Thus was born the now-famous "quantum no-cloning rule" which guarantees the security of quantum cryptography and makes it impossible in the field of quantum computing to copy a quantum data set--quantum data is intrinsically copy protected by Nature herself.

As a little-known sequel to the FLASH drama, I recently concocted another FTL signaling device whose refutation leads to another brand-new law of Nature "A Pair of Quanta Cannot Be Wed". At present my "quantum no-wedding rule" has found absolutely no practical application anywhere.

There are probably many more examples where a wrong turn led to an unexpected new discovery. Almost certainly the biggest mistake in history must be Christopher Columbus's exploratory voyage to discover a new route to India--and his massively inept misnaming of the inhabitants of that newly discovered land.