From: Steven A. Brown, 73140,3340
To: inquiries@nist.gov,
INTERNET:inquiries@nist.gov
CC: Sen. John Kerry,
INTERNET:john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov
Sen. John McCain,
INTERNET:john_mccain@mccain.senate.gov
Date: 9/27/00 11:29 PM
RE: Quantum non-locality
To the
National Institute of Standards and Technology,
Various
experiments have been conducted over the past few decades to test
"non-locality." I'm referring
to the phenomenon, predicted by quantum physics, whereby a pair of
"entangled" particles have the property that determining the spin
state of one causes the wave function of the other to collapse immediately, causing
the particle to assume the opposite state of spin. This effect is supposed to
occur instantaneously, regardless of the spatial separation of the two
particles, hence Albert Einstein dubbed it "spooky action at a
distance." Until his death in
1955, Einstein remained unconvinced that the phenomenon actually exists.
Various
experimenters, most notably Alain Aspect, are widely believed to have
demonstrated non-locality in laboratory experiments. However, a dissident minority of physicists question the
underlying assumptions and the experimental methods used. It has been suggested that a theoretical
bias toward proving non-locality has skewed the data.
Aside from
its profound philosophical implications, non-locality has important
technological implications. Various projects are currently underway to develop
methods of encryption that exploit non-locality to insure security against
interception and descrambling of encrypted communications. As these methods depend on non-locality,
issues of national security are at stake, as quantum encryption is likely to be
used by our armed forces and top levels of government. Is it wise to proceed on quantum encryption
without first establishing, firmly and incontrovertibly, that the phenomenon of
non-locality is real?
As a U.S.
citizen, I urge the NIST to conduct a thorough, exhaustive, and unbiased
investigation of quantum non-locality.
Let impartial statisticians participate in the experiments, to ensure
that bias, one way or the other, does not influence the outcome. Let's bring
the full resources of the NIST to bear, employing-state-of-the-art technology,
to arrive at an impartial and definitive resolution of the question of quantum
non-locality.
Steven A.
Brown
CEO,
AndroSoft
http://www.AndroSoft-USA.com
cc: Sen.
John McCain, Chairman, Commerce, Science and Technology Committee
cc: Sen.
John Kerry, Member, Commerce, Science and Technology Committee