Quantum Trickery: Testing Einstein's Strangest Theory

The New York Times ^ | December 27, 2005 | Dennis Overbye

[Gumlegs]

I thought it was a reference to a Benny Goodman hit of 1938 ... wasn't the "Dead Cat Bounce" a dance number?

[The_Reader_David]

It doesn't work that way. The correlation among the spins depends on the coherence of the state (of the entire ensemble). Forcing one spin to change couples the ensemble to the environment strongly enough to decohere the state: the relevant state is now that of the particle ensemble together with whatever you're using to force the state change, and there is no certainty that the measurement of the other particle's state now gives the same result.

[mcris]

The idea that measuring the properties of one particle could instantaneously change the properties of another one (or a whole bunch) far away is strange to say the least

What's so strange? You can write down the Schrodinger equation for a particle. If there is another particle around, the equation modifies. In fact, there is only one equation for the whole universe, just that you cannot write it down.